Bird's Pottery

Wordless Wednesday Stat Tres 1 year later....

2011-12-07T08:32:00.000-08:00

Wordless Wednesday

2011-08-11T06:44:00.001-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

2011-08-03T09:16:00.000-07:00

Help?

Wordless Wednesday

2011-07-20T08:27:00.001-07:00

I sure miss him....

Wordless Wednesday

2011-07-07T05:00:00.000-07:00

Hefty

The saddest day .....

2011-06-28T20:35:00.000-07:00

After taking care of me for 10 years and 7 months......my dearest companion is gone. He will be missed by me and Laze, my boys, our Moms and everybody else he ever met.
There has never been another dog like him and I doubt there ever will.

LJs Hefty
1-3-98 to 6-27-11

Wordless Wednesday

2011-04-06T12:00:00.001-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

2011-01-12T17:18:00.000-08:00

Gus...boy could he smile. (i know ...it's not wordless)

13 Years Old Today

2011-01-03T19:20:00.000-08:00

LJ's Hefty

Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-17T16:39:00.001-08:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-10T11:30:00.000-08:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-10-27T07:05:00.001-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-10-20T17:31:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-22T13:17:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-01T19:10:00.001-07:00

Woo-Hoo!! We're pre-adopting!!

2010-03-21T19:52:00.000-07:00

For many years....Laze and I have been privileged to know The Axes in CG, America.
That's Council Grove, Kansas for those who need clarified.
Donna and her daughter Sandie have raised racing greyhounds for years....and doing a fabulous job at it! But now they have wound down their breeding of dogs and Laze and I miss that extra knowledge of knowing how the puppies and their mom were cared for...what kennels they were sent to at what track....and how they were treated overall.
NOW! we can again!

ENTER: Follow That Hound!!
A FABULOUS organization that is run by Cathi and Bill Lambert (and some others I suspect) in order to PRE-Adopt their pups out to folks that they know or friends of someone they know. This way......not only do the pups get a fan base, but they know where they'll retire to!
Laze and I are joining that family!! We have pre-adopted a puppy that has yet to be born! He/she will be a progeny of the famous Mudd and the lovely Fancy.
We are honored to become 2 of a very select few.
And can't WAIT to see the brand new puppies which will be born around Laze's birthday this year!!!
And trust me!!! You'll be seeing updates here!!!

BEAN!!!

2010-02-04T18:20:00.000-08:00

For as long as I can remember I have wanted
a Chinese Crested Dog.
I know what you are thinking....aren't they
those ugly skinny ugly hairless dogs?
Aren't they those shivery little really ugly dogs
that you have to carry everywhere??
well.....NO! They aren't! Well at least one isn't...
Well shivery he isn't!!
Present BEAN!!!!!
Yeah...He's tough!
Don't mess with him...
Uh-Huh..That's what I'm saying.
Never-mind there's no hair on his body. He's one tough &*%&$#*^@!
HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
Bean is the product of a "broken home". And Jeanni Davis (of Dragonflyte Creations fame) has known for years that I have wanted one of these little buggers. She had a friend who needed to rehome a Chinese Crested and called me to ask if I wanted him. He was 1 1/4 years old, a Hairless, Hairless. He'd been raised with big dogs and was cat safe too. He was all UTD on shots and had long ago been neutered. Laze said ok so I was over the MOON! He was in Pennsylvania....we are in Michigan. But Greyhounds in Gettysburg was coming in 6 weeks so Jeanni offered to foster Bean for us !!
YAY! What a bonus! Jeanni already has 2 Cresteds so she really knew what she was doing!
Bean needed a bit of care. He had been a bit beat up by the big dogs he lived with. His ears were a little chewed on and scabby. And his skin was in bad condition..... Jeanni took good care of him and made him presentable.
And what a personality he turned out to have!
And naked he was.......the only hair he had was a poof on the top of his head.

See?? Only a topknot! Everything else is naked.....
And Jeanni said he had never had any hair so....that's that.
HAH! Appaprently he had other plans after he moved in with us.....
After a few months....we noticed a fluff on his tail and fluff on his ears and some on his feet! Now he's not the fancy kind you see at the dog shows....but he sure has changed A LOT! This photo (Rambo Bean)is from September of '09. So just 5 short months of living with us and HE GREW HAIR!!
I'll tell you more about him in another post...
He has a best friend named Odin.......

