Another batch of pottery, goodbye to Tiger

This is my buddy, Tiger. He's having a tough time, as he has CRF - Chronic Renal Failure... basically his kidneys have shut down, so he doesn't have much time left with us humans. I am very sad to see him go, as both I and his brother, Hero, will miss him very much.

This is Hero, Tiger's brother. Both of them are over 15 years old now, so I guess all-in-all, they've lived good lives.

My heart is heavy, so I'm going to try to keep busy. Here are some of the recent pieces of pottery I've made. Please feel free to comment on them.

These "snowflake vases" are for a customer's winter wedding coming up soon. She wanted the designs to be all unique, rather than one design on all of them. She plans to put flowers in them on the tables for the guests, and I think some of the guests will get to take them home afterward.

The following small vase is almost 6 inches tall and approximately 3.75 inches in diameter. I am very happy with the glazes and the overall look to it.

This one was a reglazed platter, and I really like how it came out. I call it "The fox and the frog". Can you see them in the glaze pattern? This platter is almost 18 inches in diameter and has a thrown foot with holes to allow a hanging wire to be used to display it.

The following photo shows a very large platter made using both the slab roller and the wheel, which makes for a difficult to create piece, but the results are very nice. The platter is 16 inches in diameter and can be used as a nice serving platter.

It is currently VERY cold here in southern Minnesota currently, with below zero F temps for the past few days. That makes it difficult to work in the basement since all the cold air falls there. I brought a 50 pound box of clay upstairs to help it warm up a bit. Otherwise it gets so cold that my hands get stiff trying to work the cold clay.

The two plates I made for my father recently worked out very nicely, and he wants me to make a couple more that are slightly larger in diameter to stack with the two he already has. The plates are special in that there are curved sides that allow him to use only one hand when eating, and not have to chase food off his plate. The curve inward lifts the food and drops it onto his spoon. Sure beats chasing peas across a flat plate and onto the table!

Take care, everyone.

Carl