Well, here it is----my newest creation and one that's inadvertently caused me an equal amount of pain and pleasure.

As I was patting myself on the back on what a good job I had done, I suddenly thought to myself, How am I going to glaze this @#$% thing?

If I want to use two colors, no matter what I glaze first, it's going to contaminate the other space.  I finally convinced myself that glazing the sky blue and the tree ......... I don't know, some tree color, it might look contrived or cheesy.

So I opted for butter toffee for everything, but with a pre-coat of cinnamon to darken the creases.

I hope it turns out good---- especially since Dionne said she wants this!  Which is actually big old compliment because she'd previously told me No more pottery please!

I just got my last batch of pottery from Dave...........as usual, there were some semi-stars in the show and a couple of frogs.  However, in all fairness to myself and my artistic growth, I will say that even my frogs are better than the stars of a few months ago.

With that disclaimer in place, here are some photos with accompanying scathing, merciless comments from the individual formerly known as Maya, ordinary mortal, but now an ARTIST.......:))

This one came to me while I was running on the treadmill at the gym........go figure.  I glazed it first, penciled in the tree, then carved it all out with a dental tool I got courtesy of my dentist. Next time I do this piece, I need to guesstimate where the tree will go because I can still see the ground line through the trunk of the tree.

This next one I have to admit, I made up as I went along.......I'm dating myself, I know, but it reminds me of dresses that were in vogue during the Beatles era. Kind of retro looking?  The only negative here is my newest nemesis:  not enough coats of glaze.......evidently, three is not enough.

This one took years off my life.......I'd been carrying this around in my head for some time, but hadn't worked out all the kinks.  For example, next time, ALL the grass will end up at the top ---- none of this sky all the way to the ground business.  It literally took hours to glaze around each blade of grass (not to mention glazing inside each blade in two shades of green).

This piece is the second I've made in this style and it would have been perfect had I added one more layer of glaze ............ grrrrrrrrrrrrr

This next one was supposed to be my sunrise piece........anyway, it looked like a sunrise in my head.  It doesn't really now that it's done, however, it's not bad.

I had a lot of hopes for this last piece, and while it doesn't look bad, it doesn't look like the picture I had in my head.  For starters, the leaves bled into the background and I don't know why........too much glaze?  The tilt?  Who knows??  Then the yellow obviously needed at least 1 or 2 more coats......live and learn----first time with that color of glaze.  Lastly, I wanted the red tips to make a statement and they pooped out on me.......maybe another 2-3 coats?? Who knows..........

No matter the warts on my pieces, this is still my best batch yet.  I am improving and I love it.  I am so grateful that I've found something I can do with myself when I retire ----- because Howard's right:  I have trouble sitting, doing nothing.

I need to stay busy!!

Well, I have been waiting with bated breath for Dave to call me back with news of my pottery.  I took him four pieces ----each unique in its own way and I was anxious to see how the new glazes and new clay looked.

Wow!  I am so thrilled ----- while others might not think they're so fantastic, I am proud because I started from such humble beginnings and I can finally see my growth.

I call this my door mat piece because I found it laying next to the road where Howard and I walk.  Here it is after glazing:

You can't see it in the photo, but the colors bled(?) but in a good way and the center is a wonderful toasty color.

I threw all kinds of colors together for this piece, but I think they look good together....... small flaw:  small drop of pink fell on the cinnamon color and I glazed over it, but it shows nonetheless......Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ..................always something!

This piece was a clear example of my inexperience:  I put all these little circles on the clay with painter's tape and cheerfully glazed over all of them..........then I couldn't find them.......:)) I kept thinking I'd missed some........unfortunately, I was right.

This last piece is beautiful but the photo just doesn't do it justice..........however, after I got it home, I discovered it has a crack.  I think the clay was just too thin up by the leaves.

Pottery can be frustrating at times, however, no frustration makes up for the exhilaration I feel when I have finished a piece and I'm happy with how it turned out.  Creating something from a lump of clay with my own two hands and armed with nothing but my imagination and creativity is indescribable........... I know because I tried to come up with a word or words and there were none.

