The last Saturday of 2007 ...

... and I couldn't have spent it in a nicer way. For the first time in almost 6 weeks I whiled away some happy hours at Clayworks!

My mission was to determine if I could still throw, after so long a time. And I can. Well...I can throw as well as I could before. (translation - not too well yet) But it was all good. I'd intended to just throw & throw and throw. But all I had on my shelf was some old Helios, and no one with a key to the clay closet came in today. But I managed to make a half decent honey pot for Concentrix. And I tried my hand at Ron Philbeck's Knob n' Alls (did I spell that right, Ron?) Don't have the hang of it yet, but today's mission was to just get used to the feel of the clay in my hands...on the wheel...once again.

It was so good to see my Clayworks friends again! Sooz was there...and Elaine...and Ju Lan...Ann and Hara. Met a new gal named Tish who does some really nice stuff. After my time away for the holidays, it was like coming home. It's hard to describe the feeling of family that fills that studio. so I won't try to put it into words. Nothing I could write would do it justice.

Once home, I couldn't stop playing with clay. (See "addiction" in Websters.) I got to thinking that I know so little about how glazes work on porcelain. And I'm not sure how that clay body will work with the cave critters. Will it be too pristine? Too white?

The best way to find out is to do more test tiles. And since I got a bead tree from Mike (co-worker/co-songwriter) for Christmas, I decided to make pendants for my test tiles.



Have to send thanks out to Denny Meadows for the clay board I use at home! And the weird tools are all I could dig up since I forgot to bring my usual tools home. But the battered tea ball and old Christmas light worked nicely. (Recycling, right?)

This, however, was the tool that made me smile. In my last Clayworks class, our handbuilding instructress, Amy Sanders, suggested we save all those faux credit/membership cards that come in the mail to use as clay tools. I put this one to good use.



Once I get around to decorating these test tiles, I'll post some pix. I used to love making jewelry but never made my own pendants. Might hold some new appeal, might not. It's all about experimenting for me these days. And that, I think, is what keeps folks young. (Sorry AARP. *wink*)