Mug Exchange from Clay Art Merrill Kramer

My Mug Buddy from Clayart was Merrill Kramer and (S)He just came off hip replacement surgery. 

It’s a Tea bag Holder !  High-water Clay stoneware, cone ^10 Reduction fired, matte satin BLK glaze.  Merrill hand pinched this pot, salt cellar or a tea bag holder!

Merrill is a clay handbuilder out of Florida and (S)he no longer has to Shovel snow!  So I just learned that Merrill is a GIRL!  Hummmmm

Thanks Merrill, I love it!

What’s out of the kiln?

   

These are Turquoise and Licorice (MC6G) by John and Ron Roy.  This Black glaze works very well for me and covers a brown clay body well.

 

This is that Turqouise and The tweaked Varigated slate Blue from (MC6G) Glazes both are cone 6 Oxidation fired.

 

Bright Sky Blue with Licorice over the top poured on.  Both Cone 6 glazes from (MC6G).  Slow cooled.

 

This is Jeannie’s purple, tweaked varigated slate blue (MC6G) and cody’s cream on the pie plate.

Inspiration for Stem Pieces

Well I have just about exhausted all the ideas I had for Stems and functional pottery.  Early posts include a list of what I have come up with.  However, looking around on the Internet, I came across this lovely CHIP and DIP set.  Hummmmm It has 4 little trays that fit into a circle with the stem DIP in the middle.  I thought it looked interesting for a center piece on a table at a party.  Hummmmm

Punch Bowl and Ladle handmade

Getting ready for my first 3-day Show in Parker,CO May 15,16,17th on Main street.  This I think will be my center piece for this show.  My theme is a focus on stems. . .

I wasn’t really sure why Ladles had holes on the handle and Jeanette Harris answered my question brilliantly!

Ladles have a hole or a loop at the end of the handle in order to
hang them up because many times they were used outside and people
didn’t want them to fall onto the ground. They would usually be near
a water bucket or in a barn, wagon, or spring house. I can remember
an old galvanized dipper or ladle hanging inside the door of an old
stone spring house on my grandfather’s ranch when I was a kid.–

Pot-racks were not all that common in kitchens so a big ladle or
dipper would be hung on the wall or hooked onto the rim of a bucket
to keep it in one place, handy for use. I suspect that it was also
better to keep them dry and not laying around in liquid.

Here’s her blog and it’s worth peeking at!  http://jeanetteharrisblog.blogspot.com/  THanks again Jeanette!

I have made a few more Ladles and Bowls in case this one group doesn’t turn out (you never know) just to be prepared!

 

Mint Julep Recipe

For nearly a century, the mint julep has been the traditional beverage of Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby. The Early Times Mint Julep Cocktail is a ready-to-serve beverage that has been the “The Official Mint Julep of the Kentucky Derby®” for over 16 years. Over 80,000 Early Times Mint Juleps are served over the two-day period of the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby, requiring 8,000 liters of Early Times Mint Julep Ready-to-Serve Cocktail, 2,200 pounds of freshly harvested mint, and 80 tons of shaved ice.

Early Times Mint Julep

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups water
• Sprigs of fresh mint
• Crushed ice
• Early Times Kentucky Whisky
• handmade COLORADO Mint Julep Cups!

Make a simple syrup by boiling sugar and water together for five minutes. Cool and place in a covered container with six or eight sprigs of fresh mint, then refrigerate overnight. Make one julep at a time by filling a julep cup with crushed ice, adding one tablespoon mint syrup and two ounces of Early Times Kentucky Whisky. Stir rapidly with a spoon to frost the outside of the cup. Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint.

Recipe: Mint Julep

Published: May 2, 2007

Adapted from Chris McMillian, Library Lounge, Ritz-Carlton Hotel, New Orleans

12 to 15 fresh mint leaves, plus one sprig for garnish
1 ounce peach syrup, like Monin
2 1/2 ounces bourbon
Superfine sugar.

1. Place mint and 1/4 ounce peach syrup in julep cup or 8- to 10-ounce old-fashioned glass and gently crush leaves with a wooden muddler, working them up sides of glass.

2. Loosely pack glass with finely crushed ice, then add bourbon. Drizzle remaining peach syrup on top and garnish with mint sprig lightly dusted with sugar.

Yield: 1 cocktail.

For more Mint Julep Recipes click here http://www.io.com/gibbonsb/juleps.html

Fruit Bowl with presentation

I am really having fun with this shape and the larger bowls.  I guess I am exploring the limits on bowls and stems at the moment and trying to do some work as well.  <G> although when it’s this much fun it doesn’t seem much like work.

   

HillField is a hunter jumper barn.  Very cool set up.  Thought I would do up some mugs and a Fruit bowl for them….Hummmm

   

I think these fruit bowls will sell well at the upcoming show. . . now what glaze do them need?  HUmmmmmm

Pottery Ladle

Well remember those large bowls and stems I have been working on?  Well I was thinking of what they looked like or could function as?  PUNCH BOWL.  Not sure many folks still buy those kind of things but I thought it would make a nice WOW display at the show.  I was trying to think of a WOW piece that I could have and still stay within my theme of  “Stems” and a Colorado flavor.

I know PUNCH BOWLS used to have Ladles so I thought I’d make one.  Not really sure what they look like but here’s my version of one and how I have it drying to keep it’s shape.  It has 2 contact points with the surface so I’m thinking that there will be 2 spots I can’t have glaze?  Hummmmmm I’ll have to give this some more thought. . .

I think I got the size correct and maybe even the shape and fit inside this bowl. 

And what is a PUNCH BOWL with out some fancy cups?  I thought I would throw 2 grps of 6 for a total of 12 to go with this punch bowl.

OOPS, I lost one.  Too wet still to trim and so it flew off the wheel.  Guess I’ll have to throw at least 7 tommorw and the rule is 1 or 2 more than you need. . . . I might add little handles too that would have a bit of a curl to match the ladle…Hummmm

      

Ok I added handles, I think they might go with the whole theme….

Not easy though adding handles to a Vshaped cup hummmm. . .

THE SECRET. . .

Ever read the book. . . The Secret?  Or I think there is even a movie out about it?  Well it’s a topic here in social circles and so I thought for my show in May and the little coffee shop, well I’d do up some SECRET mugs!  Shhhhhhh it’s a secret. . . . .

Storage Canisters

3 storage Canisters in keeping with that Western feel. . .

   

Martini or Margarita Glasses

Set of 4 with good straight stems. . . .hummmmm