LightNews LightNews
emeraldmd.bsky.social
@emeraldmd.bsky.social
140 followers 220 following 57 posts
Hobby potter, hobby gardener, retired MD, grandma, lover of nature, science and art.
Posts Replies Media Videos
emeraldmd.bsky.social
My four 30 year-old potted evergreens (not really bonsai), deserve better pots than their current plastic homes. Here is the first pot, finished, and the second pot drying for the bisque fire.

#pottery #ceramics 🌱
2 ft by 6 inch ceramic planter. Carved design on the side, blue-green glaze. Second planter: 2 ft by 6 inch planter in leather hard brown clay, with cards geometric design, unfired. Green plastic 2 ft planter with blue-green evergreen juniper.
October 28, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Reposted
janelia-flyem.bsky.social
We're very proud to be releasing the complete male fly CNS connectome!

It's the product of a huge team effort here at Janelia in partnership with the Cambridge Fly Connectomics group (@jefferis.bsky.social and colleagues), plus invaluable collaborators.

More soon...
www.janelia.org/project-team...
Male CNS Connectome
A team of researchers has unveiled the complete connectome of a male fruit fly central nervous system —a seamless map of all the neurons in the brain and nerve cord of a single male fruit fly and the ...
www.janelia.org
October 5, 2025 at 6:02 PM
emeraldmd.bsky.social
Unloaded the kiln yesterday. I made mostly things for the garden, plus a few functional and ornamental pieces. I don't make things to sell, so I tend to make things that my friends and family can use.

#pottery, #ceramics
8 inch vase with swirling blue, blue-green and black glaze. Bowl with carved leaves in matte black and base in ivory gloss glaze. Table with newly unloaded ceramic wares. Hexagonal flower pots, traditionally shaped flower pots, ornaments for the garden stacks, various vases and bowls.
September 3, 2025 at 12:38 PM
emeraldmd.bsky.social
Working in the garden and listening to the birds.

Great assortment of bird song identified by the Merlin app! More than 30 species of birds heard in about 15 minutes.

🌱 #gardening
View from above into the sunken water garden. Lace leaf Japanese maples, pine, juniper and variegated sweet flag. And plenty of weeds. Screenshots from the Merlin app of birdsong identified in the garden on April 26 and 24. About 33 different birds identified. And it didn't even hear the bluebirds and the hawk I saw. I'm always happy to hear the orioles that return every year around the first of May. Raised beds in the vegetable garden starting to show some results: Kale, lettuce, very tiny carrot seedlings, fave beans, radish. Another view of the vegetable garden showing herb beds with chives, bunching onions, oregano, sage, thyme, parsley, dill and fennel. Bags of compost that need to be spread. Kiwi vine on the fence and chicken coop and shed in the background.
April 27, 2025 at 2:18 PM
emeraldmd.bsky.social
Spring flowers in the shade garden: bluebells, epimedium, trillium, bleeding hearts, camellia and hellebores all under a big tulip tree.

#gardening 🌱
Flowering plants in a shade garden (currently sunny): hellebores, bleeding heart, pieris japonica. Base of large tulip tree with red epimedium flowers, bluebells, hellebores, ferns and red bleeding heart. Close-up photo of red trillium wake robin. Red epimedium, bluebells, ferns, hellebores and bleeding heart.
April 20, 2025 at 3:46 PM
emeraldmd.bsky.social
Some more pots from my kiln unload yesterday. Two pots for succulents or bonsai, 8 inches and 6 inches.

