So I posted a few planted bonsai in my shop. Yeah, great! More stuff I can't ship too easily. I'd do more clay, but I'm taking a short, one month hiatus from clay. Too bad too, cause a couple nights ago, I was looking at my giant snail in my aquarium (his shell is like 3 inches across!) and I noticed that he actually has a face! Big long tentacles, eyes on stalks, and a mouth that sucks, but yep, a face! I'd love to do something snail/dragon-ish. Definitely not like Spongebob's Gary . Maybe like Larry.

Me and Aaron are *trying* to learn crochet/knitting. Trying being the operative word here. I can't work the crochet needle and neither can Aaron. I really *REALLY* wanted to do some amigurumi, but we're both stuck, going down in flames. And by flame, I mean take the F and stick it on my forehead (you get an F! for EFF-ort) and write LAME straight on my chest. I feel like a chimp trying to figure out a telephone. I see how it works but I JUST DON'T GET IT. Got a banana?

I made my brother the most awesome shot glass for Christmas. It's really a double shot glass with big chicken feet and a long scaly tail. Kind of like this:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=18757008

It's only sort of like that. One wing sort of drooped down on the final firing, then sort of melted onto the glaze, so that one wing looks on alert, and the other wing looks like what I was feeling after we got done quality testing that double shooter during our annual Open House/ Holiday party at the studio. It was a fun party, complete with fire spinners. Mishy threw cream cheese on the potter's wheel and created a dipping bowl, in which rhubarb and strawberry preserves were served. Lots of fun and tasty munchyness.

I'm not half as useless as I sometimes appear. I figured out how to include a picture on my blog. And oh look! It's the Dragon Frog from my http://eclectric.etsy.com site! You should really go check it out. Pardon the shameless commercial plug, but I got to do something to support my clay habit.
First Friday was last Friday (hrmmm, irony in that statement) . I sold a number of my finished bonsais. I grabbed some moss from my garden and planted that up. That seemed to sell pretty good.
My son Aaron made his first sale! Did I mention that already? He sold a very 'funky, whimsical, and interpretive' goldfish pot. The lady who bought it commissioned a second piece from Aaron; a taller, larger vase with a dog face. We did two of them and she liked them both. I'm really excited for Aaron!
So I was feeling a little inspired by Aaron and some of my recent work. I did this bonsai pot, I started with an egg shaped pot, but it ended up being this... bottom half of a dragon! Then I did another 'Dragon Frog', only I didn't include arms and I made mushrooms for eyes. Did I mention I did a bunch of mushrooms recently? I dunno, I'm on a mushroom trip... I'm 'shroomin (LOL). I finished up my weekend by doing a full on dragon, a trio of barrel shaped tea cups, and some small mame pots.
I did a few other pieces and I had Aaron do some more as well. I dropped them off at the Studio today. Mishy informed me that she's out of my favorite pugged clay. CRAPPOLA!
She's gonna have an open studio event this weekend. Info can be found here:
http://www.desertdragonpottery.com/holidaystudio08.html
I'll probably mosey over there some time.

