'tis the season

Adam's mushroom find (see kriipseldus.blogspot.com) prompted me to take a walk in the woods after I got home today. I love the woods in the fall/winter - it's more inviting - everything opens up, there are hardly any spider webs, no bugs... you can walk in peace, see far and breathe the crisp air... well, today the air was hardly crisp. We're having another warm spell. SO. Look what I found! Lions Mane - Hericium erinaceus by it's Latin name.

I've never been lucky to find one of those before!

This one looks slightly bit old, or maybe just soggy from all the crazy rain we had last night.

Anyways - since we're already going to have a mushroom orgy tonight I've got my mind set to sauteing this baby up with some butter and onions for the first tasting. I made a mental note about it's whereabouts in the woods, so during this winter there will be more excursions into the wilderness - to harness the power of 'mother earth'.

As a kid we gleaned the woods every fall for wild mushrooms - mmmh, -can still recall the different tastes of different types of shrooms... anyways, since I don't roam the woods quite as frequently as I did in childhood, I'd forgotten, how sometimes the woods are friendly, eager to offer the goods... but more often you need to earn it's trust. It takes at least 30 minutes of slow quiet walking, pausing often to look, hear and breathe, before you start SEEING. And sometimes nothing happens. You come out as blind as you walked in.

Well, this time I had just decided to stop looking, and walk back to the house, when I noticed something small glowing on a dead wood... that's right. Oyster mushroom. A small cluster of shrooms that must have just popped out the log. And down on the forest floor on a different log there were some light gray ones- probably a different strand... Picked them all. Yep. Took these pix with my I-phone. Yep. looked at the compass on my I-phone to remember the direction of the gold mine. Yep. Did I tell you I thought that thing (I-phone) was a stupid fad and it took Adam at least 2 years to convince me to give up my stone age bare bones Nokia and replace it with this "small-world-in-the-palm-of-your- hand" thingie? I was afraid it would overwhelm me and take over my world... I dont "LOVE" mine as some people seem to. But I do find it to be a convenient tool that helps minimize the amount of gadgets I used to haul around (phone, watch, camera, battery recharger, different cables for everything jada jada jada)

Allright. Got off the topic here. Oh, the beauty of exploring the wilderness with the help of modern gadgets... ("yes I love technology... but not as much as you - you see... but still I love technology" - to you, the Napoleon Dynamite fans out there)

After picking those pearls of mushrooms I thought myself lucky and humbly decided it was enough, I was not gonna push it any more (Adam had already picked a mega -load at I'm-not- telling-you-where).

But whaddayaknow. Looking back to where I had come from - was that beauty!

Seriously. those things look like porcelain... only they're soft and fragrant and firm and squishy and so perfect no man/woman can ever make something so perfect!!! Oh, I am going to eat those beautiful things tonight!

Falling into winter...

This blog has been sort of quiet lately... even though Adam and I have both been sharing the garage/studio with the visiting(over-wintering) mice more than usual. Adam finished painting monster plates that Trace-man made earlier in the summer, and I have revisited some old ideas, for lack of new ones... I really need to have my hands in the material at all times to keep the work moving forward. So... - I guess, the times are reflective. Another year is about to end. Sometimes I wish we did not have calendars and the time would just move like a river, without the days being numbered...

It's been a while since I checked out Vicky Grima's blog, but pop over and check it out. At least other people are doing some cool work. I also reconnected with an old friend, Edita Rydhag, from Sweden, who's work I have always admired, and who I've missed talking to! She is a little woman with an incredible strength. And she makes some pretty big work:)

ice has started to move

Bootgarden

Energy Exchange

Go HERE :ENERGY EXCHANGE to find out more about them!

Random pix from trip to the mountains

pots'n'socks

Despite the general lack of blogging, we have not exactly been sitting on our butts doing nothing. It's crazy busy at work right now, with the annual meeting coming up at the end of October - for instance we spent most of our saturday at work yesterday... after which there was an awesome "crab boil" party at Weezy's house:)

You can see Weezy taking a catnap on the cup below:)

These are some of the pots that came out of David's kiln a few weeks ago.

