Kitchen stuff, and lookit this BABY!

Since I've had cooking on the brain lately, I've been making more and more functional items for use in the kitchen. Last week I decided to try my hand at making spoons, and a couple months ago I made some mortar and pestles, so I'm thinking of making more. I've also been invited to participate in a teapot show, so I've been trying my hand at teapots, with varying success. I tried to make two teapots, but the second one dried before I could attach a spout and handle. I decided it would make a nice garlic keeper instead, and since it was still leatherhard, it was perfect for doing some incised line drawing.

I really enjoyed making the spoons! I'm still deciding whether I want to try Jeanette Zeis's method of making bisque molds, or whether it's easier to just form them all by hand. They were fun to make, and I used various techniques to make them, finally settling on pinching a tiny bowl on one end of a fat carrot-shaped piece of clay, and then pulling a handle on the other end. I like the variety of spoon shapes I got out of trying different things. They also make great little surfaces for doodling! I don't know why, but drawing on tiny things is so much easier than on a larger piece. I guess there's less blank space to stress over, and you can work quickly while your ideas are still fresh. You also haven't invested a ton of time in making them, so if you don't like what you've done, you can quickly make new ones.

I think I'd like to do something different with the surfaces in the future, but these were fun to play around with. I'll definitely be making more of them. These are probably going in the kiln tonight, so I'll let you know how they turn out.

Btw, the baby girl is 4 months old now! Here is her impersonation of a nerd.

Nerd baby!

And here's her impersonation of a starfish.

Pretty dang cute, huh?