Here is one of the bird feeders I am working on. I put some holes in the bottom as well for drainage just in case.
The top is made of three pieces, which I intend to glaze differently from each other.
Here's my mixer/pugger. It looked so nice like this I hated to get it dirty. I wish you could see this in person. I am so impressed with the quality of this thing. Every part on it is obviously chosen because it was the best they could find. There is absolutely nothing cheap or half-assed about it. Seriously, this great. I feel really lucky and grateful that it is mine.
I was able to take my scraps; some slop, leatherhard stuff and bone dry stuff, and turn it into this:
It took me just a couple of batches to get the hang of using it. I'm not sure how much I did yesterday. I'm guessing a few hundred pounds. I've been saving the plastic bags from purchased clay which worked well for storing the clay.
This last picture is for Tom Grey. He had put a post up about using cast iron pans and I told him I would put up a photo of a couple of my favorite cast iron pans. Cast iron is great. As good or better than non-stick once you get a good season on it. If you are into blackened food at all it's a must. The pan in the back on left is actually not cast iron, but it is also one of my favorite pans. It is a pressure cooker and I use it all the time for rice, soups, spaggetti sauce and most importantly dry beans. After soaking beans overnight, It takes 12 minutes to cook black beans for example and around the same time even for chickpeas. Anyone who has ever tried to cook chickpeas from scratch know that it is almost impossible to get them tender and takes HOURS.It quite literally will cook a soup or pasta sauce in minutes, and cook it as though it has been cooking all day.
13 comments:
This post makes me really want a pugger, especially after working on reclaiming some clay yesterday. Lumpy frumpy - and me grumpy with sore wrists. I feel like I have to put in more studio time to "deserve" a pugger and half-way justify it. We'll see...
Well that's just great... another thing to put on my wish list for the future studio. ;-)
We don't own a pressure cooker, but my mom had 2. I think it was the microwave of their generation for fast cooking.
I want a peter....... ha!
Lucky you, does your dad adopt?
Peter is great and we all have a bit of "peter" envy.
I dusted off my old presser cooker this past year- after buying
Local grass fed cow from some friends. I replaced the seal- hunted for two days for the top weight. And have since put it to good use. I agree it is better - with a bit of adjustment on time. It has taken the bite out of cooking some nights!
We- Tom Gray and I- live 25 minutes from the grocery store and that is for okay food- 45 minutes if you want civilization. So cooking is a must around here.
Mark and I were once given a 50 pound bag of chickpeas, I tried to cook them once. Our son used them for his sligshot! They lasted for years!
Fun birdhouses- lucky birds.
M
Patricia-are you thinking about a pugger or a pugger/mixer? It's sure a bigger decision than buying a toaster-and I have a hard time with that even.
I can't say enough about a pressure cooker. Adam has cooked stew meat in just a few minutes that was falling apart tender. It's amazing.
Hey-does anyone know how I can find out I have new comments without having to approve them? I set my settings so the comments post automatically, but now I have to check the post to see if I have any.
Deb,
Go to the dashboard Settings tab, then the Comments menu, same place you turned off moderation. Theres a box there called Email Address. Just put in your email and blogger will send you an email of comments as they are posted.
Thanks Brian, I will try that.
Oh, those are some real nice pugs. Can't wait to see how you glaze the bird feeders, very nice they are. Isn't it time consuming doing more than one glaze on each piece though? I paint mine and it seems to take forever. I once tried to cook fresh beets I grew in the oven, they took forever. A pressure cooker would have come in handy then.
the way I glaze now Linda is time consuming-period. Glazing a load of pots that took maybe two days before, now takes four or five-but I'm much happier with the pots.
Deborah, I gotta keep an eye out for one of those shallow cast iron thingamabobs. Great for pancakes, homemade tortillas, and all kinds of other stuff. Way cool piece of studio hardware too. You will not believe how important it will become over time. I too am envious. Thanks for the image!
Later-Tom
Oh Gee - bloglines is not keeping up with all your posts. It only showed one new post, but when I clicked on over, I see you've written at least 4 others.
So, commenting on all at once...
Apple picking - so jealous. When I lived in Maine, my daughter and I would drive to Cornish, ME for the day to go apple picking at least once in the fall. I miss the apple cider, barrels of apples, and all the other yummy goodies that we'd buy.
Speaking of New England, I wonder how my friends are doing with their heating bills. I cringed every time we had to fill our oil tank and that was 4 years ago now when it was less expensive. I feel for you....
Pugger - what an awesome gift! I'd love one myself, but it's low on the list of priorities. I'm still jealous...
Wedging table - You've inspired me to finish making my own. Years ago my father in law put together 2 wood frames for a wedging table that I never filled or used. I'm going to go ahead and do it. Did you use regular pottery plaster or something else?
Cynthia-your thing isn't keeping up with posts, and mine isn't sending me notification of comments to my email. I used standard pottery plaster, #1 I think. I mixed at a 2.75 lbs. plaster/1 quart (2 lbs.) water ratio for a nice hard mix.
Thanks for the info - someone gave me a huge 50 lb bag of plaster and could put it to good use and free up some space.
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