Hmm...

Do I skip my xmas and Chanukkah stuff that I never really finished or do I roll it all into a "winter party" theme?

Hope everyone had holidays as full of family, food, and cheer as mine! Happy New Year!

There probably won't be anything new posted here before then, but there will be new stuff relatively soon.

Quick note

First off, I want to thank my followers. I haven't posted much lately, but I absolutely appreciate all of you. : )

There are updates coming soon, but I'm recovering from another root canal. This is the third since early Sept, but hopefully the last. Teefs! How I hate them!

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Life...

So the computer is back, but now the car is in the shop. The repairs will be almost half of its Blue Book. I also have another toothache, luckily not anywhere near as bad as the one a few months back.

I'm in the least xmasy mood EVER! Sorry for the whine. I am working on some stuff, but it has been kinda backburnered and it's not xmas stuff...you'll see. It should be done in a couple of days.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

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More abandoned stuffs

Here's a bunch more stuff that just sat around on the table getting dusty. Some if the pictures are kinda shitty, as usual recently. *sigh*

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Incredibly belated

These...are soda breads I made for for St Patrick's Day. Late late late!

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...HERE it is..

Sorry...having issues. This is the stuff I mentioned in the post below.

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...or maybe not

This app isn't letting me add photos to that post...so they're gonna be separate posts. I cent figure out how I got it to add multiple photos. I want my computer back!

Anyway...here's some random stuff from the half-bakery, though the little cake had been posted before.

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Watch this spot

I've decided I need to clean up the actual half-bakery (formerly known as my kitchen table). I'll be updating this post as I finish stuff up.

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Happy Halloweekslate!

My Halloween stuff is finally done...but my computer still isn't working, so hopefully these photos aren't too awful. My phone doesn't have a macro mode. I took some with my camera too, but I can't upload them.

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The whole gang!

The Jack O'Lanterns are done! I had some hassles and issues, but overall... I like them. I'll be putting them up on Etsy. I'm still working on the store, but I'm kinda limited, since I'm still using my mother's computer.

Rrrrbbbit!

Frog and toad cookies! Lots more creepy goodies to come as Halloween approaches.

*grumbles*

My computer needs a new motherboard. It could be a few weeks until it's working again. The timing is *perfect* because I was just about to really launch my Etsy page with a bunch of Halloween stuff. Now I have to visit my mother and use her computer...so I'm not sure if I'll get the Etsy thing going in time for Halloween. :(

*sigh*

...getting there...

Not quite done yet, but... definately getting there.

Half-Done

I usually don't post my work when it's still this rough... but I really like how this is turning out. The tool marks still need smoothing and it needs a little more shaping (and a shiny finish), but... it's coming along.

More Jack O'Lanterns

I think you'll all be sick of them by the time I post the final photos, but here are two (three?) more.... and not as blurry as the last one.

Just a sneak preview

Still a looong way to go before my Jack O'Lanterns are done, but here's a blurry-ass preview. Some days my camera refuses to shoot a clear macro.

Down to the wire!

I finished the swap items and will be sending them out once I put on some pants. lol I'll post photos in about a month, once everyone's gotten their packages. Can't wait to see what everyone else made! I'll post those photos eventually too.

I'm taking the night off (since it's my night off from work) and then I'll get started on Halloween stuff! Sooo many ideas (it's my favorite holiday, by far), not quite sure which will be the 'winners' and get made. I might also try to find some time for some amusing little projects I have in mind.

Maybe a little too odd...

Blue new potatoes! They really exist. Saw them in a plant catalog. They were just too weird to use for my secret project...so they're no longer secret or part of the project.

Plus... I think this is the first time any of my photos show a purchased mini (the bowl). I have a bunch of other things, just never got around to using them before. I wanted to use a found object to display these, but ironically... I couldn't find it! Ha!

And on the bad news side of things... I think my camera might be dying! I can't afford a new one if it does. Though... I will be buying a new phone soon and the one I'm probably getting is 5 megapixels as opposed to my camera's 7.2 and my crappy current phone's measly 2... so it might not be a disaster.

