Moroccan Chicken with Preserved Lemon

I made this exciting chicken the other night for a weekday dinner and am just now getting around to posting it. Admittedly, this was a lot of work on the front end but I was surprised how little work it was near the end. Recipe to follow...



Moroccan Chicken with Preserved Lemon

1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorn
1 teaspoon cumin seed
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon whole clove
3 tablesppons extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon ginger
2 bay leaves
1 large pinch saffron
3.75 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
salt and pepper
1 medium onion
4 preserved lemons
1/2 cup dried green olives
1.5 cups chicken stock

I added the cinnamon, peppercorns, cumin, paprika, red pepper flakes, and cloves to a skillet dry skillet and cooked them over medium high heat until they started to smoke. Then I grinded them in out spice grinder.

I cut the chicken into 10 pieces and added the smoked spice mixture along with the oil, garlic, bay leaves and saffron. I tossed this until the chicken was thoroughly coated though I wish I would have tossed and then added the bay leaves because they got a bit crushed in the process.
I then allowed the chicken to marinade for two hours.

In a large pot I browned the chicken and then set it aside. In the same pot I added the onions rough cut and browned on medium high. Then I added the 2 preserved lemons cut into strips with the flesh removed. Then I added the olives and chicken stock and re-added the chicken. I covered and cooked on low for about 30 minutes.

I served it with quinoa which I made with 2 more preserved lemon and a handful of tart dried cherries. Andrea thought the lemon was good but after half a bowl she thought it was too much. Not surprising because I quadrupled it from the original recipe. Maybe next time I'll leave it out of the quinoa.

Later, I'll have to post about preserving the lemons. I did it during the late summer and it couldn't have been easier.


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Celtic Knot Border

Remember how I said I found some new books from the library from my new favorite author, Aidan Meehan? Well, I love em! I've been learning a lot and seriously recommend any of his books to anybody interested in Celtic art. They are approachable and extremely detailed. Truly a wonder to use.

I thought it might be fun if I posted some of my recent work. I worked through much of the book on Celtic knots and finished with a border. But instead of just showing you the pretties I thought it would be even better to show you how much work goes into the process...




The first thing I must do is draw my primary grid. The intersection of this primary grid are the basis for the whole pattern.





Then I am able to add my red dots for the secondary grid. I draw these in red because I think of the secondary grid as a no-go area. My knot pattern should never intersect these spaces.





Finally, I added the tertiary grid. I draw these in green because my knot pattern will flow from tertiary intersection to tertiary intersection in an alternating over under pattern. Meehan argues that one needn't draw the tertiary grid but I am finding that it's a nice crutch to have. Plus I am interested in this work with an eye toward pottery as the eventual application. Thus I don't need to worry so much about cluttering the space because all the grid dots and line breaks will burn off in the kiln, leaving my knot pattern alone.





Finally I am able to draw in my line breaks. I determined my pattern and then drew in primary and secondary grid breaks to make the pattern I wanted.





All that was left was to begin to follow my pattern. It's always over under and never cross a line break. Thus the path is clearly marked.


Nevertheless I did make two mistakes... In the bottom right of this image I have a red, secondary, line break which is one unit too far to the right. Notice that it made the only s-curve in the pattern. Also, in the upper left of the image I drew a over/over/under knot. Oops...

Otherwise I'm extremely pleased. And it was good practice. I think it's real safe to say that pie plates, pasta bowls, coffee mugs and all other variety of pottery is likely going to have a knot treatment in the near future!

Spiral Addendum

I have an addendum to my last post. More spirals! I wish I could stay up all night and draw. But we have to drive tomorrow so it's off to bed. Enjoy...








Slán,
Colin

As always you can check out my etsy shop to buy pottery made exclusively by me!
www.potterybycuchulainn.etsy.com

Thanksgiving Spirals

Nothing says Thanksgiving like intricate Celtic spirals right? What? I'm sure I can make the connection. A spiral pattern is a glorification and celebration of the unending thanks we have for the bounty that has been bestowed upon us during our path this past year! Kinda works right?

Okay, seriously I found some new books from an author my brother turned me on to, Aidan Meehan. I knew I'd have some time over the holiday to draw so I thought I better go ahead and get them. Problem is, I haven't put them down since I checked them out from the library. I'm totally hooked.





