Happy New Year!

Best wishes for you, my dear blog friends! Let the sun shines in 2012!

Merry Christmas!

I wish you a heartwarming, cozy and loving Christmas Eve.

Unfinished

Many times I wish to leave my ceramics unfinished.
I like that raw state without colors and glazes.
Just clay,  its form and texture.....nothing else.

Love Message

The letter that surprised me in my mailbox
was not a love letter from a secret lover,
but the letter that brigtened up my day.
Dear blog friend Urška has set herself a task,
that with snail mail she'll bring some happiness
in to her friends lifes.

Look,  what I've got:

There was a card with lovely felted brooch in the envelope.
Thank you, dear Urška, I'll be proudly wearing it on my wintercoat.
It will bring some sunny colors in grey winter days.

November

November is the month that is not my preferred month.

Fogg, grey and short days bring melancholy in life.

I set myself in good mood with thoughts on December,

first snow and st. Nicholas gifts. We'll bake cookies again,

and grey days will be more pleasant.

What's new in Tika's workshop in November?

Many small gifts like these Mail holders are in progress.

I listed few in my Etsy shop. They are perfect for on your desk

with today's mail, photos, notes and to do lists.

Autumn

When I think of autumn, I think of sunny October day with
warm colours of leaves everywhere I look. Autumn means
abundance of  fruits, pumpkins and squashes which are
representing generosity of our mother Earth.

I like this quote:

        Your mind is a garden. Your thoughts are seeds.
              You can either grow flowers or weeds.

I have plenty of fruits on my garden, but plenty of weeds, too.
I should be more cautious....

Little cat in a new home

Stella from Greece sent me a note that she received my little cat.
You can read all about little package on her blog.

Stella, I'm glad, that you like my cat :) I keep my fingers crossed
for you, that some day you'll get the real one.

Mini virus

I caught mini virus at Maja's blog. Her work is astonishing.
You can't imagine how tiny her sweets are until you see a coin next to them.
Congratulations! Maja, your fingers are really skillful!

I don't have patience for that kind of work and clay isn't a medium which
allows such tiny work. But I caught a bit of that virus myself.

I made little dishes for all kinds of little things, or maybe just for
sitting on the shelf looking pretty.

New members of our family

My son adopted two little russian hamsters :)
They are such cute creatures, aren't they?

And little cat goes to...?

Thank you all for your nice comments :)
It was a pleasure to read them.
And the winner is Stella. Congratulations!
Stella please send me your address on my mail.

Little cat sculpture & giveaway

This summer was a cat summer for me, because I've made so many cats :)
They are made in actual size, but our dog doesn't chase them.

Today I prepared a tutorial for you:

You need: piece of clay or air drying clay like DAS clay,
potter's needle or toothstick, brush and slip.

Roll out cone-like shape.

Roll out another thiner coil and spheres like on picture.

Shape the biggest sphere into the cat's head.

Score and slip the head and the upper part of the body.

Score and slip the tail and attach it to the body.

Split one of little spheres. This will be cat's feet.
Score, slip and attach them to the body.

Other two little spheres flatten a bit and attach it on the face.

Make the eyes with the other side of  the paintbrush.

Make tiny eye-balls and  nose.

Attach them to the face.

Draw the mustache with a needle.

And our little cat is finished.
This is how it looks from the front side,

and the back side.

The hole in the bottom will prevent the cat from cracking
during drying process.

This is how it looks like after drying, bisque and glaze process.

I decided to give away this cat to one of my blog followers (old and new ones).
Leave a comment on this post and I will pick a random lucky winner next sathurday.

Japan six months after the earthquake

Photo: Makiko Hastings

Maki is a wonderful women. Why? Because she has a courage
and a strong will. I have already published a post about  her 1000 birds.
She's been back from Japan and you can read her first hand report
of the continuing effects Japan suffers from the earthquake and the tsunami.
She has seen many unsettled life and hardship in today's Japan and considering
their future, she is going to start a fundraising project in the near future.
All information about the HELP JAPAN PROJECT 2 will be published on her
blog. Please spread a word and support her as much as you can. Thank you!

Jezersko

We went on a trip after reading Skorcica's and Sovica Oka's posts.
Jezersko is place with special energy that filled me with peace and
confidence, that everything is in its place.

Handsome couple

I made this handsome couple few months ago and they were drying
on the shelf of my studio. Now was time to finish  them.
They will be looking for new owners here.

On the Soca river

That was fun adventure for the end of summer.
Soca is the most beautiful river and wild too.
We enjoyed our  rafting trip.

Beauties hidden in the shade of forest

Bird's bath

It's so hot this week and everybody is looking for something to cool down....
That's the bird's way: