Author Archives: Carol McDonough

About Carol McDonough

Carol McDonough owner of CMcDonough Designs, has been making pottery, clay and glass sculptures for over 35 years.

Who let the cat OUT !?!?

The usual cry around here is “Who let the cat IN!!” This spring however we have had to lock up Liz for the sake of two Bluebird,one Tree Swallow, and three or four Barn Swallow nests. Oh yeah, let’s not forget the Hummingbirds.

she looks so sweet

We live on an 80 acre farm with several out buildings including a huge barn so all nine of the cats live outside my house. There are exceptions for illness and old age but they are only allowed in my pottery studio and the breezeway. As long as they don’t break anything.

Liz lounging in the barn doorway, now that’s a breezeway

Most of the cats have had their summer of carnage when they were young but usually some strategic mouse traps at the base of the bluebird houses, a well thrown glass of water or letting the dogs out kept things under control. But Liz is a holy terror. She hides under the red poppies to grab unsuspecting Hummingbirds.

I love red flowers so do Hummingbirds

She also thinks it’s a great good game when the Barn Swallows dive bomb her. She waits for them to swoop into range and tries to grab them out of the air. Barn Swallows build their nests in the most unreachable spots you can imagine, not even a coon could get them. Yet they insist on putting themselves at risk and of course if the parent dies…

Barn Swallow nest stuck in a corner of the porch roof

Most cats outgrow this penchant for birds, they get harassed too but they keep their head down and move it along. They sleep under the car instead of on top of it and I even had one old cat, Floyd that laid out in the sun and let the Mockingbirds slam right into him.

Floyd and Trip, two old cats

So we’ll see who wins this battle of wills. My plan as usual is to feed her till she’s too fat to care. It’s worked on most of them so far.

dry cat food again?

excuse me

perhaps you didn’t hear me before

The real question is what level of damage can I stand!

Then I remind myself, baby birds are baby birds,

cats are cats

and clay is dirt.

Time? That’s all I have.

PS. Cali was another holy terror (she nailed a squirrel when she was still a kitten) but these days all she wants is IN !

Cali blending into the clay

Don’t count your chickens…

Well I was planning to write this post as My New Medusa, but the kiln goddess decided to take me down a peg. After many years of experience and many hard learned lessons I apparently needed a refresher course in the perils of firing damp pottery, the importance of providing air holes to places that need them and taking the time that is needed to dry out an item that took two weeks to make.

Indeed my outdoor walls are festooned with Green Men that died in the glaze kiln. I like to think those aren’t my fault but seriously, is there any one else in the room? perhaps the cat sleeping under the chair? Perhaps.

However blowing a piece up in a bisque fire is ALWAYS a function of water inside the piece that is trapped when the outer skin is dryer and the resulting steam can’t escape. But it does escape in a most spectacular way.

In my defense it rained for about two weeks straight. I’m kind of surprised more things didn’t blow!

Scarred Woman

Glazing Pottery

Glazing is one of the most nerve wracking and at the same time the most satisfying aspect of making pottery. The transformation from a dull dusty finish to the shiny colors of finished pieces is nothing short of amazing. Before we glaze the pottery must be bisque fired. This turns the clay to stone and allows easier handling and better absorption of the glaze into the pores of the ware. It’s important to glaze soon after the bisque fire to avoid a build up of dust and grease that can inhibit the glaze from staying put during the next firing.In the bisque fire the green ware can be stacked and stuffed in pretty tightly. I put enough items in this bisque fire to do two glaze firings.After the firing everything is unstacked and laid out on the table. I use a white and a dark brown stoneware for handbuilding. The white cylinders hold up the shelves and must be a little taller than everything else on the shelf.So, we have lots of glazing ahead but first we must wax our bottoms! Glaze melts and if it is left on the bottom of a pot and placed on a shelf and fired it will turn from art to artifact before you can say “another kiln shelf ruined!!”.Speaking of things getting ruined, any place that wax is, glaze will not stick. We must be careful not to put waxy fingerprints or drips on places that want glaze. The only remedy for sloppy waxing is a refire in the next bisque to burn it off. So with one hand for the pot and one for the wax we press on.I usually start with the accent glazes in multi colored items. These accents can be covered by a dip in another glaze, or I might cover it with wax to make it stand out more. I do many many test tiles with different glaze combinations to see what works and then I WRITE IT ALL DOWN!! It is so important to keep records of firings, glazes, how applied, how thick etc. It really cuts down on the clinkers!

