Happy New Year 2011

Rutile Pyramid Goblets
by Linda Starr

I toast you all into the new year, and I hope you have a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year. These are the pyramid goblets I made a short time ago. The bowls are pinched and I slab built the stems. I didn't know for sure which clay I had for the four goblets, so I glazed two one way and the other two with a different glaze, instead of four the same color.

Lavender Pyramid Goblets
by Linda Starr

I don't have a potter's wheel or a banding wheel so I cut the rims by eye. I use a dollar store lazy susan, and I just noticed it's not level. No wonder my work leans a little. Ha! I've been looking for a used potter's wheel but haven't found one yet. I plan to make more pyramid goblets and change a few more details on them.

Before Gary and I were married he took a wine appreciation class and learned quite a bit about California wines, what to look for, and how to judge the taste. He also found out wine doesn't have to be expensive for it to taste good. The Rex Goliath Chardonnay was acceptable as well as the 2009 Barefoot Zinfandel, and both were very reasonable in price.

Most wines, especially reds, should be opened and left to breathe before drinking. Keep in mind every year and every case of wine is different and how they are stored makes a difference too. No, we didn't drink both bottles last night, I just saved a few empty bottles for photographic backdrops.

Last year when I was living and traveling in my motorhome I came up with the original idea for this style of goblet. The next two are the first pyramids goblets I designed back then. I liked them so much I vowed to make more. The stems of these are shorter and the bowl shape is more martini shaped than the ones above. I like both styles of these goblets.

Green & Black Pyramid Goblets
by Linda Starr

I also designed these wavy stemmed goblets while in my motorhome and I called them aperitif goblets since the bowl is just a taste full. Or they could be a fancy shot glass too. Ha! I haven't made any more of these yet, but I will. After I make a new piece I think about the shape for a while, maybe test it, and see if it needs improvement. These wavy goblets need a bigger pedestal to make them more stable. So that's a change I'll make for these.

Golden Aperitif Goblets
by Linda Starr

After I made the goblets I got the idea to make mugs with stems. Now that I'm thinking of it, I could probably make a mug with a pyramid base too. I get ideas just typing up my posts, pretty cool. How about you, do you get ideas of things to make when you're typing a blog post? Maybe other things to write about?

If you're looking for some unique drinking vessels, a few of these will be in my etsy store, Blue Starr Gallery, shortly. Just click here or on the link at the top, right hand side of my blog and voila, you'll be shopping online.

Gold Speckled Stemmed Mugs
by Linda Starr

I still can't believe I made so much work while traveling in my RV and none of it broke. I guess it doesn't matter where I am or what size my studio is, there's always room for creativity. Thanks to all of you for following me and for your words of encouragement, every comment means a whole lot to me. It's nice to know there's folks like you out there encouraging me along in my clay endeavors. Happy New Year 2011.
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Dapper Mrs. Peanut

Dapper Mrs. Peanut
by Linda Starr

I couldn't be happier with Dapper Mrs. Peanut. She'll be in the Stirling Gallery show in Dunedin on Monday, January 3rd, along with a few others from this firing. I think the peanut family will be increasing in the near future. Lots of good results in this load including glazes, tiles, and sculptures. Here are a few pieces from the firing.

Toggle Button Vase
by Linda Starr

Musical Note Vase
by Linda Starr

Blue Butterfly Vase
by Linda Starr

I used a new clear on this and other pieces. Apparently the clear neutralizes some of the mason stained slip colors. I'll have to look at my greenware photo to see which colors.

Two Tea Bowls
by Linda Starr

Splat Bowl
by Linda Starr

Experimental large, splat slip bowl, non-functional due to the rough texture of the slips used, native Florida clay and others.

Tree with Welcoming Arms
by Linda Starr
(will be mounted in a shadow box)

Drifting Dots Vase
by Linda Starr

Shiny black is one of the hardest colors to photograph. The orange slip faded away, but I'll make more of these drifting dot vases and bowls with different colors in the near future. The same clear is over these two pieces so that is a consideration for mason color changes, but it does cover nicely.

Drifting Dots Bowl
by Linda Starr

I preheated this glaze load since it was so cold in the garage. The kiln started at 49 F, I heated the load 50 degrees for the first 175, then 25 up to 200, with a 30 minutes hold, then continued on with my regular firing. Except I bumped up my hold time at the top end to 20 minutes, twenty hours including the slow cool down. Overkill? Perhaps, but better safe than sorry.

