Bewilderment

sell your cleverness, buy bewilderment~ Rumi

New lobed dish (14" x 10") in the blue & white series. Bewilderment is such a great word, isn't it?

big red mushrooms are popping up on the path to the studio

We bought this huge pot in LA many years ago from a Chinese grocery store. It was out in the back alley by the trash, a disposable shipping container. I think they were amused that we would pay $5.00 for it. 

broken garden goblin and mushroom

Our garden goblin has suffered numerous tumbles, losing headdress, epaulets, and other parts of its garb. It now stands sentry at a fork in the path, nestled in fir needles and mushrooms.

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

entry porch mural

little wren

I finished a small mural for the entry porch, more birds and leaves to match the front of the house.

new leaves

I changed the leaf design, there is more movement and grace, but they are a bit fragile prior to installation. I was careless and broke one of the  triple leaves at the stem.

pine cones

I made some smaller pieces to add another layer of interest to the birds and leaves murals.

acorns, too

The Nuthatch is still one of my favorites.

nuthatch

slot for hanging on the back

I push a nail into the clay on the back when the clay is still green to create a slot for hanging on a nail. No installation required, you can put them up anywhere.

I'm thinking of placing this one over a light switch in the hall. Two little finish nails is all it takes.

Meeting the walrus

Freedom Rangers

 We have twenty-five more chicks (freedom rangers!) to raise for meat.

They will live in the new chicken tractor with an attached fenced yard for about a month. Then, they will move to the bigger tractor that the farmer will bring over from across the road. They can free range (with a perimeter fence near the woods for coyote protection) when they are a bit bigger and reliably return to the shelter at night.

But, they are still small.

And really cute.

In Japan, it seems that everything has a great aesthetic, even manhole covers. I like the one with the deer.

little moon face with tie

 I found this while cleaning shelves in the studio.

 I don't honestly remember which of my kids made it.

But he seems to be headed toward that bucket.

amazing video of a whale

not for the squeamish, chicken "processing"

First, calm yourself, then pick up the chicken. Cradle it gently in your arms and place it in the cone.

Lightly brush back the feathers and cut the carotid artery, avoid cutting through the windpipe or nerve column. The chicken will  feel nothing, get lightheaded, and lose consciousness.  It is a humane and painless method, the birds do not squawk or thrash around.

Ready for scalding

The scalder must be at the correct temperature, 145-150 degrees f. Immerse bird for a few seconds and test by tugging on a wing feather.

Dunk again.

When the feather pulls easily, they are ready to pluck.

Place them in the chicken plucker.

Rotate at slow speed and spray with water.

Just a little longer.

Five more seconds.

No more feathers. About 90 seconds.

The feathers fall out through a gap between the plastic tub and the potter's wheel head. I washed and dried these for future art projects.
I find myself calling this "harvesting" the chickens. I will have to examine this. Hmm...

Bee sculptures

chicken plucker

Fatty Mcfatfat

As the time to "harvest" our Freedom Ranger chickens approached,we began to look into humane methods of slaughter. We found a good video on YouTube that was pretty persuasive, so we decided to model our process on his technique.
Meanwhile, the Farmer became impatient with some roosters that were harassing the hens, so he took a couple early on his own.

He reported that it took him 5 hours to process the two chickens, the time mainly being spent on plucking. So, we got very serious about researching chicken plucking, because the Farmer was ready to send them all to a commercial processor. Nooooo.....
After checking into renting equipment (too time consuming and costly to bother), we found plans for building your own mechanical chicken plucker. Mr. Cranky got to thinking and realized that one of our potter's wheels could be converted into a chicken plucker.

The Farmer contributed a big plastic drum~

We bought plans~

 a pre-drilled plastic plate and chicken plucker fingers from Herrick Kimball~

scrounged some scrap wood, bought a few screws and such~

and viola~

It literally takes about 60 seconds to thoroughly de-feather three birds at a time, no pin feathers left, nothing at all.

Now Mr. Cranky wants to become an itinerant chicken plucker.

Gorgeous porcelain