Raising lentils

I have raised pinto beans, lima beans, and green beans in my garden, but never, ever a lentil. But, Kelly, an amazing lamp work bead maker, suggested last week that I post a step by step on making lentil beads. I had no idea that anyone might be interested. And maybe nobody but Kelly is interested. So here is a step by step on how I raise lentil beads in my studio.

First things first, tools. Must have the proper tools. Needle tool, cookie cutter, water, sponge….a little spit. Yes, it’s true. I do sometimes lick my fingers instead of reaching for the water. Cornstarch from the kitchen. Actually, I think that Peter put a second box of cornstarch in the cupboard, hoping that I will leave that one alone.

I start by rolling out very thin sheets of porcelain (about 1/8”, 3 mm). These get textured on plates that I make from found objects, stamps I carve, really, just about anything that catches my eye. By the time the sheets of porcelain have been rolled across the texture plate it becomes even thinner, even translucent. Circles are cut and then the clay is gently tapped onto the back of a plastic painter’s tray. Previously I used a round bottom measuring spoon. But making one half lentil bead at a time was too tedious even for me. The set of measuring spoons has now been returned to the kitchen, properly scourged of all clay stuff.

I let those little disks of clay set up to an almost dry stage. The clay at this point won’t bend at all. Then the edge gets scraped back flat, scored, and a magick potion is applied. In the world of ceramics there is this innovation of paper clay. I use it on all of the larger handbuilt work I make but only just started using it on these beads. Sometimes the light bulb in my head is on a dimmer switch and it takes a while to figure out this stuff.

What, you might well ask is paper clay. Well it’s very technical with a very complicated formula. OK, just kidding. Like my tool set this is not particularly sophisticated. For my use, it’s just a 50/50 mix of paper pulp and wet sloppy clay all stirred together. I use soaked and blended toilet paper in my magick potion. Toilet paper is designed to break down in water so it’s just about perfect. Mixed with sloppy clay this stuff is the super glue of my studio.

Once the edges of the bead halves have softened up a bit, they get placed together, patterns aligned, and the edges are gently squished (technical term) to stick them together. I use a needle tool to poke a hole through them. I don’t always check for hole alignment in the beads but it’s kind a cool photo, don’t you think?

Once the beads are assembled they get wrapped up in plastic for the night so all of the moisture in the beads equalizes while they sleep. In the morning they get unwrapped a little bit, slowly dried, and then cleaned up.

Voila! There is a little pile of beads waiting for the first firing on their journey to becoming full grown beads.

Old Mother Hubbard

Old mother hubbard, went to the cuboard, to fetch her poor dog a bead.....OK you get the idea... My cupboard is pretty bare right now, bead wise. But lest you think I've gone to the dark side and devoted myself to making pots, let me set you straight. I've spent the last couple of days making pendants, a few beads, glazing, and loading a kiln with lots of stuff. There are lentil beads in there. There are some of my old favourite pendants in there. There are barnacle pots in there. There are my favourite of all--experiments in there. It's a kitchen sink of stuff. And come Monday, you all should have a sampling of what's in there.

Meanwhile, this kiln 'god' is looking over things as the alchemy of firery magick happens. Made be my son, this looks a lot more like a gargoyle or devil to me. But who am I to argue. Maybe what you need is something fierce to gaurd your precious makings.

Have a fantastic weekend all!

A little more on bronze

This is my favourite piece that came out of my last firing of bronze clay. It's not perfect but I'm overall happy with this piece. But the bronze is fickle stuff and I'm in a love /hate relationship with it right now. I love the colour. I hate it's finicky working properties. But I'm almost certain that it's finished qualities will win out in the end.

The pieces on the left are fresh out of tumble polishing. I am certain I had a photo of the pieces before tumbling. But it seems to be lost in the great abyss of my organisational system. The pieces on the right are ones that have been patined with liver of sulfur. BTW my house smells of rotten eggs right now. But that is not the first smell that popped into Pete's mind when he walked in the door this afternoon. I had a lot of explaining and back peddling to do. A lot of, 'maybe the dogs?'

The dragonfly in the center has not had a LOS treatment and is a sort of reference piece. Pretty bland by comparison, I'd say. The top two pieces went back into the tumbler for a bit of polish. The bottom right piece was just rubbled and finished by hand with a cotton cloth. The bottom left piece is straight from patination. No frills, this is what you get when you take it out of the smelly stuff.

Anyhoo, it's late for me....I've got a bisque kiln firing and I need to move on to getting that one to bed for the night. In fact, I need to get on to bed soon.

Look what Alice found

It all started with a persistent, yet quiet, woofing in the back garden. Not your ordinary, alert me to the threat of someone emptying trash into the bin in the alley, kind of woofing. Just a series of little puffs of woof. Finally, I got myself out of the studio, looked for the 'threat' and found Alice in with her nose down in an intense examination of something on the ground. My first thought was dead pigeon. But then Alice has no problem bringing me a dead pigeon. No this was serious.