I think I could bump up my top temperature a little more and decrease the top hold down to 15 minutes. But I didn't want to risk this firing because I wanted to use pieces from this load in the Stirling Gallery opening January 3rd. Back to work, I have sculptures to put together. Comments and suggestions are welcome.
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Warm Your Innards

I was typing a post for tomorrow and I must have hovered over the publish button too long. Does that ever happen to you? Well anyway I figured I might as well post it now. Just in case you're a new reader, I decided to re-publish my recipe for spicy beans and rice because I've been making it today while a glaze load is firing. This is a great recipe to cook in winter when it's really cold, like right now. Ugh it's cold even here. Above is a pinch bowl from the last firing. I love the contrast between the sunset colored interior and the almost black exterior. A perfect size bowl for the spicy beans and rice.


Below is the spicy beans and rice cooking away in my extra large crock pot. No sense making just a small amount. I make a big pot and keep it in the frig and have it for lunch and dinner the next day too, or for guests who might stop by during the holidays or any time.


To find the recipe, click on the link in the first paragraph for the secret ingredient. No sense re-posting the recipe when you can find the recipe from two years ago. Yes, can you believe it, two years ago on my blog I developed this recipe out of kitchen cabinet ingredients and I've been reaping the benefits ever since. Oh here are a couple of low bowls I made when I was traveling in my RV in Arizona. The roadrunner and cactus make me think of spicy food. Perhaps I'll serve our meal in these tonight.


I use a crock pot to cook this recipe. This time I put in carrots and green beans I had in the crisper. I probably changed the spices a bit too. When you've been cooking as long as I have you can take artistic license with the ingredients. But I never forget to add the secret ingredient of hot peppers or red pepper flakes. This dish is a hit with both young and old. It really takes longer than the 12 hours of cooking time to make this dish really sing, so I cook it for 16 hours, just like a slow ramp, slow cool glaze load. Please enjoy and stay warm!

Didn't Take A Photo

I'm really slipping up. I unloaded the bisque, glazed till the wee hours this evening and didn't take a photo. Mrs. Peanut is in the glaze load and I've really become quite fond of her. Hope she makes it.

Even if she doesn't, it's been quite fun walking around the house this week exclaiming, "Mrs. Peanut!" out of the blue. People usually don't know this, but sometimes I'm quite silly. I go off on these crazy tangents. More later.

We Splurged

I've really been working too much lately, so Gary and I took time off to drive to the gulf for day trips near our home. It's too easy for me to get into the routine of not taking any time off and that's not good. We thought we'd get the scoop on how folks fish from a pier around here, in hopes we could do some fishing and add to our food source with a recreational activity.


We went to Fort Island Beach very close to us and walked out on the pier. While we were there we ran into a local shore fisherman catching blue crab with his collapsible nets. I talked to him for a while and happily learned some of his secrets of crab fishing. Check in again I might start doing some crab fishing myself.


While I was at the pier I looked down into the water and could see all the creatures of the sea. The water is amazingly clear and as I waited and looked closely I could see a whole world of underwater activity. It was truly amazing and mesmerizing to me. I could see crabs running along the floor of the gulf waters. I was surprised to see they run amazingly fast sideways. I could see stingrays swimming by making their rounds to the crab nets in hopes of getting the crab before the fisherman did. I could see fish small and large swimming in the drifting seaweed and sea grasses.


I thought about the stingray "learning" to swim by the crab nets in hopes of finding crab for food. I thought about how it's easy to think of creatures such as a stingray as being not so intelligent, and yet I saw they have learned to adapt to local ways, learning they can find a crab in a crab net easier than looking for one among drifting seaweed.

On the way home we stopped at a local fishery dock and saw some pelicans roosting on the pier posts sunning themselves. I walked out there to take a photo. As I was engrossed in taking the photo of one, I started to walk away and saw a blue heron standing below the pelican motionless. He blended into the hues of the wood dock so perfectly I had neglected to see him till just the last minute. So I quickly snapped his photo. What a wonderful day we had.