Things start to get more organized as we glaze. I am currently having fun with a line of glazes, Stroke&Coat by Mayco. They come in a rainbow of colors, won’t run or react to each other, can be mixed or laid one color over another. I also use them to sponge onto some of my big bucket glazes.These Victorian house bird feeders had accent glazes painted on to shutters, doors etc then wax on the color, then dipped in my half filled 5 gallon bucket of “white enamel”. I use a sponge to dab off any white glaze that sticks to the wax while it is still wet.These turtles have been dipped in “lemon yellow” glaze, the one on the left has a layer of stroke & Coat orange underneath. After wiping the bottom of their feet they are loaded in the kiln. Everything gets on last once over with a wet sponge to remove any specks of glaze on the bottom.We then load the glaze kiln, where nothing can touch, and must be about a 1/4 inch away because as the firing progresses everything will get larger, and then shrink to a smaller size than when we started. Hello Alice, we are in wonderland now.After 8-10 hours in a hot kiln and another 12 hours cooling off…..Magic has happened!All that was dull and dusty is now shiny, bright and new again!I like to play around with possible combinations, the roof and porch are not attached so they are interchangeable. The leaves in front are awaiting a copper wire to transform them into Woodsprites.Having a cat wandering through makes life so much more excitingA formal picture and a posting online completes the cycle, time to clean off the table and begin again!

migrating fish

My Silica Based Life Form Fish have really been getting around. This one just came home from the Zanesville Museum of Art’s 70th Ohio Exhibition.

The Fish below just landed at the Dairy Barn in Athens Ohio and will travel to Athens West Virginia and Athens Georgia over the next year as part of the Athens Voices Show Upcoming Exhibitions | Dairy Barn

Silica Based Life Form
Fish

Five more of my slumped glass sculptures will be moving from Parkersburg West Virginia to Athens Ohio as part of the Women of Appalachia Show

Women of Appalachia | Their Stories & Their Art Exhibition

In the Eye of the Storm

Silica Based Life Form
Flower

There’s an opening at the Dairy Barn January 16, 2015 from 5-7 pm and a reception for the Women of Appalachia Exhibit at the Multicultural Center in Athens Ohio March 13, 2015.

All of these sculptures are for sale if you live close enough we can negotiate the shipping charges.

Ode to Kato

With a bladder the size of a pea

and the attention span of a flea,

I romp through my day

and sleep where I lay

I think this life is the bee’s knees!!

The world’s my favorite chew toy!

I’m gonna grow into a big boy!

There’s just one command

I won’t understand

Why must I go out to make wee wee!!!

I said he’d grow into a BIG BOY but I had NO IDEA HOW BIG! This pic is Kato on his first birthday 6-30-15 it’s the same flower pot different flowers.

Victorian House Bird Feeders

There’s been quite a building boom going on here at C McDonough Designs. I received a commission to build one of my Victorian House bird feeders with a bright turquoise roof, porch and shutters and yellow/green windows.

As any potter will tell you never make just one!!! There are three reasons for this rule.

1: one is the height of hubris, the kiss of death and just plain silly!!

2: If it’s a tall item, you’ll need other tall items to fill the shelf.

3: You will eventually sell another one so be prepared!!

Puppies are a great help in the studio, dog hair is the best sweeping compound EVER!

Opening glaze kilns is one of the most satisfying part of my job, I love shiny things!!

Tufted Titmice like black oil sunflower seeds.

Any photo on my blog is taken by me and can be ordered as a print or a note card.

Barn Swallows nesting on the front porch

The nest is in the upper right hand corner.

About two days after a pair of Barn Swallows successfully fledged a brood of four babies from their usual nest spot in the attic of the grainery, they got busy building a new nest on the front porch. They started building on June 15.

they collect mud and plant

fibers to build with

every 10-15 minutes another bit was added

as you can see it was hot outside and you might also see a reflection of the glass as I did my documenting in air conditioned comfort

it is a two birdie job from sun up to sun down

finally on or about June 19-20 (solstice time) eggs were laid and sitting ensued

EUREKA the feeding begins July 17 I hope you enjoyed your down time Mom

Looking like some pretty angry birds there are four but it’s hard to get a good group shot with all the jostling I kept the cats away with some well placed glasses of water

and then there were three…

and then there were two… and then they came back for visits for a few days..

hope to see you all next year…….

