TWO MASTERS OF THE CLAY - MY LAST PARTY GUESTS ARE HERE

Gaby, Esslingen, Baden Wuerttemberg, Germany

http://objekte-aus-ton.blogspot.com

Liebe Yael,
ich schicke Dir vier Fotos von einem Rakubrand, den ich schon vor einiger Zeit  in Frankreich gemacht habe. Diese Technik ist ein sogenannter Rauchbrand, bei dem die Objekte aus dem glühenden Ofen bei 1000 Grad mit langen Zangen entnommen und anschließend in Eimern mit Sägemehl geräuchert werden. Durch den enormen Temperaturschock entstehen Risse in der Glasur, in die sich der Rauch einlagert und schwarz färbt. Alle Objekte müssen anschließend von Rauch und Asche gereinigt werden. Vielleicht kannst Du das für mich übersetzen? Vielen Dank - so long, Gaby.

Dear Yael,

I am sending you four pictures of a Raku firing I've done some time ago in France. This technique is a so-called smoke-fire, in which the objects are removed from the iron furnace at 1000 degrees with long tongs, and then smoked in tin buckets filled with sawdust. Due to the enormous thermic shock cracks appear in the glaze, in which the smoke sets and colors them black. All objects must then be cleaned of smoke and ash. Thank you - so long, Gaby.

Raku" means "happiness by chance" - this is really amazing - thank you Gaby, your work is beautiful!

Jill, New York, United States (Sheva's mom)

http://www.glazed-over.blogspot.com

Ok, Yael. Here’s what I have to bring to this spectacular party of yours. It’s my and Avi’s favorite Oriental Kale Salad recipe. It’s as simple as pie to make. The hardest part is agreeing to share it with everybody. Because of that, I made a truckload extra so I won’t feel so jealous about sharing. Here’s the recipe…

Ingredients:
A bunch of chopped kale
1-2 cloves minced garlic
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1-2 Tablespoons sesame oil
1 Tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

(Do I have to admit that I totally made up those amounts? I really don’t know exactly how much sesame oil or soy sauce I use each time. Your guess is as good as mine!)

Lightly steam the chopped kale in a double boiler for about 9 minutes. While it’s steaming, mix the rest of the marinade ingredients. When the kale is finished steaming, immediately rinse it in cold water to stop the cooking process. Once cool, aggressively squeeze out all of the excess water from the kale and then mix with marinade. Enjoy!

Do you like my twig furniture? I made that last week from twigs that had fallen from our tree house tree during the blizzard that we had last week. They were sitting on TOP of the snow and they looked so odd there, so conspicuous. I collected a few, found a tube of good glue, and got busy. So I barely noticed the blizzard outside. Can you just imagine how therapeutic that was!


Welcome little Avi! Jill, I truly held my breath when I saw this marvelous display of stick furniture! It is so absolutely fantastic cool and cute! What a creative spark you had, seeing those twigs on the snow! 
Please visit Jill's Etsy shop and see what a wonderful artistic potter she is:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/glazedover