WANTED: Pamper Bandits!

These two individuals are wanted for questioning in the disappearance of several Pampers Brand Swim Pants!

Please take a good look and familiarize yourself with these faces.

James Everett

Cameron James

They are thought to be Armed (with beautiful blue eyes) and Extremely Rambunctious!

If you have any information as to the whereabouts of these two individuals, please contact me because they are probably into something they shouldn't be!

Thank You!

My baby boys......

Seems like only yesterday I could wrap James and Cameron in the same receiving blanket and they still had wiggle room! So tiny!

Well, they've grown a little since then! They have been sleeping in the crib together for a long time and I'm coming to grips with the fact that they probably won't sleep seperately for a long time! They tend to sleep much better when they are near to each other (must be a twin thing) yet they still have their differences. James sleeps next to the wall and Cameron on the outside...they won't have it any other way! Weird!

But I knew the day was coming when we would have to get rid of the crib and honestly it's been that day for at least 6 months, probably more. They are quicker getting out of that crib than I am getting out of bed!

So, today was the day! We switched out the crib for an Elmo toddler bed! And the boys are so happy! They went straight to bed tonight, no problems! Well, they've never really been a problem but they were so excited to sleep in their Big Bed! Although they weren't happy about me shoving a camera in their faces! Ah, the joys of having a mother who wants to document everything!

I love you, my sweet baby boys, sleep well!

Note: pay no attention to the coral colored shirt on my son Cameron, he wanted to wear his big sister's shirt to bed! Thank Goodness you can't see the pink and brown, striped and polka-dotted trouser socks he has on under that blanket!

Whoville birdhouse......

Well, I'm picking up this weird habit about wanting to name my pottery pieces and to tell you the truth it's kinda fun! I'm having a hard time with the one below. Honestly, I DID NOT mean for it to look like this but just before I closed it up it kinda started getting all womple-jawed. So, I closed it up quick because I figured I could straighten it out later but the more I messed with it the more twisted it became. Well, I stopped and had planned to cut it off the wheel and chunk it but some thing made me stop. So, there I sat looking at a mangled piece of junk that called out to me in some ghostly little voice that said "I could be beautiful, too".
Darn pottery speaking to me again! Don't tell anyone, K?


After, I cut it off the wheel and it dried some over night, I went back this morning and cut in the hole. And for some reason I couldn't stop there, I thought it needed something more so pulled out my carving tools. A wicked tree here and another over there. I sat her on the shelf and said "I can't wait until you're cooked". End of Story!

Okay, almost! I showed this to Kojak and he said it reminds him of Tinsel Town, I say Whoville, Haley says the Grinchs' House! Help me out here! This piece CANNOT live without a name! Your suggestions are welcome!

Today's the day.....

Today is my first class for the summer. Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5 to 7:30, not too bad huh? Okay, so this is my book, looks like fun right? It should be...the thing costs $155! It needs to provide my dinner on school nights! I'm looking forward to this class even though I've heard my instructor is a strict one. Oh well, can't be that bad, right? I have a feeling I might regret that!

Anyway, I'm going to try to get back into the Wednesday night pottery class in June so I'll at least have 3 hours a week to play in the mud! I'm also thinking about going back to work part-time just to make some extra money. Of course, all of this will be determined by how hard this class is and how much time I'll be spending studying and doing my work! I should know a little more tonight.

Well, I've enjoyed my time off but now it's time to get serious again, darn it! I'm going to get ready....wish me luck! And pray I don't have to do any presentations because I don't like those! Hahaha!

Well, here it is.......

So many people have been asking me about our pottery......okay, not many.....okay no one at all has asked about it but Mom and I love it so much. And seeing as we find it so fun, interesting and very soul fulfilling we thought others might like to watch the processes involved in taking a lump of clay and turning it into something wonderously beautiful. So we started a blog that will be completely devoted to our love affair with clay! Anyone interested? Please visit http://www.allfireduppottery.blogspot.com/ ! You can also find the link right here under Lupton Links!

Just as a preview here are a few new pictures to get you started!

This is the "lump of clay"......duh

These will be tree-hung birdhouses! I think they are really cute, so many variation possibilities and were fun to make! So fun that I made 8 in 2 days! My school vacation has been somewhat productive! Anyway, feel free to "mozy" on over to our new place and see the many stages of working clay. We will be featuring things like working, centering and throwing clay as well as handbuiding, firing and glazing! Also, please know that we really do appreciate any feedback that you can offer!

