New Porcelain Boxes and Splog
I’ve finished embellishing 9 out of 20 boxes
I’ve been slowly plugging away, finishing the 20 boxes that I decided to make for the Summer Art Market taking place on June 14th and 15th here in Denver. I’m happy to report that all 20 have been assembled and that I’ve added all the feet and special themed knobs. After making these, the possibilities seem endless – I have quite a long list in the works. I hope to finish the other 11 in the next 2 days so that I can dry these, bisque fire them and then of course glaze them before Friday, the 13th. Oh me-o-my, Friday the 13th! With that in mind, I definitely plan to have the glaze firing finished on Thursday, the 12th. So far, I’m on track.
A few of the most recent
Rabbit porcelain box
Goldfish
Poppy Box
The knob generally dictates the painted elements that I ultimately add to the box. In this case, I was inspired by the poppies that just finished blooming in my garden. As a departure from my earlier boxes, I added some pink underglaze to the cherry blossom box (see the top photo). I’m not sure what will happen to the color at cone 6 – even so I’m toying with the idea of adding a bit of red underglaze to the poppy box. I realize that I need to make some test tiles for all the underglazes I’ve collected over the past year while teaching my kid’s clay classes.
What’s next on the horizon? I’m making some new lino-cuts so that I can expand my printed boxes and other forms. I have found that I really enjoy hand building with clay. When I was first learning to throw, hand building afforded me some success when the frustration of working on the wheel got to be too great.
I’m almost finished listening to Oprah and Eckhart discuss A New Earth and have had varying degrees of responsiveness from their discussions from “Oh my God – this stuff is terrific” to “this is a bunch of hooey!” Ultimately he does not offer an easy fix to our woes – it takes work on our part and a willingness and awareness to make small changes in our own personal lives. I really get that the premise of the book is to be aware of our own actions, thoughts etc. – to be present in every part of our life. We can’t change anyone but ourselves, but if enough people came to realize this, the world will slowly begin to evolve to a higher consciousness. Food for thought.
Meanwhile, I was deluged by some really heinous splog recently. But funny thing is that it was only on one particular and apparently vulnerable post. I finally had to close comments to that post and the splog has stopped. Some of it even squeaked by Akisment, my spam blocker. Overall, I’m very glad I switched my blog on over to WordPress and can’t say enough good things about it.
Happy Wednesday,
~Cynthia
Chae
June 4, 2008 at 10:51 am //
Mornin’ Cynthia
Your sculptures atop the boxes are extremely well done. The rabbit is awesome. He looks pretty life-like and his expression is classic.
Hugs
Chae
starkspots
June 4, 2008 at 10:55 am //
Haha! First to comment! When you make the knobs, are they solid or hollow? Just curious ’cause my hand building skills are less than adequate.
Cynthia
June 4, 2008 at 10:59 am //
Chae
Ben – sorry I’m afraid Chae beat you to it! I have the most success starting with a solid piece of clay. These are not large, so I don’t worry about hollowing out.
starkspots
June 4, 2008 at 11:32 am //
Bah! A customer walked in before I could hit submit! Oh well.
Mary Starosta
June 4, 2008 at 12:37 pm //
Cynthia your boxes are very cute and good luck with them. I have attempted a few myself but they take so long for me to make that well 20 would put me into next year!. Also mentioned your idea on a blog site I’m on. Someone asked about “helping” ideas and yours was the BEST I’ve seen! Mary
janvangogh
June 4, 2008 at 12:41 pm //
Cant wait to see these fired.
Jean Levert Hood
June 4, 2008 at 12:52 pm //
I love the bunny!
I had a huge (pages and pages long) blog spam a week or so ago. It had nothing to do with my post, just some insane ranting about religion and politics, of course from someone you couldn’t track. It is so annoying!
judi tavill
June 4, 2008 at 4:31 pm //
love them… you are going to SELL OUT!
Cynthia
June 4, 2008 at 6:29 pm //
Yeah, the little boxes are labor intensive, and ya have to be in the right frame of mind, Mary. thanks for your comments…
Me too, Janet!
Isn’t that wretched, Jean? My splog was all p_rn related. I don’t even want to write the word for fear that it will all come back. But, it wasn’t even nice p_rn if you know what I mean.
Maybe you can help me with pricing, Judi?? I was trying to put a price on time and it just doesn’t work…
Linda
June 5, 2008 at 12:04 am //
Oh, I missed this post for some reason. wub the wittle wabbit!
Melody
June 5, 2008 at 4:49 am //
Cynthia, these boxes are amazing. I have never seen anything like them…….so unique. Love the fish box
Patricia Griffin
June 5, 2008 at 6:40 am //
Loved your post! The boxes are delightful. Also was impressed with the lino-cut. I worked with lino-cuts for awhile but haven’t ventured into it again since slicing the end off of my index finger (stupidly holding the block in one hand while gouging with the other). Ouch! Your post is inspiration to maybe give that another try (with “safety first” this time). Ha!. Thanks!
Cynthia
June 5, 2008 at 8:26 am //
Thanks Linda – he is rather precocious…
Thanks Melody, really?? They’re pretty fun to make.
Hey Patricia, welcome! I’ve gouged my finger a few times making lino-cuts. Cut away from yourself and your fingers. Sometimes, it’s not always possible though when you’re trying to get just the right cut.
andrea
June 5, 2008 at 2:20 pm //
I love that you go with your instincts when completing soemthing. The poppy box is fantastic.
Betty
June 5, 2008 at 2:53 pm //
Cynthia, your lino block is great, good positive/negative things going on there.
But the boxes….those are really some breakout pieces. Are any going onto Etsy? I hope?
LB
June 5, 2008 at 4:53 pm //
You have been busy!
Cynthia
June 5, 2008 at 6:15 pm //
Thanks Andrea and Betty! Eventually, some boxes will end up on Etsy – right now they’re headed for the Summer Art Market June 14th and 15th. After that, I don’t have much else on my calendar.
I have been a little busy, LB – but today, I took a nap!