Follow my heart

I'm working on a small group of jewelry pieces
that I hope you'll enjoy.
This is the 1st one.
I call it "follow my heart" because that's what I'm doing.
I love the freedom of making something just for the joy
of making it.
Using earthenware clay, firing it, painting it, then
designing and making it into a unique piece of jewelry has allowed
me to use numerous skills. It's a little wearable work of art.
I hope you like it as much as I do :)
I've just listed it in my Etsy on-line shop.
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=35452011

Hatching baby dinosaur

I've neglected my blog for some time now.

*wondering if anyone even noticed*.

My excuses?

I've been busy working at my day job, dealing with day to day life,

which keeps me busy, but it's not particularly interesting to write or read

about.

My "spare"time has been spent learning to use my new computer, but I'm

catching on, and have even spent some creative time in my studio again.

That's the stuff I'd like to be writing about.

I thought I'd show-off my newest listing in my etsy shop.

It's a hatching baby dinosaur! I think it's a pterodactyl, (does spelling count?)

I bought the greenware from a ceramic store, a long time ago.

I cleaned, underglazed and fired it promptly (thank goodness), because it's a lot easier

to store bisque than greenware, especially if you end up moving, like we did.

So I glazed the eggshell, and fired it again. Then packed it away in a box with many

other partially completed pieces.

Now that I have my studio space set up, I've been unpacking these boxes and am determined

to complete most, if not all, of my unfinished work.

This baby was a labour of love, and I hope someone will treasure it.

I also have a couple of hatching baby dragons that I need to finish up as well.

They're adorable too.

I find it takes such a long time from start to finish, let alone photographing & listing

on my etsy shop. At least I don't have to worry about them "growing up" in the mean-time.

I'll try & add a photo here, but just in case that doesn't work,

here's the link to my new listing of the hatching baby dinosaur: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=34281886

A lovely weekend and a new dress.

I can't remember the last time I bought, or even wore a dress,
let alone got excited about one (for myself).
I'm happiest in jeans, or pants of any kind, as long as they have pockets.

But this past weekend I went and splurged on a lovely summer dress (yah, I know
it's almost over). And "No" it wasnt' even on sale.
I guess now I'll need decent shoes or sandals to go with it :)

I love the colors & it's so comfy, but best of all...it has pockets!

That makes all the difference in the world!
To me anyhow.

I bought it from a small, local shop in Balfour, which is on the way to
Queen's bay beach (where we were heading to take Spike for a swim.)
This was one of the loveliest & fun weekends we've had in a while,
so I took lots of pictures.
Have a wonderful day.

Here's a few of my photos...


Spike loves going to the beach, almost as much as
we do :)

Spike and his big stick.



A small flock of Canada Geese


Sunset on Kootenay Lake.

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. )

Doggie days

Well, today Midas has gone "home".
We've been doggie-sitting almost two weeks, for our elderly friend from Kalso.
She fell & broke her hip on May 19 and has just been moved to a 3rd hospital since then.
At least now she is close to her family. I'm sure this will help her recover quicker.

Anyhow, my husband (mostly) and I, have been looking after her year old golden retriever, Midas.

We have our own dog- Spike, he's an 11 yr old akita/border collie cross. He's not used to sharing his home & family, so I was a bit anxious about how it'd work out.

At 1st Spike was pretty grumbly, watching Midas ( who was constantly moving, ) was
tiring him out (us too)! We had to keep Midas in the fenced patio area (Spike's pen) and
put Spike inside the house, at the beginning.
When we tried to bring Midas in the house we learned that he was scared to go up our stairs. So we couldn't get him in the house the 1st couple of days.
One night we were out in the front yard, ( hoping to see the space station pass over us) and I managed to coax Midas up the front stairs, and got him used to them...so now we could bring him inside without a struggle. AND we got to see the space shuttle fly over us!

Anyhow, a couple of nights ago, I set my mind on getting him up the BACK stairs. So armed with a few Marrow bone treats, I tried coaxing & pleading...no luck.
He can be pretty stubborn, but he sure wanted the goodies!
I was determined to get him up the stairs, so I put one treat on each of the top 3 steps, just out of reach. While he was stretching (not taking his back feet of the ground) and trying to reach the nearest one, I slowly lifted his back leg off the ground & put it on the 1st step, then I did the same with his other rear leg. He started shaking & crouching, but I persisted and moved his front paws (one at a time) to the next step. It took a lot of doing, but I eventually manoevered him up four steps, and then he was so close to the top, he grabbed the treats and got onto the porch. So proud of himself!

