Thursday, June 23, 2011

A day for sweetness

I am working on Sugar Jars.
What is it about the wee jars that we love to make, well, me anyway.
Sometimes I hit one just right and it all looks great and other times I am a hair or two off- that elusive shape of just round enough and just the right opening.


Then there is the lid....
I like to make this lid that we learned from Virginia Shelton that is common for this area.
It is a right side up lid that is opened all the way to the bat, thrown and closed up at the top to make the knob.

I really like this lid but there are days that I go too Tall and it is toooooooo much for the jar.
I like them better when I keep it lower to the base and have a nice balance in the lid to body.
Can you see the one in the middle here? Not my favorite lid to body.
I prefer the one on the left .
To me it has a better balance.



Yesterday we had a nice rain or big storm depending on where you were.
We don't know we slept through it all and woke up to puddles.
The wet seem to bring out some of these animals that have been hiding form the dry heat.
This toad was happy to hang out all day.
He would give me a bit of an eye but he was not willing to give up his place.
I suspect that there was some good eating going on here.
I hope so since I was bitten by black flies when I went to get water for throwing- little buggers.
It itched for hours!


   



The wet ground made it soft enough for this turtle who had come up from the pond to lay her eggs. She will spend several hours digging with her back feet to make a hole deep enough to lay her eggs. She then covers it all back up nice and tight.
I went later to look and see where she dug and you could not even tell she had been there.
There you go turtles have very small carbon foot prints...!


Time to beat some heat and go place some bamboo poles for the beans to climb.
Cheers!
M

10 comments:

Linda Starr said...

a turtle and a frog, how cool, if you have any extra rain send it down here please, we're dry as a bone.

Anna M. Branner said...

I've never thought to throw a lid "Virginia Shelton" style. I'm off to google it right now!

Unknown said...

I looove sugar jars. Maybe I'll make some today. Thanks! :)

Lori Buff said...

I was making honey jars yesterday thinking about why I love making them. For me it's about making multiples that don't have to look alike. I don't want that, I want them each to be unique. It looks like you have done that with your sugar jars.

cookingwithgas said...

Hi Linda- let me blow hard in the right direction and see if I can send you some rain.
Do you want that with wind and lightening as well?

cookingwithgas said...

Anna- I wonder if i have shown this lid on the blog somewhere if so I will send a link

cookingwithgas said...

Becky as they say here- get you some.
Lori- yes the same but different- I like that in a pot!

Gary's third pottery blog said...

schweet little jars indeed :) frog too!

cookingwithgas said...

thanks Gary and the frog thanks you too!

Anonymous said...

hi meredith, cute little sugar bowls... i love to make small bowls myself. nice to see some wildlife. this year because of the flooding of beargrass creek which is on my bike ride, i've been seeing tons of turtles. two different species and lots of them. one are box turtles and the others i'm not sure but they are bigger and flatter with long necks. it's good to see that the city creek is supporting some wildlife. hope all is well out there this summer