I've made fruit plates before. My lemon plate came out awesome and I wanted to re-create. My strawberry plate came out terrible and ended up in the trash. I decided to make some more and added in a grape plate. The lines are done with Mayco Designer Liner. Some time this week I'll be glazing with Stroke and Coat. I'm also thinking I'll try to draw a few more fruits, maybe peaches?




I'm still trying to clean up where the designer liner splattered. Last time I had this happen it affected the final product. I might draw some leeves or something in there to cover it up.




I feel like this one needs some more. Strawberry leaves are hard to draw, but maybe some strawberry flowers?




More lemons

Last year some time I attempted to hand build a large planter. I added the bottom and the foot too soon and it sagged. Then I flipped it out too soon and it crumbled. I decided to make a second attempt at this. I'm roughly following one of the Clayshare classes on how to do this.

I used Laguna 60 clay and rolled it out to 1/2 inch thick and then cut it into strips the width of a yard stick. I used a bat as my guide for the circumference. Started off with two rows straight up and down then I started angling them in. I ended up with 8 rows to get to an opening that was only a few inches wide. I let it dry until when I was pressing on the rim it didn't give too much.


Once the clay was dry enough I covered the hole and added a foot ring. The foot ring was just another piece like I used to built the walls. I added coils outside and inside the foot ring to give it strength. I left it like this for 2 days to let it setup enough.




I was testing it frequently to determine when it would be dry enough to flip. I was waiting for it to be dry enough to not collapse, but still wet enough to blend in the bottom on the inside. I let it setup for a day once I flipped it.




I think this is going to end up being a part of my next garden stack so I wanted it to fit into the river theme. So I made it look like the bottom of the river with rocks.

I finished this sweater a couple of weeks ago, but I was travelling for work and then when I got home I didn't unpack :) Gone (at least for now) are the days when I have to unpack when I get home so that I can do laundry so that I can repack on Sunday.




I made this pattern up as I went which really could have been disastrous, but it turned out really well. This could create false confidence to not having a plan in the future. Also it's been too long and I didn't write it down so it's just gone from my head.

Drove up to The Ceramic Shop on Saturday to get more clay. I got more Laguna bmix, Laguna 60, and KY Mudworks Brown Bear. While I was there I scored a Dolan knife which I've been eyeing for a while and is always out of stock. I also managed to NOT buy any more glaze. I did get some Amaco black Velvet Underglaze to make some "ink" to do screenprinting with. The dogs came along for the ride and mostly just snoozed.

I made two more attempts at the cala lily candle holders. I like these two a lot more. The grace in it has lot to do with how the first join happens and shaping the flower. The clay has to be just at the right stage of dryness too. Wet enough to shape, but dry enough to stand on its own.