Monday, March 25, 2013

Corning Museum of Class

 
Dave and I went to Corning to their glass factory.  We got to make our own class sculpture.  Dave got to blow some glass and I got to make a flower.  Here is the process.


 I got to put on some fun clothing: gloves, apron, and sleeves.  Dave said I looked cute but I don't know. . .

This is Dave's Process








 This is My Process:









Final Products, not too shabby!
 This is us having fun in the museum science section.  Glass is fun =)








Thursday, February 14, 2013

Dragon Pot

Here is the final dragon pot.  I think it turned out good.  I should have done one more coat with the tan glaze but other than that, I like it.  My honey dippers arrived today so I can finish my honey pot lids and get those done.  I only have two more classes left.  So much to do, so little time.



Saturday, February 9, 2013

On an Unaired, Conflicted View

I've been putting off writing thing particular blog, though I've felt like I should.  Let me explain why: I'm almost certain it will be misunderstood.

I'm not sure why I'm concerned about that.  I feel fairly certain that other than online casinos that are founded by people from out of the country, or who have horrible grammar, there's not a large group of people who read this blog.  I guess, though, it's always possible to be misunderstood even by people who know you well, and some misunderstandings are hard to clear, because the conversation needed to clear them is never had.  So, if I offend you, please let me know.  If you know me personally, feel free to call me to clear things up.

I've been thinking a lot about the middle ground.  I'll be straight up with you, I'm talking specifically of the gay rights movement.  Currently there are two strong voices that shout to be heard.  There are the voices that say that homosexual behavior is natural and should be accepted as such, welcomed.  There are those that say it's a perversion, and people who live like that should be shunned.  But the social media site has missed at least one view, mine.  I feel like I'm not alone with this either, so I wanted to explain what the quiet part of the country feels on this regard.  Okay, just part of the quiet country.

For there to be an understanding, I need to explain my background.  I'm religious, significantly so.  I've defined much of my life by what I believe, why I believed it, and what that belief lead me to become.  Part of my belief system is that people have the choice, the freedom if you will, to be what they want, to act as they choose.  You might say I even believe you have the freedom to choose who you will be.  This extends to homosexuality, or any kind of sexuality for that matter.  I am not saying that I believe you can always choose your temptations, or desires if you want a less churchy term, but I do believe how you act is ultimately up to each individual, and that no one is programmed to one particular lifestyle.

I also believe that homosexual behavior is wrong.  Note that I said behavior.  I believe that no one actually knows for sure where the impulse comes from (nature or circumstance), but that's beside the point for me.  From a scientific standpoint, it's natural for a married man to want to sleep with as many women as possible.  This behavior is still widely accepted as incorrect, though.  You might say I feel the same way about homosexual behavior.  I can offer no scientific argument as to why I believe this is wrong.  A wise man said that homosexuality is a social experiment, and I agree.  It's still in the experimentation stage, so as a scientist I can make no real argument one way or the other.  Even from a philosophical standpoint there are conflicting views, each as compelling as they are in conflict with one another.

But my religious views are both clear and rather solidly placed.  I believe that action of homosexuality to be incorrect.  I could make a rather long discussion as to why this is the case, but that's not my goal here.  My goal is to say, on top of believing that homosexuality is incorrect, I have family who define themselves that way.  And I love those people.  In fact, thinking about this makes my heart ache.  A little because I think they're making mistakes, but more because I also know the attitude toward them can be so vitriolic.  Even in my own extended family.  Imagine for a moment loving a brother, uncle, or a cousin who defines themselves as homosexual, and then to hear others vilify, debase, and mock those people.  I hurts me every time I hear it.

On the other hand, I have a lot of friends who are willing to mock any group unwilling to be accepting of the homosexual lifestyle.  Liberal media might be partially to blame for this, since it seems like their chief form of entertainment is making a joke out of the more right-winged thinking part of the country.  Regardless of where blame lies for encouraging it, the truth is that while the extreme right sends people to hell, the extreme left makes solidly religious into baboons.

