"Vase of Impression"

 Hints of Claude Monet's impressionist paintings of London and Le Havre.

“Blue Perfume”

Small jar with a ceramic stopper.  (Stopper pulled for illustration.)

I love the beautiful mottled blues.  Could be used for oil, though makes a great decoration piece.

“Wisp of Woods”

                                      Display dish with lichen-covered twigs.                                           (Selected twigs mounted on a shallow bowl with floral display base/spikes.)

“Imperfect Beauty”

This small vase broke during a "horse hair" Raku process.  (This piece wasn't glazed and the tongs cooled the thin rim before I could set the pot down and the repaired portion is not visible in first view.) 

Raku ware (楽焼, raku-yaki) is a type of Japanese pottery traditionally used in Japanese tea ceremonies, most often in the form of chawan tea bowls. (Removal from kiln while hot, which results in cracking created by rapid cooling.) 

(The horse hair technique used, not hot enough to crack the unglazed pot, singed the horse hair.  The hot clay body absorbed and trapped the carbon as it rapidly cooled.)

 

Recently, I decided to attempt a Kintsugi treatment. 

Kintsugi (金継ぎ, "golden joinery"), also known as kintsukuroi (金繕い, "golden repair"), is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum, a method similar to the maki-e technique.

 “Voilà!”  (Though not as easy a process as it may seem.)

“Candy Dish“

                                                       

                                                            Candy Dish

                                   (Covered bowl with deep blue blossoms.

                           Takes a bit of work to "cut" the lid, but not difficult.)

COVID Testing

Feeling hopeless about the US “response” to COVID?  I sure have been feeling that way lately.  But I want to say: WE ARE NOT HELPLESS AS A POPULATION.  There are things we can do.  Listen to this “simple” way to get the spread under manageable control.  (The entire podcast is somewhat long, but you can skip portions.)  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-virology/id300973784?i=1000485148648

“Hoely Bowl!”

Holely Bowl!

                                      (A little whimsy called for, something
                                       different, something conversational.)