Jay Jasper's Blog, page 15

Chooseday

“May your choices reflect your hopes not your fears.” Every day is choose day – Nelson Mandela

The Making of the Minotaur

The second raku vessel in our series ‘Primythical‘ is practically guaranteed to ‘a-maze’, since it depicts the story of the Minotaur and his labyrinth. The Minotaur was part man and part bull, an ominous figure who survived on the flesh of humans.

To create the body of this piece

I slumped some clay to make the outer shell of the vessel. There is an inner plate in the middle of this piece, so that the back can function as a closed vessel, and the maze can have an inner chamber.

The power of intention! The bottom of one of the staircases to the inner chamber before it is attached. Are you brave enough to descend down the stairs to the inner lair of the Minotaur? The shell of the main body of the vessel complete with rough lines for maze.What labyrinth would be complete without it’s monster?

Holy cow, we couldn’t forget that!
And some wheel work for the base and the neck!

Next comes the scary part of constructing any of these pieces: attachment. It’s something we all struggle with.

Fortunately, I was able to keep and get all of these separate components to a similar moisture level. Even with my twist in placement, this piece was relatively stable.

A little diagonal twist surprised even me. But the clay often whispers it’s wishes. The Minotaur looks down on his new home and beckons me to refine and clean up this piece, for this will be his new and final home!

The finished piece ‘Minotaur’s Maze’ can be seen here!

Or you can subscribe to our newsletter here to ensure you do not miss any of our ‘Primythical‘ reveals! In case you missed the reveal of our first piece in this series – ‘Athena – Wisdom‘, you can see it here!

What do you think of the
making of the Minotaur?

Let us know in the comments below:

This Week At The Studio In Photos

It has been A very special week!

Scroll to the end to see why! A Maple Forest in Green A Nova Scotia Fishing Village Roses are in full bloom! A bearded iris from the gardenAnd lastly,

The Minotaur’s Maze

The Second in the Primythical Series! The Minotaur’s Maze – The first in the brand new Primythical series!

See more about it’s creation hereAnd That’s been the week here.

How has your week been?

Tired Of All The Bull? This Will A-Maze You

Today we tell the story

Of the half man and half beast – The Minotaur – and we also reveal the second vessel/vase in our series Primythical – ‘The Minotaur’s Maze’. You can learn more about how this piece was made here. Get ready for this story of greed, love, a monster, death and a princely hero.

King Minos of Crete sought the favour …

of the god Poseidon as he was often in competition with his brothers and he wanted to keep his throne. He asked Poseidon to send him a white bull as a sign of favour. He was supposed to sacrifice this bull to Poseidon, but instead kept the bull because it was such a beautiful creature.

Poseidon, unimpressed, had Minos’ wife Pasiphae fall in love with the bull. In order for her to get to the bull, she had Daedalus the craftsman create a hallow wooden cow so that she could hide inside and mate with the bull.

The Minotaur watches patiently as you read this post.Nine months later

A child was born, and as Pasiphae nursed him he grew into a ferocious beast, who craved the flesh of people. This obviously became a big problem for Minos, and after consulting the Oracle of Delphi he had Daedalus construct a labyrinth to hold the creature. Daedalus would suffer greatly for this choice.

Crete and Athens were often at war and in order for Athens to keep the piece, they entered into a diabolical agreement were they were required to send seven Athenian youths and maidens for a one way trip to the labyrinth – also known as the Minotaur’s dining room.

After a few occurrences of this vicious practise

Theseus, a prince of Athens, volunteered to slay the Minotaur by being one of the youth sent to Crete. Before entering the labyrinth, Minos’ daughter Ariande fell in love with Theseus and gave him a ball of string that allowed him to navigate the maze, which in turn allowed him to slay the Minotaur and free the Athenian youth.

Life can often feel like a maze. Sometimes we may feel like we are hanging on by a thread, but as Theseus demonstrates, a thread may be all you need to find your way out.

In comments earlier this week,

I asked people to guess what myth might be next in the ‘Primythical‘ series and give some ‘amazing’ hints. My favourite comment came from William Mangieri who guessed correctly, adding in the thoroughly modern take of it being ‘Merrill Lynch mulling over a new office floor plan‘.

You can learn more about this author and see his work here.

You can also see the first vase in the Primythical series here.

What do you think of this weeks raku creation and the story of the Minotaur? Let us know in the comments below!

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 yard! So I wanted to share some of them with, you, my readers!

These bearded irises are on their way out! These allium flowers, so intricate and beautiful! These hollyhocks are a relatively new and showy edition to the garden! Our new orange roses are taking root! A single day lily and lupin, grace this vase, which you can read more about here! A wild pink rose and bearded iris, grace this first vase in the series ‘Primythical‘ –
‘Athena – Wisdom‘.What’s blooming near you?

And which of these flowers are your favourite?