And this is where the crux of the matter is.  I love my family.  I love my religion.  Both of them make up a large part of who I am.  An attack on either one is hurtful and hard to support.  I feel a lot of families are caught in the cross-fire between these two extremes.  I hope that people learn to be what they actually claim to be.  Open minded enough to see why so many believe in religion, loving enough to see past the label.  When I was a teenager, my dad once told me that as I grew and learned how close to me what I was mocking actually was I would learn to temper my words.  I have to say, he was right.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Hey Lilley, This is for You- Crochet Bracelets

I found this crochet pattern online and love it.  Here are some bracelets I have already made.  They are my first ones so not perfect, but I'm getting better.  Also, the yarn is not ideal for this stitch.  The yarn I have is too fuzzy (except for the red bracelet but that was Sarah's yarn and I finished it off), this stitch needs a smooth yarn.  No worries, I'm going to get some very soon =)








Monday, February 4, 2013

Art Projects

Here are some of the art projects I'm doing.  For those of you who don't know I'm taking a ceramics class and I'm working on a few projects right now.  I wanted to wait until I had a finished product to show you but figured, with ceramics, you never know how the glazing is going to turn out.  I decided I would put these up now and if I like the glaze, I'll update this post =)

This first project is a double walled pot.  There are two walls which mean I can carve through the outside wall and the inside wall remains intact. 

Stage 1: This is the pot after I have thrown it on the wheel 

 Stage 2:  I then drew my design on the outside layer and carved out some pieces.  As you can see, my outside wall is really thick.  It was my first one so I'm not freaking out about it, but the next one I do, my outside wall will be a lot thinner.


Stage 3:  Then I carved out my dragon.  The handles on the sides are the flames coming out of the dragons mouth.  I have the exact same dragon on the other side blowing flames to make the handle on the other side.  

Stage 4 and 5:  Next step is to let it dry and then bisque fire it, and then last step is to glaze it.  We will have to see how that turns out.  At this moment I have no idea how I want to glaze it.


HONEY

Another pot I am working on is a honey pot.  I want to make several of these so this one is just a trial of things I want to try.  I'm not totally happy how it is turning out (the handles don't quite work and the HONEY sign sticks out too much) but I will know for my next ones.  I do like the flower and bee though.  Once again, we will just have to see how the glaze will turn out.







WINDOWS

People here in the east like to throw a lot of useful things out on their curbs.  One thing is old windows.  I have seen some pretty things done with old windows so I decided I would have a go at it.  This is my final product with one of the windows I grabbed.  It took me four months to finally get the whole thing together.  Bless David for letting me keep these windows leaning up against the wall for that long.  We really don't have much room and they were definitely in the way so thank you Hubby for supporting me.  I think it would look better on an accented wall but that will just have to wait.

Visiting the Evans

Sarah had little Alice Lilley Evans so I went to Michigan for a week to help out.  I didn't pull out my camera very often so I don't have a picture of Baby Evans but she is beautiful!  I do have a few pics of Madison and some of our adventures.

Sarah was craving several foods she was not able to eat during her pregnancy due to heartburn and Better than Anything Cake was one of those foods.  Madison was a good little helper. . .
 and did a great job cleaning the bowl!

WHAT IS THAT!!!
Madison, Mom, and I were walking back from dropping off Abby at Preschool when Madison asks, "what is that?"



Hanging on the grate was a cute little raccoon.  Madison was worried that it was stuck so Sarah called animal control to report the raccoon.  We checked on it several times in the next four hours but by the time animal control got there, it was gone.  

 Madison spent a good couple of hours on the internet researching stuck raccoons.  It was a fun afternoon.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Holly Jolly Christmas 2012


This is what Abby and Madison found when they woke up Christmas morning.  They were so excited!



 Dave and I trying to look awake after being jumped on by the girls to wake us up.  Christmas is so much more fun with children.  They let us sleep in till 7:30 which was really nice of them.


Madison and Abby pointing out the deer tracks and carrot crumbs they found out the back door.  The girls left Santa a cinnamon roll and the reindeer each got their very own baby carrot.  As you can see, both liked what was left for them.

 These were the presents they girls got from Santa.  They played with them the whole time we were there.

This is how Dave really felt that 'early' in the morning.  WEAK SAUCE!!!  We had a really fun time at Sarah and Brian's place and it was hard to go home.  Thankfully I'll be out there shortly to help when little Baby Evans is born.  Can't wait!

Back Home in New York Playing in the Snow




Don't you just love our snowman.  He is so talented.  We had to take several pictures to get the humans on their heads though.  I used to be so good at a headstand but alas, apparently not anymore.  In my defense, I had already worked out my arms an hour that day and they were a bit tired.  As you can see, I had to cop out and do a hand stand.  Good times =)