Wednesday, November 16, 2011

What's up with ornaments?

I've been reading comments and blogs all week about the evils of ornaments. I'm sure if you plow through my verrrry long blog, you might find me complaining about them as well. But this year, I'm digging them. I'm only making these stars which I can never make enough of, they sell so fast and this year I made them very thin and they have turned out so pretty. So what's wrong with making ornaments? I love Christmas ornaments. Whenever we travel I always find a shop that has ornaments and buy one as a souvenir of our trip. This year I bought a little boat in Boothbay Maine. I also have a boat from St. Michaels, on the eastern shore of Maryland, that I bought when we were there for a wedding when Wes was 8 weeks old. It always reminds me of that trip and I always say "why were we in Maryland with an 8 week old baby!" I have a beautiful ornament I bought in Montreal when Gerry was there covering the World Swimming Championships. a maple leaf from Alberta, and so many others. Gerry and Wesley usually get me a Hallmark collectible ornament, I have the Jetsons lunch box and thermos, so tiny and adorable. One year I got the crate with the leg lamp from the movie A Christmas Story. Gerry's brother has lived all over the middle east and Asia and we have ornaments from many places there. I have hand made ornaments that friends have made for me, and some I made. So many great memories in these little things that I only get out once a year. So if someone likes my ornament and buys it, they will get it out each year at Christmas and what memory will they have from that purchase I wonder?
As promised for my raku pals, here is a good turquoise recipe. The one I was using has decided it no longer wants to work so I tried this one with pretty good results. If you leave it in the can for a long time you get beautiful reduction effects. Lots of golds. I was going to give you another recipe I tried but it looked like crap so I'll not bother!

Peacock:
Gerstley Borate 40
Neph Sy 13
Silica 13
Lithium 13
add
copper carbonate 3
Isn't she sweet? She is on a barn that I attached to some of the barn wood I got. I just love that little face :)
You may or may not remember some coil pots I made not too long ago. I finally got around to firing them, but the photos I shot were so blurry, then it got dark. I'll shoot them again tomorrow, I'm interested to see what you think. I love them and want to make more, but they are plain and simple.

15 comments:

Linda Starr said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
cookingwithgas said...

I love your stars in fact a very special person sent me one and I have it hung when I can see it everyday.

Dennis Allen said...

Nothing wrong with making ornaments.If all of mine looked like yours, I might make more. I think it takes more time than people think to make them nicely.

Tracey Broome said...

Linda it is a really pretty glaze, can't remember where I found it.
Hey M. you have one because YOU are a star!!
Dennis, these stars take FOREVER and I don't make a lot of them at a time, maybe a dozen and then I get bored. I try to make them every so often and have them for sales even in the spring and summer. I always sell them. I found I had to sell the cookie cutter ornaments for $5 to get them to move, waste of time. But the stars are different enough to cost more.

Hollis Engley said...

There is nothing wrong with make and selling ornaments. Nothing.

Anna M. Branner said...

Just love the simpleness of the white crackle on these stars.

I am a sucker for Christmas ornaments. Last year our full sized tree was ONLY decorated with ornaments I have purchased at LibertyTown! (And the tree was well covered....)

Our tree is a scrapbook. Ornaments from childhood given to me from my Mom from childhood Christmases, like you, that is what we look for on vacations/trips. And they don't have to be made as ornaments to become one. :)

Michèle Hastings said...

those stars are gorgeous! and definitely not just for Christmas. thank you for sharing the recipe, our turquoise one has gone wonky... last time we used it jeff add more cobalt and now it is too blue for me. i really need my turquoise back for pendants!

ang design said...

ahh the clay snobery...gorgeous image trace :)) barns are workin a treat....i'm inside with the A/c on bad move really as i must get back out to the studio!!!

Tracey Broome said...

Hey Hollis, I have a love hate with ornaments, some days it feels like production work and I don't like that, but I like having them for customers.
Hey Ann, our tree is like a scrapbook too, I have ornaments from the first Christmas Gerry and I had together 30 years ago!
Michele, My recipe went wonky too, weird, it was so great and then all of a sudden no matter what I did, I got bad results. This one was much better. Hey Ang, yeah we had a little AC action today as well and it's fall here! I'm guilty of the clay snobbery from time to time too and then I have to check myself!

jbf said...

Love the stars!

Unknown said...

We have got to stop bitching on the ornaments!.. they are just 'small clay objects'! anything can be good/bad, depending on how they are made and who made/gave them. I have some real shit, that means so much... and some great stuff that means shit... it's all relative! (that's the problem with families!)

Mieke van Sambeeck said...

Hi Tracy,
your so generous sharing your glaze recipe, so thanks for that, I will try it definately next time i do a raku firing. And good luck with your lovely stars.

Tracey Broome said...

Hi guys, thanks for the comments! Scott, I KNOW, why are ornaments a bad thing! More importantly why is Raku a step child? It's a beautiful process, it's exciting and primitive and unpredictable. I love it!

Ron said...

Hey Tracey, I like you ornaments, so much more original than the ones I made. I think Raku gets a bad wrap b/c there is so much of it out there that's pretty bad. I have fun picking on it but I do appreciate the good raku out there. I could switch to picking on some other kind of pot for awhile I guess. Or stop altogether. I don't want to be seen as a clay snob. I really used to be one, but not so much anymore. Well, maybe just a tiny bit.

Unknown said...

I love that peacock glaze! Thanks for sharing it. I tried it out today on a couple ornaments of my own. I didn't get any turquoise, but we left our pieces in the can for a very long time, so it's all copper and gold. Very pretty!

I love your blog, and your work!