creating colors...

What seems like a million years ago, but was really only a few months ago, Sunshine was given this really awesome gift.  You take broken crayon pieces (because if you are anything like me or my kids, you can't color with broken crayons) and stick them in this handy-dandy melter and in a short amount of time you get new crayons!  The kids had fun experimenting with lots of different colors.

what she does at night...

There are so many nights after we tuck the kids in that Sunshine gets out of bed and draws.  I had to take pictures of these because they touched my heart.  I hope they do the same to you.

teaching preschool...

I was torn between what to teach on a certain day of preschool.  I could have taught a number of different things, but I chose to teach about Dr. Seuss.  The kids loved it!  Here is what Turtle did.

what turtle does in his spare time...

After I took this picture I found out that Turtle really doesn't care for showers.  Tough!  When you get that messy, you can't take a bath.

chalking it up...

The manager of our apartment complex is very strict. No fireworks. Everything (except the bumpers of cars) has to be off of the sidewalk walking area. Keep everything nice and tidy. No coloring with chalk on the sidewalks or driveways. Um. So not fair. Chalk was made to be used on the sidewalk and on driveways.

My mother knew this and provided chalk almost upon arrival. The kids loved it. They loved it more when Aunt Rene' went out and colored with them.Buddy only drew for a little bit. He was more interested in playing with his uncles or reading. Go figure.My mommy and my husband. I love them both eternally.My little Turtle had fun.But not as much fun as Sunshine. She loved how the chalk had a 3-D effect. So cool.Unko Stretch came out and joined in for awhile as well.I just had to share this face with you because he is so. stinkin'. cute.And that's a whole lot of love that Sunshine shared with all of us.The End. (Aunt Rene's masterpiece with Sunshine's rainbow)

artist at work...

By the way, those are "heart flowers with pollen in the middle."

empty kiln...

Last year our last class wasn't able to empty the kiln because it had just turned off. Last night I was very excited to learn that the pieces were cool enough to take out. I was eager to see how the kiln looked full. Wow. The door of the kiln is actually on a railroad track because of how heavy it gets. I didn't know that the pots were actually on the back of door on shelves. I wish I had brought the camera because it is so neat to look at. One other thing. As the pieces cool, they pop. It sounds like a metallic ping. The pots can ping for up to three days afterwards. Case in point -- after I came back inside from dropping Buddy off at the bus stop this morning, I heard one ping. So fun.

This bowl I had a little help with. Both of my teachers worked with me on this. At first it was because I wasn't able to center 4 pounds of clay. That is a LOT to work with. It turns out that I had a couple of air bubbles in my clay (not a good thing, it can ruin a pot). And then I needed help getting my bowl taller because I'm not good at that yet. During the kiln firing this bowl actually warped a little and it shrank quite a bit more than it should have. My teacher was surprised by this. I also stuck too much glaze on and it ran a lot. I will need to take a Dremmel to this and finish grinding it because it actually wouldn't fit in the grinding spot very well. Here is the same bowl from up above. I really like the inside look of the bowl, the way the white and blue swirled together.

And finally a close-up.

This color is so pretty. It hadn't been used for awhile, so I had to spend about 10 minutes stirring the container. Getting the pigment to come up from the bottom isn't easy. The stuff is like cornstarch on steroids - super thick and smelly. The end result was very nice though and worth the effort.I was going to scrap this piece but my classmates encouraged me to keep it. I'm still not sure about it and my teacher just gave me "the look" when I showed it to her.This color is supposed to be sea foam green. I think my teacher put in a little bit more of the element that makes it "pink." This is a cute little guy.This is what it looks like inside and you can see that all the glaze pigments hadn't mixed together all the way.This bowl was my second attempt at making something bigger. I used about 3 1/2 pounds of clay and I did this one without help. I didn't like it at first because it looked warped and was clunky looking. I kind of slapped on some glaze and didn't care how it turned out because I wasn't happy with it. This bowl is a perfect example of why you shouldn't judge a piece until it is ALL the way done. I LOVE this bowl. Here you can see the outside pattern. It's got browns, a little bit of black and some coppery colors.Here is the inside of the bowl. I love the sunburst look to it.Here is an extreme close-up of the inside. You can see that it looks like a sunflower and you can also see the coppery/metallic look that the glaze does on this bowl. LOVE IT!!!

That's it for this year. Look forward to more next year.

oops...

I accidently deleted this one off of the post and it would be a nightmare adding it on again. So this one gets its own post.

This would be a perfect cereal bowl, unless you happen to be one of my brothers. They would need one of the bowls I'm bringing home next week. I really like this one and think it's super pretty.

second firing...

I was so excited to go to class yesterday because my teacher mentioned last week that our pots should be ready to go. I picked up 12 of my 16! (One of my missing pieces was found) The other four will be done sometime next week. They hope to have them finished by Tuesday, but it might be as late as Friday.

I LOVE the colors on the bowl. Maybe it is because red is one of my favorite colors.This one turned out purplish-blue and I think one is going to be gifted. It turned out very nice and I won't feel bad giving this one away.My teacher thought this glazing was very creative. She said it looks like vanilla ice cream scoops with chocolate sauce on top. It kind of does. However, there is a crack in the bottom, so I'm not sure how well it can hold things yet. My teacher also LOVED this one. She actually grabbed it from me last night (gently, of course, these things are fragile) and glazed one of her pots the same way. The streaks coming from the center and going to the right are actually a goldish color and it's very beautiful and I usually don't like gold. This one was made using the same colors as the above two pots. You can see that each one was placed in a very different proximity to the fire as they all look different. This one was the closest, which is why it is a little blackened at the top. Also, the brownish spots are more bronze than gold. It is lovely though.This little baby got claimed by Dad - it will so be going to school with him. I put a little too much glaze on this (you can see at the bottom left where a clump is) and so I used a grinder for the first time. Ouch. Protective gear is a must when grinding. You need a mask covering your nose and mouth, and then a full on face mask which covers the eyes and skin and then earmuffs. I really should have worn an apron because I had shrapnel flying down my shirt. The stuff coming off is as sharp as glass and it's super hot! Next time I will wear an apron.I don't think I made this piece. But I'm not entirely sure. First off, I used porcelain the entire term and this one piece is made of stoneware. I do think that whomever took my missing pieces made this and stuck my initials on it because they were feeling guilty. I'm not sure - it's just a theory. However, I did glaze this one and I kind of like it.

This plate is about 6" across and I made it to match this, well the piece on the right that is. I really like this piece. I was trying to mix the colors to see if I got purple. Glaze really doesn't work that way, it usually does its own thing.Last but not least. These are the pots I made for the kids. They are each about 3" across and the kids LOVE them. I got home at bed time last night and I gave each of the kids theirs. As I was pulling each piece out of the box, Sunshine grabbed each one and gave them to the correct person. She is so stinking smart! Buddy's piece is the red, white and blue one. Sunshine's was supposed to be red, but it turned out pale green and the hearts that I painted on there are barely visible (the coloring is different because hers was furthest from the fire and it cooled rather quick, so there is a crackling effect to it). Turtle's is the one on the left and I actually found him sleeping with it last night. That probably wasn't too comfortable and so I put it on the desk after kissing him in his sleep.

Four more pieces to go! I'm excited to see my huge bowl that I made from 5 pounds of clay!