Great Art it Isn't. Great Bread Pan it Is.

^10, B-Mix, Pete's Copper Red. Yes, those are the cat paw appliques on the ends of the pan. Jim held Escobedo's foot in the clay so I could make a cat paw stamp. 

I had to add a coil of clay to the inside of each of the corners to keep the pan from cracking when being fired. I use this pan in a pre-heated oven. Never had a problem. Butter the pan well, and the very best bread comes out. Great crust, great color. 

A Tile Is Born

I took my sketch book on the cruise with me and did some sketching almost every day. I started by sketching what I saw, then playing with the lines. The end of two week's sketching is above. I originally planned to use black stain for the incised parts in the curve of the swirl and the swirls on the two stripes on the edges. I was planning on using underglaze for the rest and glazing with a clear glossy. 

After I made the tile out of clay, I realized that wasn't a practical idea. So.... now I'm asking all my clay friends for any ^6 glaze that's the blue/green of the sea near Cozumel (photo below). 

This design will go on the wall above the end of my whirlpool tub. There's no water hitting this wall, so I don't have to worry about waterproofing. 

The tiles made by pressing my thumbs into the clay (see photo below) will go on the wall behind the stove. I want something that's easy to clean and will be decorative in that little space. I'm thinking along the lines of something iridescent for a glaze. 

My Scale Drawing

I used a quilting ruler to make the 6" square and the 1" strips on the top and bottom. Then I drew on the rest of the design. 

Getting All The Tools Out

Jim made me a 6" square tile mold. He put draft on the edges so I'd be able to get the clay out easily. I line the mold with plastic wrap, drop in the 6" slab of clay, put the block on top, and hammer on it with a rubber mallet. 

In Progress

Because I was going to "applique" clay onto the tile, I rolled out a very thin slab. I cut out two 6" squares and used my tile mold to make squares. Jim made the mold with draft on the edges so the clay would release from the mold easily. I smooshed down clay around the appliques, smoothed, smoothed, and then smoothed some more, and finally drew the lines in the swirl and on the two end pieces. 

Ready to put away for the moment

I have to clean the cruddies off of them and make sure there are no clay crumbs in the incised areas; but for the moment, they are on my shelf, nicely wrapped in plastic waiting for me to come back and finish them. After that, I will be using them to make the plaster molds for the tiles. 

I had planned on making four of each tile. The two on the bottom are made by pressing my thumbs into the clay. These will be the tiles for behind the stove. I'll make two more to make four molds. 

The two with the design are a happy accident. I was going to make all the tiles go in the same direction. But I wasn't watching what I was doing when I made the second tile and made a right and a left. I like how the tiles work together. I'll make another right and left so I can make four molds. I thought by using four molds, I could make a number of tiles all at once plus the tiles would have subtle differences in them. 

Antigua

I had fun talking clay with the woman in the pottery shop. 

St. Kitts

An amusing little town with low rider motorcycles. 

Grand Cayman

Watch out for the turtle with the peg leg. 

Cozumel

I want a ^6 glaze that matches that color of water in the photo. I will test any and all recipes sent to me and post photos of the blog of the results. 

This was Cozumel, a high end city on a low end island. While NAFTA did increase individual "wealth", Mexico is still a very poor country. 

We did find lovely bamboo towels here and bought some. They will be shipped to us and I can't wait to get them. It was great fun to walk into the bamboo shop and show off Jim's bamboo socks and my bamboo dobby cloth slacks - both hand dyed by me. 

Boat Lag

It's like jet lag, only different. We've home from a two-week cruise of the Caribbean. While on the boat, I became seriously relaxed. No back spasms. The compressed nerve in my leg decompressed and healed. 

We flew out on 12/31 and I had forgotten that on the holidays, the inexperienced pilots fly. Oops. I failed to buy earplanes and the pilots (we flew El Paso to Houston to Miami) failed to properly regulate the cabin pressure. I blew out an ear, and I still can't hear in that ear. Yes, the ear has been seen by a doctor. The ear drum is intact. It's dull rather than shiny. There's no infection but there is swelling. There is also impatience on my part to get this misery over with. 

There were mirrors all over the ship, so I was constantly reminded of how much weight I've gained. I worked out on the elliptical machine on the ship 9 of the 14 days we were cruising. Now to keep that up at home. 

I'm in the process of downloading and sorting the photos. I'll post photos when I'm done. 

In the Miami airport, I not only found earplanes for the trip home () but I also found some local murder mysteries. Whooo hoooooo! All in paperback and all in my bag waiting to be read. 

Jim's Sculpture in Progress

The photos were taken in the scene shop at NMSU so you have to ignore the background. These are some of Jim's extrusions. Even the people were extruded and altered. Jim's going to be doing some carving on the wood base and the sculpture is meant to be on the floor. He calls it "Family Outing."

For the Birds

I've been feeding the birds for the last few months. Jim took some metal, his welding skills, and made a lovely little house for the bird seed offered in one of Jim's plates. We've been getting finches, dove and quails. 

My Work In Progress

I wanted to try my needle and hand on square beads. I think these are roughly size 8. Having deep seeded magpie tendencies, I was immediately attracted to the shiny copper beads. 

More Beaded Cuffs

Latest Cuff

The last time I went to the bead store, I found beautiful ice blue beads and deep blue beads. I thought they looked great together. I tried working a pattern, but the deep blue beads are smaller than the ice blue. Why on earth can't there be standard sizing with beads? Anyway, I played around and this is what I came up with. It needs a clasp, but neither Jim or I can find the little buttons I made in clay class.