Jay Jasper's Blog, page 28

This Week At The Studio In Photos

As the snow melts and spring rains arrive, new colours come back Moss on a rock Lots of snow still in forest pockets Flower bulbs coming alive One Big Tree

@thealchemistsstudio #question from @thealchemistsstudio Here is one of mine: The Perihelion Vase #mentalhealth #duet #stitch #artistsoftiktok ♬ Pocketful of Sunshine – Natasha Bedingfield

And That’s been the week here.

How has your week been?

Put on Some Unwanted Pandemic Pounds? This Could Help

Princess Admete wanted it, Hercules laboured for it, and Hippolyta almost never took it off.

This vase tells the tale of an ill thought out gift, Hercules charms, early woman’s liberation, and a wedding.

The cause of all of this?

Hippolyta’s Girdle – $140
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A magic girdle.

Most people would not even consider a girdle as a gift for their daughter, particularly if you are the father. At best, it’s creepy and a little insulting, at worst it’s a great way to let your patriarchy flag fly. I think Hippolyta’s father Ares could have benefited from the help of a personal shopper.

Ares gifted his daughter this ‘magic girdle’ as a symbol of her ‘dignity’, which is really ancientspeak for virginity. Not cool dad!

Perhaps Ares could have appreciated some Spanx!

‘Phew, now I don’t have to suck in my stomach’

Needless to say for someone’s whose name means ‘let loose,’ a girdle was not a great fit. I am sure she was waiting for just the right bra burning-esque moment to liberate herself.

Raku Vase – Hippolyta’s Girdle

That moment would come when news of a visitor started spreading around the Amazon kingdom. He was handsome, he was a hero, he was Hercules, heartthrob of the ancient world. It wasn’t too often that such an eligible bachelor was so close.

So Hippolyta decided to visit Hercules on his boat.

She was so impressed by him that she gave him her ‘magic girdle’. It just so happened that retrieving it was his ninth labour. This was very convenient for Hippolyta, because she finally got to take off that allegedly magical, constricting girdle.

This is where the real magic began.

Hercules, in a good mood because he thought his David Lee Roth like charm won the day, introduced her to his friend Theseus. The two fell in love and would be later married.

Maybe that’s the magic of the girdle.

The only way to find true love
in yourself and others
is to take the thing off

If you want to.

What do you think of this story and vase?

Plant A Flower Today For All Of Our Tomorrows

The wind is picking up and heavy rains are on the way.

The ground is slowly thawing and spring is coming!

And on top of all that,

Today is National Plant A Flower Day! Busy at work

And while it may be not the greatest day to plant
a flower due to the wind and still frozenish ground,

The perennials are well on their way to getting things started!

As the saying goes:

“All the flowers Floral Owl
$75
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of the tomorrows are in the seeds of today.”– Indian Proverbare the flowers coming out where you are?

Have you been able to plant
some new ones this year?

An Arboreal Address

“Whoever has learned how to listen to
trees no longer wants to be a tree.

He wants to be nothing except what he is.

That is home. That is happiness.”

– Herman HesseTrees have always meant
a great deal to me.From visiting them in winter Taken yesterdayto marvelling their colours in the fall, celebrating them in clay Click to see more trees like this in other coloursto honouring them in glass, ‘Tree of Life’ – Beach Glass WindowTrees are home. I sometimes even wonder if as a species we would best thrive in forests
and among trees

What do you think? The Tree of Life – Raku Pottery SculptureWhat do trees mean to you in your life?

“Death ends a life, not a relationship” – Jack Lemmon

Near the end of last year my friend had some sad news.

Their 18 year old house cat had headed out on the rainbow road and her essence left this earth.

From my own past experience, I know that when one loses a pet it is like losing a family member. The loss of a pet leaves a hole in one’s heart and sadness in the soul.

My friend inquired if I had any urns that would be appropriate for pets as they wanted to purchase one. I had only made one urn before, but I volunteered to make them one. Looking past their grief, they suggested that I should be making them for others who have lost a pet as well.

So while I was making an urn for their beloved kitty, I made a few more to add to the site:

I hope to provide people with a beautiful, one of a kind, and affordable alternative in their time of grief to the commercial urns that are on the market. A cherished piece of beauty, much like the beloved they’ve lost. Please reach out if you’d like to know more.

The experience of making urns is surprisingly beautiful, and of course a little sad but I appreciate that I am able to bring a little bit of light to people in their time of loss.

Thank you for reading this post, and for all those who have lost a pet

may you find healing and peace.

What We Do

New Follower?

We are very excited to share a video with you that we’ve created as a short promotional piece to highlight our process and work! This video is also on the front page of our website, but often blog readers may only see the blog entries, so we thought we would share it here as well.

If you have a spare minute and change, you can see the video below, we also invite you to check us out on youtube and subscribe to our channel!

Not a New Follower?

We think you’ll like this too if you haven’t seen it.

Or if you have.

We just hope you like it!

We would love to hear your impressions and thoughts on this video!

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by signing up for our newsletter.

This Is What It Sounds Like When Uranus Cries

We previously told the story

Of the raku pottery vase – ‘Gaia’s Revenge‘ – and a time before the gods, when Gaia had to teach her husband a lesson, which you can read here. But every story has two sides. And today, we hear from the guy god behind the Gaia,

Uranus.

Tears of Uranus tells the tale of young love, fertility rites gone wrong, a celestial nursery built on chaos, an old God who gave it all up for revenge and proof positive that the first cut was indeed the deepest.

Uranus used to love
the feel of Gaia’s cool porcelain

-like skin when she’d whisper softly in his ear. It’d always kind of given him a little jolt, and if truth be told he rather liked it. But it was always the same thing. Ace of Base said it better than Uranus could in their sophomoric social commentary doubling as a song. The kind of catchy tune radio stations would over play much to the frustration of all.

