Kiln Firing Complete

The kiln had lots of ewenice mugs (all brown) a few white sgrafitto mugs, (with the b&w designs) and some of the new "hot tub" or "fiber" mugs. I shared in a post before that the intent was that they were trying to get out, but they looked so relaxed, I just played on that with the others I made. This first mug was made for my neighbor that raises Nubian goats.
Their bodies would be much easier to sculpt if they had wool..lol. (i didn't do so well on the shape here)


and then sheep...

there's that wool. These mugs were fun to create, but had a few more challenges than the other style mugs. I look forward to trying more of them, it's really fun to watch the characters rise up out of the clay.

Cream, Sugar, and a lil Fiber

You know, I hate to waste anything.

(my mind being the exception to that rule)

This mug here was on its way to the recycle bucket. I had distorted the inside of the mug where the handle attached and it really didn't seem to be salvageable. I started to layer clay up on the inside of the mug where the problem was and thought maybe I should just put a sheep there instead.

For some reason I have an image of a sheep in my head that's stuck in a bag of wool with it's arms and legs coming out the top and an expression of "get me out of here!" on it's face. With that in mind (i don't know why it was there to begin with), but I thought I'd switch the thought up a bit and try it on a mug instead. This is slightly different in that the "bag of wool sheep" wants out, this sheep seems fairly content. She seems here more the girl along the edge of the pool... just kicking her feet, relaxing, and enjoying the warm water.

An update

Wasn't I just blogging about how long it takes to sometimes finish a piece of pottery here? Well, that piece took 5 years to get glazed. This one, I couldn't believe it was all the way back in January that I posted about making it! That's nearly a year to get it glazed, but I guess it beats 5 years. (actually, this was glazed in October.. so that's not too bad, right?)

This is my second sculpture. (I was thinking it was my first, but I just remembered that I made a sculpture of Christ holding a lamb that I gave away) It is made from stoneware clay, fired and glazed. I have several ideas in mind for future sculptures, all in the theme of "Sheep Chores". I think I'll call this one "Getting to know the sheep".

Any shepherd knows an important aspect of caring for sheep, is knowing the sheep.

"The more you understand about their behavior, the easier it will be for you to spot problems" - Storey's Guide to Raising Sheep

As you can see though, getting to know the sheep really isn't a "chore", but a special time between sheep and shepherd.

A pot here...

and a pot there..

It's definitely not been a quick process.. I have been working 3rd shift, well, potting 3rd shift. Not every night of course, but just here and there I'm making pots between the hours of midnight and 6am. I decorate them during the day while Wyatt is awake, but the pots are made while he's sleeping.

I have been working with the white clay, and sgraffito designs. I plan to switch back over to the brown clay here in the next 2 weeks. (Ewenice clay) All the tools, pottery wheel, sponges, wedging board...etc.. everything has to be cleaned thoroughly to use the white clay, so I'm trying to make an abundance of white clay items before I bring out the brown clay again. I am almost out of mugs on my website, so I'm trying to make several of each design so that I can have a good assortment on there, as well as a nice display for the fiber festival that is quickly approaching. The above design is a new one. Very similar to the "ewenited we stand" , but without the wording. I like the simplicity of this one. For whatever reason, I think of Charlie's angels when i see this one. Maybe i'll call it Charile's Ewes? (no, nevermind.. someone might think i'm meaning - sheen..baah! )
(And Alice, if you're reading this, you won't believe it... but I'm making plates. Well, ok, saucers. lol. )

I have another sketch that i'm working up of a postal worker. Ewe.S.Postal worker of course. I probably won't put it on the mugs, but I think they might find their way on some envelopes just for fun.

A few more sheep designs...

It's hard to believe that it's fall - that it's dark at 8:30 now.. and that the wool festival is 2 short weeks away! I have a couple more days of making pots and I will be packing the clay away to move on to the firing and glazing.

This is a few designs that are currently on the drying shelf:

There's so many different pottery ideas that i'd like to try, that sometimes I have to remind myself to just focus so that I can finish what is in the works.. but I wonder if anyone has ever tried "sheep wool" pottery? (you know, like the horse hair pottery??) hmm.

focus.

All fired up..

literally.. getting all 'fired up' for the Ky Wool Festival http://kywoolfest.org/ that is less than a month away. My pottery wheel had been out of commission for a time, but is all fixed and running better than it was before the lightning hit it! I can't say that "I'm" running any better, but it is. :)

I have a few new designs to bring to the festival - like the "day 6" mug here, In the works, is a "ewe haul", a knitting ewe, "work for weeds" "ewenited we stand" and a few others.

Along with the new designs , Ewenice will be coming along as well.

I'm looking forward to the Ky Wool Festival. The kiln is loaded, so the pots are on their way to getting fired up too. Hope to see you there!

Lambing season complete!

These two lambs that were born this week have wrapped up our lambing season for this year. We have 10 ewe lambs and 5 ram lambs. With the exception of the markings on this little lamb here on the left, they are ALL WHITE!

Charlie sired all the lambs this year - except for Lambies little rammy. Charlie was born here 2 years ago. He's a gentle natured ram and sure throws that white! He's shedding his winter wool in this photo, but his fall clip is beautiful! Hoping he passes that wool on.
Had a chance to scraffito a few more mugs and bowls earlier today...

they'll need to be bisque fired, then glazed with just a clear glaze.

Wishing everyone a great weekend!

Beautiful fall day...

It was a fantastic day outdoors today!

The rain seemed to come at a time here when the leaves were just changing - knocking a lot of the leaves to the ground before they could be fully appreciated! (so we'll just appreciate them on the ground)

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Took a few minutes to take a few pictures of the last group of pots that came out of the kiln a few days ago. I have been working on making more Ewenice bowls and mugs .. the weather has been just perfect for making pots. Not that the weather has to be nice, but it has been an advantage to throw a pot and set it outside for a short time in the shade to slightly speed up the drying time so that the pots can be trimmed the same day they're thrown.

I haven't seen the forecast, but hope this weather sticks around for a while!

When wool and clay mix...

It's a fun mix that i enjoy. Of course, I think that wool makes a nice mix with just about any media.. watercolor, oil, anything but polyester.. well, maybe in some cases that's great too. (however, I did run across scripture in the bible not to mix the two... but maybe it was "the old law" ?) (Hm..) I'll have to look up that verse now. Hope it's ok to mix wool with clay!

This was my project for the evening last night after dinner. I had been wanting to carve an icelandic ewe in clay to possibly make a mold of and use on pottery. This particular carving is probably going to be too large for mugs, but I'm hoping to use it on large vases, etc. I think that after i make the mold, i can modify the image to use the head/bust for mugs .. and there's possibly a process that i could do to 'shrink the image too that I'm going to experiment with. (it would've been wise to just make it smaller to begin with.. but where's the fun in that?)

(and here it is.. in Leviticus "do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material") Wonder what the background was on that rule? Maybe it would itch and ..? hm, no, wool by itself "could've" done that.. (but not necessarily) lol.

things that make you go hm? .

hope everyone has a great weekend!