Playing With Fabric Flowers

I started playing around making fabric roses and adding them to hats. Once I got the technique down, it wasn't much work. I'm planning on doing this to a few more hats. 


I think the very first hat will be a good hat for when I have to pick a jury. 

What I Did In The Clay Studio Today 10-30-11

I've been working on coil built bowls. I'm getting there. I decided to underglaze the inside of each bowl. I'll put a clear glaze on the inside and a funky glaze on the outside. 

The first two pieces where I used the quilter's tape to mask off lines came out of bisque a tad less than wonderful. I have some glaze spots where the tape was. So.... I decided to take the tape off these before they are bisqued. 

Today's bowls and some buttons. I know the holes are off center. I won't be using them for clothing. I thought they might make for some nice hat bling. 

The latest attempt at Shabbat candlesticks with a box to hold the candles. This time, I bought a box of Shabbat candles, measured the box, added about an inch, and cut out slabs. The last boxes I had problems with the corners. So this one was two slabs that wrap around and overlap on the ends. I will make a lid with candlesticks the next time I'm in the clay studio. 

CPAP Mask Wipes Dye Experiments

I bought some cpap mask cleaning cloths. These are cotton and are supposed to be used once and then tossed. I couldn't see tossing something that could become fiber art. So... I washed and dryered the white cotton cloths then dropped them in dye jars to see what would happen. I can't see using these as fabric, but I can see using them as felting material. 


8 years 2 months, 15 days to retirement and full time art status. 

Dyed Crochet Thread 10-15-11

I grouped like colors together so you could see the subtle differences. I happen to have 9 quart jars, and so I do 9 experiments at a time. I'm still working out just how much dye to put in each jar - I'm using less than 1/8 teaspoon of dye. This time, I rinsed out each skein, then used the washer to wash with Dharma Trading Company's version of Synthropol and put all the skeins in the dryer. Much easier for me, and I didn't seem to get any color contamination. 

Another Hat In The Etsy Shop

If you click the title, you will be magically taken to my etsy shop. 

New Hat Listing on Etsy

I'm starting to list my hats in my etsy store. I'll start with the plain hats, and then add one or two with bling. 


If you click on the title, you will be magically taken to my etsy store. 

Latest Crochet Work

I've been playing with my hand dyed crochet thread again. This is one of a matched pair to be used under candlesticks to keep the candlesticks from scratching the table. 

Itty bitty motif to be used on a hat. 

Another one of a matched pair for under candlesticks. 

Doily - just because it's pretty.

Reduction ^05 Firing or, Removing The Wild Hair

I had been told that reduction firing wouldn't have any effect on low fire clay. It has an effect. I'm just not sure I like the effect. If I were to do this again, I'd start reduction at ^010 and start oxidation firing at ^08. I started reduction at ^08 and left it in reduction to ^05. 

The short jar in the corner is mica clay. I can still see the sparkles, but I wasn't prepared for it to be black. 

The taller jar is monzano red - a VERY red clay. It came out a gorgeous matt black. Both jars are raw clay on the outside. The mica pot is glazed with clear on the inside. 

Jim's one fire extrusion piece is on the right. He used copper carb wash. I used the copper carb wash on the canisters, and I've decided I hate copper carb wash. I got little bubbles in the clear glaze, and the copper carb managed to explore the shelf and glue everything to the shelf. 

Shivering. Jim had underglaze on both extrusions (blue and black) then glaze over the underglaze. For some reason, the white clay doesn't like underglaze. 

Some of the candlesticks I had made. 

Mica pot close up. 

Too bad about the shivering because this is a really nice piece. 

Now that I've gotten rid of the wild hair.... I doubt I'll do a low fire reduction firing again. It just wasn't that exciting. I won't ever use a copper carb wash again. It wasn't worth the misery of shelf cleaning and ruining other pieces.