Because I Needed A New Hobby Like I Need A Hole In My Head

So, a friend of mine has been charged with bringing some largesse items to Pennsic for a foreign royal house (who will be giving them out as largesse to their populace members), and she asked for my help.

We went to Café Monet, a paint-your-own-pottery place here in Austin, and IT WAS SO MUCH FUN OMG YOU GUYS.  I've never painted ceramics before - I've painted terra cotta planters to look like ceramic, with acrylic paints, but this was a whole new animal for me.  (It was totally weird to paint something and not really have any idea if it was going to look right after firing, but it was also kind of exciting!) Each of us painted two pieces.  Here are the two that I made:

They're cordial cups - about 8" tall, with a cup about 2", I think.  The one on the right is sort of a fish-scale thing, and the one on the left was meant to resemble an Egyptian lotus chalice (I've always loved them, and this color scheme is basically my favorite thing in the entire world).  My friend made a really lovely green-and-yellow one with a design on the stem meant to make it look fluted, and one in the colors of the kingdom where these cups will eventually live.  It's so neat to think that somebody in another kingdom - another whole country, even! - might be carrying around something I made! Squee!

I cannot WAIT to go back and do some more of this.  I LOVE painting things.  Pictures, yes, and furniture - but my favorite thing to paint is little boxes and containers. I have soooo many ideas of things at the studio that I'd LOVE to paint as gifts and as feast items for myself.

You know, because I have all this extra time on my hands....o_O  

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