Birdland Vineyards in August

By guest blogger John

It's hard to believe that we are more than 1/2 way through August already as we really haven't had any hot weather yet. The mornings are misty and the temperature gets to about 85F or so in the afternoon. That's lovely weather to be outside but the grapes could use a bit more heat to get them ripening.

As you can see from this photo some of the bunches are just starting to change color and every day a few more grapes show that they are starting to ripen but I think we are going to be harvesting late this year. I started irrigating the upper rows a couple of weeks ago as the vines seemed to have stopped growing and now need some water to keep them with plenty of leaves.

We did have a very unusual 'grape' on one of the vines, much bigger than normal! Hope you enjoy this photo that was not set up by us at all - pure mother nature!

What happened is that some of the tendrils on the grape vines stretched over towards the apple tree and wrapped themselves around the stalk of the apple!  The pull of the vine and tendril actually picked the apple but then held onto it too!  Now it looks like we have apples growing on our grape vines!  Makes you think that you don't want to stand still too long near the vines or they may drag you in!

Weekly bird in the hand

The things I am grateful for this week:

Photo by Steve (huz001); back in Missouri

• A few weeks ago we got the wonderful news that there will be two new additions to our family in the new year.  This week, we heard one will be a little girl. Still waiting a couple of weeks to hear on the other.  Yippee-yeye-yeah!!! 
• Walking in nature.  I love my daily walks, watching the deer, birds, lizards, squirrels etc all busy with their lives.  I wonder if they enjoy watching us too?
• Success at getting a reservation for The French Laundry restaurant in Yountville (best restaurant in our area) with our friends in October. I've tried quite a few times to get a reservation there and never been successful. Now we get to try it. 
• Our book club.  Yesterday was our August meeting and it was just a lovely way to spend the morning and then lunch.  Great group of women.
• Meeting new friends and finding out all that you have in common with them.
• Enjoying my latest food heaven: pumpkin seeds. I've recently been toasting my own for salads etc but now found "eden foods" low salt spicy pumpkin seeds and just adore them.  For those Brits reading, the flavour sort of reminds me of twiglets you get in England and I haven't had in years - but the pumpkin seeds are a little spicier - and gluten free.
• Seeing a stranger have a good old laugh! It is quite contagious and definitely brought a smile to my face!
• My gentle dental hygienist.  She is so considerate and I really do appreciate that!

Hope your week has been full of good things too.

Anyone can.......

Or: Hadar's Pearl Grey Steel XT metal clay - Part IV!

My third trial piece that I made in steel XT metal clay, along with the ring and cracked bird, was my little "anyone can" figure.  Can you guess what this "fitness" anyone is called?  Keep guessing as you read this blog post.....

He worked fine. The body parts attached very nicely and easily using the clay. In fact, I think attachment with this clay is even easier than with the silver clay.  However, when I sculpt, I attach all the different pieces together when they are all wet clay. I don't wait for one part to dry before adding the next part. This is because they each have their own contours, so it's good to get a good match and seal in contours and easier to do when each component is still malleable clay.

While this method works very easily with this clay in terms of joining, I do now think it is a little more difficult to sand and finish the steel clay in those hard to reach areas - such as those attachment sites.  I think that in future, for example with "anyone", I will make the body first and let it dry and then sand it.  Only after all the sanding is finished on that part, will I then add additional body parts.  I think this will give a nicer finish to the whole piece, rather than having the joints looks a little rough.

Anyhow, firing and sintering all went well. And I'm learning something new with every piece I try.....

So have you managed to guess what this "anyone" is called?  I did say he was a "fitness" piece......Yes, he is:

"Anyone can.... have abs of steel" 

- as he does indeed, have abs of steel!!!! :=D

33/52 Bird a week challenge - You crack me up!

My bird this week wasn't exactly successful, but he is still a different bird that I made as part of the challenge. The challenge doesn't have to be all successful birds!  Poor No. 33!  Here is "you crack me up" bird.  Yes, he has big cracks in him!!!

I made him as one of my trials with the new pearl grey steel XT clay from Hadar Jacobson.  My other blog posts this week are all about my tests with this new clay.

By the look of the cracks, my suspicion is that he wasn't totally dry inside before I fired him.  He'd been drying for quite a while on a coffee warmer and felt completely dry and sanded well, but this was the first steel piece that I had used the coffee warmer for, so maybe the outside was totally dry but the inside wasn't?? I did however also fire this bird using a different container than my first couple of pieces, but I don't think it's that.  The only way I'll tell is if I do some more trials....So I guess I will.

