I'm a little teapot

School is over now, December 12th was the last day, another semester down.  The last assignment of the semester in ceramics was to make a teapot and two cups preferably on the wheel.  I got it done but quite primitively. Glazing is like magic to me.  You can't quite tell what the colors will be  until after it is fired, you don't know how they will react to each other if you use more than one. When it does get fired it's shiny! The colors I used were a red and a green.  I dipped it completely in red and dipped the top in the green. 

This one I did the opposite.  Dipped completely in green and the rim was dipped in the red. 

The spout on the teapot was thrown also.  I was just glad to get one made that could be attached.  It can only get better.  I like the lid only it doesn't fit....it shrank. 

We also had to do a paper on an ceramic artist.  I chose an Indiana Artist named Carol Bell.  She started Blue Moon Pottery in Noblesville, IN.  This is one of her pieces, of course the red attracted me.  I liked her for many reasons.  She bases many of her pieces on nature and the colors she used are just great.  She also is an inspiration because she started when she was older and had been in the corporate world. quit that world, took ceramic classes at the Indianapolis Art Institute and then opened her business.   

Here she is...Carol Bell. A very gracious and interesting woman.

Her pretty ceramic poppy cups.

I love her sunflower cup also.  The texture in the middle was made from the end of a sharpie cap. 
The website is http://www.bluemoonpotteryonline.com/about.htm.

I hope you stop and see what else she makes.

Thanks for checking in with me too!

 

Book Review: 11/22/63 by Stephen King

I read this book about 2 months ago and just hadn't gotten around to doing the review.  Today is the PERFECT day to do this. 

The book starts out with a high school English teacher who is 35 years old name Jake Epping and is in Lisbon Falls Maine. One day the owner of a diner that he frequents asks him to come to the diner after hours because he wanted to show him something.  Jake was perplexed because he had no idea what it could be about.

When he got there the owner of the diner looked years older and was definitely sick and he had just been in the diner the day before.  He showed Jake a back room that would take him back in time to the same town, Lisbon Falls but to the 1950's. When he would come back, no matter how long he was gone, two minutes would have passed. 

Jake also taught a GED class and he had given the assignment of his students writing about a night that change their lives.  One of his students wrote about the day that his father killed his family and this deeply affected the teacher. 

After finding the time traveler room he thought about going back to the area and intercepting  the father from killing the family and what he had to do to get this done.

After he did it he came back through the room to see how this had affected modern day life and the man who wrote the paper. 

Then Jake and the diner owner decided that the world would be better if he would go back and stop Lee Harvey Oswald from killing President Kennedy. 
Along the way he met a woman he fell in love with and he couldn't give out his real identity and had to falsify information and the woman eventually confronted him because she felt he wasn't telling the truth. 

Essentially he had to live two lives down in Texas.  The one where he was a school teacher in a small town and the other watching Lee Harvey Oswald and his family when they moved to Dallas. 

Leading up to the shooting of President Kennedy the book was very exciting with many twists and turns.  It gives a lot of history and food for thought.  It was a very enjoyable book and also it brought up again the thought....Did Lee Harvey Oswald ask along or was it a conspiracy?

After you read it, you will draw your own conclusion. 

Thanks so much for stopping.


 

Owl

I saw this little guy on the cover of the Birds and Blooms magazine and decided he would be a good subject to draw with graphite pencils.  Many good lights and darks and texture to practice with.
He is a Northern Saw-whet Owl and I copied the description from the great All About Birds website:

A tiny owl with a catlike face, oversized head, and bright yellow eyes, the Northern Saw-whet Owl is practically bursting with attitude. Where mice and other small mammals are concerned this fierce, silent owl is anything but cute. One of the most common owls in forests across northern North America (and across the U.S. in winter), saw-whets are highly nocturnal and seldom seen. Their high-pitched too-too-too call is a common evening sound in evergreen mountain forests from January through May.

It doesn't sounds as if we would be able to get a look at him but if you go to the website there is a spot where you can listen to his call. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Clay Projects

In ceramics class we have advanced to learning how to throw clay on the wheel.  Its a fun, messy job that takes a lot of brain power to learn. 

Three bowls from last night.  I had help getting these started.  I haven't got the hang of starting it out.  It was determined that I am pressing too hard....I think I have to relax and not try so hard. 

You definitely have to wear clothes that are very washable. 

My house tiles all fired.  We were learning how the glazes react.  My flowers were supposed to be red and they turned green.  The Professor is new this year and he didn't know how the glazes that were on hand would react either.....they have been removed from the cupboard.  Learning also how much is the right amount of glaze because the yellow is splotchy.  I still like my house, it has lots of interesting features.

I wasn't happy with my little plate because the white was not smooth.  Prof. says that he will show a trick on how to make it better and we will fire it again.  I am happy with my floaty leaves though. 