I did some more raku last weekend. I did a number of pieces including 3-4 pendants of 'Bob'. Bob is a polynesian carving of a manaia, combined with a triple twist. The triple twist represent the eternal union of two distinct cultures, combining to create something new. The manaia is a protectorate spirit, represent by a sort of bird.
I forget what the name of the raku glaze I used for the background, but it was the same glaze I used for the fins of The Hungry Goldfish and the body of The Flytrap. I used clear crackle glaze to go over the 'Bob' parts and the background as well. Aaron used a 'Wildfire' glaze all over one of the pendants.
The results were very nice, I think. The clear crackle did not crackle a whole lot, but we think it's because we're using low fire clay. The background glaze had lots of depth and lots of metallics. Unfortunately, all but one of the 'Bobs' broke.
Mishy has noticed a lot of breakings with my raku. She gets the occassional cracking, but not like what I'm experiencing. We decided to switch to a sandy stoneware clay for my raku pieces. This should also address the lack of crazing when using the crackle glaze.
Being I was running low on clay, I decided to get another 25 lbs of my low fire clay. I also got 25 lbs of Mishy's own recycled mix, which I got at a discount. WOOHOOO! This clay is super soft and very fluid, if you can describe clay as fluid. It's really easy to work with.
I did some 'Bobs'. They took the impressions even better than my low fire clay. The clay is softer, so it didn't crack around the edges.
I did another goldfish pot. It was a bit tricky doing some of the work with such wet clay, but it worked. I did two fish pots, actually.
I tried a bubble feet mame bonsai pot. The wet clay adhered much better to itself with just a squirt of water; no need for extra slip.
I tried a mog style bonsai pot, but I wanted to experiment with the feet, give it more expression. I figure if hands can be expressive, then feet can be expressive for pots. This bonsai pot is not very stable, but I'm progressing with it. Worst case scenario, it will be confined to my own stable, and that is not a bad thing!
I was feeling creative yesterday, I think that new clay let the creative juices just flow. I wanted to try to do a bonsai stamper. My first attempt, I was trying to do a bonsai in a primitive style, so I carved a tree in fimo using a toothpick. It came out good so I used the stamper to make a bunch of bonsai pendants and tags. I wanted to make some handmade business cards, so I tried using the stamper to create a relief stamper. The stamp came out kinda good, but left a kinda stick figure tree. It was kinda artsy and I liked it, but I wanted to try something different. Bernie thought it looked good, but she wanted to see something that took up more of the card. I was using a 12 pack card to make the business cards, so THEN I drew up a bonsai tree on 12 pack cardboard, and I cut out the outline to create a template. I used the template to cut out a bonsai shape on rolled fimo. It came out pretty good I think. I used the same template to make an impression in that new recylced clay.
In the garden-
I order some Water Jasmine, Wrightia religiosa seeds from ebay. The seeds were a bit expensive. Only three sprouted. I also ordered some Money tree seeds, Pachira aquatica. They're growing, I think. We'll see.

It's way too early for me... just five more minutes.

*hits the snooze bar, but turns off the alarm instead*

Ugh.... what time is it? OMG! I'm late! How can it be Monday morning already?!!! You ever have one of those days, one of those weekends, where you wake up to find that everything is later than you thought, and nothing has been accomplished? Yeah, it was one of those weekends. LOL

I packed up a few pieces of greenware to drop off at Mishy's. I don't know how many, maybe 17 or 18? They took up two boxes. I felt really dumb though because I kept asking Mishy for my pieces I had to pick up. Turns out I already picked them up and/or never dropped them off in the first place. Those 17-18 pieces, half of them were from the week prior. I never got around to dropping them off.

D'oh!

Yeah, that about sums it up. Being that I didn't have anything 'NEW' to add, I added some of the stuff that has just been lying around to my Etsy account. I added 'The Watermelon Bowl', small beaded mame bonsai pot, and some ficus

'The Watermelon Bowl' is a piece that was born from the bits and pieces of other pieces. Strictly speaking, I never set out to make this bowl, yet it is. I was throwing the slab, creating bonsai pots and feet, and I had already put away my clay. I found this bit of leftover clay. I didn't want it to go waste, so I just started smashing it, squishing it in my hands, adding a bit more water and just enjoying the feel of the clay in my hands. I started zoning out, watching 'My Neighbor Totoro', as I slowly rolled the clay in my hands. Before I knew it and not realizing it, I had created this bowl. My one conscious act was to flatten the bottom so it could sit properly. I kept it as greenware for a couple weeks before finally bisque firing it. The bowl then sat by as I glazed different pieces. The Woodland Fantasy glaze was applied because I had some leftover while glazing other pieces. It then sat for another week before I glazed the inside with dragon red glaze, leftover from doing my red dragon trays and bonsai pot. Even after I finished it, it remained by my side until I finally listed it on Etsy. I was expecting the red to be a deeper shade, more maroonish, with lighter shading in parts. I was expecting the woodland fantasy on the outside to be a more chocolate brown. I was expecting it to be brown, with shades of red brown on the inside, more expressive of autumn than the peak of summer that I find myself in. Instead, the red came out true, rich and RED. The outside finished in a lighter than expected shade, with subtle greens coming through and the browns being less dominant. The end result has a more organic feel to it. It is very expressive of the peak of summer that I find myself in, and in which it was created. I had a nice bit of early summer watermelon earlier in the season and I haven't had peak summer SANDIA this season, but the end result of this bowl just reminded me of hot summer days, enjoying the sweet, refreshing taste of watermelon. Don't get me started on watermelon! Quick flashes come to mind: eating watermelon on my Aunt's ranch, feeding the rinds to the goats, camping trips with my family to Viejas Indian Reservation (before it became a casino), AGUAS FRESCAS- Mexican drinks, made from fresh fruit, I'm just gonna stop there.

