Ruby Red

Gary has been squeezing ruby red grapefruit juice this week. We're taking advantage of this grapefruit grown in the county below us here in Florida. Here's a cup and pitcher set I made a few years ago. I used Windsor Porcelain fired to Cone 10 in reduction. Gary and others have raved about this set, so I'll work on a few sets this week; another item from the back burner.

As I recall I used a cobalt stain on greenware and when the set came out of the bisque it was much too dark and streaky. Folks recommended I scrub it briskly to remove some of the stain. Maybe it was before the bisque. My memory fails me since I'm wondering if scrubbing would remove stain after bisque. I do remembering scrubbing it briskly with a scrub brush dipped in water. I put a clear glaze over the top and it came out looking much better, thank goodness. I like the wavy fronts on the cups, but I don't like how the handle is attached. It's too bulky looking; I think I can improve on that.

In other news I've been contacted by more folks wanting my pottery in their galleries, more about that later. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Fragrantly Sweet Lamb Stew

I know I speak blasphemy when I say we grew a little tired of all the fresh fish we've been having. I happen to love lamb, perhaps it's my Greek heritage. I rarely have lamb though, since it's so expensive. But the other day I noticed lamb stew meat was a reasonable price so I purchased two packs. One pack had bones and the other didn't. Be sure to use lamb with bones because the bones help thicken the sauce and they also add flavor. I wish I had topped the stew with a sprig of parsley to enhance the photo. This stew was so succulent and fragrantly sweet.

First I browned some garlic in butter in a large stock pot on top of the stove, then I added the meat to brown a bit. Next I added two cans of diced tomatoes and one can of tomato paste. Then I filled the diced tomato can with water and added two of those full, maybe three. Just make sure the meat is covered completely with liquid. I turned up the heat to bring the mixture to a boil. Meanwhile I looked in my spice cabinet and pulled out a bunch of spices I thought might go with lamb. Now I am sitting here trying to remember which ones I used because this stew was unbelievably delicious. I know I used mustard seed, rosemary, crushed mint, anise seed, fennel seed, and crushed bay leaves. I used a liberal amount of the all of these especially the rosemary. Some folks don't like lamb because of the what they call the strong flavor of the meat, but the combinations I've used in this stew minimizes that strong flavor and you're sure to like it.

Many times when I make a dish with a tomato base, like spaghetti sauce, I'll add some baking soda right at the end of the cooking to neutralize the acid of the tomatoes. This is a tip I learned from my teenage years of learning to cook from Antoinette Pope's cookbook. I looked in my cabinet and didn't have any baking soda. I thought about adding a little sugar but that didn't seem quite right for this recipe. Here's what I did. I added half a cup of grapefruit juice. Now that may sound strange, but sometimes two acid ingredients have a way of combining and making something sweet and enhancing the other flavors and spices. Why? It's some kind of cooking chemistry. And it worked like a charm with this dish.

When the pot came to a boil I turned the heat down to a simmer and kept it cooking for about two hours only stirring occasionally. I would have added russet potatoes, but I only had sweet potatoes. I chopped up three good sized ones and added them the last 45 minutes of cooking time. Now I'm wondering if the sweet potatoes enhanced the flavor of the sauce as well. Something to test by using white potatoes next time. When the stew was done the meat was very tender and some of the meat was falling off the bone. Gary and I both enjoyed the stew immensely. We had more than enough sauce left over a couple of days later, so I chopped up a couple of zucchini and crookneck squash and cooked them for half an hour in the sauce and we ate that too. If you are a vegetarian you can use this sauce with just vegetables; thicken with some cornstarch or regular potatoes. If you don't have grapefruit juice, substitute some orange juice. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Florida Artists Gallery New Home

Florida Artists Gallery has moved to their new location  at 8219 East Orange Avenue in the historic Knight House in Floral City. The gallery will open this coming Wednesday, February 1st, a white rabbit day.  Later in the month we'll have grand opening. The house and adjacent buildings sit on over an acre. The grounds are wonderful with huge shade trees, a brick drive, and beautiful gardens.

I took this opportunity to obtain a different display for my pottery. I found this rather garish brass finished wall unit with glass shelves at a local used furniture store. When I paid for the unit I asked "Will you take any less for it?" and I received ten percent off. It doesn't hurt to ask. I purchased some textured brown spray paint and Gary painted the brass portions for me.

The bottom didn't have a glass shelf so I got some luan plywood and cut it to fit the lower shelf section. After the paint dried I brought it in the house and set it up and arrange my pottery. I took a photo so I can print it out and take it with me to the gallery so I can repeat the display there. What do you think? If you see something which could be displayed in more appealing way, please let me know. I'll be leaving early in the morning to take the display and more work. At the top center section I can hang a small sign with my name.