Foster Dogs.......

2010-01-21T19:14:00.000-08:00

In my years of greyhound ownership and greyhound adoption....So MANY of my foster dogs have ended up as OUR dogs. Mostly this is because many of the dogs were requested as "foster with intent" foster dogs. There have been a few "just plain" foster dogs. And they have been awesome too!
So now......we have Tigger. Yeah! Tigger! That's his whole racing name! I asked to have him brought in from a Galveston farm closing. There were TONS of seniors, broods and stud dogs that needed placement because of this closing. Our group had just committed to a group of other dogs at the time, so we were full up. But I saw Tigger on the website showing all the dogs and he spoke to me and I thought he might fill a hole we had in our pack.....
He's a gorgeous red brindle with the brindle being a bit on the sparse side. He's 8 1/2 years old, but nobody convinced him of that yet. He's got funny cauliflower ears...I guess his brothers and sisters bit the crap out of his ears way back. And he just wants somebody to love him with all their heart.
And we could have.
But Duke can't.
And Duke was here first.
So now we are fostering Tigger and Duke is tolerating him...letting him know how he feels about him every time he walks by. Tigger ignores him.
Actually Tigger pretty much ignores most of the dogs. Unless they step on him. Then the Lion appears!!!
But he is otherwise one of the sweetest, cat-safe, small dog-safe, child-safe, everything safe dog I've ever known.
Now he just needs to find his forever home......

Staples? In my SKIN???

2009-07-10T10:42:00.000-07:00

SO here is my incision while the nurse is removing the staples. Now I know about staples.....in dogs! But never in ME!! I couldn't feel them early on.....but later, like the last 4 days they were "picky"
I knew that it wouldn't REALLY hurt....to have them removed....but it sure does depend on the finesse of the remover! Most of them were painless...but there were a
few that screamed!
But all in all...it was ok!! and only took about 10 minutes....
I have my hand over a small spot that is still draining....ew...
I have to keep a bandage over that spot to keep it from going everywhere. Then she covered the whole thing with Steri-Strips. Honestly...I think it's a bit overkill....
But I'm on my way to a great recovery! My liver will regenerate....and I sure don't mind that my appetite is diminished...I've lost 20 pounds!!!
Thanks again to all my friends and family for the love and prayers and white light. It sure does work!

BENIGN!!!!!!

2009-07-03T19:35:00.000-07:00

Yes!! Benign! What a fabulous word. Although the surgery took 6 hours......phew....and the tumor was 6.5 x 5.5 x 4 cm...yes that's cm. Really big, huh?
But they took my right lobe of my liver....and my gall bladder for good measure! I spent a week in hospital and am now home.....have been for 6 days. It hurts like %$#@*&, but the drugs I have help a little.
So that's it!!
And thank you to ALL who offered up support in ANY form...prayers, white light, good thoughts.
I love all of you.!!!!

Oh Dear

2009-06-20T19:13:00.000-07:00

So...On Monday I go in for a BIG surgery.....
There is a mass in my liver the size of a softball.
I am asymptomatic.....except for a slight referred pain to my back that I never even KNEW came from it....Maybe it doesn't!
But what I really want to say here is...I am overwhelmed by the outpouring of love I have received. So many people have offered their prayers and love that my heart is full to overflowing. I know I will wake up safely and tumor free. But if by some strange twist of fate I should be called to the other side.....I would go having felt more love than any woman deserves to feel.....
I want to thank ALL my friends and family that might read this....I love YOU all too.....

How To Measure Your Dog For A Fitted Collar

2009-03-23T14:56:00.000-07:00

www.collarofthemonthclub.com

Here's Hefty. He's wearing a one inch fitted collar from Collar of the Month Club. It was custom made for him by ME! Mostly I make 1 1/2 inch collars but this pattern looked best in a 1 inch collar. Hefty is an excellent model!
This picture shows where most folk like the collar to lay on their dogs........

To measure for a fitted collar is simple! You'll need a tape measure. Put it around your dogs neck just where you like the dogs collar to lay like in the previous picture. Do not add anything or put your finger inside...
Isn't Hefty a cooperative guy?? So patient....

