A few years ago a good friend gifted me a beautiful antique linen. She’s also a potter, so she knew I’d love it. I have used this more than a few times, but thought I’d share the process. After rolling out a slab, I ran this linen through the slab roller one last time to […]
I threw 13 bowls today. All different sizes and shapes. I’ll glaze them similarly so while eclectic, they will match. Then I took them off their bats, cleaned the bats, then cleaned up. I love a clean studio. I don’t have time to trim them therefore I placed them in my damp box. A damp […]
I’m switching to a lowfire smooth red earthenware clay and that means finding studio glazes that will play nicely. I’ve always worked in high or mid-fire clays, but hardly ever the earthenware clays. I did find a lovely clay from New Mexico clay that I fell in love with. I quickly created a slab mug […]
The challenge for me in photographing my beads and pottery is that the lighting here in Southern New Mexico is so different than in Fort Worth, Texas. Even inside under controlled conditions I am finding it extremely difficult to produce a beautiful but accurate photo. So once again I’m outside in the shade, armed with […]
Oh boy! Beads! I am getting ready for a one day bead show scheduled on the Facebook Ceramic Art Beads Market for May 10. I am going through my huge stash and pulling out my favorites, many of which I kept because I could not bear to part with them. You see, I love my […]
I am so happy to see the birds in my backyard utilizing these ceramic bird waterers. The water should be changed every few days, not only so the water is fresh but so that they don’t become mosquito incubators. This bird has decided to own this bird waterer and defends it vigorously. Yes, I am […]
Oh the birds! They are singing so loudly: cheeps, trills, peeps, coos. Nature music! I spotted a northern mockingbird high in the ponderoda pine this morning. He was on the very top. Took me a minute to spot him. I found these early blooming cactus the other day and there was only one open blossom. […]
Time to record my glazing adventures so I can recall after firing. All the pots pictured were in the process of being glazed when I snapped their photo. Underneath each pot will be the finished pot, with observations following. First up, a bird waterer for the garden. 2 coats Amaco red satin matte, sm-51 on door, […]
Gardening in this backyard is very satisfying. To weed amongst the many cacti is bravery in action. This cactus is in bloom today and I just had to capture it.
In July my husband and I sold our house of 35 years in Fort Worth, Texas and moved back to Sunny New Mexico, where we both were raised. A new move means a lot of change and one of them is to rebrand my studio from NKPdesigns to Zinnia Studio, but it is going to […]
I adore canna lillies. They are, for me, the perfect background flower in any back or front or side yard. They require minimal watering or care. And they bloom profusely all summer long. I took my Lensbaby Sweet 35 outside this morning to capture this particular bloom. I used a white reflector to filter out […]
Seven years and a few months ago I had my first ’round’ of chemo and my first radiation treatment. My mother had driven 800 miles to take care of me while my hubby was at work and during that time period is when I first noticed her memory was going. My mother is a great […]
I might as well showcase my new vase that I just added to my etsy store this morning. I have a few coffee mugs in this same design, which I also mentioned on my facebook ‘fan’ page. If I had more time I would also mention this on my Instagram, but alas, it is about […]
This morning I decided to take some photos of my newest mugs which came out of the kiln last week. I would have liked to promote and blog about these last week, but it was a busy week and I couldn’t get around to it. But today is Monday, the start of a brand new […]
Hi all … I put my Etsy shop in vacation mode (once again) as I had Jury Duty this week. The case was canceled and I was dismissed as a jury and I am sorry to say that I am thrilled to not have to fulfill my civic duty. I just took it out of […]
I’m pleased to announce that after a couple of days of googling, watching You Tube Videos, and many false starts, I am now able to process multiple pictures with one click in Gimp. I probably will be able to get more items listed in my store each day because of this leap in intellectual technology. […]
A few months back Etsy kindly gave all its artists the ability to post up to 10 photos of our artistic endeavors. Previously it had been five, which I thought was a bit excessive, but I complied because the All Knowing Algorithm determines whether or not my product shows up in ‘search’. Since then I’ve […]
It’s been rough the past year or two. It started with my mother having a severe stroke, then in October of 2017 she finally passed. My father passed this last March of a stroke, also. My mother-in-law passed earlier this month, and while she did not pass away from a stroke she had lots of […]
Finally got it all loaded. Beads on top, mugs all the way down, first firing. If you scroll down on my Instagram you will see the mugs I’ve been creating all summer…
This mug has been through many many firings since my last post! The first fire was to bisque fire. Next I coated with a clear glaze and fired again in my small test kiln. The clear glaze crawled horribly. I do not have the words for the sad emotions that went through me when I […]
I have been so enthralled with watching Periscopes (if you don’t have the app get it) in which potters talk about the behind the scenes ideas in how to develop as an artist. There have been so many I have watched, but in particular there are two I happened to watch about voice and style. […]