Dead Wood

Dead Tree
8.75 h x 7 w inches

Several months ago I posted about my exploration of faux bois, or false wood. Following are the results of that work with wood sculptures fired to Cone 10 using slips, oxides, washes, and stains for colorants.

Burnt Tree Vase
8 h x 4 w inches including extended branch

Hollow Burnt Log
9 h x 3 w inches

I discovered something interesting about the four burnt logs below. If I tap one on the other each makes a different tone. Now I'd like to fire some rolled pieces of different widths and lengths with a hole in the top of each so I can string them as chimes. I can call them tree chimes or log chimes, maybe branch chimes, I'm getting silly, I'd better finish up this post. Anyway making things with clay is so much fun; every day I learn something new.

Four Burnt Logs
11, 11, 10, and 9 inches long by 1/2 inch wide each

The first piece of furled bark sculpture I made from porcelain. It is still in my studio waiting to be bisque fired. I got carried away and made that particular bark sculpture ever so thin. Now that is is dry, it is even more thin, actually paper thin. I am afraid to move it. After bisque I'll have to carry it to a kiln which can do Cone 10. Of course, it is the most powerful of all the pieces, I hope I can bring it to fruition. Following are bark sculptures I made from stoneware using stains for colorants.

Peeling Bark One
7 x 3.5 inches and 6 x 2.5 inches

Peeling Bark Two
6 x 3 inches and 5.5 x 2.5 inches

Peeling Bark Three
11 x 4.25 inches plus 3 inch piece

I am happy with all of the faux bois pieces I've made so far. I'm now thinking of making living tree sculptures, not bonsai, but ceramic. Instead of a flower today, I've shown you the peeling bark of a eucalyptus tree. There's more to come, so stop in again soon.

Victorian Lace

Victorian Lace Blue Serving Plate
10" x 10.5" x 1.5"

Victorian Lace Green Serving Plate
10" x 10.5" x 1.5"

So many things remind me of my Grandma Ruth. She built five houses by herself. She took care of those around her without thinking about it. She had five husbands. She once told me, "Honey, they weren't any good, so I had to get rid of them". She just did what needed to be done. She was tough.

Victorian Lace Blue and Green Cups
2.75" x 2.5" x 4"

I remember visiting Grandma Ruth one summer and after breakfast, she said, "I know what this house needs, it needs a fireplace". She promptly went out and cut half the wall down in the living room and started to build the fireplace that same day. She hung a sheet of plastic over the opening to keep the bugs and rain out.

Victorian Lace Green Tile
6.5" x 6.5"

The same summer I jumped over a snake coiled up by a cinder block step at the back door. I quickly ran around to the front door and told my grandma I had just jumped over a cottonmouth. My grandmother asked me why in tar nation I had jumped over a cottonmouth, (much deadlier than a rattlesnake). I told her I was already in mid-air when I saw the snake with it's mouth open. She said, "You did the right thing, now fetch me a shovel". My grandmother killed the snake quicker than lightening.

Victorian Lace Blue Choker Necklace
5.5" x 5"

Everyone says I'm just like my grandma. That may be true, but I'm here to report my grandma had a delicate side. She let us pet the baby rabbits she raised even though she knew the mother would probably kill them that evening because our scent was on the babies. She let a duck gosling live after a snake almost broke it's neck. That duck grew up with it's neck flattened completely sideways but somehow lived to be a ripe old age. We all loved that duck and gave it extra food. We never thought of having that duck for a holiday dinner.

Victorian Lace Amber Coaster
4" diameter

I've made these plates, cups, tiles, and pendants from stoneware, so they're tough like my Grandma Ruth, but they also have a delicate texture too. Remember my post about details, these are the plates with the dainty feet. I intended the feet to complement the lace texture on the front of the plate.


Not everything in the kiln came out this time. I'll be getting rid of the things that didn't turn out, so I can make some new things. But be sure to stay tuned as I unveil more items from this weeks firing. The flower is Angle Face rose growing in my front yard, wouldn't that be a pretty color for the Victorian Lace plates?

Liriodendron tulipifera

A beautiful and sad event unfolded in my garden this evening. I've admired the Liriodendron tulipifera flower from afar since we lived in Arkansas. The tree grew in the deep woods with it's light green foliage, unusual shaped leaves, and it's flowers which were always hidden from view. I knew the flowers were there as I had studied horticulture for years. Colored with the same fresh green of the leaves and a line of ripe melon color in the center, the flowers were always unobtainable, since they were high in the tree and hidden from view by a thick canopy of leaves.


