Whoo-Hoo Raku

 

FABulous new pieces...for sale on Etsy!

Owl and Otter

Here are 2 more of my new designs.  These pieces were actually inspired by the poems on my other blog, The Owl and The Otter.

Another New Lino Design

I am carving more lino plates to use with my clay.  Here is a lion and I couldn't be more pleased with it.

Hand Carved Blocks

I have just discovered the joy of carving with linoleum blocks.  Well, that's not quite true.  Every year I make my own Christmas cards;  I've been doing it since I was a teen.  Many years back I used lino blocks to make the cards.  I wanted to try carving some of my own original designs for pendants and I tried rubber stamp blanks, and found it very hard to carve.  So I took myself to Dick Blick's and bought some lino blocks.  They are soft and easy to carve and so much fun to play with!  Here are some of the results.  These are raku fired.

New Blog

Some of you may know that I post every other Saturday on the Beads-of-Clay blogspot.  Twice now I have posted pictures on the blog of things in nature that I find beautiful or inspirational.  These posts have been so well received that I decided to start a new blog.  Every day for 365 days I will post a picture/s of something that I find beautiful, intriguing, or inspirational.  I will also post quotes or poems that define my life and determination to focus on what is wonderful in this world, and to let the rest slip away.
Please visit my blog for a daily dose of wonder!
365thingsthatinspireme.blogspot.com

With love, Sharleen

Raku Pendant

I had to post a picture of this.  My favorite piece to come out of the kiln last Sunday.  I almost do not want to sell it.  Raku is really hard to duplicate.  I used a combo of glazes on the sides that swirled together to make a marble-like surface of rust and dark green. 

I'm finding it hard to take pictures of the raku, getting the light just right to show the metallic beauty.

Crab Toggle

This clever toggle is designed so that the crab's back is a separate piece and serves as the toggle bar.  It has a wire loop on the bottom to attach the second side of the necklace to.
I went to Hilton Head this summer and enjoyed the hundreds of crabs at the nature preserve.  They are Fiddler Crabs and resemble very large bugs, and have only 1 large claw. When disturbed, they went scurrying for their holes, and jumped in legs first, holding the claw aloft like a flag!
This diamond shaped toggle is 1 1/2" square.  The crab is a blue crab, and background is painted with a golden tan glaze that looks like sand.  I used a heavy white crackle glaze on the edges to look like foamy waves on the sand.
Check out the Beads-of-Clay.blogspot.com  this Sat. Aug 6.  I am posting a tutorial on how I made this.