I'm hoping to practice on a number of patterns and then hopefully I can work them onto a pottery piece after I get comfortable with them. What do you think, wouldn't that be beautiful on the bottom of pie plate?

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!


Slán,
Colin

As always you can check out my etsy shop to buy pottery made exclusively by me!
www.potterybycuchulainn.etsy.com

Duckanoo

Andrea and I served another chicken and plantain stew the other night and I decided to add a side of duckanoo along with it. And duckanoo is a lot of fun but I think I could open coconuts for a living. That was a lot of fun! So, I thought I'd give a play by play...





First, I began by drilling, Tim Allen style, into the coconut. I actually drilled two holes in the coconut. One to pour and one to allow the air to flow.





After I poured out the liquid I was stuck with a hard knot of coconut. I've heard so many stories about how to go from here. I found that it was easier to just smack it with a hammer. The darn thing is so hard that you won't crush it, you'll just crack the edge off. Coconuts are REALLY hard...





Once the coconut was halved It was necessary to separate the flesh from the hard shell. I just did this by hand. I've actually stuck this in the oven before to allow it to pull away but I found this is easy enough to just pull it apart by hand.





When this was finally done I was left with two nearly equal halves of coconut. What else could I do...





Duckanoo

3 cups corn meal
1 whole coconut
2.5 cups milk
4 oz raisins
0.25 cup butter
0.5 cup demerara sugar
0.25 tsp nutmeg
0.5 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla essence

Add the dry ingredients together. Mix the wet ingredients together. Add them together, wrap in foil packets and drop in boiling water. Simmer for 45 minutes and enjoy, it's that simple!

Fixes...
I thought this could use more coconut and a bit more milk. Maybe 3 cups milk and 25% more coconut, or 25% less of everything else because it does make a lot!

Craft Fair this Week!

Just a reminder to everyone that I will be at the Gaue Mill "Christmas at the Mill" Craft Fair this weekend! I will be there Saturday and Sunday until 4. Stop by and say hi, I'd love to see everyone!

Click on the picture of the invite for more details or check out Graue Mill's website here.

Online Tools

People ask me frequently about what it is like to operate online. It seems unwieldy to many people because they are unsure how they can track important data. I've found that there are a few fantastic websites that make my life super easy and I thought it would be fun to give a little behind the scenes into how I track things.





Above is a view of Google Analytics which tracks everything. Frankly, I try not to spend too much time looking at the data. One could really waste a lot of time tracking things like the number of website visitors have java enabled and cross referencing that with browser usage and time of log on. But I don't really worry about much of the technical data. Instead, the total number of visitors and the total pageviews seems most important to me. Basically, how many people are browsing the site and how thoroughly are they browsing. Kinda useful right?

Also note that yesterday was my best day ever. The most people and the most number of page views ever, yea!





And while that is all pretty cool, the data from Google Analytics is made more practical at a website called www.craftopolis.com. Craftopolis takes the most important GA data and presents it in a simple format along with metrics from Etsy itself. So, I can clearly see the total number of people and page views along with which items are popular, what I've sold, and hearts for both the shop and the items!

And while I generally don't like to spend too much time analyzing data it is useful to take a gander here everyday or so. And it has informed my decision making process. I've learned that, generally speaking I have big Thursdays and Sunday nights so I make sure that I post on those days. Interesting huh...


Slán,
Colin

As always you can check out my etsy shop to buy pottery made exclusively by me!
www.potterybycuchulainn.etsy.com

My Ode to Capers

I remember when we purchased this jar of capers from our local Costco. I thought there was no way in the world we would be able to use them all. I mean, I like capers but a whole quart of them? Certainly that's not possible, right? I will never doubt my wife again.





We started by looking up all kinds of recipes that use capers as a central component. We found lots of dishes with salmon, obviously. But we make a lot of chicken so we started with Chicken Piccata. This is a fantastic recipe that I will use over and over.

But Andrea branched out and started experimenting. She put them in what is now our favorite potato salad. The capers add a nice tangy, bitter and mix well with the slight amount of cayenne she adds to make this dish unlike any other potato salad but still familiar. Love it...


Chicken Piccata

1 Whole Chicken
6 Tablespoons Butter
5 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1/2 Cup Lemon Juice
2/3 Cup Chicken Stock
1/3 Cup Capers

Pasta

1.25 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Cup Semolina
3 Eggs


I took a whole chicken and quartered it (learn how here) to decrease the cooking time and provide uniform results. I then roasted those pieces at 300 degrees to cook them through but not dry them out.

