On a creative roll with clay

Creating seashell boxes!

And a collection of smaller boxes all in white.

Below is my first attempt at a large treasure chest shaped box

with an Asian inspired base,

Front and back in a turquoise tinted glaze.

I'm into experimenting and having fun with clay!

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My latest masterpiece in clay,

Inspired by black and white photographs of a beautiful old statues

 and amazing masses of flowers at a cemetery in Paris.

I've created this vase using heavy cotton fabric dipped in slip 

and artfully sculpted to create the massive flowers 

embellishing the top.

This is just how my imagination works...

I'm feeling blessed and thrilled with the result just out of firing 

and thrilled to have it featured in Somerset Home Magazine!

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Experimenting with mishima technique

Mishima is a technique of inlaying slip, 

under glaze, or even clay into a contrasting clay body, 

the main clay body of the pottery piece.   

Creating a mishima piece is pretty simple. 

I started by creating the vase shape then carving out the design. 

I chose to fill in the carved lines with a sepia tone,

then sanded off the excess material then sponged it clean.

Just for fun I punched the holes with a straw 

so that I could add a ribbon to the top of the vase.

After drying the piece I added glaze. 

and put it in to be fired.

I was surprised when it came out of firing and the colors 

seemed to have been lost, it was so muted.

Ha! That is why I call it an experiment!

I'm liking this quote,

“Life is an adventure of passion, risk, danger, laughter, beauty, love; a burning curiosity to go with the action to see what it is all about, to go search for a pattern of meaning, to burn one's bridges because you're never going to go back anyway, and to live to the end.” 

― Saul D. Alinsky, Reveille for Radicals

Cotton string and clay...

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Inspired by nature,

and the feathered guests visiting my garden

I've been experimenting with a ball of cotton string

some liquid clay and my satin glazes...

success, and another new ceramic design.

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