Mothers Day is just around the corner…
April 2009: These tiles were made for Mother's Day gifts by my students. We rolled slabs of clay and using 6″ square chip board templates (I made these in advance of class), the students cut their tiles. Afterwards, the kids drew images and words on newsprint and cut out their shapes which were used as paper stencils. The placed their paper stencils on their tiles and painted underglaze over top. As soon as the underglaze was dry to the touch, we removed the paper stencils. The tiles are currently drying in my studio under sheet rock (to keep them flat) and will be glazed clear after being bisque fired. Made using low fire white earthenware.
8 Photos
Click on photo album to view the images.
Yes it’s true – Mother’s Day is only weeks away. With that in mind, I had my kids make a practical gift for their Moms. The kids weren’t super thrilled about tiles – but hey – what Mom can’t use a tile in the kitchen? I know I always need more and would rather use one my daughter made than some generic store bought one.
For these tiles, I had the kids roll a texture on the reverse side so that the tiles will be slightly raised in areas – I’m imagining that these could be used as a buffer for hot serving dishes to protect a table top. We used hand made paper stencils for the designs – I have to say that I really like the way they turned out and look forward to seeing them glazed which should bring out more intense colors than seen on my computer screen.
Meanwhile, I decided to grow up a little – I removed my nose ring yesterday and it’s already closing shut. I fear though that it’s going to leave a small scar where the hole once was [I'm not really afraid of the scar, it will be a good reminder that it was once there, a symbol if you will 
]. No one has noticed which is good – means I won’t miss it and must be the only person who can see the evidence. I think nose rings are attractive, but don’t want to be the woman trying to look younger than she is – tends to have an opposite effect imho.
With that, I close – perfect day to hit the studio – expecting temps in the 80′s today,
~Cynthia
Clay Kimonos are Finished
Kimono Trio – low fire white earthenware
I unloaded the work made by the kids enrolled in my clay class from my kiln yesterday and was quite pleased with their creations! Last week, I stressed that they needed to take their time decorating their work because quite frankly, sometimes they get sloppy. Like me, they much prefer making work rather than glazing, but I feel like we have to produce some keepers every now and then – I owe that to their parents.
Kimono, Brittany 4th grade
Brittany’s is one of my favorites – I think she really has a nice color compostion and I also like the way she incorporated multiple textures into her kimono.
Kimono – Lily 2nd grade
Lily’s is another favorite – as a 2nd grader, I can see she’s a natural artist! The fade from yellow to orange is fantastic…. We also played, who’s smarter than a 2nd grader last week. She amazed us all by spelling antidisestablishmentarianism. None of the other kids could match her – smart kid!
Kimono – Jasmine 5th grade
My daughter is one of those kids who sometimes rushes through the projects in order to do free clay – I reminded her last week that this is one project that I’m hanging in our gallery, so she had better do a nice job. I’m not disappointed!
Jackson Pollock inspired Kimono
Rhiannon has been in my class from the beginning and she often leads decorating/making trends for the others. I don’t mind the Jackson Pollock inspired decorating, but sometimes it gets a little over done. I think the art teacher did a unit on JP, and the kids are enthralled with spashing and dripping paint nowadays. 
Another Jackson Pollock inspired Kimono
And yet another Jackson Pollock inspired Kimono
My two third grade peas in a pod, Samantha and Laura made the two obviously related clay kimonos. Can you see the similarites in color choices and glaze application? One thing I always tell them is to cover their pieces completely with glaze or underglaze – I don’t want to see any white of the clay. They think I’m a glaze nazi…. They always tell me that my philosophy doesn’t match their artistic vision (not exactly their words…) – I think they forget that black has to come last since it’s such a powerful color.
Before today’s class, I’m going to add the wood dowels and wire – these will look super cool hanging on a wall.
Meanwhile, after shoveling 10+ inches of snow and pulling out our winter clothing last weekend here in Colorado, I’m back in flip flops and short sleeves. Spring has decided to return – yay!
