Mom's new house (1 1/2 years) is incredibly windy. It's 5 miles from windsurfing and 6 miles from a wind farm. 6 seems like a lot of miles away- there could be a wind farm at her house if it wasn't already houses. The wind is so unbelievable. It knocks over things you would never think were light enough, like an empty steel thermos. Whenever there is an especially shockingly windy day I look up the wind speed and numerically the wind is not that high. I'm not sure if the weather station is more sheltered than her house, or what.
Over the two summers she has lived there, we have developed some strategies. One is- the wind is highest once in the morning and once in the afternoon, the onshore and then offshore winds from the pacific to the delta and back. So, we can plan outdoor dining during the lower wind in the late morning and the late evening. Another is to weight things strategically: light thing in the center of the table so we have time to respond if it starts lifting, weighted heavier than you think you'd need such as by a stack of stoneware plates instead of one plate.
We think nice, decorative, outdoor friendly weights are about the only thing she could need from my ceramic studio since she loves ceramics and has every ceramic. I doubt that anything sized like a traditional napkin weight will be heavy enough but it is worth a try. They could also be just right for the less windy times of day, or perhaps if you fold a paper napkin before weighting it so there is less sail surface area.
I based the top design on a set of raku coasters, metallic blue to pink, that she has and are near and dear to her. Mine won't be raku at this time because I am still working through oxidation firing possibilities, and besides, raku would be lighter weight and so less suitable for purpose, I'm pretty sure. So they are kind of intuitive, earthy, symbolic. I relegated the design I want to the underside because these are not a gift for me. I designed the hearts to fit together like a puzzle by making a template with straight sides and using the template to slice four hearts out of a slab of clay with a needle tool. Once those dried for a few days I carved the intuitive patterns, and once those dried overnight I was able to handle them to lay out the design of the waterways of the region where these will be used (including the wind farm and the windsurfing lake). I traced it onto typewriter paper (similar to onionskin paper) straight from my computer screen using a broad felt tip so the screen wouldn't be affected, then laid this paper on the clay hearts and impressed the design with my new ballpoint stylus tool. Removed the template, checked the design agains the map, removed the big areas of water with carving tools and refined the edges of the water plus the small waterways with the stylus. I would love to have thick glaze that breaks over the intuitive designs, maybe use the same 3 or 4 glazes on all 4 weights but layered in a different order.