I tried a new (to me) glaze and I like it - Mayco's Root Beer. The photos make it look more purple than it really is; it's actually a maroon-brown with floating blue accents.
Two ceramic round pots about two inches high. Glaze is a maroon-brown with turquoise highlights. Two ceramic round pots about two inches high. Glaze is a maroon-brown with turquoise highlights. Interior of pot bottoms are unglazed brown clay with two holes each for drainage or bonsai wiring.
March 11, 2025 at 7:05 PM
emeraldmd.bsky.social
Unloaded the kiln yesterday. Here's a hand-built butter dish.
Rectangular ceramic butter dish in dark navy and off white. A streak of blue where the white and navy meet. Picture shows the underside of the butter dish lid and the inside of the butter dish tray, both in a dark navy glaze. The tray has a diagonal streak of light blue.
March 11, 2025 at 6:52 PM
emeraldmd.bsky.social
Oops! I forgot the tags. #gardening, 🌱
emeraldmd.bsky.social emeraldmd.bsky.social @emeraldmd.bsky.social · Mar 5
I had a bunch of old seed (from before 2010 (don't judge!)) and sowed a bunch. Various mesclun mixes, and it looks like more mustard family plants germinated than lettuce.

I planted several packets, so this probably represents a germination rate of only 1%. Guess I'll harvest them as micro greens.
Plastic container with mix of mesclun seedlings. About 10% lettuce seedlings and the rest look like mustard family seedlings.
March 5, 2025 at 4:17 PM
emeraldmd.bsky.social
I had a bunch of old seed (from before 2010 (don't judge!)) and sowed a bunch. Various mesclun mixes, and it looks like more mustard family plants germinated than lettuce.

I planted several packets, so this probably represents a germination rate of only 1%. Guess I'll harvest them as micro greens.
Plastic container with mix of mesclun seedlings. About 10% lettuce seedlings and the rest look like mustard family seedlings.
March 5, 2025 at 4:05 PM
emeraldmd.bsky.social
Choose 20 pots or ceramic pieces that you have made. One pot per day for 20 days, in no particular order. #20 pots, pottery.

Day 20: Berry bowl
Navy blue bell shaped bowl with leaf pattern carved on sides. Inside of navy blue bowl showing holes for water drainage while washing berries.
March 3, 2025 at 2:31 PM
emeraldmd.bsky.social
Choose 20 pots or ceramic pieces that you have made. One pot per day for 20 days, in no particular order. #20 pots, pottery.

Day 19: kids' plates
Stack of 7 inch blue plates and one 9 inch blue plate with 3 sections.
March 2, 2025 at 7:17 PM
emeraldmd.bsky.social
Choose 20 pots or ceramic pieces that you have made. One pot per day for 20 days, in no particular order. #20 pots, pottery.

Day 18: Planter
12 x 6 x 7 inch deep oval ceramic planter containing various herbs. The outside is carved depicting a brick wall with bare trees. Trees have iron oxide wash, background is olive green glaze over a medium stoneware clay.
March 1, 2025 at 4:30 PM
emeraldmd.bsky.social
Choose 20 pots or ceramic pieces that you have made. One pot per day for 20 days, in no particular order. #20 pots, pottery.

Day 17: Twisty vases. The tallest one is tippy unless I put rocks in the bottom.
Five vases with hexagonal cross sections, curved and twisted. Grouped together holding ivory colored roses. Vases are glazed in blues and greens.
February 28, 2025 at 1:49 PM
emeraldmd.bsky.social
Choose 20 pots or ceramic pieces that you have made. One pot per day for 20 days, in no particular order. #20 pots, pottery.

Day 16: Post toppers. These are 4 inch square tiles with sides to cover the end grain of 4x4 cedar posts for vegetable garden raised beds.
4 inch square tile close up of gray cat face with green eyes. Two tiles, one with multicolored wavy spiral design, one with stylized sunset over the ocean inspired by (vs bad copy of) Evard Munch's "The Sun". Raised garden bed showing two tiles in situ. Squash plant in bed, red flower tile and fish pond tiles on corners.
February 27, 2025 at 2:23 PM
emeraldmd.bsky.social
Choose 20 pots or ceramic pieces that you have made. One pot per day for 20 days, in no particular order. #20 pots, pottery.

