No shit...

Yesterday, the weather was kind of weird: lots of rain but also sunshine in between.
We decided to take a walk in the late afternoon. Well, it didn't take long 'cause after about 20 minutes big raindrops where falling down again and we weren't smart enough because we didn't take our raincoats! :)
But I did photograph a bit of spring...And aren't we lucky we can walk in an area where there is no horseshit allowed? :)

Brain matters

I made a few zombie feelings but when they came out of the kiln, the 'brain' came loose. That's because I didn't add enough clay slib while making them.
Hmm... I needed to find a solution to fix it. I didn't want to throw the bottom pieces away as they do take some time to make. But because they are already fired, they turned into ceramics so a clay slib won't do to fix it. So, I just added some glaze to it and put new brain on it wit my clay gun. When the glaze will melt, the clay will stick into it like glue.
So hopefully I can add some zombie feelings to my shop soon! :)

Ouch...

This is what I found on the bottom shelf of the kiln last wednesday...
The feelings 'angry', 'pain' and 'stress' exploded.
This probably happened because there was an airhole in one of them. Since the were standing next to each other, the one explosion blew the pieces of clay so hard onto the other that they exploded too. Well, I wasn't a witness but this is the most logical explanation.
This happens in ceramics sometimes and I guess you just have to live with it.
Stress takes ages to make though so I did curse when I saw it.
Oh well, hope they will do better next time! :)

My creative space

My creative space today is the kitchen table. I just finished a crochet Babuschka and I'm deciding which color to start next. I'm going to make 'em in all rainbowcolors because colors make me happy!
A while ago, I asked Tara from Mamachee if she could design me a crochet babuschka pattern. Tara has been quite busy lately as she has just opened a yarn supply shop on Etsy. Wooo, supplies are dangerous! :)
But a few days ago, I found a great pattern in my mailbox and I was SO giddy that I just had to try it immediately. This pattern is, like all Tara's patterns, just perfect!
I had been dreaming about crochet Babuschka's so I can actually say that a dream has come through! :)
She made it just for me but I hope she will sell it in her shop soon 'cause I think it would do really well! I'm certainly not the only one who is obsessed with babuschka's!
And yesterday I re-opened my Etsy shop with my ceramic work. I'm so thrilled to see it in there! But I have to say that it wouldn't be there if I hadn't had my virtual friends (Etsy, blog, Flickr, Twitter) to support me throughout the whole process of creating them.
I feel loved & it feels good. Thank you so much 'cause you made this happen too!
Let's have som bubbles! :)

If you want to play and show your creative space, please hop over to Kootoyoo's blog.

Display ideas for Mini Art Feelings

I have been busy taking pictures of the Mini Art Feelings yesterday. I was so pleased to have my tripod so all shots were quite steady and I didn't have to edit too much, beside cropping them.
The feelings on this picture below all have to do with travelling & exploring so I thought they would look good with my globe & antique world map in the back.
I also thought of a way how that the Mini Art Feelings can be displayed. I had a few IKEA Bas display boxes in my storage room that have been waiting for use for a long time.
The back of the boxes is white so I wanted to add some color to it. As I have some wallpaper books at home, I decided to see if I could find a pretty wallpaper to add to the back of them.
The feelings don't all fit in the boxes as some of them are too fat but most of 'em do.
I think it looks great like that. :) Do you like it?

Questioning packaging...

I have been playing with packaging materials and had a lot of fun.
Everyone loves to receive lovely wrapped gifts but at the same time I think of the waste of packaging materials. Up until now, I have always giftwrapped my items but I'm not sure if everyone likes the packaging waste after unwrapping. Even though lots of it can be re-used, not everyone does that.
I wish there was an option at check out to choose for giftwrapping or not as customers not always leave a message in the note to seller at Etsy's check out.
I might just write in the description that my Mini Art Feelings will only come giftwrapped when mentioned in the note to seller. What are your thoughts?

Work in progress

Yesterday was a lovely sunny day outside. Perfect as I needed to give the shelves of my kiln a bat wash. This is a mixture of kaolin, aluminiumhydroxide and quarts to protect them when glaze drips on them. I spent the rest of the day outside glazing some buttons & making more feelings. I love spring.

The secret Easter Bunny is very active...

This is the fifth and last part of the series of questions I asked the European Streetteam Participants on the Secret Easter Bunny swap.
The question this time was: which sports or activities you participate in?