Uranus had actually remembered their early courtship with much fondness. In the early days when they were busy creating The Titans together, he looked forward to her nightly visits. As many a new father, he was reluctant. His duties of father of the sky and heavens kept him rather distant which also complicated matters. But those Titans were healthy looking children and he did not mind so much looking after them.

But things were about to get changed like a roll of toilet paper Tears Of Uranus
$ 188
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Uranus was literally the sky and heavens and was responsible for regulating all the cosmos.

Though Chaos was hiding in that too. When Gaia had arrived for her nightly visit, she was interrupting a beautiful meteor shower he was putting on. She still excited him, but it was time. He had to tell her tonight that he had enough with their twelve Titan children. Could they put a hold on making more little Titans? Could he just focus on his career for awhile?

Gaia was able to decidedly answer him yes! She explained that chaos told her it was bad luck to have thirteen of something. Uranus felt good to know he would have no more children. He was understandably tired after his twelfth, and he also knew there was no way he could resist Gaia. Relationship counselling averted. Which was good, because the only other being they had to go to for help was Chaos, and that would not have ended well.

But you see Gaia had a little secret. She liked to create, and my she was prolific. While it was true that they would have no more Titan children, she was bored of those kind anyways, what she failed to mention was they may have other types of offspring. The kind of offspring that had one hundred arms and fifty heads. And if that were not enough,there were not one but three of them. Then came the Cyclops!

It was nice his offspring had cool names . .

but the practicality of childcare and all the irregular requirements of their household soon overwhelmed Uranus. He tried to talk to Gaia about all the gloves and hats needed for their children, and one of the Cyclops needed glasses. Can a Cyclops wear a monocle?

Unfortunately Gaia was less than responsive to his pleas.

She was out busy creating new accessories for herself, like oceans, and trees and such things. Maybe she was a little caught up with her latest creation at the time, mushrooms, but you didn’t hear that from me.

Uranus had enough.

He decided to return all of the children to Gaia. His sky palace just wasn’t big enough, and between changing cosmic diapers and meeting the special needs of his children, he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He had grown to dislike his own children so he sent them back to where they came from – Gaia!

A bunch of giants and cyclops wandering around in what some called Tartarus, but Gaia considered her womb, was painful. She no longer had the time to create and she became angry with her husband. She figured he was just being insecure and felt his power was being threatened. He felt he had no power, that he was a mere shadow of his self, and he was intractable about removing the children from Gaia again, because it meant he would have to care for all of these children, for what might be an eternity. No thanks.

Gaia wasn’t going to tolerate the situation for long. She fashioned a sickle and bribed their son Cronus with Uranus’ power to castrate him. With a slice of the sickle Uranus’ testicles and blood hit the Earth many more children would emerge from his final fertile act. Was their no mercy for poor Uranus?

Indeed not. For it is then that Gaia started her smear campaign against Uranus making him the butt of all jokes. She may have been stuck with all the children, but in the end he got stuck with the crappy end of things.

And for clarity sake, this vase’s name Tears of Uranus
refers to the salty water that comes out of one’s eye.

Not something else.

À La Mode (But Not Ice Cream)

are you interested in creative works in fabric or know someone that is?This shapely vase, titled ‘Make it Work’

is named in honour of Tim Gunn of Project Runway fame and his ever popular and perfectly timed catch phrase, and all those who mentor and support artists.

$88
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Thank you for many years of laughs and entertainment. Emerging artists need mentors like you, stylish experts like Heidi Klum, and critics who can tell you ‘no bueno’ when you are going in the wrong direction like Nina Garcia.

Made with love by The Alchemist’s Studio

On The Wheel Wednesday

From certain angles, it may look as if one has not done much at all But when considering the time and effort They have put in, it becomes clear that there has been growth because they learned how toStRETCH

“If you really want to eat, keep climbing. The fruits are on the top of the tree. Stretch your hands and keep stretching them. Success is on the top, keep going.”
― Israelmore Ayivor

Let’s grow for it!let’s celebrate our growth!

In What way have you
stretched and grown?

Vying (and Dying) for Love

From the Northwest of the United States this vase tells the tale of a love triangle of the gods and a fiery sibling rivalry that required some pretty extreme parental intervention.

Louwala- Clough – a raku pottery vase inspired by legend.

The indigenous people in the north west of the United States told early explorers a tale about a mountain called Louwala-Clough; you may know this mountain as Mount St. Helens.

According to legend, this mountain used to be a beautiful woman who was named Loowit. There were two braves, who happened to be brothers that were vying for her love. These were not just any two braves, for they were the sons of the Great Spirit, Sahale.

Unfortunately, Loowit spoiled by choice, could not decide which of these brothers to choose. This only intensified the rivalry between the two brothers Wyeast and Klickitat. They fought intensely, leaving a fiery trail of destruction around them, throwing rocks and liquid fire at one another, burning villages and forest alike.

Their father, the Great Spirit, Sahale grew weary of the destruction caused by his battling sons and the indecisive beauty Loowit. In a move that would be frowned upon by any of today’s authorities on parenting, but probably very much appreciated by the locals of the time, he decided to smite all three of them.

Louwala-Clough is featured in our first book A Potter’s Dream: Myths & Legends

In their place he erected three mountain peaks, Loowit was turned to a beautiful snow covered peak (Mount St. Helens), Wyeast (Mount Hood) with his head raised in pride, and Klickitat (Mount Adams) with his gaze fixed on Loowit for all of eternity – or until erosion ultimately gets the better of the three.

Now due to her indecisiveness Loowit gets to spend what will seem like an eternity with two rock solid men and is spared the anguish of choice.

You can see more images of the raku vase ‘Louwala-Clough’ here.