Sumo The Great

Here he is. Sumo the wonder pig! of the four piggies made in this batch Sumo is the stand out. While I was grinding his feet smooth on the wheel I lost my grip. Sumo then did a somersault on the wheel and bounced to the floor (which was padded) landing on his feet--unharmed! He is now on his way today to Springboro Ohio.

Tea Bowl Reflections

I do love this fruit--obsess on them even--especially in the fall as they come off the trees. I just can't walk past them (which gets to be a pain). I have to stop, inspect and make a decision on who to take home.


I had some unexpected fun with my tea bowls and camera yesterday
especially when when I found the grape vine reflections in the tea.

Fall Raku

About raku firings--I have fun with them but have yet to be happy with my pots that come through that firing so there you have it. David who lives out in Preble County Ohio and who has the propane cylinder (& an out door mud oven) wanted to do a raku firing. He had 3 large tiles he wanted fired and convinced me (who has the burner and kiln) plus a few others to come on out and do a raku. He threw in the offer of his homegrown lamb sausage & the use of his oven to make pita bread to sweeten the deal. Then Betty offered her truck to get the kiln set up out at David's and that clinched it. Away we went

Into Hedge Apples Again

It is fall again--this time 2009 and I am revisiting the hedge apple. Today was a busy day for me in the studio. I was pinching out small sake cups. My friend--Waka--who comes originally from Japan tells me they are ochoko (my spelling). These come from this years fruit found fallen in my neighborhood on one of my walks.

As always this process of copying nature comes as an obsession and is a difficult yet rewarding process. I leave you with a picture of some of my recent hedge apple efforts. This sheep flask and her little ochoko flock are to be re-fired as I am dissatisfied with how flat the glaze makes their surface. Stay tuned. I shall let you know how their next kiln journey goes. Mean while I leave you with a poem from past experience.

Grandmother Hedge Apple

Since last December had waited
until—again--it was fall.
Every morning I walked past her—Grandmother Hedge Apple.
Looking and waiting for her to release
Her lumpy and beautiful fruit.


Through November I waited.
Until that week—
The week it took four men to cut her down.
During those days I held vigil
For she was a great one
And needed my view as much as I needed to see her.

Her cut open trunk filled the air with spiky fragrance
And I found
I coveted her mass—wondering what things could be made
From her stringy orange flesh
And could only imagine what fires she would make.

When the stump grinders had gone
I went to the mound of fruit at her roots.

Of all the hedge apples I've held in my hands
Those tender green children
They were the ones I loved most.

Jean Ann Bolliger
© February 2004

Giraffes in the kiln

Hurray! was my first reaction when I opened the kiln yesterday as my long necked giraffes stood a tall greeting. Being a tough bunch you can see they have stood their ground during the firing and have kept their heads up high. Here is quick in the kiln photo of them. More refined portraits will come later.

After TeaChat

Really I have no business making a chawan. To begin with I don't believe I've ever had tea from one. Regardless I have found a particular inspiration in seeing bonjiri's hand made chawan. It reminded me of my fascination and love affair with the fruit and tree called the hedge apple.

That picture of a picture is me on a slimmer & sunnier October day a few years ago. I was collecting the lovely and lumpy fruit of the hedge apple tree.

I was in love with their form and their color. Wow their color it is such a wild chartreuse! They also have a lovely sharp, citrus odor and the trees that bear this fruit are just wonderfully gnarly.

There also is a pleasure in being around these trees. I find a quiet and dark spirit in them. It seems to me their darkness is not a scary thing. Rather it is like sitting in the darkness of a chapel with the sun streaming in though the stained glass windows. In all I had a lovely time collecting these fruit. More later on how I made press molds from them & the difficulties I had trying to join the organic fruit form and surface to the mechanical forms that came from the wheel.

Feild Trip

I gave my self a treat a couple weeks ago and took a 20 minute trip over to Lebanon Ohio. Lebanon Ohio's claim to fame is the historic Golden Lamb.

"The Golden Lamb is recognized as the oldest continuously operating business in the State of Ohio. On December 23, 1803, Jonas Seaman spent $4 for a license to operate a "house of Public Entertainment." GoldenLamb.com Overveiw

There also are quite a few antique shops there so away I went. I eventually ended up in the Broadway Antiques Mall where I found the letters above among other things. I spent a lot of time looking down, up and down. My neck has a crick in it but I am happy regardless. There were all kinds of wonderful blocks--letters, numbers, renderings of animals, logos, cowboys, etc. I was not there for the image stamps but just had to get this sparrow. He is not that big--maybe 3/4" by 3/4" I am looking forward to seeing what he looks like in clay.