14 October 2015

Mom's Rolling Pin

I remember mom's rolling pin from my childhood, tho I think she'd had it even before then, when she herself was a child.  She had two, I think one was her mother's and one was hers.  When I was a child and thru my teens, I used one and she used the other.

In the spring of this year, Jerry and I had went
thru mom's kitchen, packing most of it to return to my father and brother.  We removed perishables, and used them.  Most of the dishes, pots, pans, bakewear, pie pans, cookie sheets, utensils, etc, we packed for my brother~~my mother and I had talked about how my brother does way more cooking than I do and would use those things.

Mom was all about utility; beautiful items that are functional were the optimal gifts for her to give and receive.  But there were sometimes when the aesthetics of a piece trumped its practicality.  At such times, those pleasing aesthetics were indeed the function of that item; truly a piece of art, in whatever media, falls squarely in this framework.

There are a few things from the kitchen I brought home.  One of them was mom's rolling pin.  Jerry had asked me if it was ok, if I would want him to do some wood burning to it, because he wanted to and he misses mom, he loved her too.

Of course it was a great idea.  So he discussed with me various ideas regarding designs, what information to include, her maiden name, and so forth.  And then he spent a few months giving it lots of thought.

This past week, Jerry worked on the rolling pin for days.  Today, he finished up the display board.  I love it.

7 comments:

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    1. the needle/thread "S" seen in the second picture is what is on the mugs, Jerry carved those as well. Like the leaves? There are three glazes we're gotten it narrowed down to, Cushing Green, Pete's Cranberry, and "De Blues Clues" {that's not the actual name of it, but close enough and it's what all the students have been calling it for years now~~which is sorta sad, while a bit funny}...plus the cobalt wash highlights in the carving and some pieces will have cobalt in other areas too. The Cushing and Pete's have a nice amount of depth and some variation in shadings, as well as completely different colors sometimes appear, depending on the position of the piece in the kiln and the fumes from the other pieces. We're still testing using sample pieces. Also, all three glazes could blend well on the same pieces, so that will give some nice variety. The Cushing and Pete's images are available online, if you want to see what they look like. Keep in mind that what we are using is porcelain and not clay, and also there are variations due to the added materials. So for instance, Pete's appears more reddish and maroon online, but for us, the shadings involve more purple with some tinges of red and even bluish undertones. The strong cranberry that is the default or pure glaze is toned down quite a bit. Cushing appears green online; it remains green with the material, however it also has some brownish areas and fades to almost yellow in some ways. The blue is more of a robin's egg blue, or a lighter blue. The three glazes have a middle range on gloss, not matte or dull overall. However, even there is a significant amount of cobalt wash under "De Blues Clues", then the overall glaze on the piece is VERY glossy. So all the test samples of these glazes have been good so far. We're trying a few more combinations, within these three, with and without the cobalt wash to get a better idea of how the final forty pieces will be. The yellows, golds, and browns we've tried are...shudder...not so good. We've also tried some sieved additive in stock, some unsieved, and some without additive in the various glazes. One sample piece is...well, it looks like someone sneezed styrofoam globules and I think we can all agree that that is NOT the effect we'd like.

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  2. It was very much a labor of love. I like to think that even She would approve.

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    1. and that's extra sweet was the time, thought, and love you put into it.
      and i do think she'd've liked it.
      i love you, thank you for doing this.
      debra

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    2. Indeed, I believe she would. Nicely done Jerry.

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