While that was cooking I made the pasta. I have done this by hand but I find it is a bit easier in my kitchen aid. Add the one cup of all purpose and one cup of semolina (in a little volcano if you're making it by hand) and then add the eggs. As the kitchen aid is working I may add up to an additional 1/4 cup of all purpose, slowly, depending on how wet or dry the dough is. When it begins to really resist I wrap it up and set it aside for at least 20 minutes.

When the chicken was cooked through but not overly brown I took it out and finished it in the pan. I added 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil and browned the breast meat. Then added 2 more tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil and browned the hind quarters. Once the meat was out I added the chicken stock to deglaze the pan. Then I added the lemon, capers and any remaining olive oil. I reduced this slightly and added the remainder of the butter just prior to serving to give the sauce a nice sheen.

Cook the pasta as the sauce is reducing. Fresh pasta cooks in under a minute. Toss with sauce but keep some sauce aside for drizzling over the chicken. Serve the chicken over the bed of pasta and enjoy.


Note...
Next time I would make a hair less pasta. (Or a hairless pasta?) When making it by hand I always tend to make too much. Reducing the pasta by a third would probably bring the proportions in line.

Ring Holder

My lovely wife has a tendency to forget her jewelry. So I thought it would be a good idea if I created these cute little ring holders so that we always know where they are. And the good news is that they work. The rings seem to be sitting there quite well as she is toiling away at work...

So my dilemma is... Have I simply added to the clutter? Or, is this a helpful addition?

Or is there a third option? Maybe it's irrelevant whether they're truly helpful or not because they're really pretty. I think they look a bit like an opening flower and with winter closer than I'd like to admit these might be the closest thing to new growth in a long while.

Slán,
Colin

As always you can check out my etsy shop to buy pottery made exclusively by me!
www.potterybycuchulainn.etsy.com

Centered Blog Title

This is for my friend who wanted to learn how to center the blog title on her own blog. And though I'm not a computer technician this was well within my wheelhouse.

It's as simple as this...

http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=175740

Hope this helps!

O Canada

I have been feeling a lot of love from, and thus love for Canadians lately! So I thought I'd give a proper Pottery by Cú Chulainn shout out, and briefly mention some amazing facts I've learned about our northern neighbor and their Celtic connections.

I had been aware of that Scottish-Canadians were a large group. However, I was surprised to learn that as of the 2001 census approximately 4.7 million Canadians claimed full or partial Scottish ancestry. That is 15% of the total population, making it the third largest ethnic group in Canada. Amazing!

In comparison, 36 million Americans claim full or partial Irish ancestry, while another 3.5 million claim Scots-Irish ancestry. That amounts to approximately 12% of the US population which makes Scottish-Canadians are a larger ethnic group in Canada per capita.

This absolutely blows my mind. I knew they were a major group with significant cultural impact but that’s huge. Consider also that these huge populations come from relatively small countries. The current populations of the original countries is 5.2 million for Scotland and 6.2 million for the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Flag of Nova Scotia

Turning back to Scottish-Canadians more specifically, I was interested to learn more about their profound impact on Canadian culture. I suppose it is not surprising given that as early as 1622 a portion of what is now Canada was set aside as “New Scotland.” Nova Scotia, and Canada more generally, saw many more immigrants after the defeat of New France in 1759, but the cultural importance of a New Scotland is profound.

And there were plenty who took the New Scotland mission seriously. Nowadays Cape Breton Island and the Nova Scotia mainland together have a community of around 1,000 speakers of Canadian Gaelic, which is itself a dialect of Scottish Gaelic. Amazing!

Flag of Montreal

Still, Scottish Canadians are not limited to Nova Scotia. Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia all had strong influences from Scotland, especially after French influence declined. But I am beginning to drone on so I will allow my readers to read the Wikipedia article for themselves!

But in all honesty, much love to all Canadians!

Slàn,

Colin

As always you can check out my etsy shop to buy pottery made exclusively by me!
www.potterybycuchulainn.etsy.com

Pie Plate

I had been reticent to share this because I wasn't sure I could reproduce it. I used a new technique, an underglaze "marker" to create the design. But since I used in over the summer I couldn't get it to work again reliably. But thankfully I was able to revive my marker and I think you can expect a lot of this from me in the future!