As we were driving home, we stopped and got some fresh fish from a local roadside fisherman. We splurged and bought a fresh Florida spiny lobster tail. Gary and I shared the lobster tail for our Christmas dinner. It was so delicious and the price was very reasonable. What a relaxing Christmas we had this year. I feel refreshed and renewed.

It's cold and rainy today, but no snow like other folks like Tracey and Meredith, all their photos have me envious, but not too much, don't want to do any shoveling that's for sure. Happy day after Christmas everyone.

Christmas Eve Kiln Opening

His & Hers Stemmed Pinch Mugs
by Linda Starr

Boat Shaped Vase
by Linda Starr

Green Speckled Butter Dish
by Linda Starr

Blue Moon Pinch Bowl
by Linda Starr

Pinched Tabletop Planter
with Florida Clay Dots
by Linda Starr

Combed Dots Pinch Bowls
by Linda Starr

Pool of Desire
glass melted in a tiny pinch pot
by Linda Starr

Sadly the second vase, which is about 8 x 10 inches, has a one inch vertical stress crack at the top one inch from the edge. I was inspired by rough terrain in the mountains for this one. And the colors were so Christmassy, what a big disapointment. The boat shapes have a lot of stress at the sides, but I keep on making them.

The Florida clay on the tabletop pinched planter turned a really dark brown and has a rough texture, rather nice looking. Would be good for texture on the outside of pots. I did screen it, but maybe not well enough.

A few pots not shown had rather putrid colors in the glaze. My volcanic ash experiments were a bust. I sprinkled the ash in little pinch pots and it just made a rough texture. Perhaps next time I'll mix it in with the glaze.

Sometimes I wonder if I am cut out to be a potter. I had a nine piece tile wall hanging that came out really nice. Then I dropped one of the tiles and it got a small chip on the side. I take each and every disappointment so hard, no matter how many good ones I get. Which is how I felt last night. But the last little glass filled pinch pot is how I feel today, a pool of desire to keep going.

Merry Christmas.

Happy Holidays to All

Happy holidays to everyone. Life is good. Gary got a whole box of organic satsumas from California for Christmas and he and I are preparing to overdose on their goodness. We ordered them from our local organic grocery supplier for $30, money well spent. Satsuma are seedless, easy to peel, and very sweet.


Thanks to all my readers and pottery supporters, hope you have a happy and safe holiday season. I am slowly adding pottery to my Etsy shop. The kiln is cooling; I have a few experiments with volcanic ash and glass in there. I'll have a Christmas eve kiln opening, so stay tuned. Comments and suggestions are welcome.

Stirling Gallery & Etsy

The Stirling Art Gallery Exhibit is set for January 2011. Ceramic artist's in the Florida's Gulf Coast Potter's Guild, including myself, will have work on display and for sale from January 3 through the 31st. That's my vase on the bottom row second from the left. We had to have a photo a couple of weeks ago, so I chose a piece I previously made for the poster.

There will be an artist's reception on January 14, 2011 from 5:30 to 8:30 held in conjunction with the Dunedin 2nd Friday Wine/Art Walk. If you are in the area, hope you can make it to see the show. The gallery is located at 730 Broadway, Dunedin, Florida and is open from 11 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday and 12 to 5 pm Saturday.


I worked most of the day setting up paypal, taking photos, setting up Etsy, then loading some pieces onto Etsy. The first item took me forever, then I got the hang of it. Tall vases are difficult to show the whole piece, I may have to retake those photos. Only had time to load a few items since the bisque was cool and I just had to take a look.


Unloaded the bisque and everything came out, even the mug I slipped the stem to the cup section and propped with a biscuit during the bisque load. Yippee! I'm really enamored with my prototype forms for the goblet and mug, wish I had more of them dry and ready to bisque. These pinch forms take longer to dry than other items since the parts have varying thicknesses.

I decided to glaze two goblets with one glaze and two with another. One of the boxes of clay had one type of clay stamped then another written on it and the bisque color looks different than I expected; so I'm not sure how the glaze will come out. I'm about half through glazing; I want to glaze fire today, hopefully I'll have good results in the glaze load too. Comments and suggestions are welcome.

The Scream

Have you ever had a dream where you try to scream but your voice is completely silent? Your voice is paralyzed with fear in your dream. Every so often I have such a dream and it's really the worst feeling trying to scream and all the while not a sound will emanate from my mouth.

