Clay /7

I'm not sure if I mentioned but Ben got his kiln set up the other month which has been amazing! Previously we were dropping our pieces off at the local clay shed which could take a month or more to get back which made the whole process really drawn out. The other fun thing with having the kiln set up is to make each firing economical we've been trying to fill the kiln between the two of us which has meant being super productive and thus I have a bunch of things to show you guys! 

Ben has gone back to work for the next seven weeks and I'm too scared to do any firings myself so clay work is going into hibernation but it shall return :) A lot of these pieces I blogged about here before I had painted them - I think it's fun to see the difference

Monkey planter! Still haven't figured out which plant to buy for him yet but I'm on the hunt!

I made a bunch of little brooches, above is after their bisque firing and below is once I've painted them

And adding a brooch to the back of the little coral :)

I got Peachy's dish fired - turned out super cute :)
(I call her Peachy girl)

And Gremlin's Bowl which has a central divide and yup I call him Gremlin Monster (in the most affectionate way of course!). I really love the divider design because it keeps his dry food dry - I may end up making one for Peach (except I love her bowl!). The actually bowl was a bit tricky to construct because I had to make a rim around the outside to prevent ants during the day but no breakages so successes all round!

Watermelon brooches, I tested out two different greens - the one on the right is just a plain under glaze light green (opaque) with a gloss over the top, whilst the right one is a green gloss and has a translucent quality. I still don't know which one I prefer - any thoughts you guys?

Tiny little bowls for trinkets

Ben told me that even a wheel thrower would be impressed with how thin I got this pieces *feels proud* and hey it didn't break *gasp*.  Oh and a wheel is on Ben's dream wishlist, so one day I might be able to give that a whirl *eep*

So many spoons! It's funny working with ceramics because a lot of ceramics are functional - just open your kitchen cupboards and have a look at your plates and bowls and mugs! The other day I noticed a plate that was completely glossed and I was wondering how they did it since you can't just put a painted ceramic piece directly in the kiln or it will stick to the kiln shelf. I then noticed three little dots on the bottom and I was like "ahhh the stilts!".

To get these spoons completely covered in gloss they need to rest on stilts in the kiln. The stilts have little wires poking up and when you get your piece out of the kiln you just pop the stilts off which leaves a tiny little dot/prick where the wire rested *finishes geeking out*

Little clay dudes

I decided to leave them matte because I'm not 100% sold on the gloss black look

Girl planter with the gloss black - I've decided with planters since serving a purpose it's wise to completely seal them with gloss.

Booby pot directly inspired by this fabulous one here

I love this plant in this pot, currently happily living on my bedroom window sill :)

And my other finished boob pot

I also love the plant inside :) :) It's fun finding the perfect plant for each pot!