The ones with tulip drawings are made with STARwhite Cone 10 clay, which I DIG.

I think the jar below was actually in the "Martha Stewart" firing, not this last one.

I'm really happy with these tall vases.

Rainy day cup.

And another one.

Well. And since we work in a former sock factory, we have socks on our brains all the time. Adam especially. Right now he is sitting by my sewing machine(or maybe I should start calling it his sewing machine, since he spends way more time with it than I do), and getting ready to stuff more sock creatures, made of socks that came from STARworks building.

The sock creatures below were frolicking around in the woods the other day. I managed to get some snapshots before they went to bed.
These two are shameless!
Miss priss.
This guy thinks he is a super hero - look at that sparkly cape!
This one is Andreas, I think. Trouble maker.
Lyza made this camo cat.
He looks like his date didn't make it....

We sure are having fun!

Crazy weekend

Maarja and I spent another half a day in NC Pottery Center.

Here she is throwing:)

I made a handful of cups and such.
Then we rushed to Raleigh, to see the Paper Hand Puppet Intervention which was totally awesome and incredible. We laughed and cried, and danced and sighed... If you ever get a chance to see those guys perform - you won't regret it! Later we crashed at Tim's, had a great time hanging on the porch, and talking our heads off. AND he made us kick ass omlettes in the morning.

GREAT WEEKEND!

Oh, and on Sunday we popped by David and Nancy's, and pulled out some pots still warm from the firing. I am super happy with what I got out of the kiln. Pix to come later.

Taste of the Fire.

Last week Maarja and I pulled a shift at Davids kiln. He had it pretty well covered with a trusted crew, so we were not needed much more, but at least got a little taste of the fire.

Maarja took some pix of me trying to split crazy big wet logs, which did not even budge...
David here, close to the end of the firing, tired but not completely zombied out yet.
As I hear the firing went beautifully. Sounds like it was one of the smoothest ones they've had, and everyone is eager to see the results!

at work

bloggorific

Never before have we been so connected... more blogs to check out.

Amy, you may find something in those: Handmade Life and Shannon Garson's blog.

Those Australians, I'm telling you. They seem to be having too much fun.

bohohooo

I'm having the clay blues...

it's predictable. never have I been able to stay away too long. still startling too. I was fed up with the "art industry's" conveyer belt. felt like it's too much to deal with (and still I've no desire to put energy into selling myself). yet suddenly there is a desire to wrestle with ideas again...

I've been popping in to Mel Robsons blog every now and then (pretty sure Seo pointed it out to me) - I love that woman's work!!!!! and today I discovered someone else there, whose work made me drool and green with envy... Vicky Grima's delicious pinched porcelain pots... You can find her blog and an awesome slide show of European ceramics/potters/landscapes in this slideshow.

aww.

well. Maarja and I did go to NC Pottery Center last Saturday and I threw some StarWhite 10 - cups, and lidded jars, so tonight I will come to studio at work, and finish them all. other than that WhatNot Pottery has been sort of hibernating. knitting and spinning yarn... making stupid sock creatures and Sculpey jewellery. its all a lot of fun, but far from giving us reason to call ourselves a "pottery". maybe we should be called a "WhatNot Group"...

Art in Estonia. Part 1.

While in Estonia, we popped in quite a few galleries in Tallinn, the capital city. Art galleries are around every corner there, and the show turnover is constant. I remember that during my studies in Estonian Academy of Art we had often several openings a week to attend, and since most openings offered snack foods and beer or wine - it provided poor and always hungry art students with semi reliable high class creative fuel...

In one of the galleries - and I apologize here for forgetting the name of it - we discovered some really beautiful "stuff". Comes out - the artist is Jaanus Orgusaar - who I shared some art school time with. He was in the fashion department, and mainly known for the shoes and boots that he made... anyway. Check out his website, and enjoy the pix here. I think he is quite brilliant and wonderfully playful.

FOR SEO...

The following pictures were taken by Adam, of my bro Villu, the Viking Uncle's bikes, especially for Seo. So here they are:)

Looks like they're in need of some attention:)