I get asked all the time if my gnomes are ring holders. I thought I would try to make a few with that purpose. They are mostly the same as my normal gnomes except the hats are much straighter. I don't know why I added the bird other than I thought it looked really cute. I made one as just a ring holder without a gnome body. I like the simplicity of that one too.

A lot of people don't realize the time it takes to finish pieces. Generally I need 3 days in a row where I can work on pieces before I just leave them to dry. For mugs, cups, bowls, etc. that is.2 days in a row and then a third day a few days later when the rim is solid. I've been traveling a lot for work so it's made working on things difficult. Last week I put all my mugs, shot glasses, and the two wine goblets into my dry box to keep them soft enough that I could finish the rims.

All gnomes start as a couple of different pieces. I like to get the bodies, hats and noses made in batches as you see here. Then as I pick up each body, I decide which hat and which nose fits that body. Then each one gets a custom face.

I saw these glasses while watching the latest season of The Orville. They were conical on the top and cylindrical on the bottom. These are my first attempts at making them in clay. They leave a little to be desired.

I made this one first. It is the same top as a mug that I tried out from a class I took recently. I think the bottom this one is both too tall and too straight. I feel like asthetically the two pieces don't go together well. I carved in the lavender on the bottom and that actually helped make it more cohesive.




Initially I thought the problem was that the bottom was too tall for the top. It wasn't until later that I realized that there was a shape issue. When I realized the shape issue I flared out the bottom. Instead of carving this one my plan is to make the bottom a solid color (Lavender Mist) and see if that balances it out. More on this concept to come.

I had forgotten about this jewelry until I was cleaning up. I made it back in December, but needed to add the neclace and earring hardware. The picture is a bit messy, but I love how the actual pieces turned out.

I mentioned earlier in the week the class that I have been taking. There's been a lot of focus on texture in that class. In the class we were shown how the texture can just be joined together. I'm finding that in my work I either don't want a seam at all (like in the lavender earlier this week) or I want to accentuate the seam like I've done here. I'm learning a lot, but also finding my style. January was a really busy month for work so I'm really behind on the class, but finding time to catch up and experiment now.

I had saved the last of the lavender from my garden last year. Threw it in a baggy in the freezer. It only took 10 minutes or so for it to thaw out enough to use. Lavender is pretty hearty when it comes to pressing it into clay. I made some of my normal mug size for this. The fun thing about the lavender is that even though I'm using the same 12 or so pieces - I never put them down exactly the same so each piece is unique.




I've been taking a virtual cups class in January and got this cute little shot glass template from it. It's the reverse of most shot glasses since it has a larger base, but I think it's going to be really sweet. With the lavender on it I think it could also be a really sweet tiny bud vase.






Also from the cups class comes this new truncated cone mug shape. I only made a couple because I'm worried its a little tippy. Going to see how the finished product comes out and decide whether I modify it any. I have an idea for a wine/drink cup that has this shape on the top and then a cone bottom. I'm experimenting now to get the right shape.