bodner046

I am really liking the ash glaze on my ginkgo leaf carved bowls. Jeff took this photo the other night and I thought I would share it. I should have a good selection of these at the Carolina Clay Matters Pottery festival on October 8th, in Charlotte.  I spent this afternoon spraying glaze on bowls and mugs. We will fire this weekend. All the info for the show is in the side bar on the right. If you are in the area, Jeff and I hope to see you there.

 I really like to use small shallow bowls. They are so versatile, small salad, ice cream, yogurt and berries... This weekend I decided to make some and carve them up with the ginkgo leaves. I see sprayed ash glaze in their future...

After a few days of much needed rain, we had a beautiful sunny day. Perfect timing to prepare greenware for a bisque firing. While I was giving some pots the kitchen scrubby treatment, a green anole crawled on to the sponge holders. He was a brave little guy and hung out with me for quite awhile. Occasionally, if he thought I was getting a little too close, he hopped from the shelving unit to the stand that holds the bricks for the kiln door.  I have been in North Carolina for over six years now, but I am still fascinated by these charming lizards!

Last week I had a request for a piggy bank for a boy. His sister was gifted the whimsical flower pig last year and Mom wanted something similar but with carvings for a boy. I have to admit I was a little stumped about what to carve. I told Mom that my carvings are typically flowers and leaves... so she said, "Do leaves!".  So here it is... the whimsical design with leaves. After the bisque fire, I will apply the black underglaze to the leaf design and leaves. I think this pig will be the perfect pairing with it's sister pig.

Last night, while I slaved over a hot stove, Jeff slaved over the wheel making pig bodies. I guess neither one of us was really slaving... I typically enjoy cooking and Jeff LOVES to throw pots. We usually use our recycled clay to make piggy banks. I like to extrude tubes to make the legs and ears. It's easier to measure the parts out and keep some consistency in the end product. Since we haven't pugged clay in a few weeks, these pigs will be made fresh clay. I have a die for the pug mill that I use for extruding tubes. When I have fresh clay, I get out my Kemper clay gun to extrude the tubes.  The gun came with a couple of dies and a couple of blanks to make your own. I have to admit that the only thing I have ever used this clay gun for is piggy bank parts. Aside from extruding handles (which I am not fond of) I think this clay gun isn't worth purchasing.  One of my complaints is that the plastic disc that pushes the clay is poorly designed. The screw always comes off and...