It seems that lots of people have time to do sports beside being creative. These are the kind of sports that they participate in:

• running/jogging
• cycling / mountain bike
• walking/trekking/hiking
• fishing
• swimming
• diving
• fitness
• ice-swimming (Waaaaahhh, that must be freakin' cold)
• skiing
• horse-riding
• roller-skate in summer
• bathing + exercising in swimming pool
• badminton
• aerobics
• spinning
• pilates
• salsa/dancing
• Yoga (different kinds)
  

And of course, some people don't do sports and reacted kind of funny. There are also people who listed other activities that they do and might interest you:

• I’m lazy…
• I'm not a sport type...
  
• LOL...sewing is a sport???
• not yet, just planning too.....
• Window shopping is my main form of getting exercise
• art galleries, meeting friends
• Does WII Tennis count?
  
• Sometimes I join to charities by crocheted/knitted items
• being in nature
• going into the fields looking for fossils and dinossaurs
  
• craft making sessions

Cute pouches

Last week, I saw this pouch in Heli'S blog. I couldn't wait for her to list it so I could grab it. :)
Since I started crocheting, I gathered some hooks and needed a pouch so I would not lose them. I looked up patterns for crochet hook cases but I just don't seem to have the time to crochet right now. This is just the perfect pouch for my hooks! :)
It's so cute & well made that I will have lots and lots of pleasure of it once I have more time to crochet again. Heli also added a beautiful card of one of her handmade paintings.
Ohh, and when I looked inside the pouch...
I found a tiny handmade envelope-pouch.
With a beautiful handpainted dogbrooch inside.
Look at the teeny tiny sweet note Heli wrote!
Thank you so much, Heli, I love my new dog!! :)

While I'm very happy with this new pouch, I'm saving up for one of Heli's bags. I know what I want and I want her to custom make one for me... Her bags are superunique, different and fun!
Heli has a wonderful blog and every friday, she invites an artist to share their day with all her readers. I love the 'friday is my day'-posts among many others she writes.

Talk about pouches... look what arrived yesterday:
Another pouch, just for my measuring tape, scissors, needles and... yummy Italian chocolate to treat myself when I'm done with a crocheting project!
Dany from Happybee sent it to me, just because...
I love the precious embroidery of bicycles she made on the linen! She did it with her embroidery machine - that must be a great toy! The colors are so happy and fun that it just makes me smile! I'll be using it with lots of pleasure. Thank you Dany, I love your sweet gift! :)
Dany has been a bit naughty though as one of the rules of the secret Easter Bunny swap was not to sent me anything. So, she gets a punishment of course...
Dany, you must handembroider this line: 'I promise that next time I will read the rules of the swap game properly and I will not sent the organiser anything'
Now, that will keep her on the right track! ;)

My creative space

After two times firing the kiln, these mini feelings need to be re-made. Only 9 out of 99 is not bad I think. They look OK but they are not. What's wrong with them?
For the first three on the left, I used a different kind of clay because it has less chamotte in it so it would be easier to use the clay gun or carve into it. Apparently, the colordifference is huge.
I fired the blue one too high so it has 'bubbles' on them. I like it but it's not how it's supposed to be.
The 'woman'-like mini feeling lost a nipple while sanding - ouch!
The divided feeling didn't dry evenly so it's a bit crooked.
The invincable dragon lost it's tail before firing.
The empty feeling dried a bit crooked too.
And the feeling on the worktable is loosing it's bubbles 'cause I didn't attach them properly when making it.
So, actually only one firing-mishap (blue one) and all the others are just mistakes I made 'cause I'm only human...

If you like to play along and show your creative space, hop over to Kotooyoo and play! It's fun! :)

Five addictions & blog award

I have been tagged by GretchenMist to share 5 of my addictions.
Hmm, I never thought about being addicted really...
Being addicted for me means getting all nervous and anxious about not having something.
So I think I'm addicted to these:

My laptop - everyday addiction

Salty crisps - addiction
Want to eat them everyday, but I don't! Clay - everyday addiction
Luckily I don't have to dig it out of the river!