Here's a photo of the new gallery location in Floral City which I copied from the newspaper story. There will be three rooms for art, a separate classroom, a tea room in the rear, and a frame shop in the garage. We hope to entice someone to start an herb or perennial nursery in the green house and adjacent building at the rear of the property. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

An Early Start

I'm getting an early start, a jump on Spring if you will. I started some radish and snow pea seeds indoors and they sprouted in less than a week.

I think I should have started the radishes in the ground because they are sending their roots right out of the bottom. Guess I'll be transplanting them this week.

I love fresh snow peas. They are so expensive in the grocery store I thought I'd grow some of my own. I didn't use up all of the seeds so I can start more seedlings in another month.

Meanwhile Florida Artists Gallery is moving to a new location so I had to remove my work from the old building. Monday I'll take it to the new building. I found a glass display at a used furniture store for the new location so stay tuned for more about that. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Back Burner

Several folks suggested I make some free standing shrines, here's the first one. I plan to glaze this one rather than using colored slips. After seeing Anna's post about her pit fired pieces she has in her garden I thought one of these shrines might be nice pit fired. The interior is empty except for a few leaf impressions, so the recipient can add what they wish.

Here's how I held the front of the roof till it firmed up a bit. I broke a chopstick to length and sandwiched it between two dry sponges, and used some painter's tape around. This shrine is much deeper than the others I've made and it seems quite dark inside. On future pieces I may add some skylights or windows to let in some light. If I added a chimney and left it open that would add some light. Ha. I might try that. Or maybe a fireplace at the back with those flames I wanted to try.

When I was traveling in my motorhome I talked about making clay buildings. I knew they would never survive traveling so I put my idea on a back burner [put aside for the time being, to be activated later]. Then I moved here and I made the church above patterned after this church I saw in Toyahvale Texas. Then I fell ill, so I put those ideas on the back burner again and forgot about them. Now that I'm doing better I remembered those ideas. I plan to revisit my journal sketches, from what seems like so long ago, to see what else I may have on a back burner. What about you, do you have anything on a back burner? Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Pit Fire Results

At first glance I thought all the test pieces we fired in the pit fire were black, just black. But look at this pinch bowl, after washing there is some gold and blue. This bowl is red stoneware with Florida clay slip applied around the perimeter and bisque fired beforehand. We used citrus fertilizer, miracle grow, and salt sprinkled liberally over the wares before firing, nothing else.

Keep in mind the pieces we fired are test pieces. This one is what I call a brush holder, open at the top and bottom. This was fired green, no bisque. Amazingly it did not crack or break. Food for thought.

This pinch vase was bisque fired beforehand and got smokey color and one tiny spot of copper color. Why? I have no idea. We placed pieces of copper inside the pieces, but  I think the copper was too thick to melt and produce the color we were looking for.

This flower form was bisque fired beforehand and only has carbon colors showing.

These are the two pieces Fran included in the pit firing. Notice the piece on the left has a leaf pattern which is visible. Fran embedded the leaf in the clay during construction, using a delicate cypress leaf and firing it green. The oblong leaf was also fired green. Although we didn't get the colors we hoped for, we now know we can fire green and get the same results. However small it may be, this is progress. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Teriyaki Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts

I know you're waiting with bated breath to see the pit fired pots, but I got caught up here yesterday and couldn't go over to Fran's house to get the pots. Fran said they didn't get much color. I strayed from my usual preparation process so I wasn't surprised. I'll go there later today and take some photos. In the meantime here is a recipe for Teriyaki Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts. I had these at a holiday party and ever since then I was craving their wonderful taste. So I finally gathered the ingredients together to make them.

You'll need two cans of whole water chestnuts, teriyaki sauce, one pound of bacon, one can of sliced pineapple in it's own juice, and toothpicks. Normally I don't eat bacon because of all the nitrates, but I found some at the grocery store that didn't have preservatives. Marinate the water chestnuts in the teriyaki sauce for two hours. I made my own teriyaki sauce, (that's what the pineaplle juice is for), and marinated them while the sauce was warm which I think helps to permeate the chestnuts. Look back to my Simply Scrumptious Salmon for the recipe of how to make the teriyaki sauce, it was two posts ago. For the teriyaki sauce you'll need one shallot, fresh ginger, pineapple juice, brown sugar, and soy sauce.

After they are marinated take one water chestnut, wrap it up with a small piece of pineapple, and half a slice of bacon and stab it through with a toothpick to hold the bacon on, and place in a baking dish. When all the chestnuts are wrapped drizzle the left over teriyaki sauce over the prepared water chestnuts. Bake in the oven at 375 F for 45 minutes or until the bacon looks cooked through. Oh these are so delicious. I know you expected a photo of what they look like cooked, but they were so good I forgot to take a photo. Gary and I just pigged out. Ha. If you want to be the hit of a party take these. Back real soon with the pots from the pit firing. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Pit Fire Pictorial

My friend Fran and I did a small pit fire today as a preliminary test. After the wood turned to coals and the fire was smoldering, we banked soil up around the edges and covered the pit with a piece of steel sheeting. Results coming up soon. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

What Do You Think ?