• On a side note......Does anyone keep up with America's Next Top Model? Well, I try to but don't get much time....and don't ask me what would possess me to watch such a show because I have no clue! Anyway my point is last night was the season finale and "Bless it Lord, the winner is a plus - size model! I think it's about time us "not-skinny" girls get some recognition!

Grade Report!

I got my grade report today.........

I cried!.......LOL

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Some new pictures....some old pictures! Are you ready for this?








Silly and serious!














We need to have a name that hair-do contest on some of these!































How many dorks can I fit into one picture? Only two here!

We love you Mom!

Raku Anyone?

Yeah, I know it sounds like some kind of sauce........but it's not! It's a fun, kinda scary but REALLY cool way to fire pottery! It's awesome and we love it! Read on to learn more!

Let's start from the top...well technically the raw clay would be the top so let's start somewhere in the middle, okay? This is a vase I threw a while back and it had yet to be bisque fired (first firing) until last week. It's Little Loafer's clay and a few stripes....simple, plain, no frills......well I have plans for this puppy!

We found out that our former instructor, John King was having a Raku firing as a part of the Rutherford County Art Hop Tour and it was open to everyone! YAH!!!!

Okay, back to my rambling....... below you'll find a picture of our kiln partially loaded.....it's sad to say this is all we had to fire at the time....but there's some really good stuff in there.....

So, we bisque fire this load and wait for it to cool...I didn't get any pictures of it after it was done but I didn't miss the best part of this journey.......

This is what we found at John's place.....alot of cars means alot of people! There were alot of people there to fire their pieces and some were there just to observe! Let's get to the good stuff shall we?

To the right is a picture of my plain and simple vase only it got uglier after I painted it with some raku glazes. I used a glaze called Red Glass and trimmed it with yellow! Cute huh? She's ready for the heat now.....oh yeah! Yep, there's nothing better then being slathered in nasty slim and thrown into a raging hot fire! Uh Huh, you heard me right, so let's get on with it!


I'm gonna throw in some extra pictures that aren't of my stuff because....because....well because they're cool! is that okay with you all.....Good.....on we go!




This is the raku kiln, it's very simple looking but man is it smoking hot! There are pieces of pottery inside that kiln and I'm glad I'm not them! The fire is fed by propane at the base of the bricks.....it's like a flame thrower and the men tend to love it!

That's my cousin Gerald back there in the green shirt and that's John King to the left. John's daughter, Kiowa built this kiln her senior year in college for a project, she is also a pottery instructor at the community college and they are both VERY talented potters!

On we go!

Wow, look at that! That's my piece with the stripes.....I'm getting ready to take it out! It's been in there for about 15 minutes and it is so extremely hot! You'll understand just how hot in a minute....those pieces are red for a reason! Let's see what happens next!





See, I moved my vase over to the "nest", which is shredded paper! And it immediately caught fire.....that's how hot it is!

The fire and oxygen is what helps the glaze make the awesome colors you'll see later!



It's flaming up real nice so it's time to cover it up!



It's covered up to put out the fire and allow it to cool slowly.....it's called reduction! I'm not sure about the chemical processes behind reduction but it works so that's all that matters right?

Okay so lets see the finished product and some other very interesting pieces that were fired today!

Awesome colors, right?

Okay let's see some more!

This is one of Gerald's many pieces....it turned out so well! The outside is beautiful but the inside turned the most awesome shade of aqua green!

Another one of Gerald's! This glaze is called Orange Peel! Very cool!

This is a piece that Gerald dipped in a white crackle glaze.....these are taken out of the kiln and set to the side. You have to blow on it until you hear it start to make little chinky noises then it is placed in the nest and covered! Those black lines are the crackle effect!
This is Mom's plate! it's in Red Glass also.....kinda neat huh? I see a fish, do you?
This belongs to a nice lady named Peggy! She used several different glazes on this one? Isn't it beautiful? Can you see the greenish colored lady bug on the bottom left? And it really is there, it's not just me!
This is my Aunt Diane's fish....I think it turned out fabulous! All those nice colors!

And last but not least, this Gerald's pitcher....he glazed in Alligator! It had alot of purples in it!


Note: Some of these pieces come out looking kinda dull but that's only because of the sooty residue that is left behind. Usually a good dip in some water gives them a nice shiny luster!