I'm back! I hope...

This unintentional hiatus was complete. This time it wasn't a matter of working slowly and not finishing, I didn't do any mini work at all in the last couple of weeks. I'm itching to get back to it tonight at work now that I feel a lot better... but the first thing I'll be doing is swap stuff. ASAP too, since it needs to ship on Wednesday and it's almost Saturday! Yipe! I still need to go out and buy something for it, but I wasn't *quite* up to it today. Tomorrow I must run errands, do laundry, etc..because I've barely been able to do that stuff either, so I will definately pick up the non-clay parts of my secret swap project. I hate that I couldn't start it earlier. :( I wanted to be finished by now, doing something amusing that I've wanted to do for ages, and starting on Halloween stuff.

I'd also like to welcome all the new followers! Thank you all! :)

Pasta!

I was originally making these for a CDHM swap, but then it turned out that it's not the polyanna style, it's the kind where each person gets the same thing from everyone else in the swap... and I can't make 15 different packages of pasta. This stuff is a nightmare to make. Cold porcelain is not the most agreeable material.

So now I need to figure out ASAP what I'll be making 15 of.... hmm... I have ideas...

Bread experiments

I made these a few weeks ago, but because of the way this summer's gone...

These are made with Hearty, an air-dry clay. The bready texture makes itself when you heat the clay and is exposed when you cut it. I love the natural look it gives it. The big bread on the far left is a little dense, but you can see it better on the other slices. I still need to do a lot of playing around with it. It also cracks when "baking" just like real bread. Love it!

No coin for scale, but they're on the edge of my keyboard...so that's some scale, right?

A little something...

Just showing off a little something I made while working on my tutorial for CDHM. This one's not really part of it, it's more of an illustration of the potential of the method. I hope you can tell that the tiny thing in the upper right is a bird on a branch. It's my own variation of a design I saw here. I plan on emailing the photo to the original designer, if possible.

Still no photos!

So.... I quit the CDHM blog. I just wasn't up to it. It was more work than I thought it would be and I just couldn't keep up and wasn't enjoying it. I'm not feeling quite as crappy as I had been... I can't wait for fall!

The good news - I've been asked to do a tutorial class at the CDHM Forum! I'm beyond honored! If you're a CDHM member and want to learn to make stoneware dishes (like the Mexican and Mother's Day ones), you can sign up for my class. It's Sat, Sept. 11th at noon Eastern.

The meh news - They need the photos 30 days before the class, which is toward the end of this week. I'm gonna go to VA to become a drunken, sunburned mess for a long weekend, so that means that I'm prepping my class stuff *right now*. This pushes my loooooong delayed set back that much further. It's finally coming together, but... well... maybe next week. After that I need to knuckle down and make stuff for a swap. I'll probably post my experiments for it here. The pre-preliminaries came out pretty cute, so...

If you're itching to see more of my work (HAH!) I put up some fail photos on Flickr. They're in the little slideshow thingy to the right. Glitter poo!

The real half-bakery is filling waaay up with little random thingers... fruit, randomness, and stuff I woozily made for Bastille Day but wasn't up to finishing because of the effing weather. I should get off my duff, finish them, and take some pictures, but... again, maybe next week.

New CDHM post

Ok... few days late, but... the nasty weather finally let up long enough for me to feel human again. Click here.

Quick mini (but not that kind) post

Summer! Yuck! I realized that I haven't posted much at all this month. I even missed a couple of my CDHM blog days. There will be one tonight or tomorrow. I feel so guilty when I don't do them. This weather has been making me sick. I've still been making minis, but not as productively. Plus I make them, but then leave them in the half-bakery unfinished. I have another big-ish project coming up... um... soon.

And again, hello and thank you to the new followers. (*edit* on closer inspection, one of you is my sister! lol)

There will be photos again soon. Right now I'm trying to decide if I wanna go to the local fair or not. I love seeing the cows and sheep and eating horrible fried things on sticks, but it's so so so muggy!

