Time in my studio

Today I spent a good part of my day working with clay in my studio.

I don't get to do that as often as I'd like, because there's always some other things that

I need to do, like: go to work, do the dishes, feed the dog, make dinner, do the laundry,

get off the computer, or something else that uses up my time.

Anyhow, it was a rainy day today. My favourite weather for working with clay, because

it doesn't dry so fast, and I like to take my time. I wanted to make at least 2 sun faces, and

something to hold all my earrings and whatever else popped up in the process.

I started off with a bucket of left-over clay I had to recondition. (I love using new clay from

the box, but since I had lots of time today, it was a perfect opportunity to dig into the bucket and get dirty.)

Sometimes it's fun to take the slick lumpy clay scraps, and wedge them out into a nice ball .

(It's also hard to take pictures when my hands are covered in clay).

Once it's conditioned enough (doesn't stick to my board or hands) I roll it out onto a board, and make a nice slab. I use an old rolling pin (that never made a pie) to flatten out the clay, draw my sun face outline and then cut it out with a sharp tool!

Once the outline is cut out, I shape little pieces of clay to form the eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth, then "stick" them on.

I lay the sun face over a round sponge (to support the basic shape), touched up the face,

smoothed and shaped it a bit. Now it's gotta sit overnight so it'll be a bit harder, so I can add the hanger on the back.

I made 3 sun faces and various other simple pieces. The

bird head here is going to be my earring holder.

I'm not sure what the eye is going to be for, but I can never have

enough eyes.

Ok, so it's not a kiln load, but it's a start.

Once these pieces are dry (in a few days), I'll smooth & clean them of dust and

add my initials to the backs, and then they will be ready to fire.

If I do this a few more times, I'll have enough pieces to fill up my "new to me" kiln,

and see how it works.

P.S. ( Hubby was kind enough to barbeque burgers and corn for us, so I didn't have to

make dinner. )