Pendants

While waiting for my Birthday in July when I get to open my Gary Rith pottery, I have been working on a new collection...pendants! Check out the fake leather necklaces, 15 cents each from Hong Kong! No I didn't hand sculpt each flower. I used cake decorating tools.

I'm really happy with them. Expect more.

Clay cat 2.0

I really don't know what makes me think I can make small fiddly things with my shaky hands. But I continue to put myself through it. Maybe it's the end results. Hmm. Anyway, think back to the cat I made for a friend (and I'm not a cat person) or rather let's not think back to it. Because I really wasn't all that happy with it. I was trying to make it look like an animated character and it just didn't translate. So it has been on my mind to get back into the clay and make a better one even though a cat isn't the sort of thing I would normally make. Well here we go, a result I think I may actually be happy with...

This project got bumped up in the schedule as I was unable to paint the letters on my stars (in the background of the photo) due to my underglaze order taking so long to get here that it must be arriving by camel train.

Handmade stamps

I am a sucker for etsy. Always doing searches, being inspired by others and ultimately...buying stuff! But I have never been disappointed when my parcel arrives in the mail. Yesterday I received four handmade polymer clay stamps to use on my clay creations. All the way from the US, lovingly packaged and proving to be high quality workmanship. I am laid up with a cold at the moment and not motivated to be creating anything just now with a stuffed up nose. But I can't wait to be all better and trying these stamps out on some clay. I'm seeing pendants and I'm seeing embellishments on my pots. And I can't help but think there are other stamps I should have ordered as well. There's always next time. Credit where it is due, the creator of these beauties is Giselle and her etsy shop is Giselle No.5, store link here...GiselleNo5

alchemy

I have recently been told about precious metal clay. Wow. The concept amazes me. The possibilities are endless. Then I found out the price. *sob* $65 for 18grams. I imagine that is one, maybe two pendants. Still, I have a big Birthday coming up. So I spent a week searching for information and watching tutorials only to end up discovering that large ceramic kilns are not recommended as the temperature varies throughout them. *bigger sob* Ah well, back to reality. Here is the latest out of the kiln...

Some finished things

So here we have the completed owl for one friend and elephant for another friend. I am quite pleased with the results. I decided to go with the natural colouring to highlight the shape rather than being distracted by colours. Hmm, I'm really loving the effect of lighting I got in the owl photo.

When I think back to my first owl, I realise my aunty was ripped off. This one is a vast improvement. I'd better think about making her another one.
And just for something different here is a bowl finished with tomato red glaze, a colour I have never used as it's just not me. But I'm quite enjoying the change. I like the flecks of green showing through.

Scotty dog

An addition to the group of animals for friends. I did attempt a Japanese flying squirrel but was trying to be realistic and it failed. I realised I do much better when producing the essence of something rather than a realistic representation.

Best bowl ever

I used my new custom tools this week and wow, what a difference. As one of the others in the club said, sometimes it is how a good quality piece of equipment makes you feel that makes the difference. And I certainly got a lot of enjoyment out of the look and touch of the tools. I wasn't really sure what the surfboard was for and thought it was for making a "rim" at the base of the bowl, but I got the idea to try it on the rim at the top instead of using my fingers. This was brilliant! Check out the results...