Ho! Ho! Ho!

This morning I found a pumpkin I’d forgotten about on the porch. I popped it in the oven to roast on its way to becoming pie. That pumpkin was a hold-out. I know it is time to put away all things autumnal and to get with the holiday program. Last week dozens of ornaments (expect-able items such as snowflakes and gingermen, but also no few starfish, bears, and hearts) went off to a ministry in Pennsylvania. This week’s challenge is Santa hats. A man called wanting Santa hats, which was my excuse to get a nice copper cookie cutter. He sent his list and I decided I’d make one as well. I think by the time I complete all the Santa hats, I may be more than ready to move on.  On the other hand, ornaments are a lot more fun since I realized that the backs don’t have to be plain.

To prevent pottery from sticking to the kiln shelf, the bottom of each piece remains unglazed. The glaze is a layer of glass that forms as the glaze melts and matures at high temperatures. We brush “kiln wash” on the kiln shelves in case a few molten drops hit the deck during the firing process. That is far better than having them adhere to an unprotected kiln shelf and then remelting and sticking to an unsuspecting pot that comes along in the next kiln load. To prevent that, the drops of hardened glaze are chipped off with the protective layer of kiln wash. What is the point of this glaze talk? It’s my revelation that I could use glaze to decorate the textured backs of pieces without having them stick to the shelf. The ornaments lay flat on the kiln shelf, but the glaze stays in the deeper indentations. I simply thoroughly wipe it off the areas that actually come in contact with the shelves. 

So now I have a list with about fifty names, each destined to adorn a Santa hat with the year and, for many, “LRV” for the Lost River Valley. There will be some added snowflakes, of course; those are more fun to make than to shovel, for sure. The finished ornament is then fun and interesting on both front and back, as well as personalized. I’ll let you know how I feel about them when I get to the 49^th name.  Ho! Ho! Ho!

Those Cute Little West Virginia Bears

I have a new favorite post card. It features a complacent- appearing black bear. He or she is quite authentic in appearance-- right down to having a few pine needles and bits of dry grass caught in his/her fur. The print accompanying this fine photo says: “Send more tourists to West Virginia. The last ones were delicious.” 

You may have to be a West Virginian to appreciate that, but it tickled me since no one I know believes anything larger than the occasional small animal likely to get eaten by a bear. Most of the year the bears here exist on berries and other vegetative goodies, given that there is not much water deep enough to provide nourishing fish. I love seeing the few bears we have around and we’ve never known them to come looking for trouble. On the other hand, bears are associated with our area and we capitalize on that. I often put their images on my pots, and I always put them on pots that celebrate the Lost River Valley.

Doug Gronholn, our store manager at Lost River ArtisansCooperative, is an ardent and creative crafter. Recently he volunteered ME to make bear ornaments for the yoga institute coming to town in June. Having taken my “Play in the Clay” class last year, Doug came and spent a whole day making bears with me—between 70 and 80 of them. We got them cleaned too, which was big job. Then they dried and were fired. A week later Doug returned and we glazed bears all day. Each one has LRV on it for the Lost River Valley. He’ll soon be back to help attach ribbons for hanging them. There will be an adequate supply of LRV bears to give one to each delicious tourist!