Archive for May, 2007

New Ceramic Platter Designs

Published
by
Cynthia
on May 31, 2007
in Uncategorized
. 8 Comments

Cynthia Guajardo

Stoneware platter, fired to ^6 in oxidation, 13″ x 9.5″

Cynthia Guajardo
Stoneware platter, fired to ^6 in oxidation, 13″ x 9.5

On Tuesday, I decided to drop by the Art Student’s League of Denver to check whether or not my ceramic platters had been fired. Perfect timing; when I arrived the studio assistant had just cracked the kiln open and had begun unloading the ware. It’s always a bit like Christmas for me peeking inside the kiln after it’s been freshly fired. I helped the studio assistant unload the kiln - it was either that or I would have annoyed the heck out of her waiting, waiting for my work to reveal itself. Here’s what I realized - I need a bigger kiln! These platters just barely fit in my own kiln, so I can not make larger work in my old Paragon.

I was, however, pleasantly surprised when I saw my platters. I had decided to switch clay bodies for my slab work because I’ve found that the porcelain slumps too frequently despite all my best efforts to dry the work slowly. This is a buff colored stoneware that I happened to have in my studio which has more “grog” than the ultra fine porcelain. Many potters I talk with liken throwing porcelain clay to throwing with cream cheese. That’s how soft porcelain is when it’s wet. So, when I saw my new platters, I was very happy.

I’m firing both my kilns today. I have bisque work in the large kiln destined for Summer Art Market on the 9th and 10th of June. In my small kiln, I have ceramic pendants and earrings firing as well. I would like to have my Etsy Shop stocked with Jewelry by next weekend since I am not allowed to sell jewelry at SAM. The Art Student’s League does not teach jewelry, so it is not allowed sold there. I will be wearing some of my jewelry and will direct interested people to my Etsy Shop if they’re interested in the jewelry. I am going to be applying for space at Art-O-Mart at Capsule Gallery, which has no medium restrictions, in September and December. I will also be firing my kilns most likely through next Friday as I prepare for SAM.

Ceramic's Monthly Cover Quilting Art's Cover
I received both of these magazines in the mail on the same day this past week. I was struck by the similarities in design and color palette that both chose as their cover art. After SAM, I plan to warm up my sewing machine again. I am FINALLY going to finish sewing for my home and am going to pick up my Earth Series again. I have still been thinking of ways to combine the 2 mediums. I also have plans to resume work on the craft of making thrown porcelain cake platters after SAM. I’ll be able to work at a more leisurely pace and will be able to concentrate without distraction.

Till later this week,

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Happy Tuesday!

Published
by
Cynthia
on May 29, 2007
in Uncategorized
. 12 Comments

Cynthia Guajardo

Small porcelain platter with colored slip and sgraffito @8.75″ x 6″

Cynthia Guajardo
Cynthia Guajardo
I enjoyed a good weekend filled with lots of ceramic work and a BBQ everynight, including last night. We went over to some friend’s who had decided to go with a Greek theme, which was very tasty. Although when the Ouzo came out around 8 PM, I thought to myself, “Wait, it’s a school night, I can’t drink this!” But, I did and now I’m feeling a little bit groggy. I hope everyone else had a nice weekend too.

My daughter still has 1.5 days of school left. When we lived on the East Coast, she attended school until mid to late June. Here in Colorado the kids get out around Memorial day. I swear last year, her final day of school was right before the long weekend. What in the world can they accomplish in the next 1.5 days?? We agreed last night that it was a good experience and parallels what it would be like to be a lame duck president, or maybe someone who has given notice at work and is just filling out their contractual obligation. Otherwise, why bother??

Anyway, the small platter above is a new piece that recently came out of the kiln. I’ve mentioned this several times before, but I learn something about working with clay every single day. Working on this piece was no different. I had formed the piece after rolling out porcelain clay using a slab roller. I slumped it in one of my new plywood forms and after it had set up, I painted colored slip onto it. Don’t do the latter unless your piece is still in your slump mold!!

I did and was promptly rewarded with my piece reverting to a flat piece of clay. Somehow I rescued it, but now it has a fairly small lip in contrast to the original generous one. The good news is that since I considered this piece kaput, I felt free to try a new color combo and technique on my platter. Why does that happen? An item becomes less precious, and I can be a little less rigid design wise. Why don’t I treat all my pieces like this? Some really cool stuff happens when I do. This is also one of those pieces that I didn’t expect would survive the glaze fire; yet it did when they cake platter didn’t.

I need to work on my photography. I couldn’t photograph this head on without getting the glare of the sunlight on my piece. Add another thing to my to-do list! I read somewhere, that artists should never photograph their own work, to leave that to the professionals. Well, it’s quite a dilemma if one has to choose between paying a pro to photograph work vs. buying new material to make more work!

I sold quite a few things this weekend from my Etsy Shop, which pleased me to no end. I’m starting to think that this can really work for me. If you recall, I had a special going over Memorial day weekend, Free shipping for all jewelry. Surprisingly, I sold 1 set of jewelry (earrings and necklace) but the rest was functional pottery. That’s exciting to me.

I hope to get around to everyone’s blogs today or tomorrow. I’m still feeling the need to throw a few more things for the summer art market. This is pretty much the last day for me to make anything. The rest of my efforts will be concentrated on finishing.

Have a good day everyone,

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Shameless Self Promotion Plug!

