Menagerie Wine

I live in wine country, pretty much perfectly between Napa and Amador counties, inarguably the best places in the United States for wine. I'm a short distance from Lodi, too, and Lodi is no slouch in the winemaking department, either.

As a result of living in such a wine-rich environment, I've collected quite a few wine accessories. Among my very favorite is a gift from a friend, a zombie wine pourer.

Unfortunately for me, I went to use it, and the rubber sleeve had somehow disappeared. I wasn't about to throw it away, so I used the good old search engine to see if I could get a replacement. I found it on the Menagerie website. I'm happy to say, I found out they have more nifty wine pourers of all kinds! Skulls, vampires, and witches and jack-o'-lanterns to come!

They have more "normal" wine pourers, for those who want them. Each are whimsical and would make wonderful gifts for your wine enthusiast friends.

Of course, the wine pourers would be best with a lovely wine cup from my ShellHawk's Creations shop... (Like that incredibly smooth plug?)

More here...

Kiln Fruit

A quick peek into the kiln, because I just couldn't wait to see!

Remember all those cups I stamped a while back? Well, I spent this past weekend glazing them and was finally able to unload the kiln on Wednesday afternoon!

 I am really pleased with the results, and I think I can honestly say this is the best kiln load, so far!

As you can see, there are some glaze drips to grind down, but not many, and nothing which will ruin the piece!

The only tragedy I had was the larger of the two teapots. I'll have to replace the lid since the original developed a glaze drip on the inside, which created a lip so that the lid couldn't be removed. As Gilda Radner said, "It's always something!"

Keep an eye out for these guys to be in my Etsy store soon!