This evening I noticed my small sapling had put on a flower and I wanted to record it with my camera and thought to share the illusive beauty of the flower with you here. I obtained a step stool from the garage, but it wasn't tall enough. So I hurried down to the barn before the light of day was gone to fetch a ladder in hopes of reaching high enough to see the flower.


Still the ladder was a bit too low, but I bent the branch down to show the flower with my left hand and with the right I held the camera. I took a photo but thought the light wasn't quite right so I bent the branch a little further down and took a few more photos. I saw a small bug had nestled itself in the petals in a cocooned and restful sleep for the night.


All at once the branch that held the flower gave way and I knew I had bent the branch too far. A great sadness overtook me at my careless and selfish desire to obtain the beauty of nature for myself with my camera. I brought the branch inside to take a few more photos. And yet as I review the photos here, I see the best one was the first I took from the ladder in the tree.

Getting Organized

While the glaze load is firing I decided to review and reflect on my work over the past four months. My cat, Butter, was doing some thinking, so he inspired me to do the same. You might recall the ceramics classes were cancelled at the college this semester. Therefore, we've only had two or three folks producing any work for the kiln which means there's only going to be this one glaze firing. So all my eggs are in one basket, so to speak.


I mainly used two clay bodies B-Mix and Soldate 60, with the occasional Black Mountain thrown in. Pieces I made included pinched cups and bowls, textured pendants, hand built vases, textured plates, cups, pitchers, leaves, and tiles, faux bois vases and sculptures, miscellaneous sculptures, woven crosses, baskets and trivets. I also experimented with slips, stains, oxides, glazes and barrel firings. As I'm typing this list I'm amazed at how many different forms I've made and all the experimenting I have done over the last four months. Sometimes I think I should have accomplished more, but this list has made me realize I've done quite a bit since January.


Bear with me as I think out loud here. It's kind of late tonight to start, but this post has made me realize I need a master list of everything I make, an inventory. I see a list as something important I must do. I can use the list to examine the work I have done, make improvements and changes, see what pieces sell, and decide what pieces I should make in the future.


This is kind of a eureka moment for me. Up till now I've just made whatever struck my fancy or what I felt challenged to do. I still want to do that, wouldn't Butter make a nice sculpture? But I also want to think about selling more of my work, so I need to think about getting organized. I'm still not up to par, maybe I'm not thinking so clearly, so tomorrow I may read this post and think, what in the heck was I talking about, maybe not.


Do you have an inventory or list of the pieces of pottery you make, how did you organize it? Do you have catalog numbers for your pieces? So far I see I'll need functional and sculptural categories and then some sub-categories under those. Oh, I just realized I probably need a list of glazes, slips and oxides I use. I would also like a print catalog with a photo of the pieces I have made, like a portfolio. Do ceramic artists have portfolios?


All of a sudden this is all very important to me. Please don't laugh, the business end of art isn't taught in school, so I have to learn and do these things as I go along when I find a spare moment. Good night, I leave you with St. John's Wort, Hypericum 'Ruby Glow', a favorite of florist's because the dried berries are used in arrangements.

1954 Chevy Gets New Home

Our 1954 Chevy, five-window, single-wheel (kind of a rare option), flatbed truck got a new home this weekend. Perhaps you recall seeing it in our garage while Gary was working on it. He had requisitioned my roll around drying rack for all the parts. The guy who purchased our truck plans on completing the restoration and then signing up the truck to be used in movies. He lives in Orange County and he said some of the jobs he's gotten have given him $900 a day as a driver of his old cars in various movies. Perhaps we shouldn't have sold the Chevy. But we don't have a car trailer and don't live close enough to Los Angeles.

Fremontodendron californicum
California Flannelbush, a California native plant,
be sure to look at the texture on the leaves

By the way the color of the truck is Ocean Green, the original color for this truck. It had eight layers of paint on it and there were traces of the Ocean Green as the bottom one. We're glad we sold the Chevy. Kind of sad though, Gary never even got to drive it around the block after he got it put back together. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do. Over the past month or so Gary has been laid off, then called back to work, then reduced to a three days of work per week, now he's being paid hourly instead of his regular rate of pay, what a roller coaster. Another reason for my post about (bullshit) White Feather.


Gary is fast becoming an experienced studio assistant. Last week he helped with the barrel firing. And yesterday, Gary helped me with this window box vase. Remember this window box vase, Crowded City? Well when I placed it in the bisque load a couple of weeks ago, I leaned over to put something else in and the brick I was using as a stilt, fell against the side and knocked off a couple of the end sections. Thank goodness I was the one who broke the piece. This piece was a crowning achievement in porcelain hand building for me. It has 17 pieces I had to keep together and get them to stand upright all at the same time. I didn't have the heart to dispose of it, so I decided to fire it anyway to see how it would do in the bisque load. Glad I did, it made it through just fine.

