Saturday, April 17, 2010

Look whats popping up...

In this crazy month of April where Spring really came on unseasonably warm we have days like today interspersed between the beautiful weather. Yesterday it was in the upper 70's and then all of a sudden today's high is in the upper 40's...maybe. I swear it is showering random snow flakes while writing this! Well, the weather has been very erratic but with plenty of nice warm days that both Nancy and I have been able to get back into the studio and start making new work. The trees are budding and the flowers are beginning to bloom and I have been enjoying watching the new growth unfurl. The above image is of the Bloodwort up at the studio...opening up to greet the new day with a couple jewels of morning dew still cradled in its veiny leaves. Along with all the new flowers popping up, I have been making new mugs with a more generous handle, allowing two fingers through the loop. I have always been a "one finger through and thumb on top" type of handle guy, but recently I have become interested in a slight variation on that design. Here is a six pack of mugs sitting out to dry in the nice weather.


I have also begun making teapots which is not something I do very often...I am not a fan of the teapot. I thought it would be good to relearn making teapots...so, here are a couple I am trying out...I am thinking of making a number of various styles and shapes and see which one I like best.
Nancy has been busy busting out the garden ware. In the Spring, she usually makes a bunch of red ware planters that are then slipped and under glazed in a variety of bright colors. Nancy then scraffittos through the brush work creating another layer of interest by bringing out that red clay as a linear element, and finishes it by firing them in a clear glaze. I have a nice big one on my deck!






Its back to the studio tomorrow...we are going to fire the salt kiln in the next couple weeks and then one of the wood kilns in the middle of May. Enjoy the images of flowers because that may be all we are left with in this weird weather...I better get back to being dirty!


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

spring is out all over here as well, love this time of year. my favorite aunt eleanor was adamantly a two-finger handle woman, but also wanted the entire cup to be delicate and petite like store-bought china.

HeidiMCF said...

Yea for spring! It has been unseasonably warm though. Ugh, I can never decide between one finger or two. Some people's fingers are like french fries and others like sausages. What do you do?