Letters to the Elves!

 The elves love to receive letters!  Here are is a nice one they shared with me recently:

e to receive letters!  Here are is a nice one they shared with me recently:

Letters to the Elves!

 The elves love to receive letters!  Here are is a nice one they shared with me recently:

New projects!

 Still waiting here for the snow to melt, so I can get back to my number one passion - building elf houses!  Until then, I started a new sculpture project.  What can you do with an odd form and 2 dozen frisbees?  Something fun.  I've been asked to make a sculpture for Faux Bloom '23, a sculpture garden at the Saint Paul Saints Stadium.  I couldn't be happier!  Wait until you see the result.

Letters to the Elves!

 The elves love to receive letters!  Here are is a nice one they shared with me recently:

Icelandic Chicken Feathers

 I've written before about my Icelandic chickens.  They keep me company in the yard when I'm working on elf houses.  I consider them my "brain trust," since chickens aren't the least bit shy about saying they don't like the way a project is going.  They can be little cluckers actually.

Lately my chickens have been molting and this gave me a unique opportunity to make some art with their feathers.  There is a method in raku pottery firing where you can add horse hair and feathers to the red hot clay for some interesting patterns and results.  You just have to be careful not to burn your fingers.  In the pot below you can see my Icelandic chicken's feather on the lower part of the piece.

Some pictures of my muse for your am-muse-ment!

Letters to the Elves!

 The elves love to receive letters!  Here are is a nice one they shared with me recently:

Jerry and the very, very hot pots!

 I'm always game to try something new!  My son and I took a red hot class on Japanese Raku pottery at the Rum River Center for the Arts.  You'll see why I say red hot when you look at the video below.  Hope you like the results!

As a former firefighter, I wasn't too nervous about the fire.  I just didn't want to drop or ruin any of the other potter's pieces.  I was so relieved when I got them all safely out of the kiln.  After seeing Dad's success, my youngest was even willing to give it a try.

Raku is cool because it is unpredictable - the mix of heat and ash can make some wonderful pieces.  They can even take on an almost metallic glow.