Mail - everyday addiction
I love snail mail so getting a postcard or a letter can just really make my day! :)

And I was lucky today...
I received this beautiful vintage postcard from Vadjutka
Thank you Judit, you made me smile!!! :)

Babuschka's - everyday addiction

It wasn't like that before but now, they seem to rule my life! :)

Now I am supposed to tag 5 other people to share their addictions.
But I won't do that! If you read this and want to share, please do so.
Leave a comment in this post that you did and I'll come and check out your addictions 'cause I'm curious that way! :)

Yippeee, I got this award from 21! Thank you so much! :)
I love so many blogs that I find it hard to tag a few in particular. Sometimes I wish I had more time to read all the blogs I love more often...
So, if I don't visit regularly, it doesn't mean I don't love your blog, it's just I haven't found the place where they sell time yet! ;)

And today's work in progress... sanding - SOOOOO boring!

How to make a stamp?

For my packaging, I needed a Babuschka stamp so I decided to make one myself.
I'm not really an expert on lino cutting and stamp making but since I needed it fast, I gave it a try. This is what you need:
a lino cutting set, a pencil, a drawing, a sharpie marker, ink and a gum.
Trace the drawing with a pencil.
Turn around the drawing and rub the drwing onto the gum.
This is how it looks after rubbing it.
Trace the outline with a sharpie marker.
Cut away all the gum besides the black outlines.
This is how it looks when the outside is done.
This is how it looks when the inside is done.
Put some ink on the stamp.
Press the stamp onto the paper.
Now you can clearly see that the stamp needs to be cut some more. All the black marks can be cut away.
You can use either the lino cutters for this or a little scalpel knife.
Repeat the process of stamping again to see if it looks better after cutting away some more gum.
After the second time, I cut away a bit more... and now I'm satisfied.Stamp a design on a piece of wood and cut it out with a saw. Glue the stamp onto the wood.
Now I can use it for my packaging. I went out to buy packaging material yesterday.
I'm nearly all set for my mini feelings to fly out into the world...

After...

Had to wait really long to open the kiln. A ceramist has to be really patient, and normally I am but this time it was really really hard.
A few accidents that happened before firing didn't come out right. The feeling invincable lost part of his tail before it went in the kiln and I fixed it but it didn't stay.
I fired the feelings quite high for durability and didn't realise the blue engobe could not stand that high temperature so I'll be re-making those two feelings for sure.
Just very, very relieved there was no explosions or damage to any of them.
I'm a happy girl now... :)

Thanks...

I hug your comments
you all make
this blog

Before...

Created with fd's Flickr Toys. I think this looks good, now I hope that it looks OK too when I open it tommorrow. :)

First time firing the kiln

After I started the kiln on friday evening at 6pm, it cooled down till 120°C on saturday evening at 23pm. I was too tired to wait for it to cool down completely to load it again so today will be the big day but the results will be revealed tommorrow or the day after.
I have all my feelings ready to be fired. With only transporting them from upstairs to downstairs, some of them got damaged a tiny little bit. Jip, they are superfragile when dry and not fired.So I give them a little cure with clay slib & vinegar and for a few I'll just use some glaze as glue. I just have to be really careful when I adjust it as I don't want any signs of glaze on my little feelings. Here you see the most fragile feelings...

The secret Easter Bunny loves candy...

This is the fourth part of the series of questions I asked the European Streetteam Participants on the Secret Easter Bunny swap.
The question this time was: what is your most favorite candy?
All of the participants are woman and I think that we can easily say that woman and chocolate are inseperable. No less then 27 participants claimed chocolate to be their absolute favorite.
It doesn't really matter in what form it comes but these are the ones mentioned and prefered most: mik chocolate, pure chocolate, M&M's, chocolate mousse,... Well, and there were two participants who also belong to the first group but were kind of specific on what kind of chocolate candy they like best. Since we all know who we are talking about here, I'm just going to spill their names: Kreativlink and Swiedebie are true Snicker addicts!
Four people love licorice, being it sweet or salty...
Three people claimed to be not a candy person. Do they exist? :)
Some more favorite candies:

• Anything strawberry
• Marshmellows
• Bassetts winegums
• Milk candies
• Chewing gum

I had to look up two of them since I didn't know what they are:

Rum baba

A rum baba or baba au rhum is a small yeast cake saturated in liquor, usually rum, and sometimes filled with whipped cream or pastry cream.

Halva
Most types of halva are relatively dense confections that are sweetened with sugar or honey.

And since we do have a lot of people who came to live in Europe in our team, there were some specific candies that they seem to miss tremendously:

Dulce de leche
a typical Argentinian candy

Whittakkers peanut slabs
Typical New Zealand thing

Chocolate peanut butter reese's cups
it's an American thing

All Indonesian candy
And to make it complete, I just baked this. I found the recipe in FleurFatale's blog.
Hmm... it smells delicious!