Delayed
Bags-o-clay
I swung by the guild on Monday to clean. It is a bit cruel that I haven’t been taking advantage of the guild’s studio space, yet since we’re a co-op, I’m still required to clean about every 4 months or so. I know – who’s fault is that? No need to rub it in. Anyway…while I was there, another member was using the electric slab roller (what a luxury) to create slabs to take home where she is going to work at her leisure. She had quite the system in place, boards, plastic wrap, etc. etc. and it got me thinking about whether I might like to do the same. I love hand building, and have hand rolled my slabs in the past – something I actually enjoy doing. At any rate, I decided not to use the electric slab roller, but I did bring home yet another 25# bag of clay – this time a white ^10 stoneware called “Dover” which is now sitting unopened next to the bag of ^6 porcelain. I might as well start working at ^10 for some work since the guild has 2 large gas car kilns.
I do have a plan. It’s just taken me awhile to arrive at a course of action. Making a decision is probably my weakest skill – I tend to deliberate and then deliberate my deliberations before I can move forward. Once I make a decision, I rarely look back. So here’s my dilemma – I need a fairly unobtrusive, comfortable and convenient place to work. Last weekend, my husband asked me when I was finally going to open the clay I brought home a couple of weeks ago, and I mentioned using the laundry room in the basement as a quasi temporary/permanent space where I can leave work in progress out and to work during the winter months. It’s warm, has running water, has shelving, counter space and it’s not precious, so it won’t matter if I get clay on the floor/walls etc. I think I might even bring my wheel inside which is going to require a little extra muscle power.
The laundry room isn’t exactly ideal, but it’s a start. I had planned to get it all set up yesterday and then…I got a small job offer that I couldn’t refuse. I’m updating/adding content to a WordPress website this week. Who would have thought that by teaching myself how to use and customize WordPress for my website out of financial necessity a few years ago, that I could actually earn a little extra income on the side? So, clay is going to have to wait for the weekend. But, I had better not wait too long – my last semester of school starts on Tuesday.
I’m Borrredddd!
I guess that means that it’s time for me to go back to school. It’s been a good break, albeit a bit long and I still didn’t get everything accomplished that I wanted to in the past 5 weeks. My break has been punctuated by family visits, holidays, fun and then in the last week, the national news that pretty much consumed me as I scoured the internet for any and all information. I hate to be a pessimist, but the past week left me feeling a bit hopeless and drained. I suppose like many people, I needed time to digest everything and regroup. AND, regroup is what I’ve done because ultimately, I have faith in the human spirit.
Ginny Cash – Covered Jar
In between spending too much time online and being a lady of leisure, I have slowly continued to de-clutter and organize our house as we prepare to potentially move across town this summer between semesters – I do miss my former studio and look forward to inhabiting it once again. Thanks to my recent online dalliances and boredom, I retook the Myers-Brigg Personality Test for kicks and giggles. Actually, I retake this test every so often in an attempt to see if the results will change – they don’t. I’ve been an ENFP ever since I first took this test in my youth. I’d say it’s a fairly accurate – I’m an idealist and a people person which made the news out of Arizona last weekend very traumatic. I have such a hard time understanding why things like this happen – and don’t get me wrong, I’m not naive, just sensitive.
I finally cut myself off from all news and focused on the tasks I needed to complete before beginning my 4th semester of grad school, which begins tomorrow. News overload just isn’t healthy….
Meanwhile, on my to-do list this winter break is to update the Colorado Potters Guild website with photographs of work taken before our fall show. I began editing the photographs this morning and several caught my eye, including Ginny Cash’s covered jar above and Sarah Christensen’s covered jar below. Nothing like looking at beautiful handmade pottery to make me feel better!
Sarah Christensen – Covered Jar
Finally, I think I learned something about myself. I’m the type of person who can get a heck of a lot done when I’m busy. Sitting around, being lazy does nothing for me and in turn makes me even more lethargic – such a vicious cycle. Have a good week everyone!
Adding an Opt-in Email Sign Up Form to Facebook Page
Hello everyone – happy new week (sort of since it’s already Tuesday)! Between being a mom, going back to school and moving, I don’t seem to have enough time in the day to do everything that I want to do. Oh why, oh why do we need to sleep at all? It seems so frivolous to lay unconscious & prone for a good 5-8 hours a day (more if you’re one of the lucky ones). With that said, and realizing my limitations, I resigned as fall show marketing chair for the Colorado Potters Guild a few weeks ago. I just can’t manage to find the time to squeeze in one more obligation – though I haven’t gone cold turkey. As web-mistress for the guild, I agreed to continue in said position and am also doing the online marketing component by delivering event notifications to local online calendars, magazines, newspapers and am establishing a social networking presence. I just don’t have time to cold call and do all the press releases etc.