Now if your dog has an unusually small OR large throat.....I'll need to know that. Most dogs don't. But IF your dog has a throat that is 4 or more inches smaller than where you want the collar to lay....I'll need to know. That's because the martingale part of the collar needs to NOT close all the way at the top of the neck.

Now the last thing is- IF your dog has a really big
head......that is...inches bigger than the collar measurement.... This fitted type of collar may not work for your dog.
But that would be a rarity.
I have fit Boxers and Airedales...French Bulldogs and Chihuahuas. Surprisingly the most difficulty I have had has been with Italian Greyhounds! Sometimes their little weeny necks are SO much tinier than their heads.....
So sometimes I need this measurement.

Of course...if you are ordering from www.collarofthemonthclub.com and need a special request....it's easier to just email me at home. Make sure to put "collar order" in the subject line... I'd hate for my server to put you in the trash..... :-)

Glazing and Firing~~Woo-Hoo!!

2009-02-24T18:21:00.000-08:00

So after I created a whole bunch of stuff.....like this bunch of plaques, wall bud vases, a coaster and some new tiles......
All of those things need to be bisqued--that is--fired so they are hard.
That's been done some days before....
Now all these pieces need to be glazed.
Otherwise they are really boring to look at. So here's all my choices of glazes..or at least that fit in the picture....

With each piece that has a carving on it.....I apply a color wash to the carved area, then cover that area with liquid latex. This protects the color wash from being covered by the glaze.

BUT! it must be removed before you fire the piece! The liquid latex dries to become a rubber sheet. the piece is dipped in glaze, dries, and then I peel off the latex. Underneath is a nice clean image with no glaze! But it still has the color wash....Then I clean up the edges a bit and add in some glaze here and there.....

Then they look like this...just before they go into the kiln.

Here's the second to the top shelf of the kiln loaded.
Those square posts hold the shelves that go on next.
Notice that nothing touches anything.....

ALRIGHTY!!!! 24 hours later (give or take) and it's time to open the kiln! I have my coat on because my studio is 25 minutes from our house.... :-(
The top shelf looks good!!

3 new tiles and a plaque without a crack! YAY!! One tile has cracks but I knew that when I put it in....thought I'd fire it anyway as a glaze test.

Laze is a lifesaver for me cause my back has a tough time bending and bending into the kiln. Those shelves are heavy..... Plus honestly...I think she likes seeing what comes out!! It's like Christmas every time!!

Here's the shelf I showed you before!!! Look how DIFFERENT it is!! Another thing you can notice is how much items have shrunk!!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Laze thinks the next layer is good!!

Second from the bottom shelf! NO CRACKS!! Woo-Hoo!!!
Life is GREYT!!!!

Here's that piece from before...fully finished! It's Sarah Snavely's dog Sage.
She graciously allowed me to use her some of her photos to work from.

The bottom layer! Unbelievable!! Not a single crack in my WHOLE LOAD!!!
This has never happened before!
I am SO ecstatic!!!
Usually I have about 30% crackage in my plaques.

Here are all the items from that kilnload. Weeks of work that don't cover a table! These will make their debut at Sandy Paws in few weeks.... I am really pleased with my results! I LOVE clay!!!
When I get back from Sandy Paws I'll put a bunch of new stuff up on my ETSY site....
I haven't put anything new there for a while..... Lazy I guess.... or rotator cuff surgery maybe.
Check it out!
www.BirdsPottery.etsy.com

Physical Therapy

2009-02-06T15:20:00.000-08:00

Can I just say that I am sick to death of being incapacitated?
Today at PT I was overcome with frustration and started crying while I was lifting a stupid 5 pound weight. 5 POUNDS!!! That's almost nothing.....but it felt enormous. And I'd worked with 5 pounds for over a week. But today I almost couldn't do it. Pretty sad, eh? I know I'm gonna get through it. I have to. I just want it to happen more quickly and without making me so crazy. I want to feel like I'm getting somewhere..... A couple weeks ago I wrote on Facebook that I was over the hump at PT! Well...that was true then.....but now I'm at a plateau , I guess.....
Geez.....all I want to do is brush my hair and throw pots. Is that too much to ask?????
Sigh...........

