Last week I put up a little sneak peek of a bronzey green bug that was part of a super top-secret project. Here's the full thing- a birthday gift for my friend Doug who ties VERY realistic bug flies. I gave it to his sweet wife April tonight at knit night. Since I've already heard from him, I can show it to everyone now!
I ran out of my normal green overglaze, so I used the green that I normally use to paint my ferns on my botanical pottery. I think the resulting green is more boggy and masculine than the normal "deep celadon" glaze. I put a stink-bug-ish bug up at the top of the handle after finding a brilliant green shield-shaped bug on my shoulder during a hike one day. The dragonfly was made from a mold of a real dragonfly I found in a country post office parking lot about five years ago. There's a ladybug on the other side, and a beetle/flying bug on the other side, as well as my bee stamp. Ideally, the ladybug would have been red, but I was afraid of the piece looking cutesy if I'd glazed the bugs different colors. Cutesy is fine for a little girl, but not for a naturalist like Doug!
I was very happy with the I showed in the sneak peak, so I might use it again with some fiddleheads somehow. The dragonfly is so large that the piece needs to be large enough to accommodate it- I haven't used it very much in the 6-7 years since I made it. Still, I'm happy I kept it. And I'm pleased with this piece.
I haven't made any pottery at all in 2 weeks and said that I wouldn't until little boy goes back to school in mid-august. Today we read 4 chapters of Beverly Cleary's Beezus and Ramona, made grape juice, canned tomatoes (7 quarts, with another 5-7 still to process), and made a gallon of granola. Next week he has mornings at an art camp, so I may throw a tiny bit, but I'm enjoying the break!
See you soon!
1 comment:
This is so beautiful, Melissa! Glad you are having a fun summer with your little guy! My children loved all the Cleary books!
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