If you would like a cd of the pictures in this or any other post for a screen saver contact me.

STONEHENGE

Stonehenge, a circle of enormous stones brought to that spot by people working with stone and wood tools. Two different types of stone, one for the posts and one for the lintels. Knobs carved into the uprights and holes carved into the cross stones to hold them in place.

Not much is known about the people who built it but we can surmise that they were well organized and had the time and desire to build a place that was concerned with the passage of the sun. Early peoples were much more acquainted with the changes of the moon and sun cycles and the effects on their everyday lives.

the following is an excerpt from wikipedia, there is a lot more info there

“Stonehenge evolved in several construction phases spanning at least 1,500 years. There is evidence of large-scale construction on and around the monument that perhaps extends the landscape’s time frame to 6,500 years. It is in the middle of the most dense complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred burial mounds.^[1]

The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC.

Evidence of the second phase is no longer visible. The number of postholes dating to the early 3rd millennium BC suggest that some form of timber structure was built within the enclosure during this period.

Archaeological excavation has indicated that around 2600 BC, the builders abandoned timber in favor of stone and dug two concentric arrays of holes in the centre of the site. These stone sockets are only partly known (hence on present evidence are sometimes described as forming ‘crescents’); however, they could be the remains of a double ring.

The north-eastern entrance was widened at this time, with the result that it precisely matched the direction of the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset of the period. This phase of the monument was abandoned unfinished, however; the small standing stones were apparently removed and the holes purposefully backfilled. Even so, the monument appears to have eclipsed the site at Avebury in importance towards the end of this phase.

During the next major phase of activity, 30 enormous Oligocene–Miocene sarsen stones (shown grey on the plan) were brought to the site. They may have come from a quarry, around 25 miles (40 km) north of Stonehenge on the Marlborough Downs, or they may have been collected from a “litter” of sarsens on thechalk downs, closer to hand. The stones were dressed and fashioned with mortise and tenon joints before 30 were erected as a 33 metres (108 ft) diameter circle of standing stones, with a ring of 30 lintel stones resting on top. The lintels were fitted to one another using another woodworking method, the tongue and groove joint”

the guides were very well informed and they worked for peanuts!!!

Pubs Pubs Pubs

The first six days in England we stayed at a pub, The Fox and Goose, there was a beautiful garden spot between the hotel and the pub. This made life super simple at the beginning and the end of each day.

the garden at the Fox & Goose

I already covered day one so let’s get on with day two, three, four, I lost count…

look a PUB

This one was near the Tower of London

The Sherlock Holmes Pub where I had Bangers and Mash!!! and BEER

The Sherlock Holmes was down an alley.

mmmmmm…..beer
we did our best to try one of each

We spent three days in Salisbury, a very picturesque place with lots of PUBS!!!

The Mill with a lovely river in front/back

The Kings Head Inn, I think we’ll head inn for a BEER

the Lazy Cow, known for it’s burgers and BEER!

the Ox Row Inn, didn’t know oxen could row!!

Bill’s a Pub with BEER!

the New Inn looks pretty olde

Back to the big city of London which is like New York in that is is a collection of boroughs in a mega city.

A Friend at Hand

“Friend at Hand Pub”

Another Pub down an alley

A Friend at Hand indeed!

There was a dog on the sign,

We couldn’t resist.

The mysterious woman in blue is my traveling companion, Wendy. She’s in charge of finding our way but she became a believer in my ability to find a pub.

Merry olde England the pubs and pagans tour

the Fox & Goose Pub/hotel

Just returned from Merry Olde England on the pubs and pagans tour. We stayed at the Fox and Goose in Wembly , London for the first 6 days, we tried to get the most from our London passes, I’m sure the travel card was worth it. TRAVEL TIP the tube has many flights of steps at every stop. Get at least three maps of your destination(one could be wrong) Better yet book a ride from the airport and just look for the guy with a sign of your name. Or hump your luggage in a brain dead state and ask every one along the way for a place they’ve never heard of.

the breakfast place

The coffee shop up the hill

Full of good intel on what to see and when the soccer games were happening nearby.

We did the London Bridge Experience and built up a powerful thirst, this pub was under the bridge and a great place to ride out the ten minute storm. The “Shard” was struck by lightning while we sipped in cozy comfort.