Last night, on the night of the rare winter solstice lunar eclipse, I had just such a dream. But this time I said to myself in the dream, I'm going to scream and no matter what I'm going to get the scream to come out. I screamed so loud I actually screamed out loud and woke Gary up. He said my scream was so blood curdling it sounded like someone was cutting me up.

Coincidentally at the very same time Gary was having a dream where he was driving a car hauling truck up a winding mountain road and his truck hit a pedestrian and scraped part of their body off, just as he did so the pedestrian let out a blood curdling scream. At that same moment was when I let out my blood curdling scream which woke Gary up.

What are the chances of my dream of trying to scream coinciding with Gary's dream of a person screaming? And what is the portent of this occurring on the night of the lunar eclipse? Dreams, fears, coincidences, synchronicities are some of the mysteries of life which both delight and boggle the mind. Something to ponder. For more synchronicities check out the blog Synchronicity.

For illustration purposes, I've borrowed the photo above which is the famous painting, The Scream, by Edvard Munch. The kiln is cooling; I hope when I open it, I'll only scream with delight at no broken pieces.

Plumb Full

One more half shelf and the kiln's plumb full. I had pieces to bisque I didn't remember making, till I took them off the shelf. Tiles, wall hangings, sculptures, pendants, bowls, cups, pinch pots, covered dishes, planters, and vases are packed in the kiln. I still have a number of flat items and tall vases on the drying shelves for another load or two.

One of my stemmed pinch mugs separated from it's base as I was sanding the edges. I slipped it back on and propped it up with some greenware biscuits. As I was doing this I thought of a better way to construct stems where I hollow out the bottom of the cup a little and insert the stem into the hole. I'll try that next time. My fingers are crossed for this mug.

I preheated the load for one hour and I'm firing very slow. This time of year it's hard to use my normal method of placing the bottom of a piece against my cheek to see if it's cold to know if it's dry or not. Everything feels cold to the touch even here in Florida. Can't imagine what it's like in other parts of the world where it's even colder. More later.

Smile Award

One of my blogging friends Kittie, from The Block, gave me a smile award and it was so good to receive it, especially this time of year. I've also been craving color due to all the cold lately and then I received the smile award which really hit the spot. Thanks Kittie.

I'm supposed to pass along the award and I'll have to honestly say I'd give it back to Kittie because her blog makes me smile quite a lot. She's a really good writer and her stories about Louisiana really come alive through her words.

Another blog I enjoy reading is The New Sixty, by Arkansas Patti. Patti has a way of telling stories about her adventures in life which are a joy to read. There are lots of funny stories along with some old fashioned values thrown in too.

Then there's Meredith's blog about pottery and everyday life adventures between the overflowing washer, the turkeys on the roof, and a few mice thrown in too, reading there puts a smile on my face too.

Actually all the blogs I visit make me smile, but this post would be way too long, so these three stand out this week. I'll be busy firing and glazing the next couple of weeks getting ready for the show at the Stirling Gallery in Dunedin Florida. I'll post a flyer about that soon. Also working on getting my etsy store up and running so I may be a little scarce.

Thanks for all the blogs out there, for the smiles, and Happy Holidays to everyone.

Butter Dishes & Etsy ?s

Here are a couple of stick butter dishes from the other day. I was inspired to make stick butter dishes from a visit to Whynot Pottery shop earlier this year. Meredith has some really wonderful ones in her shop. If you're in Seagrove stop in and ask her about them.

When I got home I saw my stick of butter on a round plate in the refrigerator. Thought about it all fall and finally got around to making a couple of stick butter dishes. I've heard the ones without covers for households without cats.
Could be for households where the butter has to be kept in the frig due to hot weather too, like ours. I have a glass dish, but in the summer the butter can melt so quickly. Ceramic holds the cold of the frig much longer than glass. I think the handle for the bottom one is a bit long, but it's already attached, so I'll see how it is. I thought a longer handle would be nice when passing it across a table.

