Inspirational?

The assignment was to make teabowls with inspirational words on them. (They're takeaways for the "Sacred Vessels" show.) Are words like "swim," "float," and "drift" inspirational? I don't know... I'm a Pisces.

Frog Pond glazing in progress

Whatever happens, at least the Frog Pond and Turtle Pool will be a matched pair.

Turtle Pool glazing in progress

I want this bowl to be its own little world. I don't know... sometimes I can see the finished piece in my mind's eye. I wish I could see this one.

A new kind of fish lantern

She's an anglerfish, and isn't she a beauty?

There's her boyfriend, attached to her side.

Forbidden fruit bowl

The design in the center kind of got obliterated.

The "forest green" glaze is a bit too thick.

But no matter, I like the rim a lot!

And here's another glaze test: Coyote brand "Pam's Blue" on brown clay.

Shark!

Sid the Monkey?

No, Botia sidthimunki, also known as the dwarf chain loach. They swim in large, exuberant groups. And they're really cute.

Honey gourami

They're related to Dwarf gourami. The smaller fishes are exclamation point rasbora (borara urophthalmoides)

Replenishing my inventory

Another glaze test: Coyote brand "Mocha Shino"

Licorice gourami (in progress)

They're sweet little fish, happily flitting around the aquarium. Mine love love love newly-hatched brine shrimp and a bit of sunshine.

Changed my mind

But I'll still glaze the center with transparent dark green.

Complementary fish lanterns

Haven't used Laguna "Antique Blue" glaze in a long time; I had forgotten how reliable it is. That's Coyote "Shino" glaze on the left fish.

Fin nippers

Tiger barbs (Puntius tetrazona). They're on the back of the plate too.

Will it show?

The inside will be glazed with Forest Green, which is pretty transparent. Here's the entire poem:

Sweet is the swamp with its secrets,
Until we meet a snake;
'Tis then we sigh for houses
And our departure take
At that enthralling gallop
That only childhood knows.
A snake is summer's treason,
And guile is where it goes.
-Emily Dickinson, 1896

Ugly

Ha ha, wow. It's even uglier in person. The greenish glaze is new: it's called "Gunmetal Green." It has a metallic, oily sheen that I find almost disturbing.

Two turtles

So happy together

Fish bowl (in progress)

Pearl gourami with cherry barbs (Trichogaster leeri and Puntius titteya)

Lucky me

Happiness is finding not one but two fish atlases at the used book store.