Tropical Feathers Beaded Mame Bonsai pot-

What did I use to form this pot, I forget. I think I used this egg shaped candle that I bought because I liked the shape. I do know that I used these Mardi Gras beads from my kids to impress the outside. I used bubble feet on this piece, and finished with a tropical feathers crystal glaze. The finished result is a very cute little mame bonsai pot. In this instance, the crystal glaze did not come out as rich as other pieces. It's very green with subtle color variations. The bead impressions allowed the glaze to pool, forming dark spots. The overall shape is conical, the feet sticking out in a non-symetrical fashion. It's not forced into a perfect shape, it's just standing in its own fashion. Perhaps it's waiting, or maybe it is contemplating its next move before pouncing.

Ficus bonsai cuttings-

The cuttings are from my own ficus bonsai trees. I've applied wired to some of the cuttings, and I'm allowing others to just sort of develop without interference on my part. Some of the cuttings are hardwood cuttings, so these have a more developed look. What can I say about the cuttings that I haven't already said in a previous post? I really like the cuttings and how they're developing. They are fattening up rather quickly. It is my opinion that they will develop into very nice bonsai in a very short time. The question then becomes 'how long until this tree becomes a decent bonsai?'

Lots of caveats involved, and this question is not as easy to answer as it is to ask. You have to define what is meant by bonsai and what end results are you shooting for?

Allow me to expand this further by describing my cuttings. Some are hardwood cuttings, taken from wood that is several seasons old. Most of the cuttings are softwood cuttings, taken from wood that is this season's growth. There are lots of things to differentiate between the two, but what I want to look at is the fact that softwood cuttings are almost starting as matchstick thin. The hardwood cuttings have some girth to them. How much depends on how old the wood is. And therein lies the answer.

I took a hardwood cutting earlier this season. I got really lucky and this cutting took. This cutting had plenty of branching already, so once it started to leaf out, I took as as and planted in a small mame bonsai pot. The results are nice: I have a small mame ficus bonsai, which was created by me. The tree was grown by me, and the pot was created by me. I wouldn't call it a 'spectacular' bonsai, however. Heck, some bonsai purists wouldn't even call it a bonsai, as it's the result of a single season of growth.

I'm going to allow some of the cuttings to grow tall. I will prune back severely, and in a few short years, I should have some very nice looking bigger bonsai. when it comes time to prune back, I can use the cuttings to create multiple potential bonsai cuttings.

Adeniums-

Blah blah blah, blurb blurb, yada yada yada. Pfft.

Yeah, more of the same, they're growing like gangbuster, still waiting for my nursery pots to arrive so I can pot the seedlings. Phone call to Bernie:

Hello?

It's me!

Waddaya want? I'm busy doing [insert laundry list of busy house work]

I just called to see if there's any packa-

No Victor! They're not here.

What?

Your pots haven't arrived.

But... how.... oh... okay then. Thanks!

Of course this is a phone call, so I cannot say for sure, but I'm positive that Bernie rolls her eyes at this point, then hangs up in disgust.

Hey look a Soap box on which to stand.

*takes axe to soap box, creating a kindling pile*

Now it's useful!

Honest, I don't have anything useful to say. I'm afraid if I open my mouth at times like this, I'll start going off on a tangent. I don't want to go off on my soap box. Maybe if I do a time frame of my day yesterday, it will help:

5:15 Wake up, shower and get ready for work

5:45 Leave for Work

6:00 Arrive at work

2:30 Leave work

2:50 Arrive at home, turn on sprinkler for garden, water the grapes and the 'welcome' bonsai

3:00 Power up system, read and respond to e-mail

3:30 Afternoon work-out (treadmill)

4:30 Shower and dress

5:00 Eat dinner while reading more e-mail

5:30 Take a nap

6:30 Wake up, work on garden

7:30 Work on pottery

9:30 clean up pottery working area, take a shower (third shower of the day)

10:00 It's now past my bed time; Bernie is watching LIFETIME movie, so I read/respond to more e-mail

10:45 Go to bed.

