Fresh from the kiln...

Oh, it's so wonderful to see pieces emerge from the kiln. Zeal is very much experimental with his pottery, and most of what he creates usually gets returned to a lump of clay before having the chance to be fired - which I love about him and his ability to accept and embrace impermanence, but it is so satisfying to see things actually make it to the final stage.

Here's a piece we sculpted together, a Family Totem:
Our family members are (from bottom to top): Raphael (Daddy), Me, Zeal, and a star for the baby on the way.
You can't see it in the photo, but it stands about nine inches tall.



Zeal also made a dog that was attached to the side of the totem(for our very important pup, Bengali), but it broke in the bisque firing. He's been making lots of faces lately and, for one reason or another, has been having lots of trouble getting them to stay in one piece. Here's one funky face with a forked-tongue that didn't quite make it, but nonetheless, he wanted to fire and is happy with it: I'm learning a lot about how thick pieces need to be to not break, says he.



And here's one I made just for fun: a oak leaf fairy house lantern. I'm having trouble catching the detail on film, but you get the picture. It was great fun to make, and Zeal now insists I start a series of them. Maybe a few seasonal fairy houses would be fun to rotate through the house.



My how I love the potential of real earth clay!