The Colorado Potters Guild Facebook fan page
As a marketing tool, Facebook just can’t be ignored by businesses, individuals and non-profits. It represents viral marketing at its best like the old Breck shampoo commercial – “I told two friends and they told two friends, and so on…”. While the Colorado Potters Guild’s Facebook page is in its infancy, I think the venue has potential. Today, I am super excited today to learn that I could add our Vertical Response Email Invitation sign up form directly on our Facebook page. I have the sign up form installed on our website – but being able to add it to Facebook should help us attract new invitees who are interested in handmade pottery.
Do you have a Facebook page set up for your business? Do you want to know how to add an opt-in email form to your site? In the search pane, type in “Static FBML” and then click on the application. Once you are on the application’s page, click on the link in the upper left that reads “Add to my page” → then a pop up menu will appear prompting you to select your page → after selecting your page, go to your business page and click on the link under your profile photo that reads “edit” → from here you click on the “static fbml” application and click edit → copy and paste the code given to you from your email marketing company → save your settings. Once you have saved the code, go back to the main page and click on the + sign at the top of your page and from here you can add the tab for your form. Voilà – I’ve tested my form and it’s live. If you use Vertical Response, they have a video tutorial highlighting the process – not hard to do and it took less than 15 minutes to set up.
Meanwhile I have a quiz for which I need to study, a paper to write (luckily I like writing) and am past due for my morning run which means I have to sign off.
Have a great week,
~Cynthia
Firing Temperatures Matter for Laser Toner Decals
White earthenware butterfly tile before adding decals
Early this week, I fired a successful cone 04 decal kiln on cone 6 glazed work – the kin included the star initial pendants that I made for my students. As an experiment, I decided to add some decals to a low fire white earthenware tile I had made as an example for one of my student’s projects and intended to fire it in the same kiln load since I had a little extra space.
Butterfly tile before firing decals
I had previously consulted Linda Arbuckle’s website – she provides a handout in pdf form that discusses firing laser toner decals at different temperatures dependent on the temperature of the glaze surface to which the decal will be adhered. If you’re a clay person, you know that there’s a huge temperature difference between cone 06 and cone 6 – roughly 400° F. I don’t know about you, but I decided to use this piece as a test – does firing temperature of decals really matter or is the rule really more of a friendly suggestion? I know I’ve broken more than my fair share of clay rules with barely any consequences – sometimes, happy accidents are the result.
Post decal firing to cone 04 decals are barely visible
Guess what friends? The photo above post decal firing shows that the recommended firing temps based on glaze temp is a hard and fast rule – though I’m sure it could be exploited somewhat for artistic means. The decals are faded and in the case of the one applied to the chartreuse yellow butterfly – barely visible at all. Seeing is believing. So, what does Linda recommend as a firing temp for decals adhered to cone 06 glazed work? Answer: cone 010-06. If I used a lot of low fire clay, I would probably start experimenting with decal firing around cone 010-08 (1657-1728°F) because it seems like the decal firing should be lower than the glaze firing temperature. Keep in mind that I used commercial Duncan under glazes and clear cone 06 overglaze for this tile experiment – so results might vary depending on what glaze materials are used and firing temp. For my cone 6 glazed work onto which I’ve fired decals successfully, I use bucket glaze recipes vs. commercial glazes.
Meanwhile, a select few (about 1/4 – myself included) of the members of the Colorado Potters Guild have decided to staff a booth to sell handmade pottery almost every month of the summer at the Old South Pearl Street’s Farmer’s Market this summer beginning June 7th. I’ve elected to participate on June 7th, July 12th and August 2nd. After the first week, where almost all interested members will have work represented, the subsequent weeks will only feature 2-3 members at a time for space purposes. On July 12th, I’ll be sharing a booth with Sarah Christensen and on August 2nd a ? person. I’m thinking of asking a non guild member of the Denver clay community to join me 
It will be a good exercise to see if it is worth the effort on Sunday mornings. The Colorado Potters Guild is located on Old South Pearl Street and since we are a member of the Old South Pearl Street Business Association, we are receiving our booth space gratis. Our booth will not really be associated with the Potters Guild per se – each participating member is individually responsible for taxes and proper licensing. We have also christened ourselves…drumroll please…Pearl Street Potters. I know very original, but we can’t use the Colorado Potters Guild name for legal reasons.
So, what am I going to sell at the market? Jewelry for one – but also thinking of pottery related items that will compliment the types of things available for sale at a farmer’s market. Coffee/Tea mugs, soap dishes, bowls, butter keeps, small vases – ideas anyone?
Have a good long Memorial Day weekend,
Cynthia
