Pumping it Up

 Jeff has made a lot of soap dispensers throughout his clay career. The pump mechanisms have changed over time from the plastic with a cork, to plastic screw top with glued on ring, and most recently to stainless or bronzed metal, with plastic glued on ring.

This winter he bought a few thread molds that eliminate the need for gluing on a threaded plastic ring. They were a little rough when he bought them and he had to do some clean up of the plaster. Now that he has worked with them a few times he thinks he will be able to make his own.

The soap pump in the photo below has the glued down ring and foaming soap pump. If the molds work well Jeff will switch over to those exclusively. In the mean time, I have been having fun adding the ginkgo leaves to his bottles.

clicking on the photo will take you to Jeff's Etsy shop

wee little pigs

Literally, these are wee little pigs

about 3 1/2" long! too small for coins but wouldn't they be perfect for dropping in little wishes written on paper? Or a place to keep those fortune cookie fortunes that are just too good to toss.

I have been working in the studio by myself for the past three days. Jeff was volunteering and attending the North Carolina Potters Conference in Asheboro. Since he was up and out of the house early, I made it a point to get into the studio earlier than usual and be productive.

I was inspired by Michael Mahan's post on making pear jars in one piece, and decided to give that method of making covered boxes another go. John tried to teach me some years back but I was never successful. The first go around this time ended up in the scrap bucket. On the second attempt I dug out my Bill Van Gilder book and reread his tutorial on the method. This time I was more successful!

I am going to make some more this week, this time working on throwing them a little thicker so that my gallery isn't so thin. I also need to pay more attention to what the underside of the cover will look like while I am closing it in. Behind the boxes, bowl and cup, are some soap dispensers that I finished. Tomorrow I have 7 or 8 more of those that should be ready to carve. Everything has been drying very slowly.
Let me know what you think of the round boxes and if you have any tips on throwing one piece covered boxes & jars, please comment!