Mata and friends

I think I lack of discipline, I get distracted so easily and with the most absurd things, I mean what kind of person would prefer cleaning to take photos??? I have so many things unfinished, my paper, a canister, my closet, etc, etc. Today is cold, very cold for Florida, so I think I will stay inside and perhaps try to finish something, wait, no, I can't... today is Thursday, I will go to St. Pete in couple of hours to spend the day with my mother, oh well, tomorrow I will finish all the projects :) Sometimes I feel like Scarlet, from Gone with the Wind, that was her answer for almost everything: tomorrow!

Anyway, I did took some photos the other day, before it started to rain. However it does not have a name yet, Betsy said "Mata" but even though that will fit the name of the ardilla (squirrel) it doesn't holf the name of the whole bowl...Brian has been very lazy lately, he is not fulfilling his job as a cerrajero (locksmith) hahahaha! In Lima a cerrajero is a person that put locks and also nicknames - chapa can mean either lock or nickname.

Spring Twilight

I took me so long (well, I took Brian) to figure it a name for this little vase, but finally he got it. Spring Twilight, it evokes flowers, bird, nice and warm weather.... it is a perfect match for the cherry tree and the birds.

Birds on Trees (carved pot #2)

This is the second pot I carved, I tried something different with it, after I stained it with red oxide I painted only the high relief areas and left the background bare, no glaze at all, The red oxide will give it an antique, woody look.This one is different that the first one, that was totally glaze. However,  I am still trying to find the right combination, I am carving like crazy, I will post more photos later.

Birds on a Tree #2

Here are some photos of the new vase, I will post the video later.

The birds are Red-bellied Woodpeckers, the same one live in my garden, at least that was my intention.

Birds on a Tree # 1

This year I want to make something new, I was thinking on making jars with lids because I want to learn how to make lids and also because I think jar will be easier to sell than bowls. After last year craft fair I learn something important: not many people want to spend money on everyday objects like small bowls. However, they seemed to be very open to spend, sometimes even more money, on objects that they will not manipulate constantly like a big bowls for salad, a table center piece, something that will mostly function as a decoration. So I think perhaps I should to jars, they are nice and can be very decorative on the kitchen or wherever they want to put it. Plus learning to make lids will be fun!

First thing to learn about jars with lids is that both of them must be made at the same time or at least take the time to measure their circumference before of letting them dry. I didn't know that when I made 2 cylinders in hope of making their matching lids next class (!!) Well, lesson learned!

I will have to make more cylinders and measured them if I want to make lids for them. But what should I do with these 2 cylinders? They are not very big and they are quite thick. . . my head was thinking on the future lids instead of concentrating on making their walls thin. So I question myself again, what should I do with them? Well, I still don't know, but I figure it out that will be a good idea to try some new decorative technique with them, something I like to do but couldn't have done before, and my answer was right in front of me, resting on the thick walls: I should carved them!

So I did it, I carved both of them and soon some birds on a tree came out of the thick walls of the cylinders. Here is a video of the first one I made. I will post the second tomorrow. I don't know yet how to glaze it or what will be the actual function of these objects but I am sure something will came up.

These cylinders are the first attempts on something new. Perhaps I will develop a new collection with this idea, hummm, what will the future bring to these birds on a tree??

Pitchers

I am resting a little of making pitchers, like I said in the previous post, handles are really hard to make. I am now practicing with tumblers and I will post all the tumblers I have made in the next post (I need to take more photos). But I did some pitchers, actually I made four, here is one, I decorated it with the slip trailing tool, I used a purple glaze and fired cone 6.

This one is going to my mom's house, she said she like it :)