Blue Moon

7.5 x 5 x 2.5 inches

Here's two more of the shrines from the last firing. I've been trying to complete these shrines and I couldn't decide what would look best for these. I think I know why. For the shrines to be complete there'd be a conversation between the maker and the one who uses or receives the shrine. The recipient or user of the shrine would make the piece complete. If you don't like the word shrine you can call them whatever you like.

Night Owl

8.25 x 5.5 x 2.5 inches

There are many ways to use shrines. To burn incense, a small candle, place a favorite item. The mementos, additions, or embellishments are what complete the shrines. Perhaps you, your daughter, your son, your parent, your friend, your lover, your boss feel the vibes or karma, have thoughts or feelings about these shrines.

So let's have a conversation, I invite you to suggest something for one of my shrines. If you purchased one, what would you use it for? Where would you place it. Maybe you'd hang one outdoors and put a small bowl of bird seed inside. Who would you give it to? Maybe you'd give one to your mother, your wife, your neighbor. The choice is also yours of what you might add to one of them. I've posted a few ideas I have, but I'm sure there are hundreds more ideas. Tealights will fit in these two smaller shrines but I think a votive candle will fit in the taller ones.

What do you think, please let me know. I'd love to hear from you. Perhaps you have an idea for a different type of shrine I might make, please let me know. Maybe a different size, a different roof line, a different shape. Maybe you think the shrine should be as it is without any embellishment or addition, left to the imagination each day. Maybe you have an idea of how someone else would utilize these. What do you think, I'd love to hear your thoughts, your feelings?

Your ideas, your thoughts, your feelings are unlimited. You don't have to be an artist, a potter, a painter, a lover of the arts but you could be. This can be really fun, enlightening, and a way to bring folks together for a conversation no matter where you live. If you're a reader here and haven't commented, please join in and make a comment today, I'd love to hear from you, just say hi. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Simply Scrumptious Teriyaki Salmon

I made teriyaki salmon a few nights ago for dinner and Gary said this is his new favorite recipe. He says that about all my recipes. He just wants me to keep cooking for him. I told him when people get older they tend to like salty foods because their taste buds diminish and aren't as discriminating for the more subtle flavors. So we have to be careful not to eat too much salt. Not that we're older mind you, but we're older than we used to be yesterday. Soy sauce has a lot of sodium I think, I'll have to check the label.

At the grocery store the other day Gary was in line and he happened to be wearing his Vietnam Vet baseball cap. The guy in line behind Gary said he shouldn't wear that hat since he wasn't in Vietnam. Gary asked him how he knew he wasn't in Vietnam. The guy said Gary wasn't old enough to have been in Vietnam. Gary asked the guy if he wanted to see his identification and the guy seriously said he would. Gary told the guy he wasn't his boss and he wasn't showing him his ID, then Gary paid for his groceries and left the guy standing there. I guess Gary looks younger than he is, so that's a good thing. I'm sure it must be my cooking that keeps him looking young.

Anyway I digress, here's how I made my own teriyaki sauce. I sauteed a shallot and two tablespoons of chopped fresh ginger in some butter, then I added 2/3 cup of gluten free soy sauce, 1/3 cup of pineapple juice, and a 1/4 cup of brown sugar and turned the heat up to medium high, stirring while cooking the sauce till it thickened. I had already started the rice to cook and readied the snow peas in separate pans. Meanwhile I sauteed the salmon in another pan and when the rice and snow peas were ready I put them on a plate and drizzled the teriyaki sauce over the top of the salmon and some on the rice too. It was simply scrumptious. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Leaf Plates

There are a couple of leaf plates new in the etsy shop, they can be used decoratively or functionally. I try to make them in three sizes, small medium and large. I need to add an even smaller one to the mix. This brick red leaf plate is the medium size at approximately 10 x 9 x 2 inches.

This pale aqua turquoise leaf plate is the small size at approximately 9 x 7 x 1.5 inches. These leaf plates take up quite a bit of room in the kiln because of their odd shape, but folks really like them. I do too. I make some with the attached handle and some with the leaf handle. Either one works well for carrying the plates effectively.

Sadly the largest one which is kind of a reddish brown color that breaks to gold above, about 12 x 9.75 x 2 inches, has a couple of rough spots on it. I thought I remembered to sand the veins; perhaps there was some grit in the glaze. The large one below I fired before the holidays and it had a crack in the middle, too bad because the color came out really nice. There will be a smashing time in the studio today.

