Pottery. Photography. And All Things Handmade.
I've been behind the camera for a few weeks photographing new pottery I made over the summer and behind the computer writing item descriptions. The scene of Elaine Benes writing for the J. Peterman Catalog comes to mind. The Urban Sombrero, Seinfeld, Season 8 Episode 1 "It combines the spirit of old Mexico with a little... 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 →
The Sciurus carolinensis, otherwise known as the gray squirrel, is THE reason why I cannot grow sunflowers! While I was enjoying my morning coffee on my back porch, I spotted the little varmint in the garden. And grabbed my camera, of course! The squirrel discovered that it could leap into my little fenced off sunflower... Continue Reading →
All creatures great and small. From my back porch, I see them all! Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul. ~ John Muir
A huge thank you to everyone for your kind thoughts and prayers! 🥰 I was reluctant to post anything about my brother's crisis but I am glad I did. We are making our way through fear, anxiety, many doctor appointments and a lot of waiting. Meanwhile . . . I continue to throw on my... 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 →
Finally decided on a "white" paint and painting our kitchen! Gone are the days when we could paint a room in ONE day! LOL Our peas are coming up nicely! Covered with a light mesh cloth to deter the rabbits from feasting on the tender little shoots; although, I don't think rabbits will be a... Continue Reading →
Cat Number 1 and I have recovered from the other morning. The weather is blissfully warm and sunny today! We were sitting on the back porch when I saw something furry out of the corner of my eye. First, I thought it was a squirrel BUT it was too big to be a squirrel. Then,... Continue Reading →
Spring is here! Flowers are popping. The trees are budding. Weeds have gone wild. In between rain showers, I've planted peas, radishes, lettuce and spinach in our garden. Because we have three wild very hungry rabbits in our neck of the woods, we have had to add fencing to our raised garden beds and cover others with... 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 without a computer for two weeks.😥 My old one no longer supported updates needed to run my photo editing software or my internet browser.😥 So, my handsome IT guy 😍 enthusiastically started out with a plan of simply installing more memory. He quickly learned my old computer could not accommodate more memory which... Continue Reading →
A steady stream of orders since Thanksgiving. Each piece of my handmade pottery securely wrapped and boxed. Shipping labels printed. Boxes secured. Tracking numbers noted and sent to each customer. Then off to the post office. Unboxing and unpacking Christmas decorations. A sense of nostalgia of Christmases past. Trying to remember where Christmas gifts are... 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 →
Much has been going❗️ I have yet had the time to blog. I have been glazing, firing, photographing, listing*, glazing, firing, photographing, listing, aaaannnnnd glazing, firing, photographing. (*Listing: writing descriptions and pricing of my new handmade pottery for my BackPorchStudio shop on Etsy.) In the meantime, enjoy our neighborhood hawk who frequently stops by! 😍... Continue Reading →
“Grandma! Grandma! There are snakes in the pine trees!” our grandson shouted excitedly as he was running to the back porch. Knowing that we do have at least one snake I thought to myself, “Drat, that snake had babies!” So, I grabbed my camera and asked our grandson to show me the snakes. (Yes, I grabbed my... Continue Reading →
I have had my hands busy over the last two weeks. Glazing and firing and photographing. Glazing and firing and photographing and throwing. Glazing and firing and photographing. Thank goodness it is Friday and I am in a nice in between place today! Life as a potter, among other hats I wear, can look quite... Continue Reading →
It was horridly humid and buggy on my back porch over the past several weeks. I took refuge indoors and continued to work with clay. While indoors, I made shallow bowls/dishes from slabs of clay draped over a plaster mold. A clay slab is a portion of clay that has been flattened into a sheet.... Continue Reading →
I'm trilled to have help with seemingly mundane household chores. Laundry, especially. Laundry seems to be one unending chore. When dear husband helps, I love it. Lately, however, his help has created a small problem for dear daughter and me. You see, dear daughter and I are approaching the same size in everything. As I'm... Continue Reading →
JULY UPDATE!!! In May I blogged about this weed that took over the garden and I mistakenly identified the weed as heal-all. The plant that over took the garden beds this spring is NOT heal-all at all. It is Red Dead Nettle instead! For more information about Dead Nettle scroll to the bottom of my... Continue Reading →
Dusted off and updated from an August 2019 post It starts with a lump of clay... A lump of clay is centered onto the pottery wheel then shaped into a simple cylinder and shaped some more. After shaping, the mug is ready to be taken off the pottery wheel and set aside to air dry.... Continue Reading →
Over the weekend, I started glazing some small bowls, cups and spoon rests that I made and bisque fired over the past few weeks. My glazing techniques vary from dunking pots into a bucket of glaze to brushing glaze onto pots. For my pet dishes and bowls, I stamp a paw print in the center... Continue Reading →
I have been asked by several people about making slow feeder bowls for their pets. I didn't know how to make them and felt a bit intimidated because there is not much information on how to make a slow feeder. But when my Grand-dog asked me to make one for him, I just couldn't say... Continue Reading →
Back Porch Studio 