Cannabis Menorah WIP

Finished version of Cannabis Menorah 1

Once there was a young couple in the early 1970s.  They identified with the "counterculture" to some extent although they weren't young enough to really be a part of it.  They did like the pungent herb, though, and found that growing it in the Philadelphia suburbs was a great, economical way to produce a personal supply and a little extra to sell to friends.  These profits were used for such worthy expenses as sending their first child to nursery school.  One of their friends later became a lawyer.  Although the couple no longer regularly smoked, they were still known to partake when socializing with this lawyer.  This menorah is dedicated to that lawyer.

Giraffe-Hydra-Tree

This is a monstrous tree with three giraffe heads.  This is an example of what happens when I don't plan out what I'm going to make before I sit down to make it.

Sinistar Object 1

Sinistar was a classic arcade game from the 80s.  It was set in space and the player's task was to mine crystals from asteroids to build bombs while enemy ships were also mining crystals to build a gigantic animalistic skull creature which would first taunt you and then devour you.  I only played it a few times.  I found it too difficult to be enjoyable and then there was the matter of the Sinistar itself bellowing taunts like "I hunger, coward!"

I made two Sinistar objects.  I glazed this one and I'm not entirely satisfied with how it came out.  I'm going to paint the next one with acrylics.

The Sinistar in action:

Eye Cup 10

This is Eye Cup #10.  I forgot to glaze the whites of one of the small eyes.

Nativity Scene

My father was visiting a few weeks ago and he wanted to make a Nativity scene.  Just to put this in context, my father is an atheist Jew.  We used to have a family tradition of going out to eat on Christmas Eve with my aunt and uncle.  My aunt, who is an ex-Catholic atheist, has an elaborate wooden Nativity scene.  It even has a snake among the animals.  We would go back to their house after dinner and somehow we started making a game of stealing the Baby Jesus and replacing it with something ridiculous.  One year we made figures out wooden craft sticks (tongue depressors) with food attached to them with a glue gun, such as broccoli for hair.  The tradition has continued and my father wanted to make figures out of clay to add to the collection of weird Nativity items.

My father made all of these except for the angel and the pig.  Those are mine.  I also painted them. 

Eye Cup 6

This is #6 in my series of slab-built coffee cups with patterns of molded eyes and mouths.

Phantom Giraffe

This is an undead giraffe, perhaps a giraffe lich, wearing a giraffe-skin robe.

Pikaia 8 and 9

Pikaia 8 has the "floating blue" glaze.  It's usually a deeper blue when applied heavily and brownish with blue highlights when applied lightly.  I dipped it in the glaze (as opposed to painting it on like I usually do), so I'm surprised that it isn't a deeper blue.

Pikaia 9 has the reddish "plum" glaze.

Burrobrush Menorah

This is the last of this series of menorahs, Menorah 28, the Burrobrush Menorah.  Singlewhorl Burrobrush, Ambrosia monogyra, is a shrub native to the southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico.  It smells like dill when it's dry.

Singlewhorl Burrobrush:

Desert Broom Menorah

This is Menorah 27, the Desert Broom Menorah.  Desert Broom, Baccharis sarothroides, is a common shrub of Sonoran Desert.

Desert Broom:

Tardigrade 5

Purple Sage Menorah

This is a slab menorah with a pattern made with branches of Purple Sage (a.k.a. Texas Sage), Leucophyllum frutescens.

 

Purple Sage 

Rosemary Menorah

This is a slab menorah with a pattern made by pressing rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis, into the clay

The glaze is glossy emerald green which reflects light very effectively.  I found it difficult to photograph.

Red Spiral Menorah

I'm having a lot of difficulty taking pictures of these menorahs without a lot of glare.  This is Menorah #24, the Red Spiral Menorah.  The design on the front is made from a doily and isn't really a spiral.

Eye Cup #8

This is Eye Cup #8, one of the even-numbered eye cups from this batch that didn't die in the kiln.

Have at it, Russian blogspam sites.  It's all about you.

Fire Elemental Object

I went through a box labeled "Flat Clay Objects" and among the many flat clay objects, I found this thing from 2010.  The demonic creature in the middle is from a Dungeons & Dragons fire elemental toy.  The heads are transformations of molds of doll heads.

Desert Broom and Rosemary Molds

I've been working on menorahs made with impressions of plants.  These are molds from impressions of desert broom and rosemary.

Cluster of 7 Eyes

Mouth Molds Part 4

Green Teeth