Oh Christmas Tree

Yesterday afternoon, I got my Christmas tree up and decorated. I also added a few surplus decorations (i.e., those that didn't fit on the tree) to other displays, on walls, on tabletops, etc. I think I am done now, although I do have a lot of silver tinsel left.....


The lights are on - white lights - but they don't show much. I have far too many ornaments, but seem to keep adding more and never discarding any. I did give some of the family ornaments to each of my kids a few years ago, but I have certainly acquired more since then. So, ornaments also hang or sit on each of the baker's racks and shelves that also hold plants, some of my glass collection, books, and family pictures. Believe me, I have a lot of stuff crammed into a rather small living room. Professional decorators would have a fit, but I love all my stuff, so there it is.


I have some ceramic stuff to show as well. Some of it has just been finished, some has been around for a while, but not pictured. The stacked up faces are parts of totem poles I am making to disguise some support posts in my front yard. (The posts are supposed to keep my flowering plum tree upright after a wind and rain storm. Or, at least, pull it back up when it falls over!) Anyway, I decided the posts were ugly, but could be turned into totem poles. So I've been making hollow tubes with faces on them. I have only about half as many pieces as I need, but eventually - perhaps by spring - I will have enough to display outside.


This bowl is a recent piece. It's decorated using colored slip (very thin clay). The flowers and other decoration on the inside are slightly raised as a result. (see below on right) The outside of the bowl (see below left) is decorated by covering it with slip and then scratching a design through the slip. And that's your clay lesson for today.