Jay Jasper's Blog, page 86

This Week At The Studio In Photos

Haskaps are first to really leaf up! Usually first to fruit too. When the berries come they taste almost like raspberries mixed with blueberries A wonderful tree revealed itself on a hike.
I love the trees that are not just straight up We celebrated Spring at a party with Flora!
$120
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Rhubarb (and weeds) getting a start to the year We say goodbye from Mount Olympus (which is off to Ben’s house! Thanks, Ben!)That’s been the week here.

How’s your week been? win your own raku vase (and a mug turtle and frog and more!)

– click here to find out how –

She Had Flower Power And Knew How To Party

Our raku pottery vase this week

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 Floralia is fast approaching. Flora’s festival was traditionally held between April 28th and May 3rd and typically included drinking, flower costumes, plays, mimes, and ended in a hunt and feast!

This festival celebrated the renewal of life, which is something I hope we will all be celebrating soon!

With this third wave of the pandemic, which has finally reached the shores of Atlantic Canada, we all need something to celebrate, and what better than this season of Spring and new life. I would also like to dedicate this vase to all of our youth, who are facing a tough burden with this pandemic putting parts of their life and milestones on hold.

What is something you are looking forward to celebrating when we can do so safely?

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

Have a great weekend all.

🤫 Our Annual Peep Show is Underway! 🤫

One of our favourite things about Spring is the annual concert of the spring peepers.

What is a spring peeper you might be wondering? Don’t worry, it’s not the neighbours looking through the pottery studio window when I am changing into my studio swag!

Peepers are small frogs that chirp in a chorus, announcing the arrival of Spring!

Relaxing to listen to any night!In our area they put on quite the concert

And are often a highlight of the spring season. Each spring peeper will lay up to 1,000 eggs and so we often see many of these frogs around our house and seeking out shade in the summer.

We want to share a small part of the peep show with you as part of our ‘Great Pottery Giveaway‘! Once we get 30 new subscribers, we will be adding this adorable little ceramic frog to our prize pack.

A little peeper!

All you need to do to be eligible to win the items in this giveaway is subscribe to our newsletter here. One of our lucky subscribers will win the entire gift package with the items shown below.

We will also be adding more items as the year progresses and our subscriber list grows!

– You can learn more about the ‘Great Pottery Giveaway’ here –

What is one of your favourite parts of Spring where you live?

Happy Earth Day To You!

The Vase of Dreams“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.” —Mahatma Gandhi, lawyer and ethicist The Vase of Dreamswin your own raku vase

– click here to find out how –

What Glaze Style Should Your Vase Be?

We will soon be closing the entries and moving to the voting for your Raku vase glaze style, but before we do, we want to make sure you have a few more chances to get your colour preferences in!

Please read on and add your choice in the comments below!We are excited to add this vase to theGrowing Pottery Gift BasketThat YOU could win! (And here’s how!)and We would like your input on what kind of glazing it should get.You can see this vase being made in this video.Which glaze style do you think would best suit this vase? Visit our raku vase page here and choose your favourite vase photo
(will open in a new window)then share the name of the vase with your favourite glaze as a comment belowWe will narrow it down and then have a vote to reach our winner! What glaze style should I be?Sign up for our newsletter to be added and become a possible winner!– click here to find out how –

🤜 Thursday Throwdown April 2021 🤛

Welcome to this Month’s Battle Of The Vases!

It’s vase-to-vase combat like you have never seen before!

How it works: We share two vases and YOU vote which is your favourite! The winner will then move on to the next round to face another competitor!

Last time, Father of the Sea and Madame Pele’s Flow battled to the death! Your vote has determined that

Our Fiery volcano has been snuffed out!Madame Pele’s Flow – $124
Shipping Included in Canada and US
The Series so far Gorgeous Vases of No Contact Wrestling Vase Name

Gossip Girl
Phoenix Reborn
Pillar of Atlas
Evangeline
Ogopogo
Iris En Ciel
Original Twin
Kermit The Vase
Haring’s Dance
White Walker
Sobek’s Tears
Mount Olympus
Argus
Draupnir
Grandmother
Old Soul
Make It Work
Hope Rising In Springtime
The Eye Of Horus
The Eye of Balor
Electra
Mother of Dragons
Father of the Sea
Madame Pele’s Flow

Wins/Losses

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0/1
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1/1
0/1
1/2
1/1
4/1
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0/1
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1/1
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1/1
4/1
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2/0
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With the Sea still winning, perhaps the fires and flowers (?!) of a trip to Hell can take over!Father of the Sea – $124
Shipping included in Canada and US

It’s not an easy childhood, when all the tongues in the known universe are wagging about who your father is. Fortunately for Oceanus, there were only a few beings at that time and some of them didn’t even have tongues.

