Inspiration....

In the last couple days I've seen a few comments on the birdhouses and there was some mention of watching birds at their feeders (Aunt Joan). I too enjoy watching them fly around the yard but you know those comments really got me started thinking! Inspiration! This is how my thoughts developed, (bare with me it might get scary)! First, I thought "I need to refill my feeder" , then " I need to get some more feeders" and "maybe I should". "What if I took some....", "it wouldn't be too hard", "if I pulled it up", "closed it off", "made the holes", "slabbed some cups", "perches", "removable tops", " HEY, I can SO pull this off", " let's go see" and I immediately went to Mom's!

So, I threw, pulled, closed, cut, slabbed, holed, cupped and topped! Then I thought, "Yeehaw, I did it!" And then I did it a few more times! Check them out!

They're like little feather-friendly diners! Those are removable stopper tops to make refilling easier. The smaller holes will have little stick perches in them for the birdies to sit and chow!

I will keep these updated in pictures as well as all the other pieces!

Moving on!

We loaded the kiln this evening for a bisque firing and I wanted to show some of those pictures!

This is inside the partially loaded kiln. There's quite a few birdhouses in there.

See that little red looking thing in the center of this picture? That's the cone! Cone o4 to be exact. It's sitting between those prongs and a lever on the top side, when the kiln gets to a specific temperature that cone is designed to bend and the lever falls! That lever shuts the kiln off and the cooling process begins! There are many different types of cones and each kind is designed to bend at varying temps. It takes several hours for the kiln to get hot enough to bend that cone and then several hours for it to cool down enough to look inside! It takes a bit longer to do a glaze firing! I honestly can't wait to show you all what it looks like to open that kiln after a glaze fire and see all those beautiful colors staring back at you! MAGIC!

Anyway, here's a few more pics that I took to show you!

A cookie jar that I threw and then carved! It has been bisque fired already but truthfully I am at a loss for what I want to glaze it with!

This sweet little teapot is Mom's! She threw it, altered it, and painted those pretty little flowers on it! It has been bisque fired and is waiting to be dipped in clear glaze and fired! Very talented, that mother of mine!

And here we have a garlic jar that Mom threw a couple days ago! It is green (not bisque fired yet, FRAGILE)! When dry it will be sanded, fired, glazed, fired again and soon used to store someone's cloves of garlic!

Thanks for visiting, come back soon!

No, really come back soon because I'm gonna be posting finished product pics in the very near future and you don't want to miss it!

Ambre