I can't get over how cute this turkey is. Just a small little dish made from a placemat I got in a set off Amazon. Turkey Turkey

It's been a gnome kind of a week. Two years ago I don't think gnomes were even on my radar. Now I make clay and crochet gnomes. They all just have their own personality and it's just so fun. Literally as I'm making them they decide whether their hat is going to tilt left, right, front, or straight up. Some get beards and some don't. Some get braids and become female gnomes. The construction of the gnome depends largely on how big it is.


This gnome is about 12 inches tall and is made on a cone from Learn Fired Arts. The cone is wrapped in paper to make it easy to remove the gnome once it's setup enough. Over the paper is a layer of rolled out clay smoothed out. The hat is made by adding a coil to the cone and then shaping it. Then a ball of clay, flat on one side, is added for the nose. Now the real personality comes out - male or female, beard or no. This particular gnome has a leaf beard. The leaves are made from leaves also from Learn Fired Arts. This is the small and the medium grape leaves. I also added some leaf imprints to the hat. Last a little leaf embellishment on the hat ring. I can't wait for this little guy to come through the glaze kiln.




I've been making a lot of pumpkins and it made me think - could a pumpkin be a gnome body? Yes, yes it can. The pumpkin cutter is from De La Designs. This is the 8.5" cutter. I free formed the hat and used my sweater weather rolling pin for texture. After attaching the hat I added a nose and a little beard. Once the clay has dried a bit I will carve the beard a bit.




Another pumpkin made gnome. This one more halloweeny. I realized I didn't have a pumpkin stamp, but I do have a pumpkin cookie cutter. I used that for the hat and just didn't press too hard. I'll do a bit of carving on that later.




This is 20 gnomes all lined up in rows. This clay was soooo sticky and smelly. I had put it in water to break it down months ago and neglected to put any vinegar in the water. There's a bit of a mold in it, but as it dries out it goes away. It made the clay super wet though and even after a day of being left out it was still really sticky. I made these gnomes and then as they setup I smoothed them. These gnomes are larger than the ones I made a few weeks ago as wine stoppers. I think they're going to be adorable.

Of course glazing gnomes is extremely tedious, but that problem is for next week (hopefully if they dry quick enough).

I started off making a gnome mug, but this mug really wanted to be a snowman. I can't wait to get it glazed because I think it's going to be adorable.

I was a little worried that in my rush to get some things done before I had to leave for California for work that I was going to mess something up, but everything came out like I wanted.

I had to make more of the Cala Lilly Candle Holders because they have been really popular. I did mostly the same color combos I've done before, but I also tweaked them a bit adding a bit more depth of color.

Everything Cardinals and Birch has been really popular. I completely sold out of everything I had so more of that in this kiln. The white trees have been the most popular, but I like the grey with the red as well. I also experimented a bit with what will become some magnets with the water color sunrise and I love the way those came out.

I have a few smaller dishes that I glazed a few weeks ago that I'm not sure on the glazes on. I feel like I've gotten a little too sure of myself lately being able to pick out glazes. It is mostly true that I know my glazes and I can look at something and say I used this, but I also do some experiments. I can usually remember what experiments I did with good success for a few days, but some of these I glazed before the MacKenzie-Child show and they just didn't fit in the kiln. Now I don't remember any more. C'est la vie.

My plan is to get two more glaze loads in before the Havre de Grace Art Show on October 22nd - 23rd. We shall see if I am successful :)