Epiphany

Whoa!! Hold the presses!!  You mean when you fire pottery at the temperature at which it was intended to be fired, wonderful things happen??

Yes, it seems that this is true............ so I finally realized what was going on between the clay and the glaze and the firing and told Dave to put everything in at cone 6.

Here are my latest pieces:

I love the vibrant colors!  I've been waiting so long for this!

Yes, I still have a ways to go with the color.......... I still see lighter areas.....Maybe I'm not letting it dry enough between coats?  Maybe it didn't all get three coats?  

I know that brushing it on is not the ideal technique, but it's all I've got at the moment.

It's not perfect, of course,  but there's nothing like a small step forward to make you giddy with excitement!

I may just bisque my huge platter and glaze it (very scary):

or my doormat plate next.......... Yay!!!

In trolling through previous photos to find this week's firings, I thought I would post some other pieces as well.

This plate was a gift to Julie, my best buddy.  The bottom is made from a sink strainer I spotted at Bath & Body......... the green matches the green in her house perfectly!

I like this piece because it has a retro sort of look to it.......... I used oleander leaves as imprints for the leaves.  It was also my first try at making my pieces thicker and I immediately liked the difference.

This piece has not been glazed yet (fear is the major reason behind this) but it has a funny story behind it.  The cruddy looking doormat piece next to it provided the beautiful geometric pattern----I found it laying next to the road in the dirt as Howard and I went on one of our walks around the neighborhood.

The last piece is the wall hanging I made for Dionne and Jared when they got married.  Thankfully I learned about Stroke & Coat glaze BEFORE I wrote their names on the already-glazed background.  The stick was a lucky find from school..........

Pottery: trials and tribulations

I got an excellent piece of advice today and decided to follow through.......... I've been dabbling with pottery for about 4-5 years now and should start posting some of those efforts.

I got a beautiful North Star slab roller in 2011.........I've warned my children it has a lifetime guarantee, so they'd better start thinking about who's going to get it when I'm gone.......

Here's one of my first endeavors............ you might say that was an ominous beginning.........

My first problems involved surface textures.  Nothing looked smooth and there were weird wrinkles everywhere ........ hmmm .......sounds like me in the mornings!  :))

But even so, they looked better before glazing than afterwards.......... So now, my current nemesis (what's the plural of nemesis??) is glazing, glazing, glazing.

Here's the past week's efforts:

On the plus side:  I like the free form and it was smooth and the edges looked much better than in the past.  The blue painter's tape worked really well and I like the jagged edges on the sun's rays.

On the minus side:  I thought the turquoise would effectively cover the yellow and while it doesn't look BAD ......... it doesn't look deep turquoise as I wanted it to, therefore not having the dramatic contrast for which I had hoped.

Possible problems:  totally novice-type errors........ the clay is a cone 10, the glaze is cone 6, and it was fired at cone 06.  What a mish-mash!

Plan:  buy a cone 6 clay at NM Clay........ talk to gallery owner I know and ask her how she glazes with a brush and yet ends up with no brush marks......... is it the firing process??  

The more I learn, the more I realize I hardly know anything!!!

This is Humberto.

Good news?? He's a very nice man. He loves to fish and host fish fries. He loves his garden and his kids. He goes to church and wants to buy a little boat someday.

Bad news?? He can't do concrete work any better than I can.

Worse news?? He's the one who made the concrete edge around our grass.

Our first clue was when he declared that for some mysterious reason, the truck didn't bring enough concrete. They had to wing it and mix some up right then and there in the wheelbarrow. Two concretes= two colors, two consistencies.......uh-oh. Did I mention they dribbled it everywhere??

The next day we discovered why there wasn't enough concrete: the forms weren't deep enough and the concrete drooled out the bottom and made a concrete floor all around.........

Then he pulled off the forms too soon and the concrete stuck to them and left holes in the edging............ So he patched that with concrete miracle patch.......yet another color..............

Meanwhile, he's humming the whole time and babbling how he loves pleasing his clients......oy vey ......