Lantern number six, but who's counting?

Frog birdbath and plate glazing

This weekend I finally glazed the bird dinner plates. Clear glaze went on the fronts, of course.

And I poured Turkish Amber (a nice brown translucent glaze) on the backs. I made kind of a mess. After spending so much time on them, I really hope they turn out!

I've got four newly thrown dessert plates on deck. Covered bowls/tureens will be next.

The butterfly tile came out pretty good. Gotta love the "brilliant sunburn" glaze. The tile's about 6x6 inches.

And here's the frog birdbath. I love it!

The mighty belted kingfisher

This tile/plate is 10x15 inches

According to "Birds of Ohio," the belted kingfisher's call is a "fast, repetitive cackling rattle, like a teacup shaking on a saucer."

Here's the lantern family... and still growing! The three fish in the front are completely dry now and ready to be bisqued. That's why they look so white. The fish in the rear have a way to go yet. Our wet weather has not been conducive to drying pottery!

Another lantern...

Here's the latest, quite a bit smaller this time.

I'm also starting to glaze the plate/tiles and the frog birdbath. I'm pretty excited about these!

Turdus migratorius! Syringa vulgaris!

Also known as American Robin and Lilac bush.

I'll glaze all four bird plates next weekend... Then it's time to start throwing again!

Biggest fish lantern ever!

I decided to try making a large fish lantern...

It's about the size of a football... Not pro-size... More like medium Nerf-size (maybe 12 inches long).

Gotta let it set up for a while before carving the holes. This is going to be difficult to transport. If it tips in the car, it's going to break.

Is it really necessary to drop in a candle while the lantern is still soaking wet?

You betcha! Pretty! But I think I'll make the next lantern much smaller.

Birds

Here's a brown thrasher harassing a garter snake. We never were able to determine whether we had a brown thrasher or a mockingbird downtown earlier this summer. It left for good before we could make a positive ID. But I still say it was a mocker.

And here's a bird tile. They'll be goldfinches.... my favorite... I love their bounding flight.

Two successful birdbaths!

I'm pretty happy with these. Thrilled, actually.

More photos of the "Flora and Fauna" tableware

I'm still trying to get the best shots I can of the "Flora and Fauna" tableware. Uh oh... the sun's going down! Look at those long shadows.

It's already time to take photos!

I need to start taking "real" photos for BayArts' Winter Newsletter!

I gathered together some representative pottery samples... Below is the best I could do photo-wise.

Maybe I should stick to photos of the turtles? I do love these little guys. If I'm lucky, maybe I'll be able to use one of the birdbaths as my photo. Two of them are in the glaze kiln RIGHT NOW! Cross your fingers... no more cracking!