Bambusa multiplex 'Alphonse Karr'
a clumping bamboo with variable stripes

A day or so ago I was thinking of sawing off the projections all the way around, but decided to just saw off the opposite end pieces to match those I broke. Since I was ill last night, Gary used the dremel tool and sawed off the pieces for me. Today, I'll take it to school and glaze it. I've still got a bit of sanding to do, but that won't take long. Gary called this vase, Blades of Grass. One of my fellow classmates said the same thing. I may glaze it with a green color, perhaps green to black satin matt glaze. I could just see a vine house plant growing in this window box and the vines growing out and around the ends.

Gazania rigens
Treasure Flower, native of Southern Africa

This morning I took a walk around the yard. I observed so many plants in bloom but, as I got close to each plant, I noticed there's even more to see if I'm really observant and take the time to look closely. So I've sprinkled in a more than one plant today for you to enjoy.

Please Glaze My Vase

When I first started making pots I so happy they turned out without cracking or warping. Later I wanted them to have a 'pretty' glaze. I looked at the colors of the glazes available and said to myself, "Oh, I like that color" and I would put it on the pot. If the glaze didn't crawl and covered the pot evenly I was happy.

Now I think about the use of the piece and try to visualize what the piece will look like after it's glazed. I also think some forms lend themselves to various glazes. Perhaps one color glaze is more popular than another. Maybe one glaze breaks over texture better than another and so on. Now it seems like it's harder and harder to decide how to glaze pieces I have made, probably because I can think of more possibilities.

I've been thinking about this porcelain vase for over a week now and still haven't decided how to glaze it. I would definitely like to make this form again. Besides the fact that I like the shape, I can see so many possibilities of how it could be glazed. The vase stands about 14 inches tall and about 5 inches at it's widest. It's slab built from B-Mix porcelain and smooth without any texture. The vase is only about an inch thick and the sides are pinched together almost like piecing together fabric. The vase has an opening just large enough for one stem to fit.

Today I was thinking of applying contrasting bands around the pot. Sorry about the darkness of these examples; they are photos of photos printed on typing paper. Gary picked out the first example and called it, "Miss Mississip". He said it looks like the ribbons placed on beauty queen contestants. What about you, how do you decide to glaze your pots? How would you glaze my vase?

Later today I thought a flowing blue and gold glaze would be so nice. Can you picture this beautiful chun glaze by Peter Gregory on my pot? (scroll down to the end of his post to see his plates - that's the glaze I was thinking of). A glaze that will flow down from the top in multiple colors. My vase is in the bisque load now. I'm not sure I'll be able to get it out and glazed and into the glaze load for the next run, but I am hoping I can.

So I'm asking for you to please glaze my vase. Don't be shy, go ahead and make a comment on how you would glaze this vase. You could either provide a link to one of your glazed pots or a link to a glaze you think would look good on this vase. I've always thought it would be fun to make a piece of pottery and have someone else glaze it; so asking here is the next best thing. I think this could be fun, and, of course, I'm hoping I can learn something by asking you to glaze my vase. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.


My hollyhocks haven't started blooming yet this year, but I took this photo of a black hollyhock in my garden last year.

Raised Vegetable Bins

Pinched Stoneware Paperweight
by Linda Starr

When we moved here there was a big corral behind the barn. Since we weren't going to raise cows or horses, we decided to tear down the corral and re purpose the lumber into raised vegetables bins. The lumber for the corral was full cut and untreated, perfect for the bins. First we removed the boards, that part was easy. Then we had to remove the nails which held the boards to the posts. They were 3 and 4 inch nails that had been in the boards for quite some time. There was a whole lot of prying and hammering for many a moon removing those nails.

Anti Cribbing or Wood chewing Nails

Not knowing much about horses, I had never heard of anti cribbing or anti wood chewing nails. Let me tell you they are a pain in the neck to get rid of. Apparently little nails are hammered part way into the tops of the boards to prevent the horses from chewing on the wood. If you want to re-use the lumber you have to either remove the nails or hammer them in.

broccoli and Brussels sprouts

Then I drew up a plan for the bins and chose a fairly level spot which gets morning and afternoon sun. Which is between my studio and my storage/potting shed. I decided to make the bins 34 inches wide, a little less than three feet wide because my aviary wire comes in three foot sections. We had more than 20 boards that were 8 inches by 18 to 20 feet long and were in the best shape, so we were able to make five bins 16 inches tall. We used the cracked and warped boards for the ends of the bins. We used the posts on the inside corners of the bins to strengthen them. We also made three smaller bins 8 inches tall and 6 feet long. That gave us plenty of space to grow lots of vegetables and I planted flowers in the first bin near the studio. A year or two later I planted dahlias in two more bins and I still have enough room to grow the vegetables I want.