Published
by
Cynthia
on May 26, 2007
in Uncategorized
. 6 Comments

Cynthia Guajardo
Cynthia Guajardo
Cynthia Guajardo
Cynthia Guajardo
Cynthia Guajardo
These are but a few the items in my Etsy Shop right now. I’m offering *Free Worldwide Shipping* during Memorial Day weekend, through Monday, May 28th at Midnight!

All of the ceramic components are made by me in my studio from porcelain clay that I fire in an electric kiln. It’s a multi-day process and takes approximately 7-10 days to complete each piece, from the making, drying, sanding, firing, glazing and then assembling the components.

Earrings = $12.00
Small Pendants = $18.00
Large Pendants = $22.00

Have a good weekend everyone & new post on Tuesday morning,

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An experiment in making a clay sprig

Published
by
Cynthia
on May 25, 2007
in Uncategorized
. 8 Comments

Cynthia Guajardo

Porcelain sand dollar and star fish sprig mold and the results

A couple of months ago, I made a couple of sprig molds of a sand dollar and a little wee starfish. I had found these in Maine and I have them sitting in a little bowl in my bathroom. It’s sort of a nice reminder of the few years that we spent living in Portland, ME. Don’t worry everyone, they weren’t alive when I picked them up on the beach.

When I started looking around for some small things from which to make a sprig mold, I remembered my sea shore findings. Sprigs are basically clay additions that can be added to any type of clay form, ie., tiles, thrown forms and handbuilt constructions. Yesterday, I remembered my molds and thought they might make some nice jewelry, so I cast a couple of sand dollars and star fish. Unfortunately, I broke 2 during the photo shoot, when I dropped the camera lens on them. But, the good news, is, I know how to make them.

A lot of people use plaster of paris for their molds. I simply used porcelain clay and then bisque fired it to cone 04. I push the clay into the mold, let it set up for a few minutes, and then remove the piece from the mold and clean up the edges. Once these are bone dry, I’ll bisque fire these in an electric kiln and glaze.

I attended my every 6 weeks garden club last night and was showered with free plants. The hostess has an amazing garden and since I’m pretty much starting from scratch as of last summer, she had pity on me and shared some of her abundance with me. These are the best kind of plant additions to my yard. I may not remember the botanical name if I were to take you on a tour of my garden, but I’ll remember who the plant came from and say, “oh, this one’s from Deb, this lovely bloomer came from Rachel’s yard and these iris - oh they came from a kindly soul who brought her iris babies to the library, ‘free for the taking’.” My garden is sort of a hodge podge of plants, but a very special place when I think of all the friends who’ve contributed to it. I came home with a poppy, soapwort, sun rose, salvia, vinca, cosmos, and some type of ground cover.

Angela tagged me the other day, and instead of 7 bits about me (because I’m pretty sure that I’ve already said it all), I’m going to give you 7 DVDs that I’ve either seen or am about ready to watch this weekend. I really have to plug the Denver Public Library System here. We don’t have cable TV, nor do we rent any movies. We borrow them all from the library for FREE! It’s a great resource.

  1. Borat - fell asleep.

  2. The Devil Wears Prada - had a few good laughs, but reminded me of one of the story lines in the movies my daughter likes to watch. I’m not quite sure why it was nominated for a couple Academy Awards, though Meryl Streep was entertaining and believable as Miranda Priestly.

  3. Babel - I’m still on the fence on this one. It was painful to watch, yet I find myself still thinking about it days later.

  4. China’s Lost Girls - Very interesting discussion of what happens when a government tries to enforce birth control.

  5. The Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan - LOL funny, especially for people who live with unruly dogs.

  6. Last King of Scotland - a pretty incredible story if you ask me and Forest Whitaker was amazing as Idi Amin.

  7. Blood Diamond - on tap for this weekend

No tags for anyone, since this one’s gone around a few times….

Have a good weekend everyone,

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Disappointed…

Published
by
Cynthia
on May 23, 2007
in Uncategorized
. 10 Comments

Cynthia Guajardo

Porcelain cake platter, with colored slip and sgraffito design

Cynthia Guajardo
Underneath

I had enough ware to have a glaze fire the other day in my electric kiln. I used one of my new favorite clear ^6 glaze recipes, courtesy of a Lana Wilson. Though it’s not on her website. The clear is so easy to make and gives consistent results. It also brushes on quite nicely so that one doesn’t have to make a big bucket batch if space is limited. I sieved it 2 times in an 80 mesh sieve before using.


Clear ^6 Glaze
Gerstley Borate 50
Kaolin 20
Silica 30
Totals 100


I had my glaze fire on Monday, and yesterday morning when I cracked open the kiln to let it continue cooling, I was super excited. I noticed that the cake platter had not warped and was intact. Boy, was I happy! Later in the day, when I unloaded the kiln, I noticed a hairline crack on the interior rim. Sniff, sniff, I was so sad. I’m trying to think how I can avoid this in the future. Maybe, I need to use stoneware instead of porcelain for objects that consistently have issues. So, I’ll try again. I think it takes a certain masochism to work with a material that isn’t always guaranteed to come out perfectly everytime. What’s that old saying, “That which doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger.” I’m holding out hope.

Cynthia Guajardo

Yikes - notice the hairline crack

On another note, the smaller porcelain platters that I had expected to warp or slump in the firing came out great! Don’t have photos yet, maybe later today. I had intended to take my photographs yesterday, but it rained all afternoon and I shoot all my photos outside.
Cynthia Guajardo

But, I do have lots of pendants and earrings!

On the bright side, I have lots and lots of porcelain pendants and earrings! That seems to be what has been selling lately in my Etsy Shop.
Happy Wednesday everyone!

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