Tinkerblue

Catalina Tiles - Silver Canyon Pottery

 

Not all the tiles around Catalina are original. A large portion of the, are but years of exposure to weather, humans etc have taken their toll. About 15-20 years ago various artists began the task of reproducing the iconic Catalina tiles.

 

One of those artists is Robin Cassidy, a local potter. She has a studio just outside of Avalon at Pebbly Beach. Silver Canyon Pottery is basically 3 shipping containers side by side...plus a balcony.

 

 

Here a Robin creates the reproduction tiles and some original art tiles

 

 

Robin offers a couple of tours of her studio. They are small tours, about 8 people each. Robin talks about the history of Catalina Tile and demonstrates the many steps that go into making a tile. Our group consisted of 5 adults and two 6 year old boys. What was great was Robin's ability to keep us all entertained, informative for the adults and fun short facts for the boys.

 

 

After Robin's demonstration we got to make three tiles each. We chose our moulds either from the reproduction designs or from some more contempory choices.

 

First step - slice the clay and smooth out any major imperfections with our fingers

 

 

Step two - push the clay into the mould, then cover with wax paper and whack it with a mallet to get all the air pockets out and the clay into all the nooks and crannies.

 

 

Step three - use a piece of wood to remove the extra clay and make sure the tile is even.

 

 

Step four - sign the back of the tile, and leave in the sun to bake a while.

 

 

Step five - turn tile out of mould.

 

 

Step six - select colours and leave for Robin to fire in the kiln.

 

 

Step seven - two weeks later Robin mails you the finished tile. Or in my case I picked it up the next time we visited Catalina.

 

 

 

The tiles are all stacked in the kiln for firing. I kind of like how the back of the tile has the image from the tile which was stacked under it.

 

 

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Lemon Meringue Kisses and Lemon Curd

This is a recipe from Barb's cookbook. "It'll be in... My Next Cookbook" by Barbara Qualley. She first made them about 4 years ago. Well she'd probably made them before that, but that was when I first inhaled them.

I'm a lemon and lime type of girl. Lime margaritas, lemon cheesecake, lemon cookies, tequila lime coconut macaroon slices, tequila lime BBQ chicken...

So these are right up my alley. Barb does a better job at them than I did. Hers are much prettier. Mine look like blobs not kisses. They still taste good. And the lemon curd I could eat by the bowlful. Ooh maybe on my toast for breakfast?

 

Advent Calendar Day #23 - Christmas Crackers

For years I've made the Christmas Crackers. This year, I didn't think I was going to have anyone to make them for.

Then Morag and I received a generous invitation to spend Christmas in Edmonton with Heather and Judy and their family. So the crackers were back on.

Oops I stopped saving the empty toilet roles and now I'm 3 rolls short!

Morag had never made Christmas Crackers before. Or tissue paper crowns. Now she's made both. Who knew Christmas with me could be such a learning experience?

Oops #2 - I didn't have as many toys/gifts/decorations saved as I thought I did.

5 crackers are complete.
1 cracker needs a toy or gift or something
2 crackers need to be made & thy need gifts.

Talk about leaving things until the last minute.

Family of Snowman

This family of snowman is also complete and on its way to its new home.

Advent Calendar Day #13 - Make a Gift Part 2

Remember this? Did you ever work out what it was? No?

It's an advent calendar. Each sock is a different day. To be filled with a chocolatey treat, a christmas decoration, or an activity, a small gift or whatever you would like.

 

 

I typed up a list of suggested activities. Some that I have used, some I have not. I tried to keep them family friendly. "Have a glass of Bailey's" is probably not appropriate for the under 10 set. But "Have hot chocolate with all the fixings" is.

 

 

I ended up not using the little pegs with santa faces because they were not strong enough to hold the socks.  I was sad. They were so cute. They are sitting on my dining room table waiting for a project.  The socks are all bagged up and on their way to the recipients. I hope they enjoy it next year.

 

Advent Calendar Day #13 - Make a Gift For a Friend

I haven't done much in the way of Christmas crafting this year. My heart has just not been in it. But last week i suddenly had this bright idea.

A bright idea that needed 6 pairs of red infant or toddler socks and 6 pairs of white socks. Who knew how difficult that search would be. I never did find red socks. I did find various pairs of red and grey, so red and grey it is.

