Tibetan Flowers, AI, and Clay Bells

These sweet little clay bells were inspired by a picture floating around social media of 'Tibetan Bell' flowers.

After seeing the image below someone said I should make teacups or bells that looked like them. Because I am an easily influenced person, and because it was an excellent idea, I totally did as was commanded.

But... are these REAL flowers? I suspect this image is actually AI generated. The only examples of this plant that I could find were from questionable seed sellers using this exact same image, and slew of AI sites. I could totally be wrong, but I'm leaning toward these being beautiful, but fake. Booo! The closest real flower is maybe a Fritillaria imperialis? While still beautiful, lacks the blue details. Searching 'orange and blue flowers' yields no relevant results. What do you think?  Whatever the case, we're living in weird, weird, times.

Whether these little bells were inspired by fake flowers, or the real deal, I like them well enough. I bet my fairy folk will be tickled with them too.

Tiny Clay Cottages

I have been having far too much fin with my little mini microwave kiln. That thing has been put through the ringer over the past month! It's absolutely given me a kick in the creative pants. I'm completely and totally enamored.

My latest completed pieces are a slew of little clay houses.

Here they are freshly made. Once completely dry they're popped into the kiln for their first firing.

Here they are after their first firing and with glaze drying. They look dull and muted, but once they're fired again, the colours come to life and they have a glossy finish.

I mean, how cute are these finished fellas?! It's magic.

Handmade from white earthenware clay, bisque fired, glazed, then fired again for a shiny finish.

I've learned soooo much while making these.

Each of their imperfections is a lesson learned.

How much glaze to apply. How to achieve a flat edge. How to properly affix those little chimneys. How long to fire. How... how... how... So many variables to figure out!

And while the next batch will absolutely be closer to 'perfection' this big batch of cottages are utterly charming with their dents, wobbles and drips.

If you'd like to snag some of these little cuties, I have ten sets available in my etsy shop. Each set includes 5 ooak houses in a variety of sizes and styles. Scoot on over HERE to grab a little fairy-sized town of your own.