I don't always work on my garden and work on my pottery all in one day. However, this is summertime. This means busy busy work in the garden. The bougainvillea cuttings I took earlier are starting to look scorched. I imagine the leaves will mostly drop off and I might have some die back or I might lose some cuttings altogether. And that's okay. My ficus bonsai are looking leggy. It's time for their August haircut, but I don't have room for any more cuttings at the moment. That's not true. If I rearrange (again) I can make room for them. I really don't feel like rearranging, at least not until I get my nursery pots in. I ordered some 3.5 inch square nursery pots, which I need to pot up my Adeniums that are in their seed trays at moment. The pots are in the mail.

I was also looking at my previous ficus cuttings. They're getting leggy. I like that word, LEGGY. It's hard to gauge the height, as I wired the fastest growing ones. Lets just say that they're coming along quite nicely. My seedlings are also doing okay; I have trident maples, sargent crabapples, japanese black pine (arakawa), and pomegranate. What can I say about the seedlings? It's their first year and they've had a very good year, but they don't grow as quickly as the cuttings do.

I thought I was getting a bit lazy, so I did some pottery last night. I only meant to work for an hour or so, but two hours came and went before I knew it. I did a bit of this and a bit of that. I did a dragon impression on thin, round slab, then I formed it over a mound mold. I let the edges sort of flare in and out. Once it dried a bit, I applied pinch pot legs. We'll see how this turns out. I did a few other pieces, with one being a 'turk' style. I simply let the clay shape itself, except for the turk.

Wow what a weekend!

My sole remaining molly had a bunch of babies. The male died last week, so I suppose he did his life work before finally expiring. Looks like the angelfish have reconsidered their pairing; the breeding trio is no longer a trio. And it looks like one of the smaller angelfish who was previously left out of the spawning dance is now paired up with the large female. I have to watch them, but that's a bit difficult with my schedule. Too many projects going on for me to just sit in front of a fish tank.

Pfft. Anyone buying this line of bullshit- that I'm just *so* busy? HA!

Life is going at a full-tilt boogie, and I'm revelling in it. This is my house! I'm in my natural environment. Fishies are breeding cause they're just being natural. And I'm stopping right there before I go off on a tangent. Too early in the morning to dive into six inches of water, aka the deep end.

I didn't get a chance to do much with my clay over the long weekend. Let's be frank here; I did what I could with the glazes I have, but I'm running low on some glazes, ran out of a couple. I'm just waiting on my paycheck so I can buy more glazes. I did some study work on some bisque seashell impressions and my 'primitive' rolled impression. I used semi-transparent cocoa bean as a first layer. I then took a semi-moist sponge and removed most of the glaze, leaving the brown glaze in the nooks and crannies. I then used the semi-moist sponge to apply semi-transparent dragon red. Mostly on the raised portions. Finally, I highlighted with Sassy Yellow. Okay, maybe I did more than just highlight. I might have gotten a bit heavy handed with the yellow, but hey, this is why I'm calling it 'study work'. I can't wait to get this fired. I want to see how they turn out and if I can use this technique on other pieces. I did get a chance to glaze a few pots. Not many, but better than nothing.

Speaking of nothing, there was nothing holding me back from doing bisque work. I just didn't have it in me to do any clay work. Maybe I was a little down because I didn't have glazes. Perhaps I really was busy with other projects. Or perhaps I didn't have the energy. I have been really tired these last few days. My back is really hurting and I'm stiff everywhere. Yep, I haven't been working out. Need to get back into my workouts.

I did some work on my seedlings and cuttings. There were a few more Adeniums that sprouted so I potted them up. Also did some work on my pomegranate seedlings. Did I already mention that my ficus microcarpa have been doing very well? While doing some work on the pomegranates I had the water going. I noticed the Adenium seedlings are getting flooded. I also noticed that they don't seem to mind the flooding! Perhaps this is why they're getting so fat. Perhaps they're getting fat despite my overwatering. Perhaps they really shouldn't be watered so much, but the fact that they're thriving is testimony to their tenacity.

