12 October 2009

puppets

Even before I started making pottery, I wanted to make puppets. I've tried my hand at one or two, but I hadn't done any in ceramic until this last kilnload.

I'm still figuring out mechanisms, but the dark red one (on my ring finger) has gotten a working mouth, and the purplish one on my middle finger has found a new home on top of one of Randy Tobias's walking sticks. All is well so far. . . .

(Apologies for the big picture crammed into the small space to the left. . . .)

10 October 2009

local pottery shards

I always look down when I walk, so I find some interesting things from time to time. I've been suprised at how many ceramic fragments I find, and I'm particularly suprised at a piece I found the other day. . . .


















It looks as though it's a fragment from the bottom of a locally-made jug, maybe from Edgefield (or made here in the upstate). The glaze looks like an alkaline glaze, and the piece has cutoff marks. The shape suggests a jug.

I'm by no means an expert on this sort of thing, so I might be off base, but it was a neat thing to find. (I just wish I remembered where I'd found the thing.)





































These are two chunks of pipe from the old Travelers Rest Elementary. The top one has a really pretty glaze -- it looks sort of like a salt glaze, though that seems unlikely. (But see above, where I note that I don't necessarily know what I'm talking about here.)
















And these were the oddest, just because of the shape -- the one on the lower right makes a pretty sharp corner. I found them near the old elementary school, as well. I seem to remember some old playground equipment that had tiles on it, but it was a ways off from where I found these pieces, and my memory may be a bit off.

In any case, these pieces will probably make their way into a new face jug sometime soon. Part of what I like about finding these fragments is that they allow me to incorporate some local history into my pieces.

09 October 2009

insects and pottery

I spotted a mosquito on an in-progress puppet head this morning:


I was going to say that it was the highest compliment I'd gotten, but then this happened a few minutes later:



So I suppose it was just an insect conicidence.