Feeling A Little Sheepish

I have to admit that I have been uninspired in the pottery studio these last few months. I have been doing just enough work to get orders completed and when they are done, so am I. Last Friday I decided to switch things up a bit and make some sheep. They are fun to make and are a nice break from the wheel. These little guys are also rattles. I will finish them with a combination of tenmoku and sprayed ash glaze. They aren't fast sellers, but I usually sell a few at the Celebration of Seagrove Potters show in November. November will be here in the blink of an eye.

Moose and Lamb...

Radical Moose-Lamb

Thank you SNL for the inspiration.

Back to Work

We had to get right back to work as soon as we got home from New Hampshire. There were orders that needed to be fired and thankfully the pots were already bisqued and some were even glazed. After a day of glazing I was exhausted. I thought I was suffering from travel lag, but then the sneezing started. The next day I realized I had a damn summer cold. A big thank you to Jeff for giving me a break and loading the kiln on his own.

Yesterday we unloaded. I was pretty happy with how these mugs turned out. Jeff already claimed one for himself. The rest you will find in my Etsy shop.

And I finally fired a sheep that I made many months ago!

I have been doing light duty for the last few days and I am mostly feeling better. I dislike being under the weather, but at least I have gotten a lot of reading done. I will be back to assembling piggy banks tomorrow.

Sheep Building

 This year I have sold all of my small animals, except for one lone piggy rattle. It's not really the pig's fault, he has been sitting on the peninsula in the kitchen, not out in the gallery.

Time to start building some new clay animals. I always go back to the sheep first. 

His head and body are hollowed out.

I apply the "wool" with a tiny Kemper extruder tool, using what I call the spaghetti die. Some day I might find another use for the tool, and the other dies that came with it. So far it's only been useful for creating sheep.

Despite the hollow body, his "wool" makes him quite thick. I will let him dry a good long time before going into the bisque kiln.
Next on the list... piggy rattles.

Shaking things up

I have been making animal rattles this week. Most started out as small orbs that were then transformed into pigs, sheep, and one cat. The larger pig started out as a little, wheel thrown jug. All of them are small and will fit in the palm of your hand. I will probably finish them in a variety of ways, incorporating some of the techniques gleaned from the workshop I went to at the end of August. The rattling animals were filler work while waiting for pig bodies to firm up for assembling. These little guys will make great kiln fillers as well. They can tuck in underneath all those vessel sinks that Jeff has been making.

 Today we awoke to cool, dry, air... it's only 61 degrees here at 9 am. It feels so good to have windows open with fresh air and sunshine streaming in. Not sure how long it will last, but I will enjoy it while it's here.

new pots and new pigs

A pig in sheep's clothing...

I am assembling piggy banks this week and trying to keep it interesting!

Here are a few photos from the firing.

This platter was my favorite. I made it months ago and finally got around to glazing it.

The pink on these pigs was the result of gloss green over Temple white. I never expected it to turn pink, I thought it might be a light green. The cross over on the mug below is the same combination. The one thing I learned from this is that I can now create pink pigs for those that have been asking!

A firing means new pots in the Etsy shop, be sure to check it out over the next few days.