Farmer's Market was a rainout today, but we need the rain. I now have my Etsy banner up. Spent more than a day trying to photoshop a banner, then learned in an Etsy tutorial I could make one in Powerpoint much easier. Working on my descriptions and multiple photos now. Wondering if you have paypal for Etsy, did you sign up for a business paypal account? Do you have it linked to your checking account, savings, or a separate account? The wheels of my progress seem to move slowly. Have a safe and relaxing weekend.

Inverness Farmer's Market

I'll have a pottery booth at the old town Inverness Farmer's Market tomorrow from 8 am to 12 noon. Other vendors include local produce, honey, soaps, herb plants, wood crafts, coffee, quilts, jellies, local seafood and more. Please stop in to say hello and do any last minute holiday shopping you might have.

Winter Ratatouille

We had lots of vegetables in the crisper from our organic delivery, so I decided to make a quick vegetable meal, what I'm calling a winter ratatouille. You can whip this up for lunch or dinner in less than half an hour. I served the winter ratatouille in these pinched bowls and spoons which I made when I was living in the RV. The spoon handles aren't long enough, but that's the beauty of being a potter. I can perfect my idea and make more. I think it's fun eating with a hand made spoon out of hand made bowl. I'll bet children would love using a handmade spoon. They could be made in different colors and each one could have their favorite. There I go again with the ideas, I just can't help myself.


3 carrots, sliced thin
1 crookneck squash, sliced, then squared
1 zucchini, sliced, then squared
1 small can chopped tomatoes
2 pats of butter
I didn't measure the spices, maybe a 1/2 tsp each
minced, dried garlic
dried rosemary
dried tarragon
celery seed
dried ground ginger
dried ground turmeric
ground pepper corns
a few shakes from habanero hot pepper sauce to your liking

Melt the butter in a large sauce pan on medium high heat, add the minced garlic and the carrots, saute till you can smell the garlic, but don't burn the butter. Add in the rest of the vegetables, then pour in the tomatoes and start sprinkling in the spices. I add spices by eye now, but you can measure to be safe if you like. Don't forget the hot pepper sauce, a little warmth in the dish is welcome in the winter. Fold the tomatoes into the vegetables, cover and turn down the heat to low, simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring a couple of times.


While the vegetables are cooking, microwave (or have them pre baked) red potatoes, one potato for each serving you plan to make. I made four small ones, so we could have the dish for lunch and dinner. Chop up the potatoes and place one in the bottom of each bowl and add the vegetables over the top and serve piping hot. This is a really tasty and hearty vegetable dish and the pepper sauce gives some added warmth.

How To Move Drifting Dots ?

It was one of those pat myself on the back, really great days in the studio the other day. I was feeling good about the slip design on a big bowl I just made. In fact I liked the drifting dots so much, I started imagining other pieces with different colors of drifting dots, green, blue, yellow, or lavender, maybe different background colors too. Winter seems to be bringing out a color craving in me. I decided to make a tall vase with the same drifting dots, then I thought I'd make four small bowls to go with the large one. I was on a roll.

(Have a look at the river and granite boulders bowl I made over a year ago - almost the same design, hum, interesting.)

I was thinking the flowing lines with the drifting dots would work well on the flat surface of a rectangular vase, moving from one side to the other, cascading down the front. I rolled out my clay slabs and let them firm up a bit. Then I worked for over an hour putting the four pieces of the vase together, using part of a box and a two by four to help hold up the form. Scoring, slipping, patting, and coaxing the clay into a nice rectangular form.


I've been letting the clay slabs dictate the shape and size of my pieces, free wheeling it, so to speak. I guess I'm an impulsive potter, letting my impulses guide my making. I should make templates and get foam to help with my hand building. I keep saying this to myself, but then I start right in the next day and work the same way I usually do. Sometimes good things come from my impulsiveness though, that must be why I continue in this vein of making.

Next I smoothed out the seams and started to work on the slip decoration. First I painted the black slip and let it dry a bit. Then I used a tool to scribe the wavy vertical lines. Again I let the slip dry. Then I added the orange dots which are slip from a terra cotta clay. I noticed each time the slip was slightly dry, but still tacky. I was wishing I had my hair dryer long since donated. Everything was looking so good I took a few photos.


I was about to move the vase to the drying cabinet and all of a sudden I stopped dead in my tracks. I realized I had no way to move the vase to the drying cabinet without smearing the slip design. I couldn't think of a thing to do but cover the vase where it sat and let it firm up a bit.



