Names of flowers

The south facing bank between the field and road by my house has an array of yellow, purple,white, and most recently, blue blooms. 

Family: Asteraceae

Common name: Cornflower; Bachelor's Button

Genus Species: Centaurea cyanus L.

Originally from Europe

Escaped from cultivation; naturalized

Family: Scrophulariaceae

Common Name: Toad Flax

Genus Species: Nuttallanthus texanus

Native to the Southeastern U.S. 

These flowers are more purple than my monitor displays.

First glaze firing

I didn't end up starting the kiln last night. Rather, I just started it this morning. Worried that I had forgotten to wipe off excess glaze on some pieces, I ended up unloading the kiln and reloading. I found a few things to fix up including an owl box lid that would have glazed shut. 

The peas have been working hard.

Glazing and dreaming of summer time

I finished up glazing all of my pieces this morning, and loaded the kiln. There are about three more weeks left in the UNC-C spring semester. This means that the following couple of months will be filled with clay and garden work. The thought makes my heart swell with joy! 

Mud Slingers Studio is having their official open house this Friday along with the Art Walk in downtown Concord from 6-9 pm. I will be demoing on the wheel, probably set up on the sidewalk (unless it rains). There will be various other activities going on at the studio including glass pendant making and hand building opportunities. 

This Saturday, April 16th, the Herb Festival is happening at the Winecoff School road site for the Piedmont Farmer's Market. This is the transition from the winter market to the spring market which opens Saturday April 23rd from 8am-noon. Mike O'Brien and myself will be manning the pottery booth with our hand crafted pots. 

I hope to start the glaze firing tonight, but we'll see...

Biddies

The other weekend, we went to Tractor Supply Co. to buy some new work clothes. They had baby chickens and we ended up bringing home six of them. The two large chicks are advertised as meat birds while the two red are for laying. The black biddies are tiny and precious. Hopefully, I won't end up with all roosters. 

I put the chicks in the chicken house while I moved the two speckled hens and bantam rooster to the yard for the afternoon. The babies were kicking and flapping in a dust bath and enjoying the sunlight and brisk wind. 

The chicken scratch we buy from McDonald's Feedstore in Concord has kale seeds in the mix. The leftover seeds itself in the yard and some are flowering. 

Potters in Ghana

This is an article describing the work of women potters in Mpraeso, a village near Accra, Ghana. I found it in the archives of the Studio Potter Journal.

Here is the link:

In Ghana, Pottery is Women's Work

Carved Bowl

I've carved into clay in a repeating line pattern before, but looking at other potter's processes, I've learned that using a sponge to smooth out the carved surface gives the piece a nice finish.

Spring inspirations