Some of these were from the first night on the wheel and some on the second..the difference...look at the bottoms.  We were shown how to trim the bottoms.  They are still wet so I will go back and trim.  I will keep these, fire and glaze.  The object is to make two good cups and a teapot.  The teapot can start out on the wheel and then hand built the rest of the way.  This is the final project in clay for the semester.  It's a long process, from designing, to building, to drying, to cleaning, to glazing, to firing. 

This little lady lost her left leg when I was glazing her.  The glaze we are using (and I won't spell it right) sounds like this...terrasige....from what I understand it is made with clay and we are brushing it on and rubbing it to a high sheen.  We will then pit fire the piece and then it will look ancient.  I will keep her leg and adhere it to the other so it looks like she is crossing her legs.  It's pretty cute~

Her sweet face, in the drying faze her neck bent a little bit so she now has a whimsical tilt to her head.  She IS a piece of work, with a lot of personality!

Here is my oval bowl.  I'm not really happy with the colors but it's still a learning process.
My tall pitcher, flowered candy dish and the little lidded container with the flower on top were in the kiln last night. 
They should be ready to look at the next class. 

Thanks so much for stopping!

Front Door/Fall Decorating

I picked up this magazine the other day.  I loved the black door and all the different colored gourds.
It turned out the this is a design that P. Allen Smith built and it is a 1600 square foot cottage.  Now P. Allen Smith is a gardener so he probably grew all those different gourds, it would have cost me quite a bit to get all of those.  It has a black door like mine, I could have put a cat on the porch instead of a dog.  I have white pillars and a gold handle like is on the door.



Here is my scaled down version.  My pumpkin and gourds I picked up at Lowe's for half price.  The greenery kale in the pots I found for $1.50 each.  The full and beautiful mums were even buy on get one free or BOGO as in advertising now.  I thank my friend Theresa for finding that good buy!

I have moved all the pictures off the tall bookcase and am moving in pottery.  Some of it even dates back to my gradeschool days and both my son's also. 

The corner picture cabinet now.  I like it.

I also like my pineapple and the angel holding the pineapple.  The girl sculpture riding a crow with a little pumpkin in it's beak. 

Boy today was a pretty, we have to enjoy these days, they are numbered.

I hope you got out and enjoyed it. 

Halloween Faces 4

It was a very cold, windy, rainy, snow showery Halloween.  It didn't stop the trick or treaters, but the crowd did seem to be thinner than in years past.  I would ask the kids if I could take their picture and they happily obliged with big grins.  Can't you tell??

The woman in this picture and the man in the next told me they met on Halloween and love it.

This is a great outfit.  He was very intimidating walking up our driveway.

I asked if he was a mountain man....he said no...I'm Davy Crockett!

Thing 1 and Thing 2 are twins.

 

This sweet, little orange crayon was a special visitor earlier in the week along with her parents.

We had such a nice visit!

The swamp monster.  Scary but good.

Hope you had some good costumes visit your house.

Thanks for stopping by.

My Other Blog-please check it out

I work at The University of Saint Francis and have watched this project grow in just 7 years from and idea to a full blown action.  I am a totally in awe of this project.  It truly epitomizes the good that students and the rest of us can do.  I started following Formula for Life on Facebook when I realized that they were actually funding to build an orphanage in Haiti. 

I would see the posts and watched the construction and thought "how neat is this"!  Learning about Haiti when the earthquake hit was eye opening.  This country is so poor, when we live in abundance. 

When two new little guys were taken in but they had to sleep on the floor because there was no room for more beds.  Amy Obringer, the keeper of Facebook asked if anyone knew of ways to raise more funds.  I asked if I could build a blog for them and let the world know about this project.  Maybe this could help. 

 

 

This was taken in 2013.  The Formula for Life group was presenting Father Andre with the first raised funds to start the orphanage.

 

 

This is the most recent poster from the 5K run in April.  There will be another in April of 2015.

 

News Sentinel picture of the Formula for Life 5K run.

Poster for the Bike to Build in August 2014.
This was the first year for this project.

Biker participation

The sweet orphans of Our Lady of Perpetual Hope Orphanage.
There are only 29 the but Father Andre has to turn away children all the time.  The new orphanage will have beds for 160.

Sending construction supplies to Haiti.

The student group of Formula for Life.
Please help them with this project.
Visit Formula for Life on Facebook and the Blog.



Taken in October of 2014.  Not only does this help the orphans of Haiti is helps the area by providing jobs for the residents.  This is located 5 hours from Port-AU-Prince.

I ask you again to please check out the sites.
If you would like someone to come and speak to your group about Formula For Life please contact me or put a message on Facebook and someone will be glad to get back with you.
The children thank you and I thank you- from the bottom of my heart.