Thursday, April 28, 2011

Birthday Antics

I celebrated another birthday the other day... somehow they are coming 
faster and faster as the years roll on !
My kids were all home so it was really good to be together and get teased about the grey hairs in person.
My two girls baked me a cake and decorated it so pro !


Among my gifts was this big box and they all told me not to shake it as I 
was going though the 
"I wonder what it is ?" guessing game. 
Well, they had played a trick on me and 
this is what was in the box :




This is a teapot made by Brandon Phillips of Abilene,Tx. I have been admiring his pottery for quite sometime. Brandon has the eye of an artist and the touch of a fine craftsman. http://www.etsy.com/shop/phillipspottery
About three weeks ago he posted some new pots in his online store and I decided to treat myself to this zinger. After clicking the "purchase now" button I told myself that I wouldn't start getting impatient about it, I would just push it out of my mind and chill... 
But towards the end of last week really I started wondering where the heck it was and had to stop myself from anxious thoughts. The day of my birthday I was really thinkin about how nice it would be to have it arrive that day and asked my daughters  to make a special trip into the post office but they only came back with the usual - no box from the states.

Anyways - they got me ! 
The teapot had arrived on the 19th and they had scooped it up and hidden it from me !

But more importantly, I got the teapot - intact and even better than the online pictures. Although I must say, Brandon does a really good job of photographing his work. The person purchasing his work from one of his photographs can rest assured that they are seeing a good representation of the work.

I think I'm going to learn alot from this teapot.




Friday, April 22, 2011

Lotsa Pots

 The shop that carries my work called a couple of weeks ago and said their shelves were getting bare so I rolled up my sleeves and heated up my wax pan and did some glazing. I took photos as I was packing and the pots are gone and I am not especially pleased with the photos... oh well. As you can see - I don't stay with any one "look" for very long, so I guess it doesn't matter. These photos are more for my own use rather than a marketing use. Here are some of the results:

10" x 2.5" baking dish

 


7" x 3" altered bowl

squared baking dish wheat impressions

small octagon 6 1/4" medium octagon 91/4" diameterlarge tray with handles

 
mug with wheat impressions


1 quart coverd casserole

tray is approximately 13" and the small plates are 6.5"

standing plate 10 1/4" small octagon 6.5

same small plate as previous picture

8" carved bowl

7" bowl, 10 1/4" plate 11"x 4" bowl in the back
These are really bad pictures of some nice pots. The reds are much nicer and the pots look really lumpy and bumpy here but they're not !!


10 1/4 " plate behind the 11" bowl


10 1/4" plate again - still not a good representational picture - oh well !
Th-Th-Thaaat's all for now, folks.
I may up load a few more pictures of recent pots later but.... on to other things for now

Monday, April 18, 2011

But... what would I use it for ????

But... what would I use it for ????
This is a question that I occasionally get asked by a customer.

Well, when it comes to baking dishes, I could probably write a whole cookbook on how I use the many
pottery baking dishes in my kitchen.
Not all have been made by my hand. 
I bought this baking dish about 25 years ago and it was made by Richard and Carol Selfridge of Edmonton, Alberta. http://clubweb.interbaun.com/~selfridg/



Here's a great recipe for a 9 - 10 " baking dish:

Greek Spinach and Feta Quiche
6 oz fresh spinach
6 oz crumbled Feta cheee with tomato and basil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1 1/3 cups milk
3 eggs
3/4 cup Bisquick
1/2 tsp salt
fresh ground pepper, to taste


Preheat oven to 400°F and grease a 10" pie pan and set aside. Steam the spinach while assembling the other ingredients and chopping the onion and tomato.In a medium bowl combine milk, eggs, Bisquick, salt and pepper. Set aside.
Combine the spinach, onion, tomato and Feta and place in the bottom of the pie pan.
Pour the Bisquick, milk and egg mixture over the top.
Bake at 400°F for 25-35 minutes, until puffed and set.


 More of Carol's majolica painting:



Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Is that your natural Color ??


Was he born with it or is it .....
This is a new look for my 19 year old son, Quinlan.
 A 2nd year student in Agriculture and Heavy Duty Mechanics at a college in Alberta.
When the call went out for a volunteer to dye his hair for a Breast Cancer fund raiser 
he was quick to step up. 
Not afraid to go pink for a good cause !
We are really proud of him that he has the self confidence to do this, 
especially within such a testosterone faculty !
My two girls have also supported cancer fund raising by cutting 8 inches of their hair off and sending the hair to an organization that makes wigs for patients in cancer therapy.
So, it's Canadian Cancer Society Daffodil days -  buy some daffodils, do what you can and give generously !