Raku You!

Another ocarina collaboration between me and Dave!

This little piggy got raku'd. (Rakued? Rakud? Raccued?)

That is his front.

This is his spotted little back.

These are some (crappy cell phone photos) of the ornaments I've been making, photographed against the work table. (Man, I need to think of some more exciting background, no?)

That's not a strange flower, it's supposed to be a hand of Fatima stamp. (I think I'll try carving that one again.)

These show some experimentation, a mixture of underglazes and glazes. I like the cornflower blue glaze on the top two the best. (The lower two are lavender and black underglaze and clear glaze on top.)

This bell and those little beads have more of that cornflower blue glaze, which is a mix of our transparent sapphire and clear glazes. I probably should have measured the ratio of that mixture, but I didn't. C'est  la vie. It's not like I'll be making it again!

I don't actually like most of these ornaments now that they're glazed. They seem so...lifeless, I guess, as opposed to when they were green or even just bisqued. I may toss a few unglazed ones into the kiln and fire them to ^6 just to see if they retain any of their unglazed charm.

The Day So Far

It's a strange day here, weatherwise: It's 60 degrees out but the forecast is for snow and it's supposed to freeze tonight. I've got the front door to the casita open as I write this so that the cats can come in and out at will. (Saba in particular likes to come in to use the litter box and Gray Kitty is a scaredy cat and likes to come in to hide under the bed when there's any loud or unfamiliar noise outside.) It's a bit chilly, but really beautiful out.

I happened to be up and on the road at 6:45 this morning which meant that I got to see the most amazing full moon set over the ancient volcanos to the west of the city. (Did you even know we had our own volcanic field 'round these parts? Sure, it's been over 150,000 years since any of them were active, but I'm still hopeful.)

I came home after that and got back into bed and slept until almost 1:00, had some toast and coffee, contemplated the sink of dirty dishes from dinner last night, and got on the internet.