Honey Flux x3, Thick stripe of Mayco Lemon Frost Up the Middle Flower Portion is Amaco Smokey Merlot x2 then sweeps of Amaco Chun Plum and Amaco Seaweed Leaf portion is Amaco Blue Rutile x2 with sweeps of Amaco Smokey Merlot	Honey Flux x3, Thick stripe of Mayco Lemon Frost Up the Middle Flower Portion is Amaco Smokey Merlot x2 then sweeps of Amaco Chun Plum and Amaco Seaweed Leaf portion is Amaco Blue Rutile x2 with sweeps of Amaco Smokey Merlot
Mayco Sunkissed thick stripe up the middle, Clayscapes Garden Green Brushed on all over then Clayscapes Cream sweeps on the flower	Amaco Iron Luster x3 Amaco Seaweed x2 on the rim
Mayco Fundamentals Black wiped back, Mayco Hot Tamale, Sun Kissed, Just Froggy, Jack o Lantern 2167 Clear all over	Mayco Fundamentals Black wiped back, Mayco Hot Tamale, Just Froggy 2167 Clear all over
Laguna 60 Mayco Fundamentals Black wiped back Mayco Cotton Tail and Hot Tamale 2167 Clear all over	Laguna 60 Mayco Fundamentals Black wiped back Mayco Cotton Tail and Hot Tamale 2167 Clear all over
Laguna 60 Mayco Fundamentals Black wiped back Mayco Cotton Tail and Hot Tamale 2167 Clear all over	Laguna 60 Mayco Fundamentals Black wiped back Mayco Cotton Tail and Hot Tamale 2167 Clear all over
Laguna 60 Mayco Fundamentals Black wiped back Mayco Cotton Tail and Hot Tamale 2167 Clear all over	Laguna 60 Mayco Fundamentals Black wiped back Mayco Cotton Tail and Hot Tamale 2167 Clear all over
Mayco Fundamentals Black wiped back Mayco Cotton Tail and Hot Tamale on the trees and bird Water color Fruit of the Vine, Hot Tamale, Jack o Lantern, Sunkissed 2167 Clear all over	Amaco Smoke x3 Mayco Hot Tamale
Colors for Earth Color Stroke Jade, White. Colors for Earth Color Concentrate Bright Violet, Leaf Green, Maize 2167 clear all over	Laguna 60 Mayco Norse Blue x2, line of Mayco Light Flux, Mayco Hot Tamale, 2167 clear all over
Left: Laguna 60 Mayco Black UG wiped back, Mayco Fruit of the Vine, Sour Apple, Tuxedo, and Java Bean; 2167 Clear all over Right: Laguna 60 Mayco Black UG wiped back, I think the top coat is Amaco Lavender x3	Amaco Poppy x3
Laguna 60 Mayco Iron oxide wiped back Clayscapes Nutmeg x2 brushed on	Top: Speckled BMix Mayco Black UG wiped back, Mayco Designer liner black, red, blue, yellow, and orange Middle: Speckled BMix Mayco Black UG wiped back, Mayco Hot Tamale x3 Bottom: Speckled BMix Mayco Black UG wiped back, Mayco Fruit of the Vine x3, whisps of just froggy on the fin All are toped with 2167 clear
Left: Mayco Just Froggy, Fruit of the Vine, Designer liner red and yellow Right: Mayco Fruit of the Vine, Designer Liner Red 2167 clear over top	Top: Mayco Black UG Wiped Back Beard Mayco Cotton Tail Mayco Designer Liner Red, White and Blue Middle: Laguna 60 Mayco Black UG Wiped Back Mayco Designer Liner Red, White, Blue, Black, and Yellow Bottom: Mayco Black UG Wiped Back Mayco Designer Liner Red, White, Blue, Black, and Yellow 2167 clear over top
Top Left: Laguna 60 Pretty sure this is Amaco Lavender x3 Top Right: Laguna 60 Amaco Blue Midnight x3 Middle Left: Laguna 60 Amaco Tangelo x3 Middle Right: Laguna 60 Mayco Iron wiped back, Clayscapes Nutmeg x2 Bottom: Laguna 60 Coyote Pam's Blue x3	Left: Coyote Magenta Sky x2 Middle: Mayco Black UG wiped back Mayco Just Froggy x3 Fruit of the Vine x3 2167 clear Right: I can't remember and that's sad because its a very nice green!!!
Left: Mayco Fruit of the Vine x3, Jack o Lantern, Mayco Black Designer Liner, 2167 Clear Right: Mayco Tuxedo, Mayco Black Designer Liner, 2167 Clear

It's been interesting getting ready for the Havre de Grace Art Show this past week. I found out that I was going to have to fly across the country for work Sunday - Wednesday so my plan had to change getting ready for the 22nd and 23rd. I hustled to get some things I wanted to made. I had some things already ready for bisque so I got that done and then spent some evenings glazing.

I also did something I haven't done before and brought all of the next bisque up and put it in the garage next to the kiln to help it dry. It was a bit of a risk, but I didn't see any issues so fingers crossed nothing warps later on.

This kiln has 6 of my Cala Lilly Candle holders that you can see in the back of the kiln. It also has a whole lot of birch trees and cardinals - sponge/soap holders (in the front there), appetizer plates, trinkets, a platter, and a few magnets. It also has a lot of Christmas ornaments and some magnets that I'm excited about as well. Fingers crossed that in my hurry it's all good stuff in the kiln.

You may or may not remember the epic fail pumpkin that I had in my 8/31 firing. I attempted to use Mayco Mudcrack at a hot cone 5 and it turned into a muddied mess. I did a lot of research on mud crack and discovered that if its gone pasty (mine has) you have to super stir it to get it back. I decided to try again, but to use the low fire Mayco Co1bblestone instead. This is what we used at the Michael Harbridge workshop so I know it works and it doesn't seem to have the same issues as mud crack has. I am so thrilled with the results.




I peeked into the kiln at about 300 degrees. I don't normally do Cone 06 firings and I don't actually have any low fire clay. These are all on Laguna B-Mix, but since they aren't meant to be foodware or be outside I decided that it was ok that they aren't actually vitrified. I was so excited to see the results. Five pretty pumpkins waiting for me!




The pumpkins are all the same combinations. Mayco Foundations Black x3 dried completely then two coats of Mayco Cobblestone. When the Cobblestone looks dry to the touch then you start adding on the colors. I went fairly traditional with these pumpkins, but I think the next set I do will be different colors.




The color is all Mayco Stroke and Coat. I did the pumpkin vertically two segments at a time. The primary color on the body of the pumpkin is Jack o Lantern. There are also highlights and lowlights with Java Bean, Just Froggy, and Sunkissed. The stem is primarily Just Froggy. This is all one heavy coat.




I wanted to do the pumpkins all over so I glazed the bottoms and then stilted them in the kiln. Even though they are heavy since it's low fire I wasn't worried about them warping in the kiln.




This pumpkin is the refire. It doesn't look quite as good as the others, but if you look below at what it looked like before - it's AMAZING. I did the same application as the pumpkins above over the mess that was below, but I sprayed a bit of starch on it first and let it dry. I find the starch helps the glaze stick. Also if you are going to refire a piece remember that it takes forever for each layer of glaze to dry since the clay is already vitrified.