Day 15: Flower pots. Slab built, squares painted with different glazes to imitate tiles.
Twelve inch cube shaped flower pot with "tiles" in blues and greens of painted-on glaze, dark chocolate clay Two round flower pots with "tiles" in various colors of painted-on glaze. Dark chocolate clay. 12 x 6 x 6 inch oval flower pot with "tiles" in various colors of painted-on glaze, on light brown clay.
February 26, 2025 at 6:27 PM
emeraldmd.bsky.social
Choose 20 pots or ceramic pieces that you have made. One pot per day for 20 days, in no particular order. #20 pots, pottery.

Day 14: soup bowl
Teal bowl with handles and fern-like carving.
February 25, 2025 at 1:31 PM
emeraldmd.bsky.social
Choose 20 pots or ceramic pieces that you have made. One pot per day for 20 days, in no particular order. #20 pots, pottery.

Day 13: turtles. In the summer they march around the garden. In the winter they have to stay on the porch. Hand built, glaze painted on individual sections.
Ceramic turtle with green glazed carapace and eyes, remainder unglazed. Three ceramic turtles: turquoise, red and green.
February 24, 2025 at 1:11 PM
emeraldmd.bsky.social
Choose 20 pots or ceramic pieces that you have made. One pot per day for 20 days, in no particular order. #20 pots, pottery, ceramics.

Day 12: Raku dinosaur egg
5 inch multicolored ceramic egg with carved scales. Each scale was painted with a different glaze and raku fired.
February 23, 2025 at 7:30 PM
emeraldmd.bsky.social
Choose 20 pots or ceramic pieces that you have made. One pot per day for 20 days, in no particular order. #20 pots

Day 11: Blue bowl, 10 inch diameter
Navy blue ceramic bowl with slightly flared lip
February 22, 2025 at 2:18 PM
emeraldmd.bsky.social
Choose 20 pots or ceramic pieces that you have made. One pot per day for 20 days, in no particular order. #20 pots, pottery, ceramics.

Day 10: Cherokee pot and turtle.

I made these in a Cherokee pottery course 10 years ago. Both are slab & coil earthen ware, burnished, bisqued then flame fired
Terracotta colored carved turtle, terracotta colored large pot with paddled cloud design on the bottom, shiny smooth top half. Both show charring from flame firing.
February 21, 2025 at 2:08 PM
emeraldmd.bsky.social
Choose 20 pots or ceramic pieces that you have made. One pot per day for 20 days, in no particular order. #20 pots, pottery, ceramics.

Day 9: Six inch agateware flower pot
6 inch flower pot made from white, brown and chocolate clay giving an agate, or marbled, appearance. Glazed with a clear glaze.
February 20, 2025 at 1:13 PM
emeraldmd.bsky.social
Choose 20 pots or ceramic pieces that you have made. One pot per day for 20 days, in no particular order. #20 pots, pottery, ceramics.

Day 8: mugs with carved flower design
Midnight blue mug with carved flower design. Flower is painted with smokey merlot and tourmaline glazes in carved areas. Midnight blue mug with carved pinwheel shaped flower design. Flower is painted with smokey merlot and tourmaline glazes in carved areas.
February 19, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Reposted
rjow.bsky.social
February 18, 2025 at 7:51 PM
emeraldmd.bsky.social
Choose 20 pots or ceramic pieces that you have made. One pot per day for 20 days, in no particular order. #20 pots, pottery, ceramics.

Day 7: Frogs for the garden. Photos in greenware and post-glaze (with their raku turtle friends). In the winter, they have to stay on the porch out of the weather.
Two hand built frogs for the garden, about 5 inches, in greenware (unfired) stage. Three frogs after glazing, with raku turtles, ceramic lily pads and water lily.
February 18, 2025 at 7:02 PM
emeraldmd.bsky.social
Choose 20 pots or ceramic pieces that you have made. One pot per day for 20 days, in no particular order. #20 pots, pottery, ceramics.

Day 6: Raku lidded jar, 6 inch diameter white crackle glaze and carved unglazed design.
6 inch diameter bulbous jar with lid. White crackle raku glaze with carved black unglazed leaf design on lid and jar. Raku jar with lid removed showing white crackle interior. Carbon deposits in glaze cracks during the raku firing, causing the cracks to be black.
February 17, 2025 at 7:16 PM