Jay Jasper's Blog, page 67

This Week At The Studio In Photos

Lovely fungi found in the forest.
Did you know fungi is the internet of the forest and our world?Threw a classic shape on the pottery wheel Getting some time to cool off The Tree of Life Pendant has gone to a new home! Checking out 300 million year old fossils at Joggins Fossil CliffsThat’s been the week here.

How’s your week been?

This Milk Is Sour!

Our Prologue

Today’s vase, ‘Argus‘ tells a story that could have been a script for the Real Housewives of Olympus! It tells the tale of betrayal, a jealous goddess, a many eyed monster, a beautiful reward and livestock. Okay, maybe livestock is not be a common feature on the ‘real’ housewives … YET!

Argus
$225
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A Humble Priestess

When your father is a cult leader and you’re a woman in the ancient world, your career paths are very limited. It seemed almost natural that Io would end up as a priestess in her father’s cult in Argos dedicated to Hera. She may have thought she was in the land of milk and honey, but all that would change when she was the one producing the milk.

A lustful God

When you’re an ancient god there’s so much to keep you busy. Watching down on everyone, maybe paying a little extra attention to the younger and prettier women, can sure get the hormones flowing. And Zeus wasn’t just any god. He was THE god. And when he saw young priestess named Io in a temple dedicated to his wife he knew he must have her.

You Know Your wife is My Boss, right?

We often think of workplace harassment as a fairly modern development, but Io would have valid reason to disagree. Io worked as a devoted priestess at Hera’s temple. Zeus was Hera’s husband. Do you see where this is going?

It must have been no easy task to say no to the head honcho god, but Io did. She refused him over and over again. Of course Zeus grew tired of this, so he convinced her father to throw her out through his Oracles.

Meanwhile, Back at Olympus

No one knows exactly how Hera found out that her husband was once again lusting and chasing after someone else. A mortal no less! I’d imagine she was sitting around with some of the other goddesses and one of them ‘let it slip’ that her husband was up to his old tricks.

Whichever goddess let the news slip, must have known that Hera could become viciously jealous. Hashtag #frenemies.

This ain’t the county fair!

Right then and there Hera would have summoned Zeus immediately. And knowing Zeus, he would take his time getting there, he must have had some idea what was in store. You know the other goddesses would wait, glued to their seats for the impending events about to unfold.

Straight away, Hera wasted no time once Zeus arrived. She demanded Io be brought before them. And once she was? Hera immediately turned her into a cow. Talk about Hera ‘milking’ the situation.

Rightfully concerned that her husband would not let this end here, she had her loyal servant Argus keep an eye or a hundred on the now bovine Io. Argus was literally a monster with 100 eyes, and the namesake of our vase.

If goddesses wore hair extensions, this is when Hera would flip her hair satisfyingly.

A womanizer gets a case of conscience

Hera was not wrong about Zeus not letting go of the mortal of his desire. Perhaps his role in the transformation of poor Io into a cow impacted his conscience. Or maybe it was he still hadn’t gotten the girl after all this trouble?

Zeus decided to send messenger god Hermes to kill Argus, which he did by enchanting him into a deep sleep by playing his flute and then smiting him.

But Hera knew! And prior to the smiting she had all of Argus’ eyes transferred to the tail of a peacock. She told all her friends it was to honour his loyalty and thank her friend.

Did I mention she had a chariot pulled by peacocks?

Up Close and Personal!

4 extreme raku closeups!1Which is2Your3Favourite?4

Win your very own raku vase (and more!) here or check out the whole collection here

You Think Your House Is In A Constant State Of Disorder? Try Being Them!

Today, we are unleashing Chaos!

No, I don’t mean your child’s untidy room

Or that time before your first cup of coffee. No, we are talking about the mythless god of the Greeks, the progenitor of all.

If you would like greater context of this vase in the Alchemist’s Studio universe, please check out raku vase, ‘Tears of Uranus’, which you can read here, and also the story for ‘Gaia’s Revenge‘. It’s no wonder those two come from Chaos!

Chaos – $ 90
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Descending in to Chaos!

‘Chaos‘, tells the tale the story of everything, but also nothing, of the void, and how everything sprung from it. And it may explain those days we all have when the unexpected keeps cropping up.

It’s not easy existing in a cosmic void, particularly if you feel like you are alone in the universe. Fortunately, for most of us, we will never know how that really feels. But for Chaos, it was the only thing they would know for some time.

