Kraken House

Mental Models

Take your pick, right?

Clay Wizardry

Ornamentation for the yuletide tree: my efforts over the years.

Puck or Joy?

Two hummers are nesting in the hedge by the garage and frequently hang out in the orange tree by the holly and sing.  These shots are of one of the hummingbirds, for the other one wouldn't stick around for a profile pic.

Puck and Joy -- not twins I realize, but mates.

Talismanic

Autumnal Spirit

Tree-Spirit

The Druid's Eye

Practice piece (sculpture mix, unglazed).

Charm: Deer In The Wood

The New Tea Mug

That's the same bowl I posted in yesterday's entry here, but with the light from a different angle, suddenly there's a shiny band about the upper section.  I had some luck making this piece, both in the throwing and the glazing, especially as I was using up some rather dried up clay that I should have wrapped better.

I could point out the three flaws -- or more? -- in this small piece, but I like it more than enough to keep it for my own tea-drinking.  The piece is short (only 3" high, 3 1/2" wide), but the shape is quite right for holding and sipping.  (The slightly flared top; the slightly bulging belly; the smooth and rounded lip, neither too thick nor too thin.)

Also, with the flaws, I have an excuse not to give it away to anyone I like, right?

Tea Bowl: studio-mix clay (stoneware + Navajo wheel);
transparent brown, floating blue, and clear glazing, layered and dripped.

Druid

Druid, A Mask: 
sculpture mix; jade green, transparent brown, and clear glazing, layered and dripped.

When I hang the piece on the wall or from a tree, I'll use a leather cord (or four).  That somehow seems fitting here.

Viking Wisdom: "Fire Kindles Fire"

Flames from one log leap to another;
      fire kindles fire.
A man learns from the minds of others;
      A fool prefers his own.

--from "Words of the High One"--
one of the many Poetic Edda poems
translated from the Old Norse
by Patricia Terry

There are many reasons why I like this stanza and why I've quoted it to many a class.  I like to discuss with the class the governing concerns and imagery, the communal intelligence and the kindling fire.  And, I like to ask my students what happens if you substitute "tree" in place of "log" in that first line.  This stanza and that juxtaposition of wild vs. domesticated "fire" provides a foundation for worthy discourse in the classroom and out.

Work In Progress