Welcome To The Sweat Shop of the Collar of the Month Club

2009-02-02T17:54:00.000-08:00

Here's the entrance to my Sweat Shop!!
You have to walk down a long hall above the Great Room.
My Sweat Shop was previously a sun room. I'm not sure what the folks who lived here before did there...... but there's no heat and no air conditioning.
It suits me just fine! Fans in the summer and a small heater in the winter. It's all windows so it's quite bright.

Here's my Viking Sewing Machine! What fabulous piece of machinery! I can
sew anything with this baby!! Everything from leather to chiffon. It handles all my collar work with ease.
Yes....That's a TV over there....I can't work any length of time up there with out my TV....and my large iced tea! And a picture of Hefty smiling down at me! There's a tape measure at the edge of the table in front of the sewing machine. That way I can easily measure each collar as I 'm making it.

This is how I store my fabric strips. Some of my fabrics are pre-cut into
strips for faster work-up. When I first started out....I cut all my fabric. I soon found that that wasn't the wisest thing to do. Now I cut a few and store the rest of the fabric in numbered tubs that correspond to the racks.

These are the tubs that correspond to the racks of fabric strips. 6 tubs...6 racks.
And on the top of the rack are rolls of webbing. LOTS of it in lots of colors. I used to use lots of different colors of webbing....til I found it that pretty colors bleed when they get wet. That's not good!!! I need collars to be washable.
On the lower shelves are even MORE fabrics that aren't even cataloged yet!
Over to the far left is shoe holder. This was my sister Susan's idea and it's a great one. I should have taken a better picture of it! All of my pre-cut webbings are stored in the pockets according to size and color. It makes it SO handy!! THANK YOU SUSAN!!
(I sure miss her.... I'll have to do my next blog about her)

Here's some more shelves.....these tubs hold my Collar of the Month Club
fabrics. I like to keep them separate from the other fabrics.
I also have a big supply of leather pieces and couch samples.....just in case.....in case of what? I don't know....
Also on these shelves is my collection of greyhound fabric. Who KNEW how much greyhound fabric was actually OUT there??!!
And of course.....some of my ever present audience....Karroo.

Here's hardware supply...at least the 1 1/2 inch ones.

I'm a very lazy girl.......yes it's true..and one of the things I
hate doing is filing fabric strips. So there is always a big pile of them to be put away.
If I ever get an assistant.....this is DEFINITELY something they will be doing.

Here's a big assortment of HotFix Swarovski Crystals. (not ALL I have) All colors and a few different sizes. I can add bling to any collar to jazz it up. Or just one gem.....cute.

Here's my constant companions. Hefty, Karroo, and Prince. Prince is ALWAYS there. Hefty most of the time......Karroo some of the time...Duke some of the time..... Gina even comes and visits on occasion. Sometimes I have a hard time moving around in there. It's not a big space!

Here are 3 brand new hot off the press collars on their way to some pups! The first one is 1 1/2 inch and the pair are 1 inch wide. I only make fitted collar......some folks take a minute to wrap their brains around that concept. WHAT!?!?! No adjustment??? But once they use mine....most often they're sold..... Collar of the Month Club collars are light weight, strong and don't change their size. Plus they are reasonably priced!

Here's Karroo.....

and Hefty....

and Duke......

and Prince...

and of course the
reining queen
Gina.

We put 1 inch collars on the girls and 1 1/2 inch
on the boys.

www.collarofthemonthclub.com

How Cold Is It???

2009-01-17T18:32:00.000-08:00

SO....
I've never liked Michigan much.....
And this really clinches it.
0 degrees and LOWER!!!! WTF!!!

We can't even walk out our front DOOR!!!!!
We could be impaled by giant killer icicles! Some are over 4 feet long! Luckily we can come in the house another way.... :-)
It's so cold that Laze's mitten froze to an icicle she was trying to throw away! Now THAT'S a pretty funny picture!

So the dogs are staying inside A LOT! Going outside involves coats and sometimes boots. But not so often boots. But always coats right now while it's below 10 degrees!
With not much to do........except whine at us.....eat.....and chew.
I bought some nice big shank bones at the store. They take up a LOT of time for some.... And some chew on rawhides. And some sleep.......a LOT. Some (Karroo) plot future naughty undertakings.....

