Sometimes Ya Just Putz Around

I'm in my studio every day.  I call it a studio, but it's actually a bedroom I slowly took over before my husband realized it!  Anyway, sometimes I 'm in there in a fever with ideas I dreamed of or sketched out...or something I saw that has given me an idea.  More often than not, though, I'm just in there putzing around, sitting at my table and staring out on the flora and fauna in my yard ( We have a one acre lot that is completely covered in ferns, trees, wildflowers...well, you can just say I have my own Sherwood Forest outside my back door).
However, one recipe I tried after reading one of my myriad of books gave me the idea to use it with other colors.  It was a recipe for burled maple (redwood?), and the result was so cool (see the earrings on the far left), that I wanted to do it with other colors.  It's simple:
Choose the colors you want...doesn't mater what they are, as the colors will not be completely mixed...so no chance of making mud!  condition the clay, let it rest for a bit, chop it up and put it in a food processor (if you have one for clay).  I have a terrific coffee bean grinder that had not been used for years, so that's what I use.  I put my batch of clay in the grinder, give it a few short burts, then pour out the mixture on to my table.  Make an even layer of it all, then place some wax paper over it and roll it out with a brayer or acrylic roller (this prevents the clay from smooshing all over the place).  If the "nuggets" of your colors are too big, or you want to refine the pattern a bit more, tear up the sheet you've made into pieces, and put it back in the grinder for another go.  Just make sure your clay is cool enough that it won't "melt" into the blades.  My grinder heats up a bit, thus warms up the clay.  Do this until it's as subtle as you'd like it to be, but remember that you will eventually mix all the clay together if you keep doing it.  I find that I don't need to do this more than three times to achieve the result I want.  This photo is of three pairs of earrings I did with the technique.