Leather hard ^6 porcelain being cut into my desired shapes
Since I’m sharing a booth at the Art Student’s League Summer Art Market this June with 3 other people, I cut myself some slack in the making department. From the get go, I decided that I don’t need to have a lot of inventory since the cash outlay to split the booth fee 4 ways isn’t terribly high. Now that the sale is 4 weeks away, I need to kick it into high gear AGAIN. When will I learn? I’ve set a goal of having 20 porcelain hand painted boxes for the show, some low fire slip transfer wall tiles and maybe some wheel thrown functional work. My space is limited after all. I’ve only made 6 boxes, so this weekend and early next week, I need to get the other 14 boxes made. Painting can happen at a more leisurely piece, but the boxes need to be made so they dry slowly.
Each one of these piles = 1 porcelain box. they range in size from 4″ x 3″ to 2″ x 3″. I will be making a variety of other sizes as well. There are 6 sides to a box and each side needs to be beveled at a 45 degree angle for a nice clean fit.
Nice clean 45 degree angled side
I was so excited to test out my new bevel tool, courtesy of my father in law who was visiting from San Antonio a couple of weeks ago. He is so crafty - I’m pretty sure he could make anything if I told him my idea. Talk about a time saver. I was able to bevel all the sides for all 6 boxes in less than 30 minutes. I experimented with either pulling the tool and pushing the clay through the wire. Both worked equally well.
New clay scoring tool
I stopped into Mile Hi Ceramics yesterday to pick up a couple of things and ended up spying this scoring tool. OMG - why didn’t I see this earlier? I think it’s a Kemper tool. Another time saver. Can you believe how the price of oil is affecting the cost of everything?? I paid $36.00 for 50 lbs of Aspen ^6 porcelain. I swear last summer it was $22.00 for 50 lbs. I need to go ahead and do a bulk order to get a lower price - because that’s just crazy talk! It didn’t help that I filled up my Pathfinder right after that and it was $60.00 to fill up my not completely empty tank.
Assembly line
I’m not really a production artist - but I do set up a little production line when I’m making these little boxes. It saves time and while one section is setting up, I’m scoring another. It still took about 2.5 hours to assemble all 6 boxes, even though all the pieces were already cut and beveled.
Once I’ve assembled the boxes, they’re not very pretty. I move slowly to ensure that the sides stay “glued” together.
6 freshly assembled porcelain boxes - cleaned up and ready for the fun to begin!
I still need to cut the lids off, add feet & knobs and them finally paint. The knobs and feet are largely dictated by the design I choose for each. I make those decisions as I begin painting. Meanwhile, I’ll leave these tightly covered and wrapped in plastic.
Spring, or maybe summer is finally going to make its appearance in Colorado. Today we’re going to hit 78, tomorrow 84 degrees F! Finally. I’m going to do a little gardening this weekend.
What about you - any plans for the weekend?
XO,
~Cynthia
Well, do you know what? When I first saw your post about your new homemade bevel tool I didn’t really understand what you were supposed to do with it! It’s only after reading this post that I went back to look at it and saw the wire!! I thought they were just blocks of wood! Doh!
Your smoothed out boxes look so… smooth(!) and beautiful.
I still can’t even find anywhere that sells porcelain here.
I am learning so much, thank you for being there and for such informative posts. I am going to try and make one or several of those bevel tools and try my luck at some boxes. I have made boxes before, but none as precise as yours. I always overlapped the seams.
Can’t wait to see your new porcelain boxes.
We’re in the middle of a heat wave here - probably will be 105 today - having to water my vegetable garden and perennials twice a day. Good news from my ceramic show entries I will be posting on my blog next week.
I get stoneware clay at the college but not porcelain or other types, have to drive 1.5 hours to pick those up, but it is less expensive because it’s from Laguna here on the West Coast. Most everything else is really expensive due to the fuel prices.
Could a bunch of clay artists near you purchase the clay as a group to get a bulk discount and have it delivered?
Now I understand what those little blocks of wood were for! I can’t wait to see your new batch of boxes. The first ones were great! Where will they be for sale, Cynthia?
Ah-ha! I knew if I waited, I’d find out more of how you use the jigs your daddy-in-law made for you! Super cool!
The boxes are going to be wonderful for sure.
Undaunted - I buy my clay from a specialty ceramics store. It’s not available in most art stores and/or craft stores. Depending on where you live, you might have to drive or have some delivered.
Linda - wow - 105? We’re at 79 today and it feels like 90. Maybe ’cause we’re going from winter directly to summer. I can buy in bulk from the guild. If fact we’re getting an order together right now. It helps. I needed some right now though so that I can finish up some work for the SAM.
I’m saving these boxes for the SAM, Jean - but I plan to keep making them.
Mary, my DIL is sooo handy!
Fingers crossed, Janet.
Oil prices force everything up! $60 will fill out Camry 6cyl. wagon. The trouble is, it doesn’t last long!Oh, yeah, that’s using 10% ethanol .
LOL same thing for me as Undaunted.. okay i only just noticed the wire on your bevel tools. hello..
Same here, Dinah - while I was pumping gas, I read all the little details and the gas is supplemented with ethanol here too. Luckily we mostly drive around town - our other car is public transportation. I still fill up 2 times a month.
Easily missed, Anne - unless you enlarge the photo. After using it awhile, I can see that I’ll need to change and/or tighten the wire from time to time. But way better than cutting it by eye.
How lucky are you to have a master-can-make-anything person in your life! I want to be adopted, pronto!
I’m sure you are preparing for success at the show…remember, these boxes are so perfectly pretty, I see another sell out! This weekend we are gardening, building some new beds to expand the growing area. We have harvested from the first cold frame plantings three times for greens, but it has not really been warm yet here. Looks like next week for us. If we were not growing the way we are (under protection) we would not even have started the planting until this weekend here. We have had tunnels up for two months and our tomatoes are setting their first fruits already, our potato bed is just starting to show, but the corn is waiting for summer, it’s is up, just not really growing yet. 
Congratulations on your wedding anniversary AND two years of blogging