Just imagine Chaos with a tongue!

However when your mother Gaia is making as many babies as possible, and your ‘father’ is an over worked single dad, something is likely to fall through the cracks.

And it may be you; and that crack may form a mighty river.

If all that was not confusing enough, there where whispers among Oceanus’ parents, that maybe – in one of her more ‘fertile’ moods – his mother Gaia visited her omnigender parent Chaos.

In spite of all this, Oceanus knew enough to keep these whisperings hush hush. He did not want to rock the boat. There was already enough actual Chaos in the family.

15 Æons later . . .

Oceanus often questioned his brother Cronus’ growing power. Rather than fight him, Cronus gave him dominion of the river at the end of the world.

Little did Cronus know that this would be the river from which all water would come. A fact which came in pretty handy when your name has Ocean right in it. He is not Riverus after all…

As you may remember from a previous story, Cronus would eventually depose his father Uranus, and take his throne. This would be short lived, for Uranus’ son would do the same. Then Cronus and his Titan siblings asked Uranus to participate in quashing the rebellion of young upstart Zeus.

Phew!

Fortunately, Oceanus and his wife Tethys were busy making babies too – in total about 3,000! Unlike his official father, Oceanus was a good dad. In the end this would save him! For all of his others siblings would lose the war against the new gods of Olympus and rather than fighting, Oceanus spent his time quietly making more babies, new rivers and their river gods, and of course the nymphs.

In the end it was the original river that Oceanus was cast down to that would act as a buffer against Tarturus (hell) where all of his Titan rebel siblings would be imprisoned.

Oceanus and Tethys were just glad they heeded the advice of legendary 1990’s Soothsayers TBoz, Left Eye and Chilli.

Not chasing waterfalls and Tethys saved Oceanus from hell! Elysium– $128
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‘

‘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!

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?

o it became 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.

Thankfully, it looks like Persephone has returned this year!
Who will be your victor? Be sure to get your vote by adding it in a comment BELOW! Their fate is now in your hands!We will share the winner (and update from last Time) next month

See even more raku vases.

win your own raku vase (and more!)

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On The Wheel Wednesday

Gardening Helps us to believe in life Do you enjoy growing plants? The main garden at The Alchemist’s Studio, July 2019win your own raku vase (and more!)

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You Don’t Know ‘Til You Try it!

The past year has been a strange one.

Lots of changes in the world and our daily lives.

Many of us have grown as a result of this, mentally and maybe around the middle too!

Trying new things, when it’s your choice, can be fun; and that’s exactly how I feel about playing around with my raku glazes. In this glaze I love the metallic sheen, the iridescent colours, and the fact that underneath it’s shiny casing, these pieces are all still clay. These are all the same glaze.

The Titans – $250
Shipping Included In US and Canada
$25
Double-Sided Chromium Yoda
Chromium Parenthood Pendant – $28
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Raku Chromium Sphere – $35
Shipping Included in US and Canada
Geometric Raku Chromium – $25
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Chromium Buddha – $28
Shipping Included in US and Canada
Chaos $ 90
Shipping Included In US and Canada
Chromium Yoda Pendant – $28
Shipping Included in US and Canada
What is something new that
you recently tried?

Mugshot Monday

“You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me.” – C. S. Lewis Mug 15 $35
Shipping Included in US and Canada

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

A growing variety of small plants coming to life at The Alchemist’s Studio We set up some new wallpaper The forest floor welcomes springWe celebrated World Art Day (closeup of Poseidon’s Adventure) The sun visiting between spring rainsThat’s been the week here.

How’s your week been?