Slán,
Colin

As always you can check out my etsy shop to buy pottery made exclusively by me!
www.potterybycuchulainn.etsy.com

Graue Mill

I wanted to share with everyone that I will be at the Graue Mill in Oak Brook November 20-21 for a craft fair. I am helping a friend with his pottery but will have some of my own there as well. I'd love to see people there, it looks like a great time! You can find more information here or simply click on the title to the post.


Slán,
Colin

As always you can check out my etsy shop to buy pottery made exclusively by me!
www.potterybycuchulainn.etsy.com

Call for Props

Andrea really loves the pictures I'm taking for the yarn bowls, and I agree. I like using the alpaca yarn ball and these little yarn mascots. They add a dynamic element to the pictures which just makes you happy!





We bought "sheepsie" from a little tourist shop in Co. Clare after visiting the Cliffs of Moher, Aillte an Mhothair.





Meanwhile, grey "ramsie" was a finger puppet I think my mother up in El Salvador...





...along with the giraffe above.

So, if anybody comes across cute little finger puppets or other small little props I ask you to just go ahead and pick it up and I'll settle up with you. I'm especially looking at all my family and friends overseas! It would be awesome to have a set of these little guys as a kind off signature in my pictures.

Thanks for being so supportive everybody!






Slán,
Colin

As always you can check out my etsy shop to buy pottery made exclusively by me!
www.potterybycuchulainn.etsy.com

Glue Glaze

I am working with a new glaze. I'm calling it the glue glaze. If you don't want your piece to provide any sort of functionality just go ahead and put this glaze on it and no one will ever want it!

In all seriousness, this glaze clearly just didn't work out. I'm working on trying to fix the problems but it's been slow going. But in its own way it's kinda pretty, it has real "flow."

Colin

As always you can check out my etsy shop to buy pottery made exclusively by me!
www.potterybycuchulainn.etsy.com

Finally New Pottery

It has been a while since I have had new pottery. There have been a slew of problems which I haven't blogged about because it just didn't seem appropriate.

But after a couple of test kiln fires and a couple of failures I have new pottery! I have been posting it slowly but there are four new things up.



My favorite is a new yarn bowl. I glazed the piece in brown with a green at the rim. Where the two came together you can see an amazing array of colors. I love it and you can expect to see a bunch more like it!

As always you can check out my etsy shop to buy pottery made exclusively by me!
www.potterybycuchulainn.etsy.com

Dimpled Teapot

I have been playing with dimples lately. Nothing untoward, just small impressions in the side of a piece. Here you can see them on a teapot I made yesterday. I'm hoping that the dimple will add some extra intrigue to a piece that is glazed in a solid color. Just a little extra touch I guess...

I hope everyone is well!

Slán,
Colin

As always you can check out my etsy shop to buy pottery made exclusively by me!
www.potterybycuchulainn.etsy.com

I Can Haz Pikels?

Andrea has been teasing me with pickles. Apparently I can’t have any of the pickles on the counter for two more days. But they’re sitting there taunting me, daring me to taste them. Damn them both!



Good news however is that I was able to borrow some space in a friend’s kiln. I fired a dozen or so yarn bowls and plenty of the Gaeilge mugs too. I was so excited I’ve already finished glazing them. Now I just need to refire them up to stoneware temps and I’m back in business!



In just over a month I’ll have full access to the kilns again and I can fire all my stuff that’s just sitting around. It’s good timing too because I just broke another piece moving it around.

Hobbit Mugs

Andrea spent the evening watching the first Lord of the Rings this past weekend. I was busy doing something else but I kept coming in to the room right during scenes where there was pottery prominently portrayed.

Well, actually I see pottery everywhere but in my defense these cups are cool! I don’t know why I never noticed them before.

Mine came out a bit more curvy and I love it. Enjoy!

As always you can check out my etsy shop to buy pottery made exclusively by me!
www.potterybycuchulainn.etsy.com

Garlic and Dill Potato Salad

What would summer be without potato salad? It would be a dismal affair no doubt! For a little variety I offer Andrea's Garlic and Dill Potato Salad. I'd recommend cutting back on the garlic a bit but with the new Twilight movie out it might be prudent to protect against prepubescent tweeners...


