Happy New Year!
Happy 2011!
Hello everyone – long time no talk…unless of course you’re on Facebook and then you’ve been subjected to snippets & nonsense that pertains to my life all along. I’ll get to the point of this post:
I’ve been ruminating how best to return to clay while still attending school full time. It’s something that nags at me…but don’t get me wrong – I’m really happy to be in school studying landscape architecture. It feels right and there’s so much potential. Guess what? I’m halfway through the program and have only 3 semesters left until May 2012 – my expected graduation date. Given the current economy, however, I may very well end up toiling (happily) back in the pottery studio upon graduation with a few extra letters behind my name. Let’s face it – I’ve lost momentum in the clay studio after returning to school and now it seems right to start thinking about pottery again since I’m getting better at juggling multiple activities every day. It could also be that I’m currently on winter break and am starting to get bored with 3 weeks remaining till the start of the semester. ;D
The Essential Guide to Mold Making & Slip Casting by Andrew Martin
A couple of days ago, Andrew Martin, author of Mold Making and Slip Casting, “friended” me on Facebook with a note that he had read a past post where I mentioned his book. Nothing really note worthy of clay people befriending clay people – I think 1/2 my friends on FB are fellow potters. But, I had forgotten about the book until the request and have been thinking about the possibility of molds in the past couple of days and how it coincides with a lot of the technology & software applications I’ve been using/learning in school.
Also related – my past hand built work was jumpstarted after taking a workshop with Annie Chrietzberg a couple of summers ago. Annie teaches the use of paper templates to make hand built work – not to mention that her work is fantastic! Lightbulb – ding dong – I have decided to explore the use of technology to try to advance some new work in the clay studio combining molds and templates as the facilitator.
AutoCAD or any cad (computer aided design) software for that matter, is a tool used by those in the architecture/engineer/industrial design field (and more) to “draw” precisely using real time dimensions that can be scaled in paper space. Some days, it’s the bane of my existence in school – it’s dry and unforgiving. But, the software has its place in the world so that people know how to build something – be it a building, a park or a toilet. Potters build stuff too – I’m sure this insight in using a software like AutoCAD in art isn’t revolutionary by any means, but I have never thought about using it as a tool in pottery before.
So…I design something in AutoCAD – then what? I can print out the design on a large format printer (or size appropriate) and then either cut out a template old school using scissors, or could take the design to the laser printer at school and make the template in a more durable material such as chipboard, wood, plastic, etc. Templates are fantastic for making multiples. AutoCAD renders in 2d or 3d making it really valuable to making a 3 dimensional mold. Which leads me to another wonderful opportunity that I have at school – access to the wood working shop for those tasks that a laser printer can’t handle. Though I confess that I’m still skittish around power tools. 
I’m excited about the possibility of combining newer technology with clay, which is such an ancient art, as a means to get back in the studio.
This seems like a bit of kismet in making this revelation the eve before New Year’s Eve – opportunity, possibility, and it feels good! So much better than the doom and gloom in the news every day about the economy, politics, etc. I’m going to forgo a resolution this year in favor of thinking forward instead of something that I need to change about myself.
Hope you do too – Happy New Year everyone!
Cynthia
P.S. Andrew is teaching a workshop at Anderson Ranch this summer if you’re interested in mold making.
Pottery Making Illustrated & Ceramic Arts Daily
Ceramic Arts Daily December 29 2008
Hello everyone! I’ve taken a bit of a blog break over the holidays, but have been forced out of my stupor to share some exciting news with you. In late October, local ceramic artist, Annie Chrietzberg, contacted me out of the blue to find out whether I would be interested in being part of an article she was writing for Pottery Making Illustrated featuring my handbuilt/wheel thrown mugs using lino-cuts which were inspired by a workshop I took last summer that Annie taught. Trying hard not to appear to eager, I calmly responded, “Sure, why not?” without trying to show my true crazy self that was bursting with excitement on the inside.
Two crazy busy weeks later, we had images, interview, how to’s etc. completed – did I mention that this happened the week before the Fall Colorado Potters Guild Show? I work well under pressure – sad but true. Annie retreated to write the article with her usual witty, yet informative style of writing and I went on with life as I know it.
Just today, I received a voice message from Annie alerting me to the fact that Ceramic Arts Daily featured her article in its daily email – hence the first blog post in a week. Thank you Annie & Bill Jones (editor) for including me in a great publication! To read the full article (for those of you who don’t subscribe to PMI – which I’m guessing is quite a few), here is a link to the full text on Ceramic Arts Daily.
Meanwhile, I’ve been working on the Colorado Potters Guild website the past few days. Progress is slow, but steady and the site is still most definitely under construction. As a bonus, I think I’ve found a new WordPress template for myself and while I’m in web mistress mode, I might as well make a few updates around here because my template isn’t totally compatible with the new version of WordPress 2.7.
Have a good week,
~Cynthia
Hybrid vases, cone 6 white glaze and glaze calc program
Hybrid Leaf Vases
I liked making these 2 vases – the bases were made from slabs of clay and the wheel thrown neck was added after the hand built portion of the vase had set up (not quite leather hard) enough to withstand having the neck addition. I also made a bisque texture plate using ginkgo leaves from the little tree I planted in my yard – though I haven’t used it yet. The white glaze is new for me – it’s from Mastering Cone 6 Glazes by Hesselberth and Roy, pg. 108 “Faux Majolica”. There’s a great interaction between the white and the aqua color glaