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Monday 18 March 2013

Cat, little sweetie and another biscotti

Hello everyone. The weekend has passed so quickly. On Saturday, I didn't go to the workshop due to tight head, which has been troubling me for a week now. Instead I have made lots of test pieces over the weekend. The cat head is not attached to the pot below. The cat head looked very sad on the table, so I placed it on the pot.

My new cat head on top of memory pot. 
This is my test piece for smoke firing. First I made a just plain bean shaped test piece. But I couldn't help adding a face. Why not? Test pieces can be really sweet. I also made a tiny pet for him. They went to a large kiln this evening.    
Test piece for smoke firing

I woke up early this morning. At six! By seven thirty I had breakfast in the bed (thanks, Mike!). By eight, still in the bed, I finished reading business news. So I spent doing ceramics for the rest of the day. Throwing, shaping, and making until night.

Mike baked another batch of 600g almond biscotti yesterday. This time, it has no cinnamon.  Mike said American recipe has cinnamon, and also said that American people add cinnamon in coffee, too! Really? Do you, American people, add cinnamon in coffee? I have heard cinnamon tea, but not cinnamon coffee.

Mike's almond biscotti 600g
     

6 comments:

  1. Lovely clay idols I enjoy the expression on the cat face and the test piece is adorable! Oh and yummy almond Biscotti...Mmm

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    1. Hello Willow. Thank you! I made this cat in the memory of my second last cat. He had tragic end two decades ago. It was so painful that I kept the lid on, but now I am tracing back his life by making these ceramics. Please come to look at him when he is finished. : )

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  2. What a good way to remember a precious four leg friend. I look forward to seeing their continuing progress. Smoking should add some interesting effects.

    I think a lot of tea and coffee companies use cinnamon as a way to mask the poor quality of their product. Many people seem to want their beverage to taste like liquid candy. Proge uses whole bean coffee which he grinds and makes in a Chemex. I buy loose tea from a nearby tea company. Am I being a complete nerd to state that sugar does not belong in tea and coffee? I do admit to using milk in my morning tea.

    Thanks for stopping by my blog.....Aloysius thinks he is a fur neckpiece!

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    1. Hello Smartcat. Thank you! I see. So there is cinnamon coffee! No, you are not nerd alone! : D I have black coffee and straight tea accompanied with some sweets. There are lovely tea/coffee shops in England. We are also leaf/bean people. : ) But nobody has high quality green tea here. So I get them sent from Japan. It's my little indulgence. : )

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  3. Most folks I know do not add cinnamon to their coffee, although many places served flavored coffees. I use milk in my coffee and no sugar.

    Looking forward to seeing your smoke pieces, how do you do the smoking? I have done barrel firings before which gives a smokey appearance but not just a fire that give the smokey look to a piece. Curious what materials you use to burn.

    I remember all my cats that I've had through the years. My first cat was Varmint and he met an untimely death. The cats have a way of staying with us, nice to remember your pet from long ago.

    oh that biscotti looks wonderful.

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    1. Hello Linda. Sometimes the memory hurts so much that I put it in a box and lock it. But he came through the key hole!

      I'm going to use university's smoking kit, which is a metal rubbish bin with saw dust. I am going to experiment with masking tapes and slip. If it fails, I would burn the smoke off with another bisque firing and get them fired in electric kiln (plan B). : )

      So far, there appear to be no cinnamon coffee drinkers. ; )

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