The other problem with this birdie is that I think he looks like a fish!!!  OK, so he has a beak ...but I still think there is something fishy about him! Don't you?  Maybe he is a parrot fish???

I guess he won't be winning any big prizes in my 52 birds that I do this year, one each week - but he is one that I will learn from!

Follow the links to see the other birds that people are making this week:

Hadar's Pearl Grey Steel XT Clay - Part II

Continuing my trials with Hadar's Pearl Grey Steel XT metal clay, here is the fired ring that I mentioned in yesterday's post:

The firing all went well and I love the color of it. It's tough. I've been wearing it for a couple of days now, and really like it next to the white and yellow gold ring that I have.


The sanding was easy - like sanding the silver clays. Some of the other base metal clays are much more difficult to sand and need rougher sand paper to start, but this was fine. I sanded it just like the silver clay, finishing with the fiber wheel for a matt finish.

Shrinkage was interesting.  The ring size  - ie inner circle - seemed to shrink hardly at all - maybe less than half a size but the thickness of the band did shrink quite a bit.  It's standing up to hard wear so I'm confident that sintering was successful. 

I like it. I consider my first test  a success.  I've now also finished the second firing of my next two samples so I'll tell you more about them later.

Have you given this steel clay a try yet? What are your experiences? I'd love to hear from you.

Hadar's Pearl Grey Steel XT Clay - Part I

I read Hadar Jacobson's blog post of a week or so ago, about her new formula for Pearl Grey Steel XT clay - one of her base metal clays - and got excited! Hadar said her new clay "brought me back 14 years, to when I first learned about [original] silver clay, and it felt like the sky was the limit."  I didn't delay and ordered some straight away!

The clay comes in powder form, like all Hadar's clay, so you make up just as much as you need, by adding water.  When it's made up - it's delightful.  It is similar in feel to the original PMC silver formulation - and I found it easy to make up and easy to use.

I've tried all Hadar's clays, and many other brands too, but have never got excited with the base metal clays like bronze and copper.  They seemed unreliable and not consistent.....or else I don't like the feel of them when I work with them.

But I have high hopes for the Pearl Grey Steel XT!

I have started out by making three trial pieces to see how several different factors/techniques go, including getting the firing schedule correct for my kiln.  I'll show you these pieces this week and let you know how it goes.

My first trial was to make a very simple ring. The idea was to see how the clay joins. I rolled a snake of the clay and squidged it to make it uneven in shape. Then I joined the two ends together to form a shape roughly round.

Unfired steel clay ring

It formed and joined like a dream.  It felt strong in it's dry state and sanded nicely. I'm not a texture person so didn't add any texture.

I fired it to Hadar's schedule for a muffle kiln and it fired perfectly!  I am loving my new ring. I'll post photos of the fired ring tomorrow! It's so simple but I love the color of the pearl grey steel.

More tomorrow......

Silly Sunday - Banana carving

A different type of carving. Haven't tried it myself yet! What do you think?  Maybe a Banana bird is in my future, especially as I just bought some bananas not even 10 minutes ago!

I found this on Design Swan's blog. It's a wonderful blog - interesting and unusual things everyday. I suggest you subscribe! I know you'll enjoy it!!

Weekly bird in the hand

Here is this week's list of things I am grateful for:

"Shall we dance?"  Photo by mikebaird

• Matt, Peter, Mary and Fin - my sister and her family, who arrive back in England today :-(. We'll miss them. After staying with us, they enjoyed a few days in Yosemite and some in SF. We had dinner with them on Wednesday night.  We so enjoyed our time together.
• Our pond. I've taken to trying to find a little time each day to sit at our pond. It's so peaceful - apart from all the wildlife!  I love watching the great blue heron; the turtle on the duck platform, soaking up the sun; the kingfishers; the red and blue dragon flies; the frogs; the fly catchers; the fish and tadpoles; and occasionally, when I sit quietly, Quentin and his new family of tiny quails wanders by.  
• My voice lesson. I had such a great voice lesson this week.  Just exciting! Thanks Karen.
• My dear friend Clare whose birthday it is today
• My dear friend Fabienne whose birthday it is today
• Walking in a quiet area and listening to the silence.
• The joy of learning

32/52 Bird a week - Happiness

For this week's bird, I made two bluebirds of happiness. 