Here we are 2 days later and he's running up and down the stairs like there was never an issue!

And just like that, he's gone, the long drive to his new home, where his own family will be around. "Mom" and Midas will be reunited in couple of days, to start a new chapter in their lives- "Recovering".

Coming to terms with clay.

I was wondering how many folks are familiar with some of the basic terminology
used in a mud shop? (other than mudders of course:)
After listing a couple of "slip-cast, bisque ware" pieces on my Etsy store... http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=20570255

I realized that I was using clay-speak which may not be well understood by everyone.
So I thought it might be a good subject for my blog.

First of all there's numerous names and types of "clay". I've divided them into two categories:

Manmade- polymer clay, fimo, resin, plaster, paper mache, playdough are some examples
of what are often called "clay".
There are so many types of manmade clays. They are great for the novice AND the pro.
The best part is that no special equipment (kiln) is required, so it is accessible to everyone!
Although they can be pricey- the size of your creation will have a big effect on the cost of your materials.
-some come in a block, in assorted colors,
- others are powders that you mix with water.
- you make your item, then let it air dry.
- Some types will harden and be finished,
- others just need to be painted at this point.
- Then (for some types) you must bake it in a (regular household) oven,
(to maintain the permanent shape,) and may or may not need to be
painted or sealed.


Natural clays-
Earthenware, stoneware, porcelain, bone china, Hi-fire, Low-fire, terra-cotta are some examples of natural clays. Most are processed to remove impurities, and to alter the plasticity of the clay.
Here's a link for more great info about natural clay: http://www.kitcornellpottery.com/teaching/clay.html

These clays are all very breakable in the greenware stage, and must be fired to maturity to make them strong and permanent.
Earthware- low-fire opaque clay
Stoneware- Medium to High-fire opaque clay
Porcelain- High fire clay (often somewhat translucent.)


Terms often used for natural clays:

Bisque: Clay that's been fired once, often to maturity. It is strong and ready to be
displayed, but more often is painted (or stained), or can be glazed and then fired again.

Cones: Used to determine maturity of clay as it's being fired. (kind of technical, I'll add a link
here soon)

Firing: Heating clay to maturity, where it is no longer porous. Usually fired in a kiln.
Mudder's don't usually use temperature to describe how it's been fired, we use "cones".

Greenware: Clay that's been shaped into a form and dried.
It is very fragile at this stage. If an item is broken at this stage, it can sometimes
be fixed or more often, pulverized, water added, and re-used.

Leather stage: When clay is partially dry, it is great for carving details and holds it's shape, but is
very breakable.

Mudder: A person that works with clay.

Slip: Liquid clay used to pour into a mould, (also great for fixing broken greenware.)

Slip cast: A piece that was made by pouring slip into a mould, allowing some of the moisture
to be absorbed by the mould, removing piece from mould, allowing it to dry.

Whiteware: Is usually a plaster piece ready for painting, sometimes used "incorrectly" to
describe bisque ware.

DIY live mousetrap,

At our old house, we had a mouse problem when we moved in,
so I made my own cheap & simple live trap, using a deep (plastic) garbage can, long piece of wood, newspaper, tape, scissors, peanut butter, and (chocolate chip) cookies.
It worked great, I caught 5 mice the 1st night I tried it!
- Lay a sheet of newspaper on top of the garbage can to cover it completely.
- Tape it to the can so it is secure and looks kinda like a drum.
- Then cut a + in the middle of the paper. (The trap entrance). The pointy flaps should be a couple of inches long.
- Smear a bit of peanut butter on each of the 4 tips of the paper.
- Use the piece of wood to form a ramp (lean one end of the piece wood, on top of the garbage can, the other end on the ground,)
- Make a tiny trail of cookie crumbs going up the ramp and leading to the peanut butter. Sprinkle some more crumbs all over the paper.
- Now you just gotta wait! and eat the rest of your cookies.

The idea is the mice will follow the cookie trail onto the paper, when they go for the peanut butter, they fall in and can't get out.

If you are releasing the mice, you have to take them far away,(a couple of miles anyhow) or they'll just come back.
Then I bought a little plug-in mouse deterrant thing.
(It makes a sound we can't hear, but mice can and they don't like it, so they stay away.)
It worked!