Pottery Mug Giveaway

I only do two festivals a year, but I like to have new designs for each show. For the Ky Sheep & Fiber Festival coming up in May, this will be one of the new items. I have several made for the show, so I'd like to give one away!

This is a 10-12 ounce mug and it's a little taller than it looks from the photo.
The mug was made on the pottery wheel, and the design was freehanded using the sgrafitto technique (painting liquid clay on the pottery and scratching away that clay to reveal a design)
Just leave your name below and next Saturday, with the help of random.org, we'll draw a name, and I will publish the winner in a blog post next Saturday evening.

These boots WEREN'T made for walking..

It's a little hard to tell from the picture, but these are Wyatt's favorite boots. At the slightest mention of putting up the cows for the night or checking the sheep, he's scrambling for those boots. "boots momma"

Unfortunately, they are way too big still and every 20 steps or so and this is what we have!

Sometimes you just have to sacrifice a little comfort and convenience for the sake of style.

Waiting on lambs

and it shouldn't be much longer!

Meanwhile.. the firstborn here is getting quite a bit of attention from us- not that he looks like he wants to be- is he sticking his tongue out at me?

oh wait, no that must have been a mistake-he's too sweet for that!

Aren't lambs cute when they're smiling? (and .. well, even when they're not?)

What a happy little lamb.

(And Alice, you were asking about a name... I haven't named him, but if you can come up with a name for him, it's all yours. While you're working on that, I'll work on shearing his momma)

All the signs of spring

Trees are blooming

Record breaking temps (83 yesterday) We have dandelions blooming too - doesn't it seem early for that?

We have a new lamb. It's time to be getting that wool off of the sheep. I have started shearing, just haven't got very far. Seems like spring used to come in a little slower than this. We're loving it though.

On the bookshelf..

Who doesn't just love a great book? I saw this book at the library and when I opened it, I knew it was going home with me for a spell! It's titled "Ceramics for Beginners". If you have every wanted to work with clay and want to get started making things without the wheel, this book will get you on your way. And while I agree it's great for beginners, I have to add there's likely something in there for many levels of potters.

There were so many great tips - and without giving away the contents of the book, here's just a small sample of tips:

Making a stamp using hot glue? I love it! If I was wanting to do something like this, I would have been carving on clay for days to make a stamp, but how neat is this? Just a wood block, and hot glue!

There were other great ideas for making your own stamps, and doing applique on the pottery.

I love this next idea here too - they are showing how to make a bird using newspaper as the armature. The paper will burn out during the firing. I love this idea too!

Hm, this would be a great way to make..... sheep!