And, I just thought it was a hummingbird feeder!

I happened to look out the window to where our hummingbird feeder is hidden in the roses and saw this bright green frog sitting there - just had to take a picture.

It has been a while since my last blog and I have been busy the whole time. I have tried to make sure to put aside some time every day for pottery and it has worked well. I am producing quite a bit of ware and taking my time to really work on size and form, as well as working on keeping the weight of each piece down. I have actually surprised myself with how light I have been able to keep most of the work. The green ware here shows that I have been working on a variety of pots. It seems that a lot of people are in a casserole/bowl mood and I have had a number of special orders for each. Now I have to really hustle when I go to the studio on Thursdays so I can keep up with the glazing!

One special order - the cigar-toking face jug - came out really well. I sold five of my smaller face jugs in one sale and now have a request for a really large jug! I continue to make the smaller jugs, but will try to tackle a large jug, shortly.

I am very happy with two of the pieces I picked up last night. One is the first in my series of "cave art" pottery. I am very fond of the cave art that has been discovered and used some photographs to help recreate a design in the bottom of a flat bottomed dish. I am now ready to decorate four dinner plates I have been saving with the same design. I had experimented with using mason stains mixed with porcelain slip on top of gloss white glaze and it came out well. So, we'll see how these "cave horses" fare on the plates.

The other piece I call a "drum pot" because when I finished it, it reminded me of a marching snare. I had carved a band on the side of the pot with a basket weave design and stained that part with Spanish Red Iron Oxide. I think this is going to be a keeper for me - I enjoy cooking with clay pots and this is large enough for a small roast or a decent amount of stew. I'm looking forward to using it soon.










One last thing - a plug for the Dan Finch Pottery Open House. Once again, this will be on the second Sunday in November (the 8th) from 10:00 AM until 5:00 PM at Dan's studio area in Bailey, North Carolina. If you are looking for some really good handmade pottery, don't miss this opportunity - more than 60 potters displaying their work in one place! All of us have been busy trying to increase our inventory, so there will be no lack of selection available. More on the open house as we get closer to November.