Good-bye Presents – Initial Ceramic Pendants
12 glazed star shaped stoneware pendants
Yesterday was bitter sweet – it marked my 20th wedding anniversary to my hubby and it was also the last after school clay class of the year that I am ever teaching. The kids are bummed, but I think glad that they had the opportunity to take clay classes after school in the first place. As a little good bye present, I made each of my students a little star shaped pendant with their first name initial decaled on the front.
Initial decals etc.
Decals after application but before firing
I searched long and hard for a fun font to use for the initials – and ended up using this one…I think it’s called “101 Starry Nights” or something similar. Although, if you look closely, there’s one anomaly – the “C”. I used a font called “Parry Hotter” for Cole who is obsessed with Harry Potter.
Close-up before firing decals
Initial pendants after decal firing
Star shaped initial J after decal firing
I didn’t get a picture of the final gift – I added jump rings to the pendants and strung the stars with waxed cotton cord. I think they liked them….
So with that, I want to thank my pint sized pottery rock stars for two terrific years!
~Cynthia
Stoneware Wall Box Tile Trio
5 Ravens Wall Box Tiles, printed stoneware clay, mishima, brushed glazes and laser toner decals
This trio was a ton of fun to make and decorate. In fact I enjoyed making these so much that I had intended to make more right away. Now that the show pressure is off and the making cycle interrupted, it’s been harder to get back in the studio groove. It doesn’t help that the month of May is a terribly busy one with my daughter’s school activities and my extra volunteer/chaperone/sub duties related to school. But, it’s almost over…the school year officially ends in a mere 11 days when my (weep, weep) 5th grader graduates to middle school. Or as Denver Public Schools puts it – “continues” – sounds more feel good P.C., don’t you think?
Three 2.5" square by 1" deep wall boxes
After constructing the wall boxes, I played around with placement – shuffling them around until I liked how the textures lined up. BTW, this set up was not my final choice.
Side view
To keep the boxes from warping after I constructed them, I weighted them between 2 pieces of drywall board and periodically checked on them until they were bone dry. These were constructed with 45° degree beveled joints which I then scored and slipped with paper clay for strength before joining.
Added a small notched slab for easy hanging
Sarah, a ceramicist up in South Dakota, asked how these hang the other day and I just happen to have a photo of my system in the archives. When I’ve made these in the past, I’ve tried different techniques from just using the upper edge, to punched holes for wire to these little notched additions. The little slabs were left over after I constructed the boxes and just seemed like a good idea at the time. I centered the notch with a measured center point on the top of each tile. These can also sit on a shelf instead of being hung on a wall (see the first photo).
Meanwhile, I did a little pendant glaze firing last night in my mini Aim test kiln. Tomorrow is my last teaching day for my after school clay class and I decided to give the kids a little going away present – star shaped pendants with their initials decaled on the front. The kiln is still too hot to touch this morning – but I did prop the lid open to speed cooling. After I drop my daughter off at the school bus stop and take the hounds for a run, I’m going to spend the am looking for a cool font and will print the initial decals.
Have a great week,
Cynthia
Rabbit Box and Anniversaries
Rabbit Box
I really like this covered stoneware box, unfortunately, this is the only photo I have of it and I didn’t get photographs of the other side. I like to put different images on each side to keep it fresh. Why rabbits? It reminds me – especially this vintage image – of one of my favorite childhood stories…The Velveteen Rabbit published in 1922 by Margery Williams.
Meanwhile, my husband and I are headed downtown tonight to celebrate our 20th anniversary (has it really been 20 years already?) – which isn’t official until May 19th. Since the 19th is a school night, we’re celebrating early by spending the night at the Hyatt in downtown Denver. We kicked around several ideas – the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park where Stephen King stayed and was inspired to write The Shining, The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs (another historic hotel) and even some other historic hotels in downtown Denver. The Hyatt won out because I love their roof top bar that has a view of the mountains and the city – but also because the designers of the hotel decorated each room with individual artist’s work vs. cheesy giclee prints typical of most hotels.
Don’t worry, my sister in law is staying with my daughter and the dogs and they have quite an evening planned from what I understand.
Have a great weekend,
Cynthia
rice
Jasmine Rice
I don’t think that there is anything more fragrant than rice – make that the aroma of good rice being toasted on the stove-top just before submerging in water or broth. At least that is how I make mine – whether jasmine, basmati, risotto or regular old plain white or brown rice. I LOVE rice. Thankfully, I learned how to make rice from my mother in law, despite being raised on Unlce Bens and Minute Rice (sorry Mom and Ulla).
Anyway, tonight I had an epiphany of sorts. My daughter’s name is Jasmine – God – did I name her after a type of rice??? Seriously, how do people name their children? I was behaving like a bad decorator and was trying to come up with a name that would coordinate with my married name – Guajardo. My final choices in late 1997 were Isabel or Jasmine. Jasmine came to me very late, if truth be told. I was in a Jazzercize class and in a moment of clarity (or exercise induced delusion) 11+ years ago, thought that Jazz would make a great name…then the name Jasmine flashed into my head. Jasmine – Jazz – Jazzy – and so my daughter has many names. My husband and I gave our daughter my mother-in-law’s name – Victoria – as a middle name in the event that she ever came to detest her first name. I mentioned this to her the other day after reading a chapter about the economics of names in Freakonomics – and the notion was promptly dismissed by my daughter who proclaimed that she loves her name. Shouldn’t that be enough – do names matter?
Only later (in fact month’s later after naming her) did we learn that the name Jasmine is one of the top 10 most popular names for African American children born in the last 15 years. I think this little tid bit of info is kind of funny now-a-days because she is not African American. But, the truth remains that my daughter is bi-racial. I am reminded of that whenever we have to fill out some kind of form for her – say a middle school registration form and we are asked to select a race. I always check off Hispanic and Caucasian, even though I have been told more than once that I had to choose a single race. “Other” isn’t always an option.
How can one choose a single race for a person who isn’t 100% white or Hispanic? She is half me and half her dad and that’s the fact – she is neither one or another because Jasmine is both. Some helpful school administrator once told me that I should always choose Hispanic because it helps the school district receive more need based funding. I don’t know how I feel about this. My husband is college educated and is a solid middle class American citizen. Why am I not Scandinavian American? Don’t I qualify for something? Even if it’s a discount on Lefse….. I’m not being insensitive towards people who aren’t white – I just hate pigeon holing my daughter. Sometimes, if forced, I mark her down as Hispanic, sometimes Caucasian, sometimes both. Aren’t we all multi-racial?
Anyway, I’m being expansive – this is what chaperoning field trips does to me. And, today marked the third field trip that I have chaperoned in less than 7 days. Field trips are not unpleasant, but they do disrupt my schedule, be that what it is. Today we went to the Museum of Nature and Science and after touring the exhibits, the class participated in a Robotics Lab, about which I was excited. I dig science.
My favorite 5th grade robot today
I was so impressed with the kids in class – they were really into this project (as were the adults). We received a quick lesson on robotics and related terminology and were let loose to create anything we wanted.
Not much ado about pottery today,
~Cynthia