Bernie is never long on the compliments. If she likes something, she'll tell you it was 'okay', and then only if you prod her. If she really likes something, she'll suggest it as in 'maybe you could make that dinner tonight' or 'if you want, we could go there...'. I've never heard her say 'Victor, that dinner was fantastic' or 'I really enjoyed that show'. That's just her way. She considers it unnecessary to voice a compliment. Rather, if she likes something, she will show it through her actions. At least, that's how she explains it to me. Me, I can live for a week on a single compliment. I'm a sucker for flattery, and I live to serve. So when my pal, Lisa, invited us over for dinner on Sunday, I decided to bring her a bonsai. I grabbed one of my Fukien tea trees out of my garden and repotted it in my largest handmade pot. It was an egg shaped pot with bubble feet. The body was Blue Caprice crystal glaze and the feet were mosaic blue and dragon red, semi-transparent. I finished repotting, soaked it in, then showed my finished bonsai to Bernie. Her reaction: OH WOW!

Bernie's reaction took me by surprise. She wanted to keep it! I suppose she hadn't visualized my quirky little pots with bonsais. She thought they were a bit small, too lumpy and not very 'professional looking'. When she finally saw that brightly colored, quirky pot with the bonsai potted in it, she saw it. The lumps were personality, the quirkyness was expressiveness. The diminuative size of the pots exagerated the size of the bonsai itself. The funky, brightly colored bubble feet complimented the bright green colors of the tree. This was not a 'professionally' made pot, created in some factory. This was a single, expressive pot, created by an individual to be an individual. I took some pictures of the finished bonsai. I might post them later.

Fourth of July! We went to Glendale Community College to watch the fireworks display. It was over 110+, even after 8pm, and my back was hurting, so I was grumpy as all hell. There was a storm to the north and high winds, so there was talk about cancelling the fireworks display. Bernie finally had enough of my crap and told me she was just going home. I don't like seeing Bernie upset like that, so I had to talk her down. Hunter was getting hungry, so I suggested she park the car and feed Hunter. Then we could go home. She parked it and started feeding him. Me and the boys got out of the car and sat on the pavement. It was just too hot in the car, I explained. I got out the cooler, sat on the cooler, and drank some water that Bernie had packed for us. The wind blew hard enough to cool it down to about 90. 'At least it's cooling down a bit', I explained to Bernie. I sat there, watching the light show that nature was putting on. The storm to the north was producing some spectacular thunderheads with lots of lightning. I could see that it was raining about 12 miles away. I could faintly smell the rain, but I could also sense that rain was not heading our way. The sound of the outdoor concert being put on by GCC could be heard from our position in the parking lot. There was a grassy area to the north of us where TONS of people had assembled to watch the fireworks and enjoy this summer night. The smell of grilled meats mixed with the distant smell of rain. The parking lot was not crowded, but there was a number of people tailgating and hanging out as well. It was a hot, sultry, Arizona night. 'This beats sitting at home, doing nothing', Bernie called out from inside the car. She had finished feeding Hunter, and was bouncing him, trying to burp him. Suddenly, the lights in the grassy area went out. A cheer erupted from the gathered crowd. Our collective patience was about to be rewarded. I called out to Bernie, to come out and join us. I had not realized it, but the fireworks were going off in the field adjacent to the parking lot we were in. We were really really close to the fireworks, so they were bigger than life when they went off. The very first firework of the night was a great big one. We could feel the concussion of the explosives as each one went off. The display seemed to go on and on... and on. Bernie complained that her neck was hurting from looking up, so I got up and propped myself up behind her, cradling her neck in my arm so she could look up. It was definitely one of the better fireworks displays I have witnessed. Granted, it was nowhere near what I imagine goes on in New York , or the east coast, but I'll bet they don't have the lightning in the background that we had. And I'm positive that NOBODY in the USA has to brave such hostile heat as what you find in Arizona for the 4th of July.

Honestly, I would have preferred to be at home, doing nothing. My kids get older with each passing day, week, month, year. Sooner than I would prefer, they'll be done growing and they'll be leaving my house. I'll have lots of fourth of July's, where I'll be sitting at home, doing nothing. No, I'm not being melodramatic, nor is this thought necessarily depressing. Simply, I'm just stating the obvious: things are dynamic. Everything changes. What I'm trying to say is that you should enjoy the moment.