New CDHM post

First off I'd like to say thank you to my new followers. :)

And I actually managed to post my CDHM blog entry on Wednesday like I'm supposed to! Amazing! This week's got a French theme.

I have something of my own for Bastille Day, but... maybe tomorrow. Timing is not my forte. lol

Happy 4th of July!

It's finally done!! Brace yourself for a looooong string of photos...

(Blogger is being super uncooperative today... so pardon the awkward format.)

The whole thing...

The meal....

Burgers

Hot dogs...

Corms!

Plate one...

Plate two...

Plate three...

Desserts

Watermelon...yeah, again...

Angelfood cake with strawberries and blueberries...

Patriotic cookies!

Watermelon, again...

Baked and freshly quenched... had to take a photo while it still had water on it.

CHDM Blog - Grilling

Just posted my CHDM blog for this week.

Watermelon in the works

Here's my messy working tile for a watermelon cane, most pieces still need texturing... and the rind is very thick (couldn't think of a good way to stripe it otherwise), but overall I'm pleased with it.

Trio of cheesecakes

Finally finished a few pieces from the half-bakery. I had some strawberry cane slices that I just wasn't thrilled with and some lopsided trial cheesecakes. Better together. Raspberry too, and a jam design.

Wedding Cakes Pt 2 at CDHM

Another week's posting at the CDHM Blog.

Getting Ready For The 4th

I'm doing another big group of things for the 4th like I did for Cinco de Mayo. So far there isn't a single finished piece, but I haven't posted anything for a while so.... here's a look at the middle stages...

Angelfood cake and hot dogs...both need some colorful topping.

Hamburger buns...not sure I like the way they look. They're supposed to be the big, soft bakery kind, not the ones that come all stuck together in groups of four. I might make some of them too.

Hamburger patties that look a little odd without a shine... but can't varnish them yet.

Cookies. I was going to add some "dragees," but the hot weather set the LPC before I could. You can also see a couple of roses and a piece of the ribbon decor left over from the cake and a few failed strawberries.

Wedding Cakes on CDHM

New blog post here.

CDHM blog

My second week of posting a CDHM blog and I'm already a day late. :\ I have good excuses though.

Cascade of Roses, finished

Yeah, same piece as yesterday, but now it's finished. I didn't add more roses to fix the little bare spots, just varnished it and took better photos....way too many photos. Here are the best of them.

Rowses and rowses of roses... and roses!

This was a sanity-stealer, no question.

Still not quite finished, but.... close enough to show. Sixty-three roses, if I counted right. Might stick in a couple more buds to cover a few bald patches you only see from almost beneath the piece. Dunno yet. It needs varnishing, probably all three kinds. Satin for the cake, matte for the roses, and gloss for the ribbon.

From this angle you can't see the bald spots... but in the one above, they glare at me. If anyone wants to weigh in on this, I'd appreciate it.

Dishes!

This was my first experiment with cold porcelain. I'm mostly pleased with the results. I've been working on them as a side-project for a few weeks here and there. A bunch of them curled while drying.... not sure what happened, but these are all definately useable. I never see any black mini dishes, so that was what I made first. I love how bright they make food look. My actual dishes are black... mostly. I also have some glass ones in various colors. I might take some time away from making food to do more dishes. I have a serious addiction to dishes and glassware. I own way more than a single girl should. I have stuff I've never used.

...and more newness...

Still setting up and I have a lot of prep left to do, but I finally have an item listed on my Etsy page. Pricing is.... impossible. That's been the major stalling point... I have no clue what to charge for stuff. I try to compare it to other stuff that's listed and base the prices on that, but I hate trying to judge my own work for monetary value. : \ So hopefully $5 for four little cupcakes isn't excessive.

My first CDHM blog entry

So.... I hope this is what they wanted. : P You can find my first post here.

Whatever could these be?

Little teaser for my current project... I think it's pretty obvious what these will become over the next week or two... The rectangular one is further along in the process and should be finished pretty soon.