My History With the Turtles
I have, over the years, had many folks ask me, "What is it with the turtles? And the ravens? And soon to be, the goats?
I have always been intrigued by turtles, even as a kid spending summers at the lake and countless hours walking along the shore and watching and listening to the wildlife. As I got older I started reading about turtles and eventually buying them and catching them. I got to the point where I had as many as 26 live turtles of various kinds. I had folks who would call me after they saw a female snapper laying legs and I would carefully dig them up, mark the top of each egg to keep it in the same position, put them in an egg carton and incubate them. After about 60 days, they all hatched at the same time and cam out snapping, like a horde of little dragon dinosaurs. I raised them for two years and then brought them to the lake near their nest and let them go. Here is a collection of some of the clay turtles I have made and in the chronological order of their creation. As you can see, things have changed, and then not. The gray turtle in the studio picture to the left was a fountain that I made. The water was pumped up through the bottom of the shell and into the bottom of the bowl. It filled the bowl and flowed over into a dish of pebbles that the turtle was standing in. You can see that a lot of the first turtles I made had attitude. My present turtles are quite a bit more solemn, especially the reliquary turtles that are for carrying the ashes (cremains) of pets. Or Uncle Joe.
I have always been intrigued by turtles, even as a kid spending summers at the lake and countless hours walking along the shore and watching and listening to the wildlife. As I got older I started reading about turtles and eventually buying them and catching them. I got to the point where I had as many as 26 live turtles of various kinds. I had folks who would call me after they saw a female snapper laying legs and I would carefully dig them up, mark the top of each egg to keep it in the same position, put them in an egg carton and incubate them. After about 60 days, they all hatched at the same time and cam out snapping, like a horde of little dragon dinosaurs. I raised them for two years and then brought them to the lake near their nest and let them go. Here is a collection of some of the clay turtles I have made and in the chronological order of their creation. As you can see, things have changed, and then not. The gray turtle in the studio picture to the left was a fountain that I made. The water was pumped up through the bottom of the shell and into the bottom of the bowl. It filled the bowl and flowed over into a dish of pebbles that the turtle was standing in. You can see that a lot of the first turtles I made had attitude. My present turtles are quite a bit more solemn, especially the reliquary turtles that are for carrying the ashes (cremains) of pets. Or Uncle Joe.
