6-3-19

A porcelain pig!

Kismet and I decided to do a craft fair downtown and we are getting ready. This month starts a real summer of pottery for me.... a single minded pursuit to get better, diversify my offerings, find my true style, and get my name out there. I start thinking about maybe retiring from academia at the age of 60 and starting up my own studio. This dream fills me with joy!

6-1-19

This is a big planter I made with my signature style of leaf...

And I cleaned my desk in my mud room... (Squirt's old bedroom)

And THIS is what the rounded bottom mug looks like now!

5-31-19

This mug is significant. I decided after making it that is is my signature style, and in the months that follow this date, I make many other things with this style of leaf with the three dots. I love the blue interior. Unfortunately, the shape is not ideal-- top heavy or something like that. Too much torque required to hold it up. Wide handle, wide lip... do the math.

5-30-19

This is a photo of a mug I made IN HAWAII! I mailed it to a friend for her birthday and she took pictures of it having a great time on the beach,

Now, this picture is important. I was making something for the first time, a request by a person I met on Instagram, for a special kind of mug. This begins a fascination with this style of mug. You will see it unfold. Hint--- the lower clay all gets trimmed away so that the bottom is rounded.

5-28-19

I got some little dishes back today. And my friend Kismet decorated this mug below. It has her little acorn symbol on it. Tonight she and I start pottery "lessons" together at the university.

5-27-19

This mug, which was bought by a former student, is said tot be reminiscent of the Coliseum in Rome.

This one which was given to my friend, Kismet, is said to be simple and strong.

Since I am writing this two months in the future, I can not remember the day when I took these photos. My calendar says it is the day before I start pottery classes at the university.

5-26-19

These Japanese woodworking carved mugs came out of the kiln today!

5-25-19

Don't you think I look like this actress????

5-24-19

Four of the chicken mugs turned out great! One was a bit wonky so I set it aside...

5-23-19

Today is Dan's birthday. We had to leave the hotel... and we went shopping in Fairhope on the way out of town. We also looked for my friend's husband's sculptures and found a couple.

5-22-19

Today we went to see a nature preserve where a ton of carnivorous plants live...

 And while Dan was on a bike ride I made some pots from Lizella.

We also went to see a local potter and this bee hive kiln is in his back yard,  but he doesn't use it.

5-21-19

Sat out by the pool this afternoon

and knitted while Dan swam.

Then we went to a museum where I saw POTTERY!!!

5-20-19

We left today for south Alabama to stay at the Grand Hotel for a few days.

The sunset was amazing.

We ate outside of the main building and watched this view.

This is the view from our room.. we have a balcony overlooking Mobile Bay! 

5-19-19

I'm test knitting a pattern to see if there are any errors in the pattern.

5-18-19

I'm trying my new style on the chocolate clay. 

Below is a painting I traded for the chicken mugs. My distant cousin in Louisiana painted it for me in exchange. It's of some wetland in south Louisiana.

5-17-19

Here it is! All glazed. See the dots? See the hint of blue? I used Standard 112 clay, which is why there are speckles-- the manganese in the clay. Next time I try this style I'll use chocolate clay (Standard 266).

5-16-19

My friend, Kismet, loaned me these Japanese woodworking tools that belonged to her grandfather. I used them to carve on these two mugs!

5-15-19

Here is that mug that I posted a week or so back... with the dots under the rim. I just glazed it.

Got this berry bowl out of the glaze kiln.

And this cake stand.

5-13-19

I got an order to make four chicken mugs so I made five.

5-12-19

It's mother's day and I gave my mom this chicken and one baby chick. We had dinner at her house.

5-10-19

The piggy banks that folks made in the workshop I taught today. I made 1, 3, 6, and 7.

5-9-19

Piggy parts. I'm teaching a workshop this coming week on making piggy banks so I'm practicing. 

Met with a faculty member in engineering today to discuss a grant.

I made these for a colleague

I made this for nobody in particular, just experimenting with my new stamp that I made.

These are mine!!!

5-8-19

I made this for a distant cousin.

And below is a mug in the making, designed along the lines of one of my favorite potters who also puts dots under the rim.

5-7-19

I bought this shelf from HobLob for my "studio" AKA Squirt's room. It's great to have extra room.

Aza got the earrings I ordered for her. They look like her cat!

5-6-19

Today feels like the first day of summer since I'm all done with classes and students, but I officially have to work for 10 more days. This came out of the kiln today.

5-5-19

Graduation day for my two doctoral students! Jack gave me 150 pounds of Lizella clay as a gift... and Sha gave me a lovely portrait of the two of us. I gave them each a mug with their name on it. It was good to finally hood them and up my total number of PHD students to graduate to 3.