Duke spends MOST of his time when he isn't whining at us chewing....
and he LOVES his bones! ANY kind of chewey will do. He's almost completed an entire knuckle bone.
I think Hefty is wanting Christmas to come back!
Prince is skeptical about having to wear his coat all the time.
Gina hunkered down waiting for Karroo to be done with at least ONE of her bones.....
And Karroo chewed for SO long that she almost fell asleep...................

Nasty Corns, Poor Greyhound

2009-01-11T17:59:00.000-08:00

POOR HEFTY .....He has the nastiest corns I've ever seen on a dog.
And we just can't seem to get rid of them.
He has them on every foot.
And they are big on every foot. And they grow and grow and grow.....
I've circled them in these pictures...

So what I have to do......is cut them out....... regularly. Sounds gruesome, eh? But it's not.

I thought I'd explain a bit ....
because others out there have dogs that have nasty corns too.
So Here's what I do............
First I soak Hefty's foot with a warm soapy cloth-a washcloth works well-and keep it from dripping all over with a baggy.

The pads need to soak for about 10 minutes.
Then it will look like this:

See! The corn is all soft now! I use a utensil intended for cuticle cutting. It has it's cutting blades on an angle. You can poke the blade under the corn edge on one side. Then you poke the other blade under the other side of the corn. Lift the corn...wiggle it up...then cut it off! You will have a small rock in your hand! I promise it doesn't hurt.

And now the corn is cut out!!!!

These are examples of the nasty rocks
that Hefty has to walk around on until I cut them out.

So something I'm trying new now is adding
Abreva to the cut away areas. I meant to stick a bit of duct tape over it after it dried.....but I forgot....
I'll have to let you know if it helps.

Hefty will too!

Hair....and Rotator Cuff Surgery

2009-01-07T16:41:00.000-08:00

January 7, 2009

So I had shoulder surgery on October 29, 2008. This is the second time I've had this surgery. I put it off a long time. It's really painful. And REALLY puts you out of commission for a long time. Being a potter...and a sewer...that needs to use her right hand....a LOT....it's been darned inconvenient. When you can't even wash yourself or dress yourself....it's pretty sad. I am blessed as I have a partner living with me that can do all that stuff for me! And she's been off work all this time because of an Achilles tendon injury so she's home all day too! Between the two of us we just about have one good body.
But what I'm coming to is ....hair. When you are as vain as I am, you worry about what the heck you're gonna do with your hair for 4 months while you recoup. I was told....cut it really short! well-thanks.....but no.... So I decided to get it corn-rowed! Now, You can have this done right or you can have it done badly. Since I am a white woman.....it's a little more difficult. So I called around my town and was finally told --yes I can do that! So I went to this small salon and met this lady (who was also white) who said she could corn-row my hair. What a HORRIBLE experience!! Never again!!!! I should have trusted my first instinct and gone STRAIGHT to Ypsilanti to the homegirls' salons there!!! Stupid me!! But...such is life....and I was stuck with it for at least a week as I had my surgery the next day. 5 days later I was at my doctors office and the receptionist had braids and I asked her where she had hers done. She said her cousin had a salon in Ypsi. I asked if she thought she'd do a white girl <<<>>>. She said OF COURSE! <<<>>> Gave me her number and I called her as soon as I got to the car!! The next day I met with Nina and she did my hair FABULOUSLY!!!! and it lasted almost a month! She's now done it twice more now...Nina ROCKS!
It's fabulous to not have to worry about your hair AT ALL every day.....

First Post

2009-01-06T15:44:00.000-08:00

January 6, 2009

This is my very first post of my very first blog. Laze is making fun of me cause she says I really don't need one more thing to do. But I have been jealous of others that have a blog and wanting my own. Not that I have much to say.....I really don't! But I wanted a place to tell folks about my store and upcoming events and such. So here it is!
I also wanted a place to show off my hounds. doG I love them and they are the lights of my life! So why shouldn't ya'll see them too??
Laze and I have 5 greyhounds. We have had 4 others in the past that have passed..........
I'll introduce them by age:

Gina (N's Sugartime)

Hefty (LJ's Hefty)

Prince (Prairie Prince)

Karroo (Santa Fe Laze)

Duke (Imthedukeofearl)

Wow...this DOES take a chunk of time...specially if you upload pictures......
So this is it for now... I guess I'll get faster with time, eh?