Thursday, February 17, 2011

Mezuzahs, Goblets, Mugs, & the Piggy-Toe of a Dream

It’s back to the drawing board for Mimi Stadler Pottery. I am down one website, and the DebMaster is beginning to create the second. The first was “too broke to fix.” It was better to start again with a new template. Stay tuned for the further Adventures in Website Building, a rollicking tale…or not...Some plain hard work and a dash of creativity oughta get it done.

Meanwhile. mezuzah cases are awaiting the bisque kiln. These are decorative casings in which to place rolled parchments with a special prayer on them. They go on most doorways in a Jewish home, only missing the bathrooms. I have an order for 20, for a nursing care facility. They’re nice mezuzahs, I think.


The one on the right is just dry clay with some underglaze on it. When some clear and some green glazes are applied, and it is glaze-fired, it will look like the one on the left. Notice the difference in size? Raw clay shrinks when it is glaze fired. They will end up pretty similar. There are two other design toppers, a heart and a flower, on other mezuzah cases.

I will be glad to make more of these as called for. The best part of this lot is they’ve been pre-ordered, which means they are paid for even as I make them. This is a nice way to work. I should do this all the time.

With Passover not far away, there are simple goblets to get ready to sell. I will sort them for sets with similar capacity (between 4.5 and 6 oz., I think) once they are fired. Next week, between making website decisions and thinking about a kitchen renovation (yahoo!), I want to make little plates for each of them.



I was asked to make mugs that show the color of the tea that will be drunk from them. I faceted two mugs, and made two with soft throwing rings visible under subtle glazing. Two glazes layered over each other gave this nice cream color, with a hint of rust speckle here and there:



Meanwhile I am dipping my toe in the first little wavelet of a dream that might go somewhere. I have an idea for marketing handmade artistry with a group of like-minded individuals who are not able to take part in the available Saturday shows. More on that as this dream pool begins to gain some depth.

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