Swiss chard, lettuce, and spinach

I rolled out a section of aviary wire 14 feet long and then we built the bin on top of the aviary wire. We used the aviary wire on the bottom of each bin to keep the gophers from coming up into the bins from below. After we built one bin, we took our tractor and filled the bin with native soil mixed with compost all the way up to the top of the bin. We knew the soil would settle after we watered it in.

baby broccoli

Then we moved on to building the next bin. Filling the bins as we built them meant we could use the tractor to move the soil instead of hand shoveling the dirt into the bins. We left about 4 feet between the bins, enough room to comfortably get a wheelbarrow down the aisle. We also put ground cover cloth between the bins and spread 1/4 inch minus chip rock between the bins to keep it neat looking. I like chip rock much better than pea gravel because it doesn't roll under your feet when you walk on it.

raised vegetable bins

After we got the soil well watered, I rolled out a good quality ground cover cloth over the top of the soil and tacked it down with landscape staples. I cut two rows of criss cross holes in the ground cover cloth every two feet to put my vegetable plants in. Then I shook buckets of bark on top of the cloth. The cloth helps prevent weed seeds from germinating and the bark helps keep moisture in the soil. Both allow water and air to penetrate to the soil.

potting shed

So far this year I planted spinach, red Swiss chard, lettuce, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts. I decided not to plant any warm season vegetables like tomatoes or peppers until after April 15 because last year we had a late frost and my tomatoes and peppers were frozen back to the stems and it took them forever to recover. Thanks goodness I delayed planting tomatoes and peppers this year, we had late Spring frost last night.


Above is my potting/storage shed where I can start seeds and store my tools. I planted two antique roses on either side of the door to shade the building in summer. They are Devonesis and Madam Alfred Carriere, both fragrant climbers. I attached a lean to, to the side of the storage shed as a potting area. It has a tin roof and the sides are covered with beige shade cloth. Since the potting shed faces east in the summer it remains relatively cool there in the afternoon. Have a good weekend.

White Feather

If you've been reading my blog on a regular basis you'll recall the Black Feather mask I made last week. This week I've finished the companion mask, White Feather. A few months ago I awoke from a dream early one morning and sketched the idea for two masks on a scrap piece of paper. The white feathers on this mask completely cover the mouth and partially obscure the eyes. Sometimes I'm not able (too stressed out) to speak or don't want (will stick my foot in my mouth) to say what is on my mind. Sometimes I see the truth, but don't want to admit, even to myself, what the truth is. And then sometimes I want to hide from the truth. Or, as sometimes is the case, I don't want to confront the bullshit. Can I say bullshit on my blog? Heck, why not it's my blog.


I mostly see the world as black or white, good or bad, nice or mean, friend or foe, etc. Unfortunately, life is oftentimes full of bullshit and frankly I've never had much patience for bullshit. The trick for me is to see if the bullshitter is full of bullshit or if there is something worthwhile behind the bullshit. I know you're probably thinking, where in the hell did all this come from. Well it came from the depths of me, but it's been there all along. You're probably also wondering what prompted these thoughts, it isn't any one thing, but many things.


So as time goes by you'll be seeing my explorations in black and white clay as a way of coping with a world that's got a lot of bullshit I have to put up with on a daily basis, the price of gas, food, utilities, lack of jobs, reduced income, the cost of health care, car, and house insurance, etc. Not to mention our taxes in California just went up. Sales tax increased one percent, vehicle license tax increased half a percent and on and on.

What this one percent tax increase means is a decrease in income, we pay more for everything we purchase and have more taken out of our paychecks. It amounts to a pay raise for the state, but a huge pay cut for everyone living here. I lump all this crap into one category - bullshit. Unfortunately it's bullshit I have little control over. For now all I can do is buy less and cut costs. As time goes by, though, I'm thinking and planning.

Now that I've gotten today's tangent of bullshit out of the way (well at least pushed it aside for the time being), how about a couple of beautiful and a sweet smelling flowers from my garden to clear the air. Life is not all bullshit there is a lot of sweetness surrounding us. Above is my rose arbor which is in full bloom, and if you happen to be in the neighborhood, my cat, Binky, and I will welcome you to my garden and studio. The arbor is planted with Cecile Brunner roses, called the sweetheart rose, and also pink jasmine, Jasminum polyanthum, growing on the back side (ha ha - no pun there) of the arbor.