- 3-ish pounds of red potatoes
- 1 rib of celery, diced
- less than 1/4 onion, diced
- 3 large cloves of garlic, minced
- 2-3 Tablespoons capers, drained
- 1 squirt or 2 of prepared mustard
- couple dashes of hot sauce
- 1/2 -1 cup Mayonnaise
- Dill, dried or fresh

Cut whatever size potato you like and boil until tender. Drain and place in a large bowl. Let cool a bit.

When still warm add celery, onion, garlic, capers, mustard, hot sauce and salt & pepper. Mix gently. Start adding mayonnaise and dill until desired amount is reached. Mix gently and transfer to a prettier bowl. Can either serve right away while warm or cool down in fridge, covered.

Chicken and Plantain Stew

I have a serious problem. We make better food than I can get at most restaurants in the area, at least on our budget. The latest transgression was a chicken and plantain stew which was both savory and delightfully sweet. Recipe follows you can all share in my misery!

- 5 or 6 red potatoes diced
- 2 yellow plantains sliced
- half of 1 large white onion sliced
- 1 poblano pepper, de-seeded and chopped
- 1 whole chicken, butterflied or cut into pieces with bones and skin
- 1 cup-ish chicken stock
- Salt free Adobo seasoning
- Salt & Pepper
- Cooked Rice

Add potatoes, plantains, peppers, and onions into a large casserole type dish. Season vegetables and all sides of chicken generously with the Adobo. Season with S+P to taste. Pour stock into dish- it should not come up past the halfway point of the wall. If you go over the halfway mark the liquid coming out of the chicken will cause juice to spill over the side. Place chicken on top of veggies and stock, skin side up.

Bake at 350F for approx 1.5 hours, or until the chicken is cooked. Remove chicken to a plate and let sit. Blend/puree about 1/4- 1/3 of the vegetables and stock. I used an immersion blender and just stuck it in but you might have to use a blender or some other means of blending. Pour a generous amount of the liquid over some cooked white rice in a bowl. Shred in some chicken and enjoy!

Northern Ireland

The BBC reports that there was an explosion alongside a road in Northern Ireland today. They are mum on most of the details while CNN reports that it destroyed a bridge and may have been designed to draw police into the area.

Meanwhile there were shots fired at police as they detained five people under suspicion of trafficking explosive across the border with the Republic. It is unclear whether these two incidents are related.

However, it certainly represents a significant escalation of violence in Northern Ireland since the Real IRA claimed responsibility for a March of 2009 killing of two British Soldiers outside their barracks before they were to go on tour in Afghanistan.

Most pundits I have read claim that the sectarian mood in Northern Ireland is the worst it has been in over a decade. Since I was giving a mini lesson in Gaeilge earlier today I couldn't help follow-up...

síochán = peace

Gaeilge Mugs

I thought it would be fun to give a bit of a behind the scenes edition of the blág. This week is focused on mugs!

First up is the Gaeilge mugs. I made about a dozen of two different varieties. “Sláinte” (SLAWN-chuh) is an Irish-Gaelic toast meaning literally health. It can be used much like the English “cheers” so I thought it would work well on a mug.

Meanwhile, “mo chuisle” (muh CHWISH-luh) is a term of endearment. It was made famous in Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby although it was mispronounced and even misspelled if I recall. It literally means “my pulse” and references a poetic turn of phrase only the Irish could produce: “You’re as close to me as the pulse of my own heart.” It is pronounced with an unvoiced fricative which I transcribed as “CH.” Think of the Hebrew, Scottish, German, or Arabic gravelly “H” sound and you’ve likely got it.

The mugs were thrown large. I aimed for approximately 16oz a piece although this is the first time I’ve thrown this shape so I was just guessing. I thought they’d be a fun, whimsical mug. The stamp I used is not in Comic Sans Font but it does have a similar juvenile appeal. So I left the letters a bit off center and didn’t fuss too much if they were a bit crooked.

I think I’ve blogged about these espresso cups before but I wanted to show them again here so that you could see my new toy, or the results of my new toy anyway. My father-in-law is a fantastic, creative woodworker and I wanted to give him the credit he is due here. He made for me many of my tools but this gauge is the best. I use it to measure the height of my pottery while it’s still on the wheel. It swings in and out of place so I don’t have to worry about knocking it accidentally. I can use it as a simple gauge or I can actually score the pot with it and then cut off the top. In combination with my calipers I can throw essentially the same pot over and over again!