This little box turtle was Alice's trophy of the day. I was quite surprised to find a turtle here. Having grown up around lakes and streams, I've always thought of turtles as water creatures, specifically the snapping kind. Not so! This little girl is a box turtle, specifically an Ornate Box Turtle, a terrapene ornata, to be precise. And you might well wonder how I know it is a girl. Well, Alice's treasure sent me on a mad and all consuming hunt for any and all information pertaining to the terrapene ornata. For example, I know this is a girl because she has yellow eyes (the boys have red). Females may lay 200 eggs in a lifetime but only a handful make it to adults. There are almost always 4 toes on the hind feet and these are dry land turtles. These turtles are considered endangered in Wisconsin and are the state reptile of Kansas. I did not even know that states have state reptiles. Birds, sure, but reptiles?

I think you can probably see what happened to my afternoon. Alice spent the afternoon looking for the turtle. She is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Bob spent the afternoon napping on the deck. In fact, he was completely uninterested in the turtle. Far beneath the attention of an old dog with serious napping to do.

From the look of the mud on the little girl, it seems Alice probably rolled her around a bit before I got to her. Fortunately, she's a box turtle which means she's constructed with a hinge to slam the front door shut over her head. I did not know this before today.

She's been safely relocated on the other side of the fence where there are no dogs. Last time I looked she was long gone, so I'm pretty sure she suffered no lasting damage.

Now I'm off to fill out my box turtle sighting report. Yes, it is true. Texas Parks and Wildlife wants to know when and where you've seen a box turtle.

Lentil soup

I made these beads just before I left for Portland and they were waiting for me when I got back and opened the kiln. I had sort of forgotten about them until I cleaned up my table. These are a little fiddly to make. But as we all know, I like fiddly things. They are made from very very thin slabs of porcelain and molded over a measuring spoon. That's right, nothing is sacred in our kitchen. It is all fair game in my studio.

I can see these as focals in a necklace or bracelet. I just can't see the design very clearly because I do so little jewelry design. I'd love to see them made as pendants with a collection of charms off the bottom and a heavily wrapped wire loop at the top. The vision is just there at the edge of my fuzzy brain. And someday I just might get around to doing just that. But for now I'm concentrating on finishing some of those big barnacle pots. 6 done now, 1 to go, and only 34 to go before studio tour.

Oh in case you are shocked at a morning post from me. My computer cracked a mental last evening and so did I. But the computer fairies have been in to do a little counceling and magick and all is right with the world.

The whip cracks and I am back to the studio. Jeesh, my boss is so hard core. Isn't a Friday morning off OK once in a while?

It's not like riding a bike!

Nope, not at all. Throwing pots after being away from the wheel for nearly a year is not at all like getting back on a bike. In fact, it is much more like getting back on the horse that threw you. And there is a reason why when you are first learning to throw, you start with 1 pound lumps of clay...not 5 pound. I might add, trimming pots at 4 am in your nighty is not really all that much fun either.

You might well ask, just exactly why is LeAnn doing this? Just before I left for Portland I got notification that I'd been juried into the Fall Studio Tour. I was pretty much over the moon. That is until I got back and realized that I had a scant 3 months to get ready. You see I only have 2 finished barnacle pots for the show. I reckon I need about 40 pots. But not all barnacle pots. These babies can take 4 weeks to make from start to finish. So 4 am is about the coolest time of day in my studio and everyone in my house is asleep then. No need to wake everyone up by turning on lights to get dressed. Besides, that nighty is pretty darned comfy. Spent the whole day in it. OK, enough of the personal details.

Once those pots are trimmed, I get to start on the part that I truly enjoy ....applying about a zillion little pads of clay, stamping them, and poking their centers to make a little crater. The pot gets scored all over then the bottom gets filled in with barnacles. It gets turned right side up and the rim gets embellished with very thin strips of very moist clay. The top barnacles then get filled in.

And voila! Several hours later (I don't keep track of time, the pot is finished. I do really love the embellishment part. It sets up its own rythm and becomes something like a meditation. The work just sort of flows and the pattern emerges.

This pot is all wrapped up for the night so the moisture can equalize. Then it will dry very slowly for the next few days. I finished 3 pots today, so only 37 more to go!

Old Friends, New Memories

silver falls state park, oregon

Nearly 10 years is too long! We've just returned from a visit to Portland where we had something of a family reunion with my dear friend Susan. We moved to Australia, she moved to Portland and the time between visits has been far too long. Susan and I have known each other since we were young mothers of under fivers. In fact when I looked into her daughter's face I could clearly see the 6 month old baby I once knew. Ah, but she is such a beautiful adult now.

What a wonderful time we had and I am totally smitten with Portland. The city center reminds me of the life and vibrancy of Brunswick Street in my old Melbourne home. The Alberta Street last Thursday happening was a cornucopia of visual treats and fun. The layers of green in the Japanese garden and the hush of it's quiet beauty, the cool breeze on Manzanita beach, picnic and walking at Silver Falls....so many things, so many new memories.

But best of all were quiet evenings under the pergola in Susan's back garden. It was as if time had stood still for us and the years apart had never happened.

Seems that Susan has developed something of an obsession with photographing feet to remember special times. It somehow seems so appropriate that our five feet, hers, mine, her partner, my partner, and her daughters have all been captured in a circle on our last day. With old friends life is a circle. You move apart, but that loving circle of friendship remains intact.

And I would be completely remiss if I didn't mention Jack. Susan's first dog, a rescued border collie mix with a ton of energy, a love of belly rubs, and total devotion to Susan. Our brand new friend.