It's not done yet. Have you worked out what it is? Come on, it's easy. Hopefully I'll finish it this week. I certainly hope so, Christmas is coming.

The last photo is another project I started tonight. It's not done either. Gotta wait for the paint to dry. Next time I get a bright idea 12 sleeps before Christmas, please tell me I'm mad.

Maggie

What to give a little girl whose turning one?  After rummaging through all my craft boxes I found this:

 

and these:

 

Obviously I'd been saving them for something or someone.  I had the letter forms in an A, C, E, G, and M.No idea what that combo was supposed to spell out. I'd long since forgotten who they were for.  Now I just needed an I and a G. A quick trip to Michaels solved that.

 

A bottlle of decoupage glue, a hot glue gun and a lot of mess later, I had a birthday present for a one year old. They can be hang on a wall or left free standing on a shelf or ledge.

 

 

The King of Gingerbread Houses

Mum gave us a gingerbread house to decorate.

 

Hubby wanted nothing to do with it. We made him.

 

Then he found out he got to use a power tool.  Well a battery operated icing gun.

 

He got creative and added falling snow and icicles.

 

Now he wants to know how much he could sell it for.

A Forest of Reindeer

This getting up at 5am gives me a lot of time in the morning. Well, except for yesterday when I came home from boot camp and went straight back to bed. For the rest of the day.  I'm not kidding. I got out of bed around 4pm. I was so tired and snuffly.  

 

Today... I've done a whole lot of housework, laundry, and some Christmas crafts. Yep, Christmas crafts.  I've had these kits for some time and forgot about them. When we were cleaning up for the garage sale I unearthed them.  Moved them to the "to do" list.

 

 

The kits come with all the felt and brads. I had to supply the needle and thread. Which, as you can see, was not an issue. Oh and the stuffing. We had a bag of that in the garage as well.  

 

 

Reindeers and Happy Trees.  Adorable.  We'll keep one of each and the others will be Christmas presents. Maybe. I distinctly remember my family saying something to the effect of "stop sending us Christmas crap, what are we supposed to do with it?" 

 

 

And look at this poor tree...he's short an eye and a cheek.  They were missing from the kit.  So he's laying on the coffee table waiting. Waiting for me to find a small pink and a small black brad. I looked in the garage, but despite all the crap there were no brads. Looks like some weird alien cartoon character.

 

 

The kits are from Paper and String in the UK.   If you don't want to make your own, you can also buy the ready made felt ornaments. I have an elf from a few years back, that is too cute. I might have to make/buy a penguin next. 

 

 

And a Tornado Swept Through Our House

Two of them actually.  Two 6 year olds.  Oops, sorry I've been corrected.  I spent the day with Miss "I'm 7 in two weeks" and Miss "I'm 6 and a half".  I'm also not supposed to say that I was baby sitting, "We're not babies."  (Little Miss 7 in 2 weeks is in the purple, she is the daughter of friends. Little Miss 6 and a half is in the yellow, she is our niece).

 

 

I thought we might be in for a nice relaxing day when their first activity of choice was to watch a movie. Two movies in fact.  Lilo and Stitch followed by Lilo and Stitch 2.  This required dressing up as princess first. However the nice, relaxing didn't last long, they needed something to do.  Colouring was too boring. Our Wii games were too hard for one, and too easy for the other!  One wanted to go to the park, one didn't. This could be a long day.

  

After much to-ing and fro-ing a decision was reached.  Lunch and then some baking. The unanimous decision was lunch at McDonalds. Both princesses assured me that "mummy said it would be okay."  I very much doubt that.  But that's my job - to spoil them. Their McHappy meals came with little red riding hood dolls. We took them home, raided the craft drawers and the recycling and built houses for little red riding hood. 

  
  

 
Between the building of houses and baking of smore's brownies the afternoon quickly disappeared and it was time for both Little Misses to head home. It was declared an awesome day. I guess that means the day was a success. Actually I think the highlight of they day was the 15mins I left them alone with Hubby. They climbed all over him, chased him up and down the stairs.  They were so excited and he was terrified.

 

Yep, they are sitting on the kitchen floor mixing the brownies.