Cactus Army, Wax Resist

I assembled the rest of my Cactus Army today.
The rest of my planters came out of the kiln so I was able to transplant the remaining cactus plants I acquired.
I'm going to give some of these away, to family and friends:



There was a slight shortage of planters so I decided to put together the Three Amigos:



Then there were the two Kill Bills.
I don't know why I call them Kill Bills, I guess it was the first thing that came to my mind:



Really, these things are deadly!
Injured me more than once!



I figured I better at least start learning some cacti nomenclature so I found this site here.
Cactuslands has a nice index of plants with pictures. It's where I found out that the Kill Bills are also known as toothpick cactus.
I put the Kill Bills in separate pots for the pokey things are well, really pokey and not very friendly like:



The Flat Tire Cactus Army:



I also learned that while my little planters may look okay, they are not very practical.
When the plants get bigger, it's easier to pull them out of the planters if the pots are vee shaped.
I'll make up a new batch soon.
Speaking of pots, I wasn't feeling so good today so I stayed home and fooled around with some vases I had around.
I taped up some designs, glazed them and hit them with liquid paraffin:



Tape is then peeled away and you are left with the design sealed in wax:



This is done so that when I apply the primary glaze, the wax resists any overlap and it's easier to keep the lines clean.
We'll see how it comes out in a few days.
Anyways, I felt a lot better after eating lunch.
Hopefully I tomorrow I can get some mileage in!