Have a great week,
~Cynthia
Adding details to ceramic boxes
Butterfly Box
My in-laws have been in town since last weekend and despite the distraction, I’ve managed to make and finish work for the Colorado Potters Guild Show opening at the end of the month. These boxes are still green – or unfired – and will be bisque fired some time early next week. I don’t have as much work as I would have liked, but I am happy with what I have made. The sides of these boxes have intentionally been left with no decoration because I’ll be adding laser toner decals after I have glazed the boxes. BTW, the butterfly sprig and knob (above) and the heart knob (below) were made using a chocolate mold.
Heart Box
I have a few larger boxes, this one included. “Large” is a fairly subjective statement, however, since this only measures 4″ across and tall. I think this one could go many different directions in regards to decal motifs – from the sanguine to more contemporary (I immediately saw tattoo images with the hearts).
Lavender Butterfly Box
For this box, I used underglaze for color and will add decals over the butterflies [one on each side] as an experiment. You may remember my failed attempt several weeks ago when I over fired a bisque load.
Tall Flower Box
Finally, this tall box isn’t terribly practical, but it would be sweet to store wedding rings next to a night stand or sink or as a gift box to present someone with a special gift. The flowers were made from lino-cuts – which I desperately need to expand for more variety! I still have other boxes in varying degrees of being finished, but haven’t photographed them yet. My hand building phase is coming to an end right now, which means it’s time to throw a few things in preparation for the show. I’ve learned that throwing is a much faster process than hand building – but enjoy doing both.
Meanwhile, I reverted to my old Word Press theme while I figure out how to use The Gimp instead of Photoshop to manipulate the images in my file folders. While it’s fairly similar to Photoshop and many of the tools are recognizable, it hasn’t been an intuitive switch for me so I picked up a book called Beginning Gimp by Akkanna Peck yesterday. I was getting frustrating trying to use my old way of working and am determined to make Ubuntu and free open source software work for me. In fact, yesterday I was in Best Buy and I took another look at new cell phones, lap tops – including the MacBook Pro, and really restrained myself from making any hasty buying decisions.
That’s it for today,
~Cynthia
Wacky Bunnies
Laura and Sam's bug eyed polka dotted bunnies – 3rd grade
I know I must sound like a broken record when I say, “I LOVE kid’s art!” But, it’s true because it’s simple, adorable and my students are prolific to say the least. I’ve mentioned that good ideas spread like wild fire as witnessed by the bug eyed bunnies above. Sometimes I catch the the 4th and 5th graders in my class say, “Stop copying me!” I always tell tell them to, “Chillax – when you take it home, your creation will be unique since you don’t live in the same place (they just roll their eyes at me when I try to speak their lingo teehee) .” Laura and Samantha aren’t worried about copying each other – in fact, they plan their projects together. It’s pretty funny to watch the evolution – in fact, it’s more like play than a project. The 2 bunnies above are the central characters in a cast of smaller less important chicks, animated carrots and baskets.
Yesterday, the saga continued for the bunnies with the construction of an elaborate bunny abode with the inclusion of a bunny sized hot tub. Every so often, I over hear their play dialog and it’s a riot. Have you ever listened to kids play? I could make out the bunnies talking to each other, and occasionally Laura and Samantha would break from character to talk as themselves to each other. Weird – maybe grown ups need to play more?
Vampire Bunny, Rhiannon – 4th grade
Rhiannon and many of the older kids (my daughter included) in class are obsessed with the Twilight series right now – hence the vampire bunny. I sort of dig it in an “Ugly Doll” sort of way. Okay, I confess, I read the series too – I had to see what the hub bub was all about. If I had known about some of the more adult scenes in the books, I would have [maybe] censored the books for my 11 year old, but I didn’t. I guess I just have to trust that she’s mature enough to get that the characters are older than she is. The fact remains that Twilight is marketed to teens, and naturally tweens are very interested in the series too. If you have kids, do you censor what your kids read or watch on TV/or in theaters? I do the latter for sure, but I’m definitely more lenient than many parents I know.
Still in the studio,
~Cynthia
In other news, I registered for classes for next fall – nothing terribly exciting - Site Planning, Ecology and Plants in Design. I’m considering a 4th, but might want to ease into school.
