Trudging Through

 

Eastern Phoebes almost ready to fledge

I can't pretend to be happy about the weather these past few days. I AM very happy that the heat has finally broken, and we got some rain. The nice slow sort that lets the earth savor every drop. Yum. The humidity is still high enough that my fingers feel wet when I'm outside.

These are the Phoebes that have finally fledged and left. I cleaned away the nest, feeling that them being terrorized by us, however unintended, is not a great thing. I expect I'll hear about it from Mama, but having them So Close seems unwise, particularly when they have 5 acres of lovely woods to set up house. It turned out there were 4 babies. They looked almost full sized by the time they fledged. One day they were sitting on top of each other looking disgruntled, and the next they were gone. More Eastern Phoebes in the world can't be a bad thing.

While the tomatoes are currently many and very very green, the bush beans have been bearing a good bit. I didn't expect them to give me as much food as my previous standards, Kentucky Wonder Pole beans, but they are surprising me. A good surprise!

Mug and bowl, unfired (greenware)

I've been overwhelmed with minutiae lately, and it frustrates me. I am getting a little work done in the studio, though. I thought I'd publish bits and pieces of the sausage making process here. I'm, once again, working on my throwing, but when working with this porcelain, I can't resist adding some botanical appliques when the pieces get to leather hard.

The little vase below is, at this stage, a favorite. I like the looseness of the added bits, as well as the proportions. These are green ware, meaning that they are dried, but not fired at all.

Bowl and small vase, also green ware

In contrast, the mugs below have been bisque fired. Notice that in all of these stages, the clay is Not white. It's porcelain, but doesn't get to that lovely white color until the final (glaze) firing. Actually, one of the things I love about porcelain is that it doesn't have to be glazed. Of course nothing really HAS to be glazed, but most functional pottery is. I think that the pinkish tone of the bisqued porcelain is particularly disturbing, but I hold on for the final firing!

Mugs that have been bisque fired

Small vessel, fully fired porcelain

Finally, the fully glazed finished pieces, though not the same pieces as I've shown at various stages above.

This little cup is one of my favorites. It also has the loose (some might say careless) applique work which seems to be a developing style for me.

The mugs below are works of the same style, though the one on the right is hand built rather than thrown. 

I'm planning on bringing out some of the coarse sanded/grogged clay to work on soon. All of this pristine nonsense is feeling a little too controlled.

Porcelain mugs

And I'm hoping that we can get back to serious hiking. We've been taking Jasper in the very early mornings (7a) to avoid the heat, but the deer flies have kicked up. So he's wearing his permethrin treated bandana and dog-insect repellent on those magnificent ears for protection. Ah, Maine.

Jasper says Orange is not the new anything