Jay Jasper's Blog, page 14

When Something is Lost

In times of uncertainty,

When we seem to be going backwards, rather than forward, it almost seems logical to long for a paradise, a la Shang-ri-la. For it is human nature for some to long for better times that seem to exist only in the past.

One such place that has found it’s self lost in time and glorified by Plato, Disney and sci-fi, is Atlantis. One of the most ancient of stories lost in the mists of time.

Plato tells us “the island of Atlantis … disappeared into the sea”.

So who better to retrieve it then! It may be a lot for us to ask the dolphins to retrieve Atlantis, but they were able to find this artifact.

In case you have not yet guessed, ‘Atlantis’ is the third piece in our series of artifacts from our series ‘Primythical‘ which you can read more about here. Before our big reveal on Saturday, you can check out the images below about the making of this artifact in tribute to the mysterious and lost city!

To see the first two pieces, simply click on their names
– Athena – Wisdom
– The Minotaur’s Maze

Slumped halves are joined and drying. So happy the dolphins could carry the weight of this world on their backs! Rendering an ancient depiction of Atlantis.

As our sea levels rise in our ever changing world, Atlantis provides a cautionary tale about arrogance. Even greatness is not immune to the power of nature.

As for longing for a better world, it is easy to reach for the success of the past for it is known, if often embellished better in remembering. It is much more difficult and brave to dream and create something new and better.

Stay tuned on Saturday for our final reveal!

How can we make this world better than the one which we live in today?

And what do you think of my Atlantis artifact creation?

Inspiration

“We have a wonderful world to be inspired by and each new day is like
an adventure into the unknown, where things that require a second glance can be captured in time on a canvas
for anyone to enjoy forever.” Pink Raku Tree
$80 – Louise CorkeWhat is something that inspires you?

See more colours of trees here

Perfect

“If you look closely at a tree you’ll notice it’s knots and dead branches,

just like our bodies. What we learn is that beauty

and imperfection go together wonderfully. The Minotaur’s Maze, from the new Primythical series. – Matthew Fox

Click here to read more about Primythical

Maker Monday – Can You Guess What’s Next?

This ‘Maker Monday’ I will share with you a few process photos from our next piece in the ‘Primythical’ series.

In case you missed it, we recently did the final reveal of our second piece,
The Minotaur’s Maze,
which you can see here.

Can you guess what myth we will be focusing on for
this next piece in the series of ‘Primythical‘?

Let us know in the comments below! I hope your week is off to a great start!

This Week At The Studio In Photos

Welcome!

Here is what the world
looks like from here this week! A preview of new work in the Primythical series! A lily with roses Final rest for an old fishing boat Fungi doing their thing Looking out over the Bay of FundyAnd That’s been the world from here.

How has your week been?

What Do You Offer The Woman Who Has Everything, Including A Foot Fetish?

‘Njord’s Fjord‘ and tells the tale an intriguing and cautionary tale of murder, retribution, the follies of choosing a partner by their feet, two possible foot fetishists, and a complicated marriage where their souls just aren’t in it. Today’s story comes from Norse mythology.

Njord’s Fjord
$ 124
Shipping Included In US and Canada
Skadi was a giantess

And she was eagerly awaiting the return of her father Thiazi. After all he had only gone to retrieve the apples of immortality from the gods, who were no match for the prowess of giants.

How long could that actually take, really?

As time passed, she became more and more concerned that her father had not yet returned to their alpine mountain home, but soon that concern became rage as she became convinced that the gods must have somehow killed her father. She put on her powersuit of armor, and also grabbed her father’s sword, and stormed down her mountain to pay those gods a visit.

The guards of Asgard could see Skadi approaching

Because of the flaming sword she carried: the sword prophesized to help end the world. The gods quickly convened and decided it might be better to negotiate with Skadi.

But what largesse can you offer the giantess who has everything? She laughed at their offer of gold, as she had mountains full of gold. But something, or someone, rather caught her eye.

Baldur Dash

Skadi told the gods she’d be willing to forgo her need for revenge in exchange for a husband, and it was the god Baldur who had caught her eye.. Odin agreed to her request, but only under one condition – that she chose her husband by his feet. An odd request to say the least. But Skadi was not one to back down from a challenge.

Odin had noticed Skadi checking out Baldur, and he wanted to protect him from having to marry a giant. But how was Odin so familiar with the feet of these male gods to know how this might influence Skadi’s choice? Maybe Odin should look the gods in the eyes when he is talking to them instead of checking out their feet.

Skadi of course picked the god with the most beautiful feet, thinking they would belong to Baldur. But nay! She was quite disappointed to find out they belonged to Njord.

Njord was the god of the sea and lived in a shipyard, or as I like to call it – Njord’s Fjord.

This was to prove a constant source of tension between the couple as Skadi loved her mountain home and could not abide living by the sea, and Njord absolutely hated life on the mountain. They tried compromising by not staying ‘sole -ly’ in either of their respective locations, but this ‘flip flopping’ of locations only made them both miserable. All that walking was also probably pretty hard on the feet!

So what do you get when you cross a beautiful giantess and a sea man?

Apparently no children.

Skadi would have to wait to have children until after the relationship failed (which did not take long, much like most mass produced shoes today) and she gave Njord the boot.

What did you think of this vase story? And what do you think about ‘Njord’s Fjord’?

Please let us know in the comments below – and have an amazing day!

Thanks for checking out our pottery! You can see more raku vases here.

Flower Friday

It’s the summer season here on Canada’s east coast

And one of my favourite parts of this time of year are all the flowers around the studio! So I wanted to share some of them with, you, my readers!

Roses are popping! More roses Lilies are coming on now! Elderberry flowers Elderberry flowers up close A bearded iris and daylily grace The Minotaur’s Maze,
the second vase in the series ‘Primythical‘

What’s blooming near you?

And which of these flowers are your favourite?

Your Heart Knows The Way

“Your heart knows the way. Run in that direction.” A New Spark— Rumi The Minotaur’s Maze

The Series So Far

In April of 2022, I embarked on the a creative journey to pull back the veils of antiquity in search of the timeless. This collection of work will blend together different pottery techniques and processes, design elements from various time periods and cultures to create artifacts that are in that space beyond time.

It seems only fitting that the name of this collection should blend together my previous work around mythology and the idea of a timeless creative freedom embodied by the concept of primordial soup.

I call this grouping of work

Primythical

and I am proud to share the first two pieces in the series:

Athena – Wisdom
The Minotaur’s Maze.

I invite you to view the videos below
and share your comments on the work/series so far.

Athena – WisdomThe Minotaur’s MazeWhat do you think of the new work/series? If it resonates with you,

Please share in the comments

For other raku vases, please see here.

Stardust

‘Unknowingly, The Alchemist’s Studio Gardenwe plow the dust of stars, The stars here late at nightblown about us by the wind, and drink the universe in a glass of rain’ Cosmic Mug 3
$50
– Ihab Hassa

More mugs can be viewed here.

If you don’t see one for sale in the colour you like,
please contact us and we can work with you directly.