Bug Mugs going to Seattle

 I am accompanying my husband, Ed Burnett, Pres. of American Mosquito Control Association to their meeting in Seattle this weekend.

 There was a request to have mugs to sell at the AMCA booth. I have made Bug Mugs for the occasion.  There is a bug stamped on the outside of each one.

There is also a bug on the inside of each mug!  Bug people will love them!

Bug Mugs going to Seattle!

New sculptures

New sculptures for Boise Art in the Park this weekend (Sept 6-8). This is a special order for a customer who wanted an address sculpture.  It can be viewed from both sides.

This sculptures measure 62 inches tall.  This is a typical design that anyone would recognize as my work.  There are lots of them in Sun Valley Idaho.

 I like to try ways to find a more 3 dimensional impression.  The lower image is a close up of the design that I made to make script-like scroll designs.  I cut the design into a clay rolling pin and texture the clay before I make the pieces. This sculpture is 67 inches tall.

 

Another special order for a customer in Sun Valley Idaho.  62 inches tall.

Pieces that have diagonal joins are difficult to make.  62 inches tall.

With the pieces appearing to be stacked the design helps to "hide" the pole inside.  52 inches tall.

 Address sculpture has two sides.  This was a special  order.  52 inches tall.

Ceramic Stemmed Goblets

Much of my art is about gardening.  I am also very interested in functional ware.  I enjoy using pottery that has weight and texture that some manufactured pieces don't have.  I like the feel of the piece in my hand.  I have used the hand building method to make these goblets.  That means that the wheel was not used and all these pieces started from a slab of clay that I textured. These are 6.5" hgt.

 

These goblets are what I enjoy drinking wine from.  One uses many senses sipping wine; smell, taste, judging the color.  I already know there are legs on the sides of the goblet, I don't need to see those.  I like the modest weight of the goblet and the texture too.  Hgt 5".

 

It is fun to think of different designs that fit your hand.  I like a thick stem sometimes.

 

Hgt 5.5"

 These are a more traditional looking style. Hgt 7.5 "

 

More thick stemmed style.   I like the glaze sinking into the deeper parts of the texture.  Hgt 6"

Address Sculpture

This is a sculpture opportunity that I have been offering this year.  The numbers are house numbers, and I thought some people would like the idea.  This sculpture is made of some pieces that I had on hand, and I made the diamond pieces with numbers  on them.  I offer the customer the choice of shapes, and colors, and of course, numbers.

These are the shapes that my customer ordered.  The top piece is made of red clay.  That is because I like the blue glaze on that red clay.  You can see the red, almost copper color through the glaze, due to the texture that I put on the piece.

This is the finished product.  It is 38" height.

Coffee Mug Display

I need a coffee mug display for the coffee stores that sell my mugs.  I made this with weathered wood to be compatible with the interior design of the store, Jolts and Juice in Ontario Oregon and Caldwell Idaho. 

I had the idea that I could make it look like it  was once on the side of a barn.  I found some retro coffee ads and pulled my ideas for this two sided display.  It is on locking casters so it can be moved around,  the baristas occasionally rearrange the furnishings.

Our booth at Ketchum Art Festival July 14-15.  We enjoy this show because we are surrounded by mountains, and the people are very friendly.  We have made some good customer/friends here over the years. My art is Garden sculptures, that are ceramic beads that stack on a conduit.

 I was having a problem with little kids coming to my booth and wanting to build with the beads.  I know they look like toys, but when the kids handled my beads roughly, they got broken.  Then the parents left feeling badly because they paid for broken merchandise.  My solution was to make beads to be handled only by the children.  The beads are all the same color which helps to keep them apart from the beads that I sell.  Did some get broken? you bet! Did I care? Not that much!

 These are the tall sculptures that I make which are thematic in design. An interested art lover would buy the entire stack.  These are my designs which feature textures, shapes, and colors. 

Art lovers may also design their own sculpture.  I supply beads of many colors and shapes and a person may pick a few or a lot.  This has been a very fun interactive way for the people to buy my art.
  The weekend threatened rain which we did get late Saturday afternoon.  But all in all a very successful weekend.  By the way, Square makes transactions very very easy!!

Hommies

These are some of my small sculptures that I made for an indoor installation.
It is another way to display the pieces that my customers use for garden spaces.

New Year, New Photos

I am working
with a new camera. Here are some images of my pitchers.


This is a tea set. It measures 6" (not the handle) tall by 4" by 3" wide.
Tea pots that follow the Asian tradition are small. This one has a capacity
of 16 oz.


The back side of a gravy boat. This expressive design measures
8" X 8" X 4" wide.

This gravy boat holds 24 oz.

This whimsical pitcher has a thumb rest at the top of the handle.
The capacity is 58 oz.

Front view of thumb pitcher.


The back side of the blue four footed pitcher.
The bowl is
6" tall X 6" width X 5" deep capacity is 40 oz.

Ready for Christmas

This summer I decided that I wanted to get my daughter a set of kitchen chairs. Hers belonged to her husband before marriage, and they were in awful shape. I thought if I found a few odd chairs that I would paint each one a different color and present them to the couple. I saw these at an estate sale 2 weeks ago.

The chairs were grimey and I cleaned them up. That is when I realized that these chairs must have fallen off a pick up truck, at a high rate of speed, like on the freeway. We took them apart and added missing spindles and glued them back together.

We sanded all the varnish off of them and applied a new coat of color and shine. Here they are waiting for their beauty treatment.

When they were dry, we put foam in the holes for the seat and covered them with faux leather (vinyl).


They were pretty different looking when we started, but we tried to add enough detail to make them look like a set. We think they turned out pretty nice!

Mantel piece

If you remember in the previous post, these are the unglazed pieces for the mantel pieces. The bottoms where in the kiln, so I used other pieces that I had on hand, to get an idea of the arrangement.

The colors that I used are taken from the fabric that is part of the decor in the room with the mantel.

Finished product! Some of the glazes are glossy and some are not, which is interesting. Gives the pieces a less predictable look. It has taken me a while to be comfortable mixing the matte and glossy finishes. Sizes 21" height, 28" height, with a base that is 7" diameter.

Mantel Design

This is a new design for a fireplace mantel. The request was for two pieces to set on the mantel. They are to differ in height. Glazes are already chosen. Pink, gold, dark blue, berry wine, and speckled white.

The colors are chosen from decorative fabric used in the draperies. Next post will show finished pieces.

Getting ready for Thousand Springs this weekend at Hagerman Idaho. I thought it would be fun to make pieces that denote the address number of a house. Of course, it would be customized!
This is a free form sculpture of flowers.

New Sculpture

A new sculpture that I made to be ready for our next show. I am an alternate for vender space in Boise Art in the Park.

Finished Shaving Skuttle

The finished skuttle, glazed. Made of red clay, the glaze is a beautiful black as it breaks over the ridges of the texture.

The bowl that sits inside. I decided to use a green matte glaze to contrast with the shiny blue.

The holes in the bowl allows water to enter the bowl to make foam with the soap.