Happy new family:
My sleepy guys:
About to go home...
Total cutie pie:
Thanks too all for the encouragement and support during my pregnancy. I'll be sure to post pictures of the little one once he/she is here!
Our first outing with the baby just may be this opening- we'll see when the time comes!
in our little one from the start. Heck- we've gotta get him/her trained early so we can put them to work in the studio asap!
A little about each piece: the tree print is by a designer friend of ours, David Stanfield -it was originally from a series of prints that he had in a show at the gallery in our church. The bird and dimensional tiles are by Melissa Cadell. Sandy Snead made the little felted flower collage.
My grandpa made the wooden shelf and dresser. Although he's no longer with us, I'm often comforted when I see these items he carefully crafted. I'd have to say that he and my grandma were some of my first influences (along with my mom and dad) to enjoy working with my hands. They always had something crafty going on when we came over to their house.
The tile after wiping with water (the bird pattern was what resisted):
Color, drawn detail and spots added to the tiles- ready to fire:
Here's a look at some sketches of birdcages I made before working on my first tile. I looked at a lot of vintage cages and found some good vintage fabric swatches online as samples.
Arranged paper cut-outs to help determine the composition. 
For a little treat, today I made some zucchini bread muffins. Growing up in Ohio, this used to be the true sign of summer for our family. My mom and dad would always grow an amazing vegetable garden that included corn, tomatoes, green beans, peas, and zucchini (and probably other stuff I don't remember). Like most children, I assume, I remember whining about snapping beans and peas and having to help out with canning tomatoes. Of course now I wish that I had paid more attention! But the one part about having a great garden was all the bread we would make with the zucchini. My mom had this giant silver mixing bowl that could fit triple batches from which we'd make 4 loaves, sometimes to share with my grandparents or we'd just eat it all! So even though I didn't grow the zucchini for the bread, it still feels good to carry on a summer tradition from the good old OH.
(Black Mamba is my alter ego...)
Here it is after the final firing- it's made of earthenware with terra sigillata, copper patina and a borax wash.
I think I'll be spending time this week working on some additional pieces in this same manner, taking time to do some sketching and planning new compositions.
A mug with a cute little cat (?) in a carriage, by Kirk Lyttle:
A toad teabowl by Ron Meyers:
A fish bowl by Greg Scott:
Little owl family (by me)- I guess this doesn't technically count as a purchase...:
A bug bottle by Laura Zindel:
A fishy teabowl by Ron Philbeck:
And, finally, the monkey plate by Ayumi Horie:
How could one not smile while using any of these?
