Jay Jasper's Blog, page 64

Memeshot Monday

Came across this stump in
our magical forest! and It was just asking to be
turned into a meme! So here are a few!
Here is a blank one!

What Does your meme say?

Our usual monday 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.

This Week At The Studio In Photos

Tomatoes ripening in the greenhouse Flowers at night Plums are almost ready! “The Empress” ruled our week
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Soaking up the warmth of summer (while she still can)That’s been the week here.

How’s your week been?

Gone To Hell! (& Back)

Forged in fire,

Draupnir was one of three gifts which also included the Mjollnir and the Gullinbursti. They were created by dwarves, Brokkr and Sindri, as part of a wager with Loki. Loki made a bet that they could not make better gifts than the Sons of Ivaldi.

Draupnir
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Loki must have lost his head, betting against the brothers. He was very wrong, and this was no small wager.

The dwarven brothers may have won the contest because of the Mjollnir (Thor’s Hammer), but the Draupnir was literally worth it’s weight in gold – actually eight times it’s weight in gold!

It was time for Loki to pay up and he had wagered his head. But as usual Loki had a trick up his sleeve. He argued that in order for the brothers to take his head they would need to injure his neck and that wasn’t part of the bargain.

The dwarves discussed, and settled for sewing his lips together with wire.

Perhaps just to shut him up.‘Draupnir’, old Norse for The Dripper, was no slouch of a gift.

It was a golden arm ring with a special ability: every nine days it would drip out eight new arm rings of the same weight and quality of gold!

Move over Michael Bloomberg, that’s quite a return on investment!

This arm ring would become a prized possession of Odin’s, but in the ultimate act of a father’s love Odin placed it on the funeral pyre of his son Baldr.

But the rings story does not end here.

In the land of death, Baldr would give the ring to the messenger god Hermodr, who would ultimately return it to Odin.

A circular journey to Hell and back rings true for ‘Draupnir‘ – but if you buy this vase, please don’t return it to me.

It’ll be yours. I insist.

If you liked this story, you can find many others like it in our first book
“A Potter’s Dream: Myths & Legends”.

Win a gift basket of pottery here!

Owl Show You Red

“If I could tell you about red
i would sing to you of fire A Raku Pottery Firingsweet like cherries burning like cinnamon Red Green Owl – $75
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smelling like a rose in the sun.“ ~ Dixie Dawn Miller Goode

Click here to see more owls or
here if youd like to get a vase of your own for free!

What colours really stand out for you?

Have a great Saturday!

“All My Jewelry Has Stories” – Eva Green

Happy Friday!

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 StudioIntergalactic Yoda Pendant – $28
Yin Yang Pendant – $28
Medicine Wheel Necklace – $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
newly updated 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.

we hope your week has been kind to you and that you’ve been kind to yourself.

God’s Mountains of Vengeance

Think you have the weight of the world on your shoulders?

What happens when Gods war?

‘The Pillar of Atlas‘ is named after a legendary rebel who chose the wrong side in a war among Gods, an unusually cruel punishment, and a final look that would stop anyone in their tracks.

The Pillar of Atlas
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Atlas, a famous Titan, unfortunately decided to participate in their rebellion against Zeus and the other gods of ancient Greece. This was their attempt to regain power, for the Titans were the original gods of the upper world.

The quest to regain their former glory must have been irresistible.

The possibility and lure of power called out to the Titans. Most of all to Atlas, for he would eventually become leader of the rebellion.

Sadly, he was no match for Zeus. He and his Titan rebellion were defeated.

You can see more more pictures of the ‘The Pillar of Atlas’ here.

Zeus was often clever and quite diabolical when handing out punishment.

As leader of the rebellion, Atlas would receive a particularly harsh sentence – to hold up the sky! Some say the sky was placed directly on his shoulders, but in other accounts it was placed on two pillars he would hold in his hands.

But the story would not end here. Few people knew the location of Atlas, but a certain demigod (who happened to be a son of Zeus) had passed by Atlas. Perseus would eventually use the head of Medusa to turn Atlas into stone. Some say it was because Atlas refused to grant him hospitality, which would have been difficult because his hands were full.

Others say it was an act of mercy to alleviate the suffering of Atlas and end his cruel punishment. The Atlas Mountains are all that remains of this once proud rebel.

The Pillar of Atlas vase is featured in our first book
which you can learn more about here

What did you think of this story and vase?

Enter to win our growing Pottery Gift Basket!

On The Wheel Wednesday

A candle loses nothing by lighting Another Candle.this candle holder could also be pretty cool as a plant stand!

What do you think?win your own raku vase (and more!)

– click here to find out how –

Life Is The Pits: Revisiting My First Pit Firing!

Let’s take a deeper look at the process of pit firing in preparation for A new pit firing in the works!

More on the 2021 firing coming soon!What is a pit firing?

It is a pottery firing technique that I have been keen to try for some time. And I will be far from the first to do so. You see this is the oldest known method of firing pottery known to man. Pit fired pieces that have been found have been dated back to 29,000 to 25,000 BCE.

In order to prepare for my pit firing, there was the usual throwing of pots! This is the group I have chosen for the pit firing below:

Pottery pieces for pit firing

Another enjoyable step in this process was a mystical walk on the beach to gather combustible materials for my pit firing here:

Apparently anything saturated in salt has the potential for interesting effects. Thank you beach!

A more physically exerting step in the process was to dig this pit. This hole is about 2 feet deep.

Pit firing hole

After waiting two days for rain to pass, finally today, I was able to get my pottery and pit ready for firing. I had a small amount of copper wire hanging around, so I added that to two of the pots, and as you will see from the following pictures I also added some oxides. Aren’t the colours pretty? They kind of remind me of some of the colours in the Hindu festival Holi.

Pots in pit for firing.

As you can see, I had a pretty roaring fire going. I just hope it got hot enough to create some interesting effects with what I added into my pit.

Pit firing on the go!

I slowly waited for the fire fuel to reach an ashen stage so that I could cover the pit.

Today I walk in the steps of the first potters and experience some of the magic of an ancient technique.

What happened next???

You can see pieces from previous pit firings here and

stay tuned for new work to come!

Mugshot Monday

From a New mug series! “You philosophers are lucky men.
You write on paper and paper is patient. Unfortunate Empress that I am,
I write on the susceptible skins
of living beings. The Empress Mug – $48
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~ Catherine The Great

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.

This Week At The Studio In Photos

The Alchemist’s Studio in a sunbeam The view from Ottawa House beach A lifeguard flag’s last weekend of summer “The Sun” came out for a look from behind a cloud
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Ripening grapes look like they are from another planet Forest floor fungus from our planetThat’s been the week here.

How’s your week been?