A Monday Mug

You never know when a mug with all kinds of unexpected changes from the kiln will be just what a friend likes.

I hope she won't be too disappointed in looking at my other work, where this amount of fluxing glaze doesn't seem to happen as often.

But then, there are the black and white bowls...

we shall see .

Mugs for Monday

The Georgia O'Keeffe style...some bright poppies, and these will cheer up anyone's day!
Hand painted with Mayco Stroke N Coat glazes. There were no decals used, which a comment on Facebook brought to my attention.  Decals are great, but not for me...I want each object to be a piece of different art, not a manufactured item in any way.

Shades of grey on mugs

 Using our studio glazes, matt black interior and on top edge of exteriors, then satin white over that down most of the exterior, and a final dip about the lower third into our raspberry glaze...which gives a different shade of grey.   And yes, there were 4 mugs made...one just lagged behind in the glaze kilns.

You've seen some of these in their "before stage" when the glaze had just been applied. HERE.

  The thought I'm following for the next batch is to use Georgia O'Keeffe colors and huge bright flowers. 

Mugshot Monday again

One side takes you to nature...

But the other side takes you to a goddess figure

Remembering the tiny carving of Venus of Willendorf, a goddess from before Venus was even conceived...basically a fertility mother.

These new mugs have a different glazing technique, using black Stroke & Coat by Mayco as a watercolor basically.  Then the application of their matt clear glaze over everything, which gives a lovely sepia quality to the thin black glaze.  A few lines with Designer Liner and the actual black is our studio black glaze.

Holding that matt clear glaze is part of the sensual experience of these mugs...it's silky.

A bee was busy with blossoms at the lake last week!

My nature walk photo for today:

Purple triliums about to open.

Today's quote:

Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer.

Maya Angelou

 

Mugshot Monday

After all those marches Saturday by the young people taking charge to make changes, I'm glad to have some new mugs out of the kiln.  Here's the one with marchers.

This is a test of how some glazes that have been around for a while can be applied in a new way.

Today's quote:

"Artists are nourished more by each other than by fame or by the public. To give one's work to the world is an experience of peculiar emptiness. The work goes away from the artist into a void, like a message stuck into a bottle and flung into the sea."

Writer Joyce Johnson (books by this author ), born Joyce Glassman.

Mugshot Monday and Cleveland Arts Council thanks

My new favorite mug! Can hold it with one or two fingers easily in the hole of the handle, and it has balance, and holds a big amount but keeps it warm because it's slightly concave.

A special shout out to the Cleveland County Arts Council for hosting the "Treasures of the Earth" show for the last month.  I was very pleased when I went to pack up the things that hadn't sold...pleased there were about half of the ones I'd brought still there, which meant I sold about half of them... so it was just right for me!  Thank you Corrine and Valerie!

Tea-drinking-me

Usually I wake and have a cup of coffee, or two to be honest.
But one of my sons gifted me with some loose tea leaves, a couple of kinds a month in fact.  So for fun, I'm going to start making tea.

Since usually I'm drinking alone, one cup at a time for me, please.
So I microwaved the water to get to the right temp, in a small pitcher... it must be fresh water and to the boiling point I learned. (Not being a tea drinker every morning, I'm learning this all over again.)

No, the pitcher isn't on a burner, there's a glass tray on the stove to give more counter space...and there's the new little strainer, and the tea is brewing just 2 minutes in the pitcher.

 The sunflower petals and bits of strawberry were noticeable as it brewed

 Looks good, with my spoonful of Sourwood Honey added (the last of it for this year, so precious)

This has got to be the best tasting cuppa tea I've ever had! And it's good all the way down!

Today's quote:

Just as there are people that support us, we are a supporter to many people extending the cycle and giving back.