First handbuilding class project

Our first assignments in my clay handbuilding class were pinch pots. After we made several small pinch pots, we are assigned a pinch pot sculpture (attach two together, etc). I decided to make a sea rock and probably spent far too long making it, but I love it!

Here's the evolution of the piece:

I wasn't expecting the colors to become duller in the end, but I think it's because of how much iron is in the clay body.

 

High Fire Ceramics

Y'all I'm so excited to be able to fire some high fire ceramics! I've only had things fired to cone 5 on an electric kiln, but these are being fired in *actual flames* in a gas kiln. The glazes do much cooler things at this higher temperature.

Several years ago I took some ceramic courses and became 100% obsessed (bought a wheel, a kiln, etc). Now that Mari is a little bigger I decided I might have time to take another course again at the university. There just isn't anything like the motivation and inspiration that comes with an actual class. I'm taking a handbuilding class this semester. This vase was made on the wheel as something extra outside of the class.

This is a shino glaze fired in a gas kiln to cone 10.

I'll share my handbuilding project soon. It's the kiln right now.

Ceramic Plate Wall

This past year we wallpapered our dining room wall and I finally hung a bunch of plates I made (after saying for like three years that I wanted to do that..whoops!)

Some of these are really old and a couple were made more recently. I hope to add a couple of high fire plates soon to the collection.

Mari even helped to decorate one of them:

New Painting & Updated Built-in Shelves

A year ago I decided I wanted to build a canvas and paint something in our living room to replace our gallery wall. 

So I built the frame...

and stretched the canvas and painted it. But I didn't like it. Then I tucked it away for a year.....Until last week when I decided to try again. So I reprimed it and painted it. 

And I even got a little help from the little one:

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. We had decided to go with one large piece for the living room wall instead of a gallery wall, so it wouldn’t visually compete with the built-in shelving. And special shout-out to Uncle Gary who built me a frame for the Canvas! Because the canvas I built wasn’t perfectly square, he had to do a lot of extra work to make it work.

Here's our updated shelving that we repainted last summer:

Here's a before photo (yep, that's Ms. Rachel on TV...this is the only photo I could find)

Earrings

I've made some ceramic earrings over the past few years and these are a few of my favorites. The gold flecks in the glaze on this big one turned out especially fun. I try not to spend too much time on any single earring since I lose so many of them in the greenware stage. Lots of them crack when I’m making the holes and end up getting tossed. I loaded a kiln yesterday and broke one of the necklace pieces in transit 😫 (that I did spend some time on!).

This glaze is called "june bug". The photo doesn't do it justice, but it's a glossy, dark green metallic glaze. 

More earring posts coming soon.

Sprinkle Cookies

 

Like any other normal toddler, Mari is obsessed with sprinkles. We finally made sprinkle cookies together and she loved them.

I'm not a big sugar cookie fan, but I really liked these. Recipe adapted from here. (They call for sprinkles in the dough AND on top - seemed too much for me. We only put them on top and they were great and not overly sweet.)

Sprinkle Sugar Cookies

• 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour
• 1 & 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
• 1 large egg at room temperature
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sprinkles (for just on top)
  

1. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. 
2. In a stand mixer (or separate bowl), beat the butter and granulated sugar together on medium high speed until creamed, ~1 minute. Add the egg and vanilla and beat on high until combined, ~1 minute. 
3. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix on low (or by hand). Scoop dough and roll into balls (I made them small). Dip tops of cookies into sprinkles. Place on a sheet or large plate and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours. (I put them in the freezer for an hour and then the fridge for 20-30 minutes.)
6. Arrange chilled cookie dough balls at least a couple inches apart on baking sheets. Bake for 12-13 minutes or until lightly browned on the sides. The centers will look soft.