Several years ago my dad shared with me a rather amusing memory from his middle school days. He had a bit of a crush on the school librarian, a young, attractive woman, and in a scheme to spend a little more time with her, he looked up the book with the longest possible title, since these were the days when check-out slips had to be hand-written. The book in question? The Shy Stegosaurus of Indian Springs, evidently a sequel to The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek.
The tale relates how a Native American boy and few of his cohorts befriend a stegosaurus named George (because what self-respecting stegosaur wouldn't be named George?) living in the mountains, and how that friendship helps the various protagonists gain more confidence and self-acceptance. Oh, and evidently George is a bit of party animal, so shenanigans naturally ensue. Apparently that shy demeanor is just a ruse.
I've never read either book, but evidently the first book, Cricket Creek, was popular enough in its day to merit a T.V. special, which you can watch here.
With all the dinosaur mugs I've been making, I couldn't help but think of this little anecdote from my dad's childhood, and decided that he'd be getting a stegosaurus mug for Christmas.
I started by throwing a mug and drawing the skeleton. I'll admit, the head is too big on this fellow to be proportionate, but we'll just say he's a little kid dinosaur. After all, the heads of human babies are large in proportion to their bodies.
After the firing, it was time to glaze it. My go-to with the dinosaur mugs is a turquoise-brown color called Floating Blue, but for this piece I wanted to go with a more overtly blue tone, since that is my dad's favorite color. After debating the matter, I settled on two shades of blue. I began by painting little stripes of a light blue around the piece.
Once that dried, I covered them with wax resist. I then dipped the entire piece is a much darker, almost cobalt color called Miranda.
After the dip, it was just a matter of waiting for it to be fired and see how it turned out:
I've always preferred making presents for my friends and family rather than buy them, especially when I can tailor that gift to suit their tastes, preferences, or memories. In the case, a childhood recollection from my dad inspired a mug.
Time well spent, in my opinion.
The tale relates how a Native American boy and few of his cohorts befriend a stegosaurus named George (because what self-respecting stegosaur wouldn't be named George?) living in the mountains, and how that friendship helps the various protagonists gain more confidence and self-acceptance. Oh, and evidently George is a bit of party animal, so shenanigans naturally ensue. Apparently that shy demeanor is just a ruse.
I've never read either book, but evidently the first book, Cricket Creek, was popular enough in its day to merit a T.V. special, which you can watch here.
With all the dinosaur mugs I've been making, I couldn't help but think of this little anecdote from my dad's childhood, and decided that he'd be getting a stegosaurus mug for Christmas.
I started by throwing a mug and drawing the skeleton. I'll admit, the head is too big on this fellow to be proportionate, but we'll just say he's a little kid dinosaur. After all, the heads of human babies are large in proportion to their bodies.
Once that dried, I covered them with wax resist. I then dipped the entire piece is a much darker, almost cobalt color called Miranda.
Time well spent, in my opinion.
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