My friend's doggies

This little gal is Hime, which is Japanese for Princess. She is a 3 month old English bulldog... you cannot see the piece of paper hanging out of the side of her mouth as she naps... sooooooo cute!

...and this big boy is her 3 year old 'brother' Dozer... aptly named for both his napping habits as well as how he plows through his food...

A Mountain Get-Away

About a week and a half ago, we (Mom, Dad, Terri, Rodney, DragonBen and I) went up to the mountains to spend the day with my sister Sue, her husband Jim, their children Bobby & Karen and their respective spouses Shelly and Matthew.
We were in the western NC mountains just north of Cashiers in a place called Lake Glenville.

This first photo is of Matthew, Shelly, DragonBen, Karen & Jim out on the dock fishing... Karen & Ben caught more fish that day with raisins than Jim did...









This is a view from the lower yard looking up at the house...














...and this is the spectacular view of the lake from the back deck of the house...

Regina's lily

As you may hafve noticed, I love flowers. Mind you, I do not have the dedication to nurture them myself, but I admire their beauty.

This gorgeous lily was one my sister Regina had when she lived her in SC. It is planted in the courtyard garden at the base of the fence. Growing lush behind it is the Sweet Autumn Clematis.

The blossom opened about the time the family returned from visiting Regina in Churchville, NY.

With Art Camp and all... I have not had the time (or energy) to post.

I will post photos of the kid's projects from week one. Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of the kids at work for week 2, but I will photograph their pieces when they are out of the kiln.

Tomorrow we go to the NC mountains for the day to visit sister Sue at the lake house they are renting.

Will post more when my brain isn't so foggy...

Have a wonderful Saturday!

Vacation

As I have been on vacation this last week... so has my brain.

I have been finding it difficult to concentrate on the projects I wanted to complete. And needing to go back and forth to Clemson to check on the availability of the kiln and loading the kid's pieces in the heat of a South Carolina June & July has been draining as well...

I got as much loaded as I could, but their mugs would not fit... not enough shelves... I will have to fire those later, or at a higher temperature here at home...

The photo is of a piece I did a couple of weeks ago to show my students that the technique used for the Swarovski Rivoli Pendant can be used for other shapes and sizes as well. This is a beautiful piece of Fossilized Coral in a gorgeous burnt orange color... the stone chips on the fringe near the bail are Carnelian.

This morning I will check my own kiln to see if my pieces are cool enough to unload...

Art Camp Part I

I know... I have been remiss about posting... one of the reasons is that I was teaching clay at Art Camp last week.
It was the 6 - 9 year old group... there were 11 wonderful kids.
The photos were from Day 4... we made slab-built mugs and then glazed some pieces from earlier in the week.
I had a great time. And I give a lot of credit to my trusted assistant/camp counselor - Michael. He sure had a way with the kids...
Tomorrow I go in to load everything into the kiln for firing. With the humidity, thigs were drying slowly. After this week off... I have the 10+ group next week.

Beautiful flowers!

This Orchid was given to Terri and I as a 'thank you' for teaching a class. It was in full bloom when given to us about a year and a half ago (I think). The blooms lasted for months, but eventually faded and fell off...

The Orchid came home and spent last summer outside under the gazebo and continued to thrive and grow... and a few weeks ago... it blossomed again! Mom is so tickled... she used to kill Orchids (not on purpose, mind you).

As beautiful as the first blossoms were when Norma & Judy gave it to us, these have a special beauty all there own...

Is it June already???

I cannot believe how fast the time goes.

I have a batch of stoneware that will be firing the end of this week... I am being extra sure that they are dry from glazing before firing them. I don't have a deadline looming, I just want to get some stock made.

I am getting frustrated with the Ebony Porcelain company... I am looking for updates as to when it will be available again... nothing. I leave messages on the voice mail and send emails but no reply. I think I will mail a hand-written letter this week.

My current goal is to cast Stoneware product until the end of the month of June and then start making a small selection of Terra Cotta product.

I need to make things to fill the void of the Ebonyware...

If anyone out there knows of another source for a cone 6 black casting porcelain... please... let me know... I am having withdrawal symptoms, I have used it for nearly 20 years!!!

Birthday wishes to all of those with June Birthdays... you know who you are... I am trying to be better about sending cards... I make lots of them, but send very few.