farm and studio updates

Here is Rose's little lamb meeting Jack for the first time through the nursery fence. The next day I put her and her mother out with the other sheep and all went well. Jack seems to have taken on the role of loving uncle - a bit protective, yet with some discipline. Very interesting to watch. 

Tomorrow, I expect the arrival of a box of peeps. No, not the marshmallow kind, the real, live, fluffy, cute-as-a-button kind. Cannot wait!

I fired up the little kiln yesterday and went out this morning to open it up. It's sort of like opening a birthday or Christmas present. Thankfully everything fired beautifully. In the back you can barely see a seated woman, she's for the top of a very tall (4') piece I've been working on. I'll share it when it's completed. In the middle is a bowl on the right and a pine cone on the left. Both of these were just experiments - I have to refine the method of making them the next time. In the front on the left is another experiment. It's an egg that I burnished when nearly dry. You can just make out the soft shine of it. I really love this finish, but since it is just an experiment, I'll take it a step farther and try something else - putting it in my wood stove to see what happens. I'm hoping to get a smokey finish. I'm also hoping it doesn't break! I don't know if or when I'll ever use these techniques, but they are fun to try.

So here's the next piece to go into the kiln. It's my second attempt - the first one I broke after it dried but before it was fired. So although this one is maybe not quite dry, she's going in the kiln to rest until ready to fire. This way I'll minimize handling her when she's at her most fragile. Want to know what she's doing? Well, flying of course! But it won't be on her own. She'll be holding the legs of a flying bird and the whole thing will be suspended from the ceiling. I hope it works.