Wax On – Wax Off
New Squared Mugs
Err, um…ahem, I seem to be having some issues – not the personal sort either, though I do have a few of those as well. But, this post is not about THOSE kinds of issues, although if I wax poetic all scholarly like, both could be related.
I find that I’m really rusty and out of practice as I begin the process of becoming reacquainted with clay. This is not a happy state of being for me since I want to exit the shoot hootin’ and a hollerin’ whipping out pottery left and right, filling my shelves to capacity with fluid ease. Instead, I’m ending up with some wonky ware with ugly handles. Sure, I’d love to just write about my success stories and make it look as though I live in pottery nirvana, but it doesn’t always work like that.
Anyone seen the new Karate Kid movie – or remember the original? I’ve decided that I need my own “wax on, wax off” (original) or “jacket off, jacket on the peg, drop jacket, jacket on” (new) kind of moment. Muscle memory is important when it comes to many different physical tasks including crafting pottery efficiently and with as little frustration possible.
I think I need to devote a day (or at least a couple 25 pound bags of clay) to repetitively throwing the same object/shape on the wheel till they begin to look fairly uniform. Then, I want to use the same approach to pulling handles, ‘cuz frankly mine stink! Maybe then I’ll have my aha moment…similar to Daniel san and I can stop fighting the clay. In all honesty, I should recycle the mugs in the photo above – they’re not worth keeping. It’s a good lesson to learn that everything we make is not precious and should be returned to the state from whence it began.
AND – really, square mugs? Not really practical when I think about the mechanics of drinking.
Cuckoo for Photographs
I haven’t done much in the clay studio this past week – but I have been engaged in other activities, some creative, others not so much.
Creative endeavors:
I’m taking a plants class this summer through the University of Colorado at Denver taught by an alumnus of the graduate landscape architecture program. While some might not think taking a class creative, this one is using both my right and left sides of the brain. In addition to the reading & lectures, I am able to fuel my amateur photography habit by visiting various green spaces including the Denver Botanic Gardens. Plants, plants and more plants – what’s not to love? I’m not saying I am any good at photography, but I do enjoy doing it so much so that I have decided to buy myself a new camera this year. I am going to upgrade my old Olympus C7070 Wide Zoom digital to a SLR – make and model to be determined. If you happen to own one over which you wax poetic, please share…. The class participants are also required to keep a visual/written journal which is a beneficial activity for me – I already keep this digital journal and going analog is a good exercise. There is a quality that pen to paper brings such as seeing the hand writing, cross outs and rendered drawings that is missing in the digital realm.
Iris & Grasses – from sketchbook – watercolor crayon, mylar, pen
A side benefit to this class is that the material, discussions and field trip will certainly inform my own humble landscape which I have yet to touch (other than a little weeding) since moving in last summer. I’m pretty sure my neighbors are more than a little skeptical when I tell them that I’m studying landscape architecture. ;D
Not so creative endeavors:
This past week, I have been whittling away at my pile-o-papers filed on the kitchen counter over the course of the past 10 months – a promise to my husband that the pile would be gone (or at least severely diminished) when he comes home today from his weeklong man adventure - Riding the Rockies. On Sunday, I finally filed my 1st Q taxes, albeit extremely late (good thing I didn’t have any sales), renewed my retail sales tax license, along with all the other necessary paperwork & fees to the City of Denver & State of Colorado in order to once again sell my work legally online and the occasional in person event. AND – my dogs are also “legal” again…unfortunately, I also missed some great art events happening around town thanks to my haphazard filing practices.
Feels good to feel like I am catching up to my life again.
Bodies – Clay That Is…
A small sampling of clay stacked in the damp room of the Colorado Potters Guild
Last Monday, I had a decision to make and let’s just say that decisions are not made lightly by me and I had to call in back up. I had no clay – well, actually I have a lot of clay, but most of it needs to be reconstituted/reconditioned/recycled/whatever after over wintering in my garagio. What’s a girl to to do? I called in a life line…only she wasn’t in when I made the desperate call. So I marched back to the damp room of the Colorado Potters Guild, pulled up my big girl panties and confidently pulled out a 25# bag of P60 (^10 porcelain) determined that I was going to throw me some porcelain just like old times.
