Happy Halloween!

Meet "Little Walter One-Eye" and his friend "Jack O'Lantern"!

Inspiration

I've bought a couple pottery pieces in the last little while. I bought a casserole dish from Christian Barr near Wildwood, and a vase from James Hibbert near Naramata.  The casserole is wood-fired, and the handle is Pembina River stone. The vase is pit-fired with straw. You can see the straw markings on the side of the piece.

The Great Okanagan Squash Hunt

I just spent the weekend in the Okanagan, during which time Allison and I went on a squash hunt. If you've ever taken the time to look closely at squash and see their distinct "personalities" you'll understand why it was hard to choose which ones to take home.

Adding textures

I've been doing some carving work on some of my pieces - I like it because it makes them feel more organic.

Once I glaze this piece the texture will become more defined.

Walter, my love

This photo was taken in August, by Dustin from Laughing Dog Photography. I love this photo because Walter looks so happy in it. He's a tough little guy - one eye and not enough teeth to keep his tongue from hanging out. xoxo

Wednesday night pottery

Now that I'm glaze firing I need to start making more pottery - so tonight I started work on four tall mugs that will have lids (to keep your coffee warm) and long handles.

Bird Party

For the past couple of days we've had these crazy bird parties in the backyard. There are so many of them and all different kinds - robins, waxwings, sparrows, chickadees, and yesterday there was even a woodpecker. They all flock to the bird baths and the chokecherry bush. There's a couple of really big robins who try and dominate the bird bath - they sit right in the middle and try to chase all the other birds away. It's good entertainment!

The big one in the middle is trying to chase the others away.

I thought the bird on the right was a young robin but I'm not sure...

My Cheerful Mind

This little blog will be all about the things that help me to have a cheerful mind.

First up - pottery. I fired my first glaze load in my kiln yesterday. I was so excited - I felt like a kid at Christmas. The nervous, anxious anticipation made me giddy all day today - waiting for the moment when the kiln had cooled enough and I could finally open it and see what was inside. I'm happy with the results - it over fired slightly but didn't seem to have an effect on the glaze.

I glazed everything using an off-the-shelf transparent glaze (because I'm too chicken to mix my own glazes yet) and used under glazes to add some colour.

The top shelf

The bottom shelf