A musical interlude while waiting for the kiln to cool

My current musical obsession, Zaz. I watch this practically everyday. It makes me so happy. I love her voice, her affect, her joie d' vie.

And for punctuation lovers out there, colons are on the march.

Broaches, not cookies

nearly edible 

When I was in Arizona visiting my mom, I saw broaches that  had magnets instead of pins affixed to the backs. This struck me as a brilliant solution to the problem of placing a pin in just the right spot; easy to move around and no stabbing. I promptly laid in a supply of strong magnets and got down to business producing porcelain broaches.

tray of sketches on broaches

I am always in need of something simple and small to use to sketch ideas and to warm up the slip-trailer before tackling large pieces. I used to use tiles for this, but this winter I started making tiny (2 1/2") dishes which are perfect warm-up pieces. Last month, I made dozens of small ovals in porcelain to hold in reserve to sketch on, but I apparently have no impulse control because I decorated all of them at once.

 jewelry, not cookies

A wareboard full of these is irresistible, I simply can't stop decorating with just a few. I guess I had better find a place to sell these.

waiting for glaze

I have a kiln full (dozens and dozens!) of these firing right now, in black & white and blue & white. I hope the glaze is nice and thick and glossy with no blurring. Stay tuned...

I like the sculptures of Brendan Monroe. 

the dreaded s-crack

see that horrible, unwelcome curved line inside the foot-ring?

It's called an s-crack (even though it is more of a "c" in this case).The photo above shows what sometimes happens to the inside foot of a bowl thrown off the hump. There is plenty of advice in pottery books and online about how to avoid this (clay body, compression techniques, trimming tricks, etc). And yet...

ready to attack the problem

I can sometimes save the piece by burnishing the crack firmly with a hardwood stick.

firm pressure with the crack, across the crack, and around and around

looks pretty good, neh?

Oh, but I won't stop here. No I won't.

adding paperclay 

I don't trust burnishing alone. I prepare a slurry of dry clay mixed with paper pulp and a water/vinegar mix for crack repair. I smear it over the burnished crack with a stiff brush.

perfect

Now, I have to see if it makes it through the bisque and glaze firings intact. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. Stay tuned.

Drowning beautiful, so incredible!

peppermint patties

little valentine tiles and a peppermint patty

I have been making weekly batches of peppermint patties all winter. The first batch only lasted two days, the second only a day longer, but we seem to be settling in to one week per batch now that we have calmed down about them.

Vanilla, peppermint, powdered sugar, coconut milk

They are so easy to make, it almost feels like cheating somehow. You need to allow time for things to chill from time to time with this recipe, but otherwise it is a very simple, fool-proof process.

thin mint patties

I like to make them thinner than usual to increase the ratio of dark chocolate to mint.

it's okay to be messy

These do settle down a little and are smoother in the end, but who cares if they don't look professional? Well, I do, a little bit. The photo above is an example of a rushed job.

peppermint patty on a teeny tiny dish

So good.

*I make them vegan by substituting coconut milk for evaporated and earth balance for butter. And 70% dark chocolate (Trader Joe's) is amazing!  Recipe.

Making decisions just became easier.

hike view

fog fills the valley

Sometimes the view on our hike is all about the sky.

Island? No, just the other side of the valley.

When it is foggy in the Tualatin Valley, it looks like a body of water from up here.

silhouettes

Catching the sunset is always a treat.

oval dish with spiral (14" W.)

We walk way, way down to the bottom every time. And then, back up to the top.

Porriger?

chicken noodle soup* in a porriger

We find ourselves using this new bowl shape all the time. I like to call it a porriger because it sounds like such a comforting thing to eat from. The name suggests a wide generous dish to eat out of, something to use sitting in one's thick-walled, thatch-roofed cottage overlooking the White Cliffs of Dover. Apparently this is a  misnomer, because real porrigers have handles and even lids, but that won't stop me from (mis-) using this name for this bowl. Such a rebel am I.

salt

Mr. Cranky got a set of tasting salts from a truly fabulous local resource, The Meadow, a shop that specializes in salt, chocolate, and wine. I try to use only the minimal amount of salt when cooking so that we can add salt at the table from our selection of eight different salts. I find the various textures to be very intriguing.

I even under-salt bread when I bake and buy unsalted butter now. I can't tell if we are eating more salt because of this, or less. A little goes a long way when added just before eating.

Rock Creek is running fast

There's nothing like a hike after a warming bowl of soup. It has been raining so much that the creeks are full, wide, and exciting. This is at the final leg of our current favorite hike. It is a good destination, but the hike is 100% uphill from here. We take this hike everyday, rain or shine. So lucky!

*Recipe for chicken stock and noodle soup

tools

slab roller with two other essential tools

I use these tools so often I rarely think about how indispensable they are. 

One of our concerns when designing/building our studio was the potter's disease, silicosis, which is caused by dust inhalation, specifically silica dust. We installed a whole house vacuum because the unit containing the motor can be placed outside the studio, carrying the dust and particulates away without lofting all the tiny silica dust particles into my lungs. When I am carving clay I find myself constantly turning the vacuum on and off to suck up the bits of manganese and cobalt-coated slip that powder and float all about. I have had to replace the switch twice, but the trusty motor keeps chugging along. It has the additional advantage, being located outside in the shed, of quiet operation. Because I really hate wearing masks, I would probably be on a respirator by now without it.

The other tool pictured is a cutting bow. I have two sizes, this is the smaller one. 

there is a wire across the base of the bow

I take a block of clay and slice a uniform slab from the bottom by dragging the cutting bow through.

thin flat slab

Initially, I adjust the size and shape of the block to suit the size of the piece I plan to make. This saves on recycling scrap clay. The height of the wire can also be adjusted up or down to make a thinner or thicker slab.

thin square-ish slab

sheetrock tool

This is perfect for removing the canvas texture from the slab, although sometimes I leave it textured on purpose. I am currently obsessed with Japanese textiles and am putting fabric patterns on the blue & white tableware. I like the subtle play of the ghost of the canvas weave underneath the glaze and decoration, so I don't remove all of it.

hand-built plates

Inspiration