Today, on what must be one of the hottest days of the year (only 30C or so, those people I know who live in Texas!), I was completely content to sit in my cool studio and assemble a Blue-footed Booby Jug. I threw the parts on Tuesday and left them to firm up while I glazed all day yesterday and slab-rolled 7 oval plates for another ‘Artist Raid’ here next week.

I’ll leave the Jug with thin plastic draped over it, not all around it, and have some more fun next week, painting it to resemble the Booby even more. It was interesting to put the eyes facing forwards – Boobies have binocular vision I read.

As my glaze firing reached temp (cone 04, 1922F) this afternoon I was so glad that my kiln is no longer in the corner of my basement. Back in the eighties that’s where it was.

Thanks to friend Robert Howell for the original photo of a Booby. I think he and Jennifer saw them in the Galapagos Islands.

I tried something a little different for a handle – it makes a larger space inside for liquid and can be held around the rim. Let’s see if it pours when it’s fired.

Tomorrow I’ll be able to see the finished loons.