Where Have I Been?

 

Moonrise at Rockridge

I do wonder how a month and a half could have possibly gone by since the last post. I don't have a lot to show for it, though I do have Something. It seems I spend more and more time on body upkeep (for both Jasper and myself), less left for productive pursuits, and even less because I have become so much less efficient. I am not at the height of my powers, but I am also mostly OK with that.

Handspun

I've come to appreciate this place where we live. Our moon rises have been spectacular this winter, and the huge Sweet Gum trees (such an annoyance with their thousands of gum balls) offer beautiful stark spidery limbs against velvet skies. 

And at last, I am making headway on spinning the fleece that came with Jasper. I'm really happy with the result. It's a nice weight for, say, a textured vest, a fabulous natural color, and Jasper's fur gives it just a little bit of a halo. It is amazing how much time this takes. It's been months since these twin assets (Jasper and the fleece) came my way, and this is only about half of what I need for a vest. It is a fraction of the whole fleece!

Bowls after bisque firing

Here's a small collection of bowls. . . bisque'd and ready to be glazed. Have I mentioned how much I dislike glazing? The two in the front are actually much smaller than the angle would suggest, and are hand built. And the letters on the upper left bowl say "JASPER". Yes. A new water bowl that doesn't have "Moxie" written on it. Not that Jasper seems to mind.

Oblong Vase before final firing

This slightly odd oblong vase is porcelain, so it should final fire to a very white surface, which will (in theory) show off the texturing.

Last up is this thrown and appliqued mug. I'm struggling with my photographic setup, so I'm trying photographing it on gray tiles vs. on the photo background. The professional background gets scratched and dirty after about 2 uses, and it is wicked expensive to replace. 

Thrown mug on backdrop

 

Conversely, the tiles are awkward (and heavy) to set up, but also free because they're left over from our bathroom, and they don't suffer from the ceramic scratching at all. 

 

I'd love to get a couple of large-ish pieces of slate to photograph on, but it seems that slate has gone out of style for homes.

 

Thrown mug on tiles

Hiking in Dry Creek with friends

Finally, an image of Jasper and I. He's by far the more photogenic, and I'm reluctant to post images of myself for a dozen different reasons. Still. It's worth documenting. It was a great hike against a beautiful backdrop of snow, and M was sure to include the rose-hips in the picture. We've had a bumper crop this year. Her hiking pole in the foreground makes for a nice vertical accent, I think.