Pottery. Photography. And All Things Handmade.
Robin visits every morning to bathe. Downy Woodpecker after carpenter bee larva in the swing set. The result of Downy Woodpecker finding carpenter bee larva! Second generation "Brown Squirrel Junior" visits. White Squirrel visits and has made itself comfortable in our back yard. Lazy afternoons on the back porch calls for a leisurely drink from the... Continue Reading →
The calendar says it is autumn but the Cosmos say otherwise! Click on each image below for a larger view. Be sure to notice the pollen dust on the busy bee! Sunflowers are finished. I harvested their seeds for next year. Left a few for our resident squirrel. 🐿️ We had two special guests this... Continue Reading →
I have been busy with my last pieces of pottery for the year. Yes. Last pieces! Can you believe it? It seems as if I just started throwing yesterday! Pictured below are before and after pictures: Greenware pieces, dry but not yet fired, to be loaded into my kiln for a bisque firing in preparation... Continue Reading →
We had five spectacular sunny days in a row last week! I barely knew what to do with myself with so much sunshine. 🌞 Do I weed? Mow? Bask? Well, I ended up doing all the above: weeding, mowing and basking.😎 You may recall from my June 21st post, Notes From My Back Porch, I... Continue Reading →
It was May 20th when I finally sat down behind my pottery wheel for this throwing season. It takes me four to six weeks to create pottery from a ball of clay to a glazed piece. My newest addition to my standard mugs are my dragonfly mugs which came about accidentally! The first mug I... Continue Reading →
Summer is here! Things are heating up on my back porch . . . in between rain showers, of course. I've been working on dragonfly mugs for what seems like a long time. Now they are glazed and ready to fire. As I was rolling my kiln onto my back porch from the garage, the... Continue Reading →
Finally! A slight break in the rain last week! Three days of glorious sun! 🌞 Which means I have been busy in my back porch studio and back yard. The first job I tackled in my back porch studio was cleaning my kiln shelves. As a potter, keeping kiln shelves in tip top shape is... Continue Reading →
Rain, rain, go away.Come again another day.Pauline the potter wants to play! "The Farmers' Almanac predicts a potentially rainy summer for Ohio in 2025, with the potential for above-average temperatures and rainfall, especially in the southern part of the state." My back porch pottery studio is open to the whims of mother nature so my... Continue Reading →
I am back behind my wheel throwing things! Because my back porch studio is open to all the elements and whims of Mother Nature my production is determined by the weather. We have had rain and thunderstorms just about every day for two weeks which is slowing production down quite a bit. Meanwhile, the squirrel(s)... Continue Reading →
Warm but not warm enough. Lawnmowers on the back porch for maintenance. Folding chairs are in the back of the car along with blankets, coats and umbrellas for soccer season is under way. My pottery wheel tucked away against the wall waiting patiently. Meanwhile, my brother was back in the hospital for ten days. His... Continue Reading →
Snowed in. Under the weather. I picked up my camera and started shooting pictures of our resident squirrel and neighborhood song birds. These were taken through the sliding door with me sitting on the dinning room floor. LOL Kindness is like snow. It beautifies everything it covers. ~Kahlil Gibran
A carpet of leaves are scattered across the back porch. I fired my last kiln load of the season. I made new plate settings to go with our new kitchen and I am tickled with the results! The mug on top is a prototype of soup mugs I plan to add to my shop next... Continue Reading →
Our resident squirrel invited a friend over to dine on pumpkin. Whatever is left of the pumpkin, it will go into the compost pile tonight. It is growing a little stinky!
The days are shorter. The nights are longer. This summer's end we find ourselves gathering pumpkins! Grandson found the largest pumpkin. It weighed forty pounds! 😳 I picked up a teeny tiny pumpkin weighing in at one pound two ounces. Once home, the carving of the Jack-O-Lanterns began! We had enough pumpkin and pumpkin seeds... Continue Reading →
Time to pack up my tool box and put my pottery wheel away. I have a couple more firings to do of larger pieces that take up a lot of room in the kiln such as plates. I love making plates but because they take up so much room I just don't make many ~... Continue Reading →
Last day of July?!? 😱 Summer seems to be zooming along! Foxes have moved on. Rabbits have moved back. So, I resorted to growing lettuce in a bucket near the house away from little bunnies. I think my bucket of home grown lettuce is coming along nicely. The squirrels finished off my sunflowers and have... Continue Reading →
Survived weeding over the weekend! Flowers are thriving! However, I noticed the geraniums leaves had turned red. I have never seen that before. Thanks to the internet, I learned the red leaves can be a symptom of over watering. We certainly had a wet and soggy week last week! In-between weeding, I was able to... Continue Reading →
It has been a wet, soggy and humid couple of weeks. Ideal condition for the weeds to take over. Meanwhile, on my back porch I've been busy throwing. [Click on the photos below to view a larger image and read the captions.] It was so soggy and humid I thought I would never be able... Continue Reading →
Warm weather has returned to my back porch studio which means I am back behind my pottery wheel! 😍 This is where it all happens: starting with a ball of clay to a finished glazed piece of pottery! I'm actually behind my phone camera taking a shot of my studio surrounded by ostrich ferns. I... Continue Reading →
Tying up loose ends before leaping into spring's busy season. It has been a seemingly long two weeks behind my new computer. I never realized how slow and clunky my old computer was until I was forced to buy a new one. Everything so new, pristine and fast! Books I've read over the winter include... Continue Reading →
I've been scurrying around cleaning out garden beds and prepping the yard and back porch for winter. Pottery wheel, kiln, clay and tools have been put away for the season. My pottery has been photographed and listed in my shop. Traded my clay covered hands for mud of a different kind. Our resident squirrel has... Continue Reading →
My blue glaze finally arrived after being on back order since August. I have been using this delightful blue glaze for over 15 years. My customers nor I have ever been disappointed. So . . . I opened my new jug of blue glaze with great anticipation of glazing a set of custom made bowls... Continue Reading →
Back Porch Studio 