So my question is, how do you move your slip decorated pieces after you decorate them? I usually move my pieces to drywall after I make them so the drywall won't get wet and sloppy with slip. Now that I have the vase drying I have to wait till I move it to make something else. So much for the smaller bowls I was going to make. Comments and advice is always welcome.

Pain in the You Know What

While Gary and I were looking for a pickup, we saw a huge manatee sculpture on Highway 19 in Homosassa. I just had to show you a photo. The sculpture must have been 20 feet long and 10 feet high. Large public sculptures always amaze me.

You might recall previous posts about the pink elephant, or the road runner, or the horse sculptures in old town Ocala. If you really want to see a huge sculpture, check out my blogging buddy Cindy's very cool bicycle bloom sculpture in Anchorage, Alaska, now that's huge!


This time of year the manatees come into King's Bay in Crystal River to stay warm because there are springs which keep the water at 72 F. Manatees are gentle vegetarian creatures, related to elephants, and are rare with only three species in the world. There's a Florida, West Indian and Amazonian manatee.

The Florida manatee faces the greatest threat of extinction compared to other manatees, mainly due to boat propeller injuries. Please slow down, studies have shown even those sympathetic to the manatee, don't slow down in designated manatee habitat. I try to have my camera with me all of the time, always on the lookout for huge sculptures.

In other news, very early this morning, after a trip to the restroom, I was returning to bed and I tripped on the corner of the bedspread with my left foot. Just before falling down I thrust my right hand out instinctively and landed against the window glass. Just before my hand hit the glass with my full body weight behind it, I thought, oh no, I hope my hand doesn't go through the glass.

It was one of those moments where I wish I hadn't put out my hand but the alternative would have been hitting my head on the marble window sill. At the last moment I must have thought to brace myself from the full impact of hitting the glass and tensed up my torso and buttock muscles. This thankfully may have prevented my hand from going through the glass.

I forgot all about the incident till later today when the muscle deep in my right buttock started to hurt unbearably. It seems as if I have strained my right gluteal muscle severely and can barely walk or move without severe pain. In other words I have a pain in the you know what, a pain in the butt, which IS a pain in the butt. And now I know where the expression pain in the butt comes from. This type of injury is almost as bad as hurting your back, but not quite.

I now appreciate how much a person uses the muscles in their butt; this type of injury is very incapacitating. I hope I'm better tomorrow. Unfortunately, I read it could take from 48 hours to several weeks to recover, dependent upon how severe the muscle tear is. I hope the latter isn't the case for me. I did type most of this post and the next and make two pieces in clay before my butt muscle started hurting. I'll show you the pieces I made tomorrow.

Mrs. Peanut

It's unseasonably cold in Florida this week with a hard freeze of 25 F this morning. I was wondering what to do inside. When, I said to myself, why not make something in clay. Of course you already knew that. Bet you didn't know what I was going to make, 'cause I didn't have a clue myself.

But I rolled out some clay and decided to make something with texture. First I carved the indentations one row at a time. Row after row I moved along with my wire tool. Pretty soon I had a multitude of rows and decided to leave a band of plain clay, as visual relief, which I thought would help break up all the rows of texture. I even thought about adding an actual waistband sprig, but decided to save that for another piece.

After I put the front and back together I looked at the piece and thought it looked like Mrs. Peanut. You might wonder why I'm calling her Mrs. Peanut? Don't you think the surface looks a bit like a peanut? Now that I'm looking at a photo of a peanut, maybe the surface isn't exact, but it's close enough.

I've yet to have boiled peanuts, a Southern delicacy around here. I really should stop at one of the roadside peanut stands. If I spoke with a Southern drawl I might ask for "balt peents". (I'm thinking this affectionately and respectfully).

Next I fiddled around making handles on each side. I worked for quite some time, testing each shape and style of handle as I went along. I'm not sure these handles adequately express Mrs. Peanut's attitude, but the clay hardened at an alarming rate, so I left her as she is, with wavy arms and hands on her hips.

In the back of my mind I'm hoping to add to the peanut family with different attitudes and handles. Maybe I can make a lid for one and it can be a peanut jar. Maybe a head for a lid; I can just see a crinkled (peanut) face in my mind. Once again the possibilities are endless.