They are made from color anodized aluminum.

They are very friendly and when they get together, they tend to chat quite a lot.  Luckily when you wear them as earrings, there is a little separation so they are quieter! 

We've had two batches of bluebirds nesting in our boxes this summer and both have yielded a few babies.

They don't look very blue yet, but then, I guess they need feathers to look blue!

They are useful birds to have in the vineyard - not just because they bring happiness (!), but also because they eat insects and thus keep the insect population down on the vines.

 

Take a look at the other birds that people have created as part of the bird a week challenge. The links are below:

The wine experience - Part II

By guest bloggers Mary (my sister) and Matt (my nephew)

The second part of our wine experience was to learn all about blending.  First we blended white wines, then red, then fruit juices.

Matt figuring the pipetting

It was a very scientific process.  Firstly we smelled and tasted different grape varieties of wine. Then using a pipette, we blended different quantities until we like the end result.  Then we did a blind taste test of all 6 wines and voted on our favorite.

Peter found the red wine blending particularly challenging as he didn't like the taste of any of the reds before blending!

Peter and Johnnie

Matt was the white wine blending expert, John the red wine expert (obviously!) and Ruth and Peter found the best juice from a mixture of pomegranate, blood orange, strawberry and watermelon.  The 2 best juices were named Strawberry Bliss and Harold's delight.

Weekly bird in the hand

This week's bird in the hand - the things I am grateful for  - is easy!

Photo by mikebaird

Yes, it's family.  My sister Mary, her hubby Fin, and my two nephews Matt and Peter have been staying with us for the past week.  We've had a great time and the time has gone really quickly.  It's been so lovely to share days together - some with different activities, some more leisurely.

They head off to Yosemite tomorrow and then SF on Wednesday.  We'll have dinner with them Wednesday in the city and then they fly home on Friday.

Thanks for coming sweeties. We'll miss you a lot. xxxx ...but not before an action packed day today!!

The wine experience

By guest bloggers Mary and Fin (Ruth's sister and brother-in-law)

For the last 8 years, we have been more than happy to enjoy the different vintages of Birdland wines, not to mention the Birdland hospitality on several occasions.

L to R - Ruth, Matt, John, Mary, Peter

On Tuesday, we were able to get more involved in the process!  We started in the morning with labelling the 2009 bottles. We had a great production line going and each settled into our preferred role.  Matt operated heavy machinery (the labeling machine!); Peter was in charge of packaging and distribution (putting bottles in boxes and using the sticky rollertape); Fin was in charge of supply (ensuring the bottles got to the labeller in time); Mary was Quality Control (being bossy if anyone made mistakes!); Ruth was troubleshooter (fixing the labeling machine); and John the foreman!

Peter in the cellar

At times we swapped roles, and everyone got to try the labeling machine but Fin couldn't be trusted and was over-zealous with the foot pedal, treating it like a car accelerator:  Too many labels - not enough bottles!

Fin and John

Mary trying labeling

Despite the temperamental machine, we finished all 50 cases before lunch, when Fin and John took over Quality Control, but this time tasting the wine!

31/52 Bird a week - Create

This week's birdie is similar in style to my aluminum bangle "enjoy the journey" from a couple of weeks ago. 

Soaring birdie with inspiration words: Create, Inspire, Dream, Imagine, and Hope

I, particularly, find the bird to be a perfect symbol for these sentiments - and I guess my work shows that!

There are still a few of us keeping up with creating a new bird each week so click on the links below to see the others that have come up this week. 

Fun Day!

We had a fun day today with my family at Birdland. This morning we labeled our very own 2009 Birdland Merlot wine, in poppy red labels.

There were  a few challenges half way through when the labels started creasing, but we solved and got them all done and back in the cellar!

Then this afternoon we all tried blending wine.  We started with white wines, then some reds and finally different juices!

The whites we blended together were: Fume Blanc, Moscato Blanc, Chardonnay, and Albarino
The reds we blended together were: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Zinfandel
The juices we blended together were: Blood orange, Strawberry, Pomegranate, and Watermelon

We found out that those who were good at blending white wine, weren't so good at blending reds and vice versa! 

It was fun and I'll post photos soon when I get them from Finny (my brother in law) who took the most!