Little Skulls all in a row

I spent the afternoon making these babies and it was lots of fun! I plan on making more this afternoon maybe twink them out a bit. Here is a picture I know it is not great but I am working on setting up a space for pictures. These skulls are still green or bone dry Ha ha! When my army of skulls is complete I shall fire them and glaze em and post the results. Wish me luck!

Worker Bee

I bought some Nara 5 clay, which is delightful to work with. The clay has a nice creamy texture which at bone dry it doesn't seem to crack as much as the porcelain I was working with before. I am creating some new carving to make molds of, so far I have another bird and a sugar skull with flowers around it. They are both in different stages not worthy of a picture yet but I will post some when I am done. The sugar skull one is causing me problems though but at this stage it is difficult to tell if it will work. I have carved many sugar skull molds but have yet made one that I am happy with. Hopefully if I can produce enough pieces I can test out my ancient kiln everyone cross their fingers I have a lot riding on this beast working!

Basket of Rings

I had several small pieces left over from my ceramics class so yesterday I spent the afternoon gluing the backs to these awesome adjustable rings that I found at Rings and Things. It was a lot of fun and my son and daughter had a great time putting the rings on all their fingers modeling them for me. I am pleased with the results and am brimming with new ideas for future rings. The best part is that I only glued my fingers together once! I have a final this coming Tuesday for my ceramics class and I am trying different ways of showing off my pieces. My teacher and fellow students have watched me the whole semester make literally hundreds of these small ceramic pieces. I know some of them are curious to what I am doing and what I am going to do with them. I am going to string up some of my pendants and bring these rings to the class. I would also like to show my progress from the beginning of the class to the finish. In the beginning my pieces were crude and clumsy and slowly the became more of what I had in envisioned when I took this class. I am so very happy that I have found this medium to create things with it feels right and the possibilities are endless.

More Treasure to Hoard!!

Here is more stuff to add to my pile of treasure. I think most people get into beading so they have an excuse to buy more beads, there is something about them that is almost magical. I sometimes in the pretense of organizing take out my many boxes and containers of beads and just sit there looking at them daydreaming of the things I will do with them, it can be very relaxing. Several years ago when I lived in Santa Rosa, I used to frequent this lovely little bead shop where the owner once confided in me that one night after a busy night of buying beads and baubles at a trade show, her husband looked around at all the new piles of sparklies and asked her "what are you going to do with all of this?" She thought for a moment then answered " I am going to open a bead shop" and then her store was born. So I guess I have to start figuring out what to do with my hoard!

Dragons Hoard!

The fruit of my labor. I am wondering what the heck am I gonna do with all this stuff? I could just keep it in a pile like a dragon hoarding its treasure! I admit I am distracted by shiny objects and I don't blame my three year old for sneaking in and grabbing a couple because I know how fun they are to touch and look at and what a great sound porcelain make clinking together!

To Kill a mocking bird.

I am rereading To kill a mocking bird by Harper Lee. I found it last summer at a truck-stop that sold used books. Believe me this was a gem amongst some of the other books they had to offer so I snatched it up. I have not read it in years and oh boy I am enjoying it like I have never read it before. Maybe it is because I am older and more mature I can appreciate the story and writing than when I was 18. It is interesting to note that this is the authors only major work she ever published and that she won the Pulitzer prize for it. I just can't seem to put it down, but I am going to force myself to take it slow and really immerse myself in the writing rather than devour it like it's the last piece of chocolate on the planet.