Handbuilt Platter by Kathleen Laurie
Luckily while I was dinking around the guild, looking for my shelves and gathering tools, my girlfriend, Kathleen called me back and talked me off the ledge. I hadn’t yet opened the P60 and calmly returned the bag to the damp room and replaced it with a bag of Dover (^10 white stoneware) after Kathleen kindly relayed how forgiving Dover clay is in contrast to the P60 – clearly she was trying to spare me from failure & a hurt ego after tenderly reaching out to the medium again. BTW, both the P60 and Dover clays are manufactured by Mile Hi Ceramics in Denver and Dover’s price tag is a bit friendlier too which is always a happy thing.
I should back track and explain my clay conundrum by telling you that I have mostly worked with ^6 clays and historically have fired my work in my own studio in previous years. So, choosing a new clay body with a different firing temperature is a bit daunting. I have to say that I really like Dover – it’s smooth, but not quite like porcelain. There’s still a bit of grog, but barely noticeable and the clay seems to hold up against abuse very well. I’m still practicing throwing and when I head into the guild tomorrow I’m going to try hand building again – my favorite pastime.
If choosing a clay body is difficult, wait till I get around to glazing…the choices at the guild are fantastic and I’ll be like a kid in a candy shop, paralyzed by the endless combinations of available delicacies.
Anybody Seen My Mojo?
Practice Bottle
Last week was “D-Day” for me, as in “get your damn a** into the Colorado Potters Guild’s studio day” and make use of your monthly dues already. Otherwise I should just write the treasurer a hefty annual check and consider it a charitable donation – though I don’t think the IRS will allow me to write that one off….
I don’t want to dwell, but humor me for just a tad…school really took a toll on my life over the last 10 months. I have high expectations of myself and when I decide to do something I give 200% effort and not just 100%. Here’s another confession – I’m really competitive and I was trying to keep up with my peers who are a good 10-20 years younger than me and who have few obligation outside of school. This attitude is not really a healthy way to approach some activities when doing so extracts more than it gives. My health suffered in a way that makes me feel run down with little energy to spare and I felt much like I imagine a hamster feels some days – just running full speed ahead on my little wheel that goes no where really fast – pass the NoDoz please.
Luckily, my family was really understanding and were very supportive of my education endeavors the past year. AND fortunately my husband and I didn’t really get into any major arguments last year – but this could be attributed to the fact that I was more like a roommate than a spouse. After all, I did provide him with ample ammunition to add to his argument arsenal that he didn’t use or hint at even once. He is so wise (sometimes) ;D Thank you! On the flip side, my daughter is morphing into a temperamental creature also referred to as a teenager and is now demanding more space (and doing so with mucho attitude I might add) while she figures out who she is. So our relationship is still very much intact despite my school obligations, only now I possess an uncanny ability to embarrass her without even trying. That’s fun!
But, back to clay & blogging…somewhere during the spring semester around 2/3 of the way through, I made the decision that I can’t take a full load of classes, be an active member of my family & find time for activities that I enjoy doing that round out my humble little life such as working with clay, exercising, gardening, hanging with friends, and recreational reading. I have to qualify the last activity because I’m doing plenty of reading in school – just not necessarily the fun kind.
Before you think that I’m going to announce that I’m dropping out of school, let me put that to rest right now. “Oh non, non cocodrie“ (said with my best Cajun accent – that bit is a phrase left over from a kid’s song that my daughter used to listen to that won’t leave my brain no matter what I do even on a Sunday morning not yet fully caffeinated ) - I’m just taking it at a slower pace by letting some of my ego go. So what if it takes me an extra year to finish, right? I’m already over 40 years old – that’s something that’s not going to change no matter what I do. Conversely, by not taking it a little easier, I lose out on many other opportunities, activities and interactions with people. Hopefully, my schedule adjustment will restore a little balance in my life and I can be a better partner to my husband & mother to my daughter, be a better friend, student, potter & blogger.
Speaking of blogging, I really missed my blog, reading your blogs and the interaction that joins clay people all over the world. When I received my annual hosting renewal notice in March, I almost didn’t fork over my credit card. But there was something troubling me in the back on my mind that convinced me to pony up the $$ to renew hosting and I’m glad that I did. It feels so right to jump back in and hopefully, I can reconnect with the clay community again – I’ve missed you!
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Yes – I’m tweaking my blog template. I found Suffusion WordPress theme by Sayontan Sinha and love the options & layout. I just need to alter the colors ever so slightly.
