Still Superstitious

Last month I wrote about breaking with superstition, but I'm afraid I'm still superstitious. In that post I wrote about my fear of photographing pieces before they complete the process; however, I was going to dare to break that superstitious thinking by posting a pair of carved candle lanterns-the third in the set was not available to photograph at the time.

Candle lantern with carved dogwoods and texture

The lantern that wasn't photographed came out beautifully and sold the very next market day. These are time-consuming but so much fun to make!

Another lantern carved in dogwood leaves somehow cracked in several places during bisque-firing. The studio director apologized, saying it was her fault, but in the back of my mind I thought, "I didn't expect this piece to make it." I tried to fix it during glazing, but there was not hope--it just fell apart in my hands; too many cracks. I can't imagine what she could have done that would've caused so much damage.

What should have been an easy fix in glaze firing wasn't.

The other lantern photographed at that same time was also damaged in the bisque fire, but it suffered only minor damage. The handle had broken from the saucer, but it appeared an easy fix. I "glued" it with glaze and sent it back. Still, I wasn't getting my hopes up; after all, I had photographed it in its raw stage. Sure enough, either in placement or during firing, the top shifted just a bit.

It's still a keeper!

That's okay, though. I love candles, and it's still a pretty piece despite its imperfection. Though it isn't fit for the market, it looks just fine on the bookshelf in our dining room. Maybe one day I'll have more than the imperfect pieces, but for now these will do.

I need to get busy making more of these as they seem to be popular!

Breaking with Superstition

Last year, I took a picture of a piece I was really excited about, a piece I was trying a new technique with that seemed to be going perfectly. So, in my excitement, I posted a picture of the work in progress.

The curves and the lines in the piece were so beautiful to me that I just couldn't wait until it was finished to show it off. Hmm. It now holds acorns because the bottom seam came apart in the final firing and it will not hold liquid. From that day forward, I decided that it was bad luck to post work before it went through the final firing. Today, I hope to prove to myself that such superstitious thinking is absurd!

I've been working on what I call candle lanterns. Two are finished and ready for the Old 280 Boogie, but I was hoping the three I threw earlier in the week would be finished in time--they won't. But, I'm having so much fun making them, and there is now this blog to fill, that I'm breaking with that old superstition and posting a photo of the two I carved last night after work.

It's officially spring in Opelika, Ala., which means the dogwood, azaleas, tulips, and daffodils are in full bloom. I had sketched some designs in my little brown book and, while at the studio, I set to work carving one of the lanterns with dogwoods. As I ran out of time before work, I brought the untouched pieces home to carve in the evening. The left piece has a ring of dogwood leaves, and the piece on the right has tulip forms. Today there is much to do as well, but isn't that always the case. Glazing is a priority if I'm to have anything to add to my crate for the Boogie, but there's more carving and trimming to do as well. I love it!