Harvest

The tomatoes are ripening beautifully this year. Last year, we had a problem with bottom end rot, but our soil is giving them what they need this time. The rain has really been a blessing, too. I pickled our first batch of cucumbers...10 quarts! There will be more to come. Our okra plants are not as many this year and somewhat shaded by the large and earlier planted tomatoes, so there won't be as many pickled okra. I am proud to tell that in the jars of pickles are our homegrown garlic and dill as well. As a side note, we are full fledged organic gardeners. 

Hospice Angels 2011

"The little angel factory" is open once again. This year, I decided on a dogwood flower for the chest piece. With a student teaching internship awaiting me in the fall, I only committed to 200 angels rather than last year's 400. Each body is thrown on the wheel, trimmed and then added on through slab cutouts and hand rolled heads. I use a small extruder for the hair. The final piece acts as a beaded and wired hanging bell. Each has its own distinct ring and are exclusively made for Cabarrus County's Hospice Light Up A Life Fundraiser.  

A couple of our hens enjoying the watermelon half from the Farmer's Market. I love working the cashier for Sheila and Johnny Greene's produce stand. They give me loads of over-ripe peaches and all of their sample watermelon. The chickens get the watermelon treat, but I've kept the peaches for smoothies, peach cobbler, and peach ice cream. Also, blackberries are ripe ready for the pickin' near our house. 

Rabbit

This small plate is my third piece that involves a rabbit. I borrowed a small ceramic rabbit along with a clam from my younger sister who kept it in a box of treasure from our childhood. This little bunny is painted blue and has inspired me to paint my rabbits blue. 

I've collected some brownstone pieces from this past week's demos. One is the candle holder you see below. The holes remind me of the kale plants sacrificed to the hungry and growing gang of grasshoppers in the garden. They leave only the stalks and veins. We've constructed a haphazard bug net that if I get the gumption, use to catch and feed these hoppers to the hens. The chickens are enjoying the summer weather with the watermelon and cantaloupe rinds, japanese beetles and grasshoppers. 

June's clay camp

June's Clay Camp is nearly finished. Tomorrow, we will wrap camp up with each student having a try at the wheel. They've been asking about throwing on the wheel all week, so I imagine they will be excited come morning. Hand building techniques we've covered in projects this week include pinch pots, coil pots, slabs, and slip & score. 

One scoop

These one scoop ice cream bowls were a lot of fun to make. After throwing, drying to leather hard, and trimming, I carved the rims. I had eight pieces to practice on, and by the last one, the lobes were nearly identical to one another. 

I have started a Thursday evening class for adult throwers as well as a kids clay camp this week. There are two more camps available this summer, one in July and one in August. 

Mishima and flowers

I purchased a pencil-style knife at Carolina Clay yesterday and am enjoying the experiment carving. Here are a couple of newly decorated bowls in the leather hard stage. The top bowl houses a few forget-me-nots while the bottom contains a plethora of small dogwood flowers. 

Bluebird mugs

I'm still carving birds into slip. I think these will have some color, just on the leaves. 

I will be instructing a hand building clay camp for kids the week of June 20th at Mud Slingers Studio. Also, I have begun constructing little Hospice angels for the 2011 Light Up A Life Fundraiser.