Duality Boxes

This is from a class assignment where we were supposed to make two boxes expressing duality. I thought about the duality between Orthodox and Reform Judaism. While there is a lot that differs, there's a lot that's the same. I made a structured box and an organic, unstructured box that sort of shaped itself. The lids do open, but the opening is fairly small and the boxes are not practical for storage of anything other than ideas.

Duality Boxes

Rattles

These are low fire spirit rattles. The green on the top of the larger rattle is a class glaze. I thought it would run a bit more. Typical. The glaze you don't want to run, runs all over the piece, the kiln shelf, and other pieces in the kiln. The glaze you want to run stays put.

3-D Tiles

I've started working with 3-d tiles using 3 or 4 layers of tile, cutting away what I don't need and leaving the rest. I used slip for most of the decoration on these, and I'm not completely satisfied with the slip. The tiles I'm working on now, I've put several layers of slip and sanded through the layers to show more than one color.

I've made suits that didn't take as much time and effort to make.

I wanted a low price, good quality shopping bag to compliment the Serious Shopping Bags on my Etsy store (shown below). These are smaller bags with shorter handles - but they hold about as much as a paper grocery bag.

I thought these would be easy and quick to make. The Serious Shopping Bags have a quilted panel on the front. These are "plain." Hah! I've made suits that didn't take as much time and effort as these bags. It was the handles that did me in. Finally, after I'd had more than enough turning upholstery fabric tubes right side out, I grabbed the black web for the final two of the six bags.

They aren't for sale - mostly because I'd lose money if I sold them at a price people are willing to pay. Instead, they will be going with me to the grocery store, the fabric store, any any other store I visit.

I forgot to figure out how to quilt this before I made it

The colors are a bit off and it hasn't been blocked. It's a square of 100% cotton and I used fabric ink for the words. I then used fabric paint for the eye.

I wanted to make a small quilt based on a vision I saw. I used purple to denote healing and the quilt's called: Eye Of The Storm. Now I have this piece and no idea how to quilt it. I welcome all suggestions. Thanks for the input.

Last Touches on the Back of the Tile

Jim made me a block with my initials in it so I can stamp my initials on the back of my work. He also made me stamps for the kind of clay. I work with ^04, ^6, and ^10. I use white clay bodies, so all my bisqued work looks the same. Without stamping the cone on the back of my work, I'd have no idea how to glaze it.

Getting Ready to Make Tiles

Jim went dumpster diving and found a round pipe that used to hold big lights on top of a monster truck. He cut down the pipe to a manageable size, turned wooden ends and that's my rolling pin. He also made me a 6" square so I could cut out the clay to the proper size before putting it in the tile mold. I've also found that a cheap pizza cutter is wonderful for cutting out clay.

Making Tiles

Tile Making Tools

These are the tile making tools Jim made for me. The 6" square mold has a 5 degree draft. I line the mold with plastic wrap, put in the clay, put the block on top of the clay, and hammer away on the block to compress the clay. I get very few cracked or warped tiles and I get great stress reduction from hammering on the block.

Making Good Use of Leftover Fabric

I needed some shorts, but I didn't want to buy new fabric. I took some leftover fabric, got out my scrubs pattern, and made two pairs of shorts and a top. The shorts were made by simply folding the pattern to the length I wanted and cutting out short rather than ankle length pants.

My Controversial Ceramic Work.....

.....is now at In Effect Gallery in Las Cruces, NM.

The pieces on display are part of my work with the concepts of power, the illusion of power, grabbing power and bullies. No, I can't post photos on the blog - it really is controversial work.

You can contact In Effect Gallery at ineffectgallery@mac.com

And The Spouse of the Year Award goes to......

... Jim for crawling into a tiny crawl space to get all the cat hair out so the central air would work again. We now have cold air blowing out of the vents.

Yard Art

Jim found the tennis balls and the seahorse. The seahorse has a broken nose, so it needed a tennis ball cast. And now, we have another piece of found object yard art to add to the collection.

Serious Tote Bags

Being arthritic, I've had to figure out ways I can do things. One way was to make myself a Serious Tote Bag. These tote bags are made from heavy-duty upholstery fabric and are about 20" x 20". I make the strap long enough so I can wear it across my chest. This gives me hands-free shopping at the farmers' market and the Renaissance Faire.

More Serious Tote Bags

How to get to my etsy store

ACK! The Spam Folder Ate Your Comment

I was moderating comments mostly because then I'd know when someone commented. Alas, the spam folder ate the last comment so I've turned off the moderating comment feature. So.... if you don't see your comment, it's because the spam folder ate it. Please feel free to repost your comment.

Can you help me date this design?

I bought this bead and sequin applique in a vintage clothing store. I don't think the applique itself is all that old, but I'm wondering about the age of the design. The clerk suggested the 1930's or 1940's, but it doesn't seem to me to go with the styles of those decades. I was thinking more along the line of 1910-1915.

Does anyone have any idea how old the design is or know how it was used? I can see this tacked onto a cream colored silk jacket.