I don't have as many choices of leaves in this garden compared to my last garden. I might have to add a few plants this Spring. Perhaps some herbs. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Quinoa For Breakfast

Since I'm gluten free, I don't eat wheat based cereal any longer. Every once in a while I eat some quinoa for breakfast with some cinnamon and either a dash of brown sugar or a splash of agave nectar. Cinnamon is supposed to lower cholesterol, so I don't feel guilty if I use it liberally. Quinoa is cooked just like rice. For every cup of quinoa, use two cups of water. Although it is expensive, it fluffs up to more volume than rice and I think the nutrional benefits are worth the cost. Click the link above to see all the vitamins and minerals in this delicious pseudo grain. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Bittersweet Halava

We climbed a dark narrow stairway and walked down a hallway and my mother knocked on a door. We entered an equally dark apartment in downtown Chicago. There was a small wooden table in the room which was the kitchen. My brother and I would play while my mother talked to a white haired old man in a language we couldn't understand. The white haired man was my grandfather.

After a short conversation with my mother the white haired man went to a cupboard and retrieved a small package and brought it to the table. The package was about six inches square and wrapped in tin foil. The white haired man would open the package carefully. A cream colored block was inside; it was shiny and oozing with liquid. The white haired man called my brother and me over to the table.

My brother wouldn't come to the table, but I went over to see what the package contained. With me standing and him seated, we were eye to eye. I was about three years old at the time. I remember he had a slight build, a dark complexion, and a white stubble of a beard. His breath smelled strongly of garlic. He cut off a small section from the cream colored block and offered me a piece saying it was candy. I took it and tasted it gingerly. It was the sweetest candy I've ever tasted.

The only time I ever saw the white haired man smile was when I tasted the candy. He seemed pleased since my brother and mother didn't like the candy. Afterwards the white haired man would wrap up the candy in the tin foil and put it back in the cupboard. Shortly thereafter we would leave slowly descending the stairway.

When I was in my twenties I learned my grandfather on my mother's side was Greek, that his last name was Grivakis, and the candy I had back then was sesame halava. This is all I can remember or know of my grandfather. Today I had a piece of  halava I bought at the grocery store a few days ago and remembered my grandfather.

(photos taken from google images)

Diversification

With jobs few and far between, and necessities of fuel, utilities, and food prices going up daily Gary and I realize we'll just have to keep working. Gary has been going to the local flea markets to sell things, but most items take up a lot of space and are heavy to repeatedly load and unload. We decided to try some diversification of products to sell. Eventually we'd like to narrow down our focus of items. We wanted to add items which will bring repeat business but wouldn't be too heavy to carry. We thought about selling food, like packaged nuts, but that involves licenses we didn't want to get into. Plus food is perishable and that's another drawback.

Since I work with clay I thought about selling items I could combine with clay. Gary already sells some of my pendants, but those don't bring the repeat business we're looking for. Soaps, lotions, potpourri, incense, essential oils, and candles came to mind. Since we used to have a lavender farm, we're well acquainted with the benefits of good quality personal care items. We love using handmade soap so we thought perhaps Gary could sell soaps along with some handmade ceramic soap dishes I'd make.

We have tentative plans to partner with an organic soap maker. We'll do a market test selling soaps at the flea market over the next few weeks. Candles are another item which could increase repeat business. Maybe some soy candles are in our future. In the meantime we're testing soaps and I'm designing and making soap dishes. Stay tuned for more about diversification. This post is part of Artists in Blogland weekly share about what's happening in the studio. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Warp Speed

A few weeks ago I was running at warp speed in the studio. This week I've slowed down to a crawl. I guess I have to face the problems of the last firing before I can move ahead. Here's that big sunburst platter, it's fourteen inches across. Yep, unfortunately it warped, badly. My carving shows up nicely though, and I like the recessed foot. Not even a hint of a crack either. Darn.

I could use it as a wall hanging if it wasn't such a yucky color. The red clay did something weird to this color which is supposed to be a shino but looks like a clear. When I opened the kiln I saw one side was almost flat and luckily it didn't stick to the kiln shelf, that's how flat it was. Maybe I'll try this platter with a different type of clay after I get over this disappointment. Maybe I should make the foot taller next time.

The other thing I did with the firing before this last one was I put the cones on a cone pack which I thought cleared the top of the kiln. When I opened the kiln they were broken off and landed on the top shelf. Those didn't stick either, thank goodness.

I need to slow down a little and take stock in where I am going next. More about a few ideas I have later. This post is part of the Mud Colony sharing for this week, click on over to see what's happening in other pottery studios from around the globe. I have some smashing to do today so I can finally mail a package of shards. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.