CHRISTMAS in April!!! My 2nd term projects

It was seriously like Christmas today!!  Seriously!  Professor H. pulled all my pieces out of the gas kiln.  I posted a few earlier.  They were from the electric kiln. And while it does leave the colors more vivid, I prefer the smokey deep colors in the gas kiln, so that's where most of mine were fired.

Birds.  These first ones were chicks.  I used a yellow glaze that ended up not being yellow in a gas kiln. 






The second batch are my song birds.  

And my seagull.  He's my favorite of the birds. Frankly, seagulls are my favorite birds.

I did Book Bookends.  It's hard to see, but the book on the left is The Hobbit, with a hobbit hole.  The middle one is Charlotte's Web...Charlotte's there, but hard to see.  And the last one is Anne of Green Gable...her braid and the house.



I did two sets of four mugs.  The bottom looks like tree bark.  I'm really thrilled with how they turned out!

And oh, how I love my face jugs.  I have family requests for more.  I'm thrilled with how their eyes turned out.  I want to work on their ears next time.

I wanted to try making a hand...the kids are referring to it as my Dementor Hand.  Hmm.  You think JK Rowling would like it?

My wooden spoons (I used them in that short story, Spoons) turned out great and Im' happy with my acorn scoops. I think the one in the back on the right is probably the most practical.

And here's my mocha diffusion tray.  I'm so happy with how it turned out!!  It's another one of my favorites of the year!  Underneath is my mocha diffusion bowl.  Love that one, too!

I worked on faces too this term.  This is one of my best girl ones.  I love that she's reading her book in the woods with her buddy!

These were my first faces...uh, yeah, they weren't great.  I mean, you can tell their faces, but they're no really people looking. So I made them goddesses.  LOL

I went to an art show where they had a beautiful leaf painting.  I tried to emulate it.  I did two experimental pieces and I'm happy with the final product!  I'm going to hang it out at camp!

SANTA PALOOSA!!  I wrote about my father-in-law's years of making folk art Santas out of wood.  Here are my ceramic homages.

The kids love these
"Butt Santas."

A bunch of Santa faces close-ups!

I'm so happy with how these tree mugs turned out!!

Last but not least, here are my quilt pieces.  I'll be mounting them in the next few weeks.  I'll post the finished "quilt."  I did two of each color and fired one in the gas kiln, one in the electric kiln.  I wanted to get a feel for how much they'd change.

Seriously, I can't tell you the amount of glee I had today.  You know how you felt on Christmas morning when you were ten?  Yeah, that describes my feeling today!

Thanks for everyone who followed my adventures in school this year! 

Holly

Lots of Projects from Ceramics II—My Novel Freshman Experience

Lots going on in the studio this term.  Let's see...leaf plaques, a book bookend, made my own clay mix...

I made 39 quilt tiles...it took forever to glaze them all! 

And a chicken mug which was not a success.  I used a chicken rolling pin, but the birds got lost in the glaze.

Birds and tree mugs...I can't wait to see the mugs glazed!

 The first of the quilt tiles came out of the kiln...the rest are going in the gas kiln.

And my first glazed Santa.














 More birds and a Santa...and the start of the mug.

The top Fuhrmann plaque was made by my FIL.  I based some of my Santas on his as well.  I came close to recreating it in clay.







More birds.  I'm getting better.  And this Santa isn't based on my FIL's...he's my own design.  A lumberjack Santa.  I'm pretty pleased with his maul.  (I have my own, btw!)

The start of another bird and a very rough bunny.

A tree Stump Mug.

Tree branch spoons. I wrote a story inspired by them!  Spoons: A Love Story

 These were some of my first tries at faces...
They turned out odd, so I made them goddesses

 Here are the clay quilt tiles...and more spoons.

 Faces and hands were my goal this term.  Someone said these looked like Dementor hands.  Uh, yes they do.












The middle one is my FIL's Santa...the other two are my attempts to replicate it.

Another face.  Still odd.  So I made her a sun goddess.  Yes, in my mind gods and goddesses have inhuman faces.

 More spoons.

 More birds and Santa.  This one's my own design.

 A bit tree plaque.  And I loaded my first kiln!

Here's my first batch of greenware.



Acorn palooza...different scoops.

Lots more in the work.  My theme for this term was Folk Art.  I figure even my not quite human faces fit into folk art.  LOL

Thanks everyone who's been following my journey back to school!

Holly

These are my "Butt" Santas, based on ones my FIL made.  The kids all want one!