Chaos existed for much time in a state of disorder, at least according to us humans. One day Chaos started feeling different than usual. They wondered if they had eaten too many sub atomic particles and space junk.

Chaos definitely began to feel more and more strange, until suddenly, a cosmic egg emerged from them. At first Chaos dismissed this occurrence as simply just more Chaos, but it was from this egg that all elements of our world would originate from.

Cosmic egg, it does the universe good.

You can read the vase story of another cosmic egg from another culture here – The Brahmanda!

That our Earth comes from Chaos

Might explain a lot of things from our history and that are even going on today. That science so many years later would describe the origin of the universe coming from a single point in a void, makes me wonder if the Greeks knew something we did not.

Can’t get enough chaos? Watch this!Thanks for reading/Watching and
have a great weekend!

PS. What do you think of our vase story and raku pottery vase, Chaos?

Get a raku vase of your own (and more!) at no cost here

A Piece At A Time: What Inspires You?

Excited to share that two pieces have sold in the last bit and so it is time to make some more new jewelry! “I Love Myself” Pendant – SOLDso Usually when I do that, I put head out to the studio, put on some music and have fun creating for a few hoursA song I might listen to while creating jewelryalways staying open to inspiration from wherever it may come

so in advance of that, I’d love to know Tree of Life Pendant – SOLDWhat inspires you?

What resonates with you in your creativity and your life? Yin Yang Necklace – $28
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hope you have an excellent Day and thanks in advance for sharing your inspirations!

For a deeper look at already finished jewelry pieces,
head on over to the Jewelry page.

She Had Flower Power And Knew How To Party!

Our raku pottery vase

Flora’s Hope, celebrates a very special Roman goddess.

Flora was not only the goddess of flowers and spring, but she was also the goddess of youth and her initiates really knew how to throw a great party.

Flora’s Hope
$120
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Speaking of great parties . . .

Mark your calendars because Flora’s festival Floralia was traditionally held between April 28th and May 3rd and typically included drinking, flower costumes, plays, mimes, and ended in a hunt and feast! Yum!

This festival celebrated the renewal of life – which is something we can celebrate in spring – or every morning!

What is something that you have done that you would like to celebrate today?

And what do you think of our raku pottery vase, ‘Flora’s Hope’? Let me know in the comments below!

Have a great Wednesday!

On The Wheel Wednesday

“In Life, As In Art, The beautiful moves in curves.” – Edward G.
Bulwer-Lytton

Interested in a raku vase but not sure where to start? Try this

Flying Free!

We are excited to share

That another owl has left the nest! Thank you to Stephen for his support in our Alchemist’s Studio adventure with this one-of-a-kind owl!

So what is it like having a raku owl living
at your house anyway? Well . . . it’s certainly easier than this!

“IN THE WILD, the father owl hunts relentlessly. He has to provide approximately six mice per baby per night. The usual brood is five babies. The father also has to feed his mate, who never leaves the nest and eats about three mice per day. And he must feed himself about four mice a day. This adds up to some thirty-seven full-grown mice every night during nesting season.”

― Stacey O’Brien, Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl

37 mice a night?!!?! Goodbye Deep Blue Owl! Please enjoy not eating mice!
(If you are curious about other colours, please get in touch )The Alchemist’s Studio is proud to guarantee that our Raku Owls do not require collecting of 37 mice a night during nesting season! and that is a promise
we can definitely keep.*PLEASE NOTE: If your owl does start requiring 37 nightly mice,
we think you may have a larger problem on your hands.Happy Tuesday!

See more owls here

Mugshot Monday

“When we help another, we are helped. If we harm another, we harm ourselves. Mug 17 $35

Shipping Included in US and CanadaPerhaps harder to grasp—if we harm ourselves, we harm the whole universe.” ~ Rachel Wooten, Tara

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.

Raku Pottery – Exploring Textures

Welcome!

I once completed a raku pottery firing where I was hoping for some results with interesting textures. The kiln gods did not disappoint and here are a few of the results!

If you are interested in learning more about the process involved in making raku pottery, you can read more about it here.

I altered a few of the variables in the raku firing process to get these textured surfaces, and I am pleased with the results.

One of my favourite pieces from the firing, both in terms of form and finish, is this piece:

The brave blue and all the crackly goodness on this vase make me a very happy potter! You can check out more of our raku vases here.

Which vase or finish was your favourite?