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. […]
Ok, so it is May. Not January. What does that say about me? I’ve been busy in my new studio It is insulated and has a heating/cooling unit. There was electric out there and so hubby ran a few outlets for me so I could plug in the wheel or the pugmill as needed. It […]
I had this fun project of making chowder mugs. I was going to make 6 mugs about 24 ounces each and these are the photos of that progress. First I had to figure out about how big to throw them. I had a couple of false starts but eventually got close. I am definitely not […]
It’s super fun when someone messages and says, “Hey, I want a mug. I don’t care what shape or color. I just want it to hold a certain amount of liquid….but I want it to have surface decoration like you do with your beads.” (not an exact quote of course, but a fair simulation) I […]
I had this idea to cover the surface of this very big mug with white porcelain slip …then I could use underglazes and get all painterly artistic about the decorating aspect of it all. Yeah, good idea! Except the slip was quite gooey and the brush wasn’t really working. I did the best I could. […]
I say all the time, “NO … I don’t do custom orders….” …. that is because, well, I don’t work well under stress. That’s just how I am. However, when I have conversations that go something like this: Can you make (fill in the blank) and take as much time as you need …… OR […]
I am working on a stable/safe non-toxic cone 6 studio glaze. I want to end up with three (Light, Medium, and Dark in values) …. I’ve been meaning to tackle this for a few years but it has take me this long to gather up the chemicals I feel safe working with. I have a […]