Carved Fireplace Surround

Carved earthenware tile

This is the fireplace surround I made when we built our house. 

I never intended to offer this carved tile as a line because it is a pain in the neck to make. Our house was featured in a magazine (way back in the 90's) and I was contacted recently by a client who still had the magazine after all these years (!). The couple had fallen in love with this fireplace and the right time to remodel their existing one finally came. I do love carving tile, and it had been so long since I did these that I kind of forgot how hard they are to make. Sooooo...

Carved fireplace surround, bisque state

Here's a little video of the process~

Completed fireplace surround

afternoon watermelon break

At the top of my list of the-best-things-about-summer just has to be watermelon. We simply gorge on it once the fabulous Hermiston seeded melons are in season. It is Mr. Cranky's habit to pair watermelon with something salty, like potato chips or pretzels, and that is rather irresistible, hard as I may try. Those tiny little grapefruit spoons are the perfect implement to remove the seeds, by the way.

Speaking of utensils, here is an article from NPR about how the color, shape, size, and material of your tableware and utensils can affect your perception of the taste of your food as well as how much of it you consume.

A musical interlude while waiting for the kiln to cool

My current musical obsession, Zaz. I watch this practically everyday. It makes me so happy. I love her voice, her affect, her joie d' vie.

And for punctuation lovers out there, colons are on the march.

a plate a day #506

dinner plate from the textile series

An unexpected honor from one of my favorite blogs, a plate a day.

black cab sessions~ the miserable rich

Oh man, I'm an idiot

'm' is for mortified

'h' is for humiliated

'e' is for embarrassed

Here's why~

has two 'i's in it. Rainier. That's RAINIER, people. And to think I grew up in Lakewood, Washington. Right in it's shadow. Gah.

Did you get the "V" (valentine, vine, violet)? And the "Y" (yo yo, yurt, yarrow)?

Very cool laptop

Wolf loves pork

This must have taken forever to make. So creative and cute.
I meant to leave this up for the weekend, a little movie for you, but I got sidetracked when the sun finally came out.
Yay summer! Yay garden! Yay sitting around reading as if I didn't have work to do!

Tales, parking lesson from lucy

Remember that one of Lucy's claims to fame is that she can drift? Here she is (wearing a man suit to protect her identity) demonstrating her mad skills at parallel parking.
She has, in actual fact, received applause from random bystanders on two occasions for her parking ability.
So proud.

Artist, bunliu

Very creative.
I love stop motion video.

*thanks Mat :)

dead battery + juliapott

I just love the animated videos by Londoner, Julia Pott. She will even make a custom animation for you!
I have to deal with a dead battery emergency this morning, so this seemed an appropriate post to fill in for my Monday missive.

Creme Egg

Some people have way too much time on their hands.
Happy Easter!

*via dar_jan

broken

This was the only thing that broke in the firing I unloaded today.
If you read yesterday's post you will know how sad this is and how my kiln mocks me at times.
Breakable~

laughter is art because I said so

So, everyone knows that laughter is good for your health.
And recent studies show that happiness is contagious.
And I really wanted to share this clip of a baby goat with you on my blog, thus I declare that from now on laughter is art for daily life.
Seriously, I laughed out loud(okay, chortled) at this so I hope that it will give you a smile too:

I found this at supervegan.

String book

I'm thinking about making a book. I hope it will be as clever as this (unlikely).
I found this clip on mein inspiration.

Calder

I got a book about Alexander Calder when I was in middle school. Delving into the book gave me my first glimmer of what it might be like to actually be an artist. The book pictured his Connecticut farmhouse and studio. Art was everywhere and, from then on, that was the image I held of how I wanted to live when I grew up.

One of the things that charmed me the most about him was how, in addition to great art, he made things for daily use around the house. He made jewelry for his wife from copper pieces and wire (how romantic!); knives, forks and spoons for the table from bits of metal scraps. It was as though his life and work were all of a piece, art and life weren't separated into compartments, creativity flowed through everything he did.Louisa Calder's dressing table

I was entranced with his childhood; his parents were both artists and he always had a studio space for himself in the various homes where they lived. I was envious of of his adult life too; he lived in Paris and was friends with Miro, Arp, and Marcel Duchamp. He worked with Martha Graham. The woman he later married was related to Henry James and philosopher William James. I vaguely remember that Calder had a dust-up with the actor, Burgess Meredith, about a film project and money shenanigans. It was all so exotic and fascinating.Furthermore, I loved (and love) his work.

The wire sculptures.The circus.

The mobiles. The stabiles.
All of it!