The Making of the Minotaur

The next raku vessel in our series ‘Primythical‘ is practically guaranteed to ‘a-maze’, since it depicts the story of the Minotaur and his labyrinth. The Minotaur was part man and part bull, an ominous figure who survived on the flesh of humans.

To create the body of this piece

I slumped some clay to make the outer shell of the vessel. There is an inner plate in the middle of this piece, so that the back can function as a closed vessel, and the maze can have an inner chamber.

The power of intention! The bottom of one of the staircases to the inner chamber before it is attached. Are you brave enough to descend down the stairs to the inner lair of the Minotaur? The shell of the main body of the vessel complete with rough lines for maze.What labyrinth would be complete without it’s monster?

Holy cow, we couldn’t forget that!
And some wheel work for the base and the neck!

Next comes the scary part of constructing any of these pieces: attachment. It’s something we all struggle with.

Fortunately, I was able to keep and get all of these separate components to a similar moisture level. Even with my twist in placement, this piece was relatively stable.

A little diagonal twist surprised even me. But the clay often whispers it’s wishes. The Minotaur looks down on his new home and beckons me to refine and clean up this piece, for this will be his new and final home!

The finished piece ‘Minotaur’s Labyrinth’ will be revealed this coming Saturday!

Be sure to check back then!

Or you can subscribe to our newsletter here to ensure you do not miss any of our ‘Primythical‘ reveals! In case you missed the reveal of our first piece in this series – ‘Athena – Wisdom‘, you can see it here!

What do you think of the
making of the Minotaur?

Let us know in the comments below:

“All My Jewelry Has Stories” – Eva Green

Happy Wednesday!

Did you know that we make jewelry?

(and a lot of other stuff too actually! click here to see)

Yep! Each piece is individually made by hand here at The Alchemist’s Studio and
has its own unique story!Intergalactic Yoda Pendant – $28
Chromium Parenthood Pendant– $28
Vase of Attraction Buddha – $28 They make great gifts
and
shipping is included in the US and Canada!Raku Copper Blue Buddha – $25
What kind of jewelry do you like?

Much more is available over on our
jewelry page!

If you have questions about a particular piece of jewelry – or any of the work we do – please be sure to get in touch.

I hope your week so far has been kind to you and that you’ve been kind to yourself.

Finding Elysium

“Every leaf that grows will tell you:
what you sow will bear fruit,
so if you have any sense my friend,
don’t plant anything but Love.”
— Rumi

‘Elysium‘, tells the tale of the magical realm of the underworld, a place filled with beauty, it’s Queen, a mother’s love, and an abduction that literally took our heroine to hell and back. Over and over again!

And you better think twice before eating those pomegranate seeds! Elysium – $128
Shipping Included In US and Canada

Persephone was once a carefree goddess of spring bounty. That is, until one day, Hades, god of the underworld decided he needed a new bride, so he kidnapped her as she frolicked with some nymphs in a meadow.

No one was truly happy about this turn of events, not even Hades.

Though the mythology is not clear, it is suspected that Persephone was not a big fan of the underworld. And it wasn’t just that she was kidnapped. As the goddess of spring’s bounty, an endless parade of the dead souls left her uninspired.

And Persephone wasn’t the only one who was unhappy with these turn of events. Her mother Demeter, searched the corners of the Earth for her, but it was a fruitless endeavour. One day she discovered her own husband Zeus had been complicit with Hades in her daughters abduction.

She was furious.

Which may not have mattered, except for the fact that Demeter was pretty much responsible for all the food that people ate, being the goddess of fertility, agriculture and the harvest. So Demeter gave Zeus an ultimatum: “Bring back my daughter – or no grain or fruit for you. Or anyone else.”

Meanwhile in the underworld …

Persephone was unhappy that she was kidnapped by her uncle Hades and forced to be his bride. She was missing her old life, and though the mythology is not clear, I like to think that she pressured Hades into creating Elysium in the underworld – which has been described as a beautiful meadow (after all, it was going to take more than a bouquet to fix such an unhappy start).

Why not a field of them you may ask? Either way – Hades, you’re still a jerk.

With people starving, Zeus had no choice but to give into Demeter’s demands. But Persephone had already eaten the pomegranate – the fruit of the underworld! Still think those seeds are worth it?

And so it was

That each spring Persephone would return to the land of the living, bringing with her the flowering of plants and foods for the year. Then when she would return each winter to the underworld, these plants would die back, bring autumn.

What do you think of today’s story and how do you like Elysium?

What plants are blooming around your part of the world?

Let us know in the comments!

Maker Monday – Can You Guess What’s Next?

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

In case you missed it, we recently did the final reveal of our first piece,
Athena – Wisdom,
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!

Dang WordPress!

We were having some issues with WordPress yesterday when sharing about new work – the first in the Primythical series – and so wanted to share it again, as we knew from comments people were curious to see the start of the series!

Sooooo Here’s a preview! If you like what you see
and want to see the new work in full And learn about all the details

Please head over to
this post
and share what you think of the new work in the comments over there.