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Tag Archives: pottery
Spring
A new LifeBoat in the Making ~
A short visit Black Octopuses
I’ve been making octopuses from this amazingly translucent Canadian Polar Ice porcelain. They are as white as white can be. But a person needs to branch out and explore and a very Black clay has been calling me. Octopuses in black? Yes, well … yes.
hush … here comes 2 now
This one is so curious and comes right up to me.
We have a good long stare at each other,
eye to eye.
Then she slides away and she’s gone. 
Oh wait here comes another! Be very still now … This one is pretty brave, right away she comes right up to me a closer look at me. Am I a friend or a foe or just dinner?
Oh! There she goes, guess I’m not eatable. 
When You Wish Upon a Star
~ a Good Fortune Bowl ~
Happy Spring
It is Spring
Spring is Here
It is the hour of the Garden Goddess
and to all those back East who cannot see Spring coming, we in the West say
it will arrive before you know it
too careful
I spent a long time painting each surface made up of 25 tiny cubes
taking great care with each cube, I even posponed my firing a whole day so I would not feel rushed to start firing so late in the day that I’d be up all night keeping one eye open on the kiln.
It’s a story made up of 25 cubes, 6 sides. You have to rotate 5 cubes in a row at a time to find the story. It’s a puzzle. It has particular beginning or end. I’ve posted just 2 of the 6 panels of the story here. I got so involved painting, I forgot to photograph what I had done. Photographs are the Answers to each side, so I’m cooked if I drop it, I’d have to sit down and solve each side like anyone else.
When I finally finished painting each side, as planned, I loaded the kiln the next day being careful, taking my time and double checking that everything to be fired was in. I placed my little kiln dog on top and started it up and it wasn’t until hours later when I went to turn it up on high that I realized that I had forgotten to put this little puzzle in!
Nothing to do but let my anticipation go …
Now I will have to wait till next month to see how this comes out …..
It’s a lesson on patience
A Journey
~ and into the New Year we go ~
The Girls
~ what can I say ~
Body Language
I was showing a friend a new piece, a Life Boat. She asked me if those were people …..
I thought she asked because she didn’t have her glasses on. But she said that
one never knows with me …
They could be animals or creatures
fair enough
It got me thinking though. Yes their faces are undefined.
I do that for a reason.
I am talking in Body Language
Gone Fishing
Gone Fishing … at least for this week
and if you are an inclined knitter or one who just wants more ….
you can go here
Wisdom Tooth ~ Sweet Tooth
now these are weird …
not for the faint of heart or squeemish…
these are Creepy Cool so hang on to your hats
Here we go
a bowl full of teeth!
now don’t fret because I made them myself
from porcelain clay, I’m a potter, remember?
They are knitting stitch markers, you can use them to mark where you are in your knitting pattern, they make knitting easy and enjoyable because they tell you when you need to change your pattern, they are kind of like being on cruise control … in knitting
I was just looking to make something a little EDGY
and these are …
look closely, there is a gold cap on one of them
one could even use them as a Brooch, which someone I know does
I’m selling these in my Etsy shop (my shameless plug) and they come in this cool tin box
Wisdom Tooth is the one with the gold Tooth
Sweet Tooth are, well, 6 sweet teeth!
~ Sometimes you gotta just stir things up a bit ~
VaRooooom
How to make an Elephant
Start with a bit of fine white mud
Make a tear drop then ever so gently coax out the tip until it becomes an elephant trunk. They are very forgiving …. but you still have to be gentle
Roll out some legs so they can walk around, being careful to remember their toes, then give it the ability to hear and express. Oh yes, don’t forget their tail, it’s more important than you might think.
Then let it walk around.
If you’ve done it right, it will and before you know it, other elephants will join in, they are very social creatures. They will immediately recognize each other and begin to carry on
as elephants do ….
Shared Inspirations
So many impressions ~ So many ideas ~ So many thoughtful creations
all get stored away 
and pondered
and moved by
re-thinking & re-seeing & re-imagining
They all enter my own work
Come On In, I say! 
There is room for us all
mystery ~ my story
Gathering Bowl
I am compelled to make what I call Gathering Bowls. They are simple white porcelain bowls that have a flurry of conversation and connection between all sorts of different animals. They are all Talking and Listening on the Edge. That’s it isn’t it … Talking discussing, debating, and Listening which is probably more important than talking (but someone does have to be talking to be able to listen) and on the Edge because as we can all feel in our bones, we are on the edge.
I always start with the owl. Owl grounds the conversation to come.
This one is thinking, listening.
and now there is the beginning of a discussion. A between.
The Finished bowl is ready for the kiln. I had many more figures to place on the rim but these 5 little owls whispered “enough now, all we really need is a window”
Listen closely, can you almost hear what they are saying?
Modeling
I have mentioned this before but I don’t like posing for and modeling the things I knit on Ravelry or modeling the shawl pins I’ve been making. Maybe I am camera shy …..I have recently made a new line of coloured pins and …. ya … here we go again. I have to show them in play.
Last time dear Matilda came to my rescue and I will hire her again, but I thought there should be a new look.
Years ago I was made a series of female clay vases. They could hold flowers that looked like colourful ideas and creativity coming out of their heads, I saw them as putting forth new ideas, not as containers for a flower arrangement, and that is a big difference.
Well, they I suddenly saw them again as I was dreading going before the camera. Yes! They could model for me! They would be delighted! So with a little playing around with photoshop/photoshopping… not only did they model for me, they could go anywhere, I could play with the backgrounds.
So without further adieu … my new working partners.
Standing by the sea on a Northern Gulf Island.
Mermaid Pin ~ Imagine
in my neighbourhood when we were in a thick fog for a week. It was quiet and mysterious, the fog horns called out for days on end.
Trusting Owl Pin
This is on the coast of Massachusetts
Sheep Pin
and it’s Snowing!
Owl ~ knit wise
Talking Pin Giveaway Today!!!
Talking Pin Big Giveaway!!! Today TALKING SHEEP She says “Knit Me”
Go to Susan B Anderson’s Blog Now to Enter. Good Luck!
http://susanbanderson.blogspot.ca/
Herding Elephants
28 Porcelain Elephants soon to be walking around in a shiny bright coat
And many Deluxe Owl and Home Talking Pins in the making!
Etsy.com/shop/talkingclay
4 beasts
4 fish
4 birds
Birds
This is a quarter glimpse of a pottery bowl from of a series called Panorama. I was exploring numbers and how they relate to a each other in a circle. I will post another quarter next week.
Nancy Walker Studio 
