ode to spring

Inspired by all the fallen petals from blooming trees, I have been working away on a petals series. Here they all are glazed, fresh out of the kiln.

Below are the process images:


1. bisque stage


2. wax resist applied to the bottoms, preventing glaze from absorbing into that area


3. glazed and drying, waiting to be loaded into the kiln

a bowl without a spoon is like...

Every good bowl needs a good spoon, though the ones designed by Kirsten Hecktermann and hand carved in her father's workshop in Kilifi, Kenya put many a good bowl to shame. They are such gorgeous sculptural creations.

The spoons are carved out of managed local hard woods and marine bone. Some styles are available at Horne.

Kirsten's textiles are also spectacular.

bodo sperlein

I found Bodo Sperlein through Horne, a thoughtfully curated online boutique that carries beautiful objects from around world. Lovely, delicate work.

unfurling

From my walk in Lincoln Woods, this morning.

white on white

The shapes I threw on the wheel a few weeks ago are finally glazed and out of the kiln. I chose a matte white glaze to accentuate the simplicity of the form. It's usually a clean pure white, but when fired with this particular clay body, which is a high fire stoneware, tiny gray specs appear on the surface, like some bird's eggs. I'm happy with the results.

ah... quince

photo courtesy of design* sponge

A lovely, and entertaining, posting on Design* Sponge about this gorgeous flowering tree used in flower arrangements.

Here is what the quince fruit looks like, just as beautiful as the flowers.

ted muehling

I have been a coveter of Ted Muehling jewelry since the first time I saw my friend Agnethe wear his rose thorn earrings. And now I covet his plates, a collection of exquisite handcrafted porcelain, designed for Nymphenburg. So yummy and buttery and fluttery.

poppies by irving penn

Irving Penn is represented on Facebook with a fan page started by Ulku Dirioglu (what a great name). I have mixed feelings about social networks, but the postings of Penn's works I really enjoy and look forward to. Above are some recent gems. I think I need to add poppies to my collection of organic bowl images.

lizzie buckmaster dove

photographs courtesy of NG Art Gallery

Lizzie Buckmaster creates paper construction from images of native Australian flora and fauna, working with the precision of a curious botanist. She reminds us that we look at nature through various prism - cultural, aesthetic, spiritual, scientific - and it can sustain or deny our sense of belonging to a particular place. For Buckmaster, the proverbial journey into the woods taught her to look at her natural surroundings with fresh vision and with this intimate body of work, she takes us on that journey with her. ~from NG Art Gallery

one more, a must see

Click on the image to go to the site. So good. Designed by ever impressive Wieden+Kennedy.

the bigger picture

Sometimes I get all wrapped up in the little details of my life. And I turn them over and over in my mind. But then I come across images like the ones below, and somehow my tiny issues no longer matter so much.



photographs courtesy of NASA

Click here for more stunning photographs from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The spacecraft has been working away for the past four years documenting Saturn and its moons. It's next encounter with Saturn is in 13 days. How do I know? Cassini has a really nice website. Make sure to check out images from previous months, Part 1 and Part 2. You go Cassini.

an affair with numbers

Numbers found in an old calligraphy book are an endless source of inspiration. After scanning them and creating a transfer, I permanently fire them onto a variety of shapes, bowls thrown on wheel and slip-cast.

for typography lovers

welovetypography.com. Try searching by color. Brilliant.

moth orchids are easy

I wanted to share my very first flowering success as an orchid owner. This phalaenopsis "FANGtastic" beauty flowered for me a month ago, sixteen flowers in all. Due to the weight of the flowers, it's constantly in danger of tipping over. Perhaps I overdid it with the orchid food?

at the brooklyn flea

This past Saturday I was one of the vendors at the Brooklyn Flea, which takes place every weekend in Fort Green and Dumbo. It was a gorgeous first warm day of spring, and New Yorkers came out in droves. It was prime people watching as well as sun worshiping. I saw many carrying cool looking old things under their arms. The lines for food snaked through the market. Many hung out on the school steps and socialized. Kids were everywhere.

I think a lot of shoppers were surprised to see me there. One woman asked me where did all this ceramics come from, and when I told her I make it, her eyebrows shot up. Because it is technically a "flea" market, most don't expect handmade new things there. Everyone is looking for a bargain, and as one British gentleman told me, my price for one cup was beyond his budget. I liked his accent, though.

At the same time I met so many wonderful people and received many compliments. Over a hundred people took my card. One customer, who lives in the neighborhood, saw me in the morning, and then after looking up my website, came back in the afternoon and purchased two bowls. She told me she thought of me as she was gardening and had to come back.

I also had super nice neighbors: Deb from Bon Bon Oiseau, whose necklaces I adore, on one side, and Ashley and Jim selling great old finds on the other. They cheered me and helped me throughout the day. My best sellers were the small bowls and the dessert bowls, which I will bring more of when I come again in May. I saw old friends, met new ones, and got a little bit of a tan. I'm bummed that I forgot my camera, Alec and I rushed out of the house in the morning to set up, but there will be a next time.

bowls for susan

Alec and I collaborated on a gift for his Mom's birthday. We poured a set of rustic bowls together, and as I was finishing up with glazing, Alec took pictures around the house he grew up in.

After hours of silhouetting the objects he photographed, he sent me his jpeg images. I printed them onto decal paper, and applied the objects on the inside of the bowls, the house number (also a high contrast photograph) on the outside. The slide show of the making of the bowls gives a good idea of my low-tech casting set up.

nathalie derouet

Simple, lovely forms, beautifully photographed: nathaliederouet.com.

clay, my muse

One of the many things I love about working with clay is that it looks beautiful at every stage. Here it is bone dry, in the form of my organic bowls. Bone dry clay also feels amazing.

happy results, and some surprises

The gourd bowls are out and they look beautiful in white, hurray!



Slightly nervous about this past glaze firing: I altered the chemical make up of my porcelain slip. I wanted it to be more white and translucent. By playing mad scientist, I might have lowered the firing temperature of the clay so much that the pieces could have melted. They did not, and the porcelain is gorgeous. There were a few surprises.



Instead two pinks on the gourd bowls, I pulled out one green, and one pink. A happy surprise! The same green glaze, when on the outside of a bowl (pictured below, upside down), runs at the high temperature, and sticks to the kiln shelf. Not so happy surprise. But a good learning experience.