The EMT Leach Pottery Mashiko Earthquake Appeal

I'm donating 100% of the sale from my of this Seashell Starfish Necklace from my Clayworksnh Etsy Shop to the Leach Pottery Mashiko Earthquake Appeal.

The Etsy Mud Team is working together to raise support and donations for our fellow potters in Japan, specifically in the historic pottery village of Mashiko which was hard hit by the recent earthquake.

We will be donating through the appeal set up by the internationally known Leach Pottery which has a long history with the village themselves. You can find more information here: http://www.leachpottery.com/What-s-On/News-Feed.aspx

~~~~~~ Details about the necklace ~

A beautiful necklace featuring a pendant with raised starfish and shell design with matching ceramic and glass beads. The pendant is made from white kiln fired clay, glazed with a background of teal, blue green and turquoise, with handpainted starfish and shells of pink, blue and sand, framed in white, finished with a mother of pearl luster, and measures 1" x 1 1/2". This necklace features handcrafted ceramic beads by clayworksnh in pink and blue green mixed with turquoise glass beads and silver spacers, strung on a tan cord and finished with a decorative silver toggle clasp.  

Working on a Donut

A donut shaped mirror that is, for the Etsy Mud Team Donut Challenge which is April 11 - 17.

I've been wanting to make some mirrors for a few years now.  I figured this would be a great opportunity to give it a try. I took out some of my seashore molds and started rolling, pressing, cutting and shaping away with my tan speckled clay.

I started by cutting round bases to work on, making them about about an inch wider in diameter than the mirror blanks.

If I had thought more about how much stoneware clay shrinks, I would have made the bases and holes quite a bit larger.

Here's the first one......

The one below is the one I'm going with for the challenge........

This is after the bisque firing.   A little shell and starfish detail ~~

I attached a half circle on the back to keep the mirror blank secure, and put two holes to hang the mirror from a decorative cord when finished.

Below is the piece glazed with some of my favorite Coyote glaze colors ~ Pansy Purple, Oasis, Gun Metal Green, Turquoise Matt & Almost Teal.  I later put some Butterscotch Shino on the starfish and shell.

Of course it still needs to be glaze fired, which I will be doing tomorrow morning so it will ready just in time to submit my photo for the Etsy Mud Team Donut Challenge.   The deadline to submit photos is April 10th.  As usual I work better under pressure.  I'll be posting a photo after the glaze firing ~