As always you can check out my etsy shop to buy pottery made exclusively by me!
www.potterybycuchulainn.etsy.com

Beet Your Ravioli

Skeptical about beet ravioli?

I have wanted to make ravioli with beets for a while and since they were on sale at the store the other day it seemed like the perfect opportunity. But word to the wise, if you plan on making beet ravioli just know that it will be RED (and delicious)!

Honestly, I don’t have much of a recipe. I just took two medium beets and pureed them in the food processor. I found it worked better when I added a little liquid. Although I didn’t want to add too much olive oil so I added egg instead. I figured it was going to go into the pasta dough anyway.

After they were pureed I sieved them to remove all the liquid from the pulp then added half the pulp back into the dough with plenty of semolina and all-purpose flour.

Not much of a recipe, I know, but the pictures are stunning…

In the end the taste was subtle. I stuffed them with classic ricotta and spinach so as not to distract too much. If I ate this blindfolded I don’t know if I would have picked out the beet flavor but I swear it was there.

Slán,
Colin


As always you can check out my etsy shop to buy pottery made exclusively by me!
www.potterybycuchulainn.etsy.com

Bicycle Powered Waste Vegetable Oil Fired Kiln!?

I know that I've been basically reposting from my subscriptions lately but this was too cool to pass up. Ceramic Arts Daily highlighted various university and private green ceramic programs. Many are extremely useful programs like the creation of paving bricks from waste clay and glaze.



My favorite however was the alternative kiln which used waste vegetable oil as the firing fuel and a bicycle to run the pump and blower. Amazing.

Check out the full article here...

http://ceramicartsdaily.org/ceramic-supplies/ceramic-raw-materials/the-wisdom-of-crowds-green-research-in-universities/

Working with Reed

I found two great videos about working with reed that I thought I'd share. The narrator, Sheila Clennell does a great job at explaining the process. She is patient if not methodical...

Though I have to admit I have ulterior motives... I wanted to share them as much for everyone's enjoyment as for me so that I can find them again later!

Nevertheless, enjoy they're great!

Intro video

Advanced video

Slán,
Colin


As always you can check out my etsy shop to buy pottery made exclusively by me!
www.potterybycuchulainn.etsy.com

New Blág

Announcing my new blág! I know many of you followed me via facebook but I just wanted to announce that the new blág is up and running!

It's shiny, and you can follow it with an RSS reader or you can simply follow it at the website...

http://potterybycuchulainn.blogspot.com/

I hope to see you all here!

Old Blág

I am very happy with this new blág but I wasn't able to transport in my old posts from...

http://cuchulainn32.livejournal.com/

So, I thought I would at least post the link for everyone just in case.

Tea Pots and Vases

Can’t wait for on update?



Okay, I can’t wait either and I want to show off some stuff…



These tea pots took me way too long to make but they’re gorgeous. I left the seams of all the attachments visible on them this time. Typically I smooth out the spout into the body of the piece. I also added a lip near the top of the pots to mirror the spouts’ seams. I think with a good glaze these are going to be amazing. And I am getting good if I don’t say so…

In the background is 20 or so espresso cups, with handles I might add! These felt like it took a long time to make, but in fairness I threw them in about 5 minutes a pop. Since I was throwing so many I thought it would be fun to time it out. I’m not quite a production potter but they’re very uniform so I can’t complain too much.



In addition to functional/dinnerware I couldn’t help but throw some decorative pieces. On either side there are marbled pieces which are actually made with the same clay. I added iron oxide to a white clay base and then mixed it in to the rest of the clay in small balls of red mixed into the white. I then tried to throw it very fast. I was a little concerned at first because the whole piece turned out kinda pink. But that was just a layer of slip on the outside. I let it dry a bit and then cut the outside layer and the marbling appeared.

You can see how the clay is stretched during throwing and I really like it. I am really interested to see how it fires. I haven’t done this technique before so it will be a little surprise on kiln day! On the shapes, I am extremely pleased… I think these are going to be fantastic.

The tall piece is probably my most technically impressive piece so far. I really tried to accentuate the ribs around the collar and the base. You can’t tell too but it’s ridiculously thin. I love it!

This is not all of it, but just a little taste for now, enjoy!


As always you can check out my etsy shop to buy pottery made exclusively by me!
www.potterybycuchulainn.etsy.com