Kiln Building

We've started building the new kilns at school!  The almost finished one in the background is the salt kiln...next the car kiln (which just looks like a pile of bricks) then the raku kiln (!) and then a few more.....now, if the weather would only cooperate....

Six Sacred Plants of The Winter Solstice

For my final in design class last semester I had to make a series of at least 5 designs.  I drew mandalas of the 6 sacred plants of the winter solstice...wheat for abundance, evergreen for prosperity, oak for strength, ivy for honor, mistletoe for health, and holly for protection. I liked them so much (apparently my instructor did too...I got an A) that I had them printed on cards.  I posted them on facebook and sold all of them in one day!  I thought I'd reprint them and put them on my blog.  There are six cards (about 4x4) with envelopes, one for each plant, with a short description on the back.  They're tied with a pretty brown ribbon and they are 22.00...which includes shipping.
Here's how I'm doing this....you send me your address (375.jenny@gmail.com) and how many sets of cards you would like and I'll send you the cards with a SASE and you can mail me a check.
I totally lost my mind trying to add a paypal button to facebook and my blog so this is my low tech approach...besides, it feels more friendly.

Saints Bisqued In Cat Pee

These are Saints Rose, Milburga, Catherine, and Urban...and a summer solstice sacred plant icon (fern).  Since my kiln is in Atlanta and I am not, and moving bone dry clay is never a good idea, I asked my sister (who lives just down the road) to bisque them in her kiln.  Alas, and did her cat not pee (you would need to have sung in a church choir as a child to get the reference) upon the kiln shelves.  The pee burnt off in the bisque but the smell filled her home....and much of the mountain.
You never know though...cat pee could be the missing ingredient in amazing raku colors...I'll keep you posted!

Hmmmm

I have a really cool tree in the front yard...well, it's more of a front hill than a yard, anyway there is a scar on the tree that looked like it needed something......so I hung a goddess icon in the spot.
I think it looks really nice and it makes me smile when I look out the window...so....I decided to take a picture of it and post it on my blog.
Every picture I've taken, from any angle imaginable, has come out with a glowy flame over it.  The glowy flame is not there when I'm smiling out the window at it....hmmmmm.
Please, someone tell me this is a good thing.

Saint Valentine

Saint Valentine is the patron saint of love and romance and marriage and the romantically disadvantaged....legend says that birds that mate on February 14th mate for life.

Today's Mugs

These are the mugs I made today...they're really large right now but they should shrink to a respectable size after they dry and are fired.
It was a very rainy day in NC today and my clay just wouldn't dry.  Several mugs flew off the wheel as I tried to trim the bottoms but instead of tossing them I decided to save them....which led to much fun with chopsticks and wooden blocks (thank you woodworking department) and erasers...I'm pretty excited about these!
Oh...my prayer flags are up!

The New Building

The new, state of the art, amazing craft building is finished (well, there are a few kinks) and we have moved in....not a day too soon....a tree fell through the old building the first day of winter break!
This is my sterile cubby....in a few days my prayer flags will be up, my shelves will be full of drying pots and clay will be splattered on any surface within 4 feet of my wheel.

 This is the electric kiln room....7 new kilns!


                                                 

                     
And this is the new glaze room...no more sharing one table with the constant fear of glaze contamination!

We have a lounge area, a clean refrigerator, lots of windows, a gallery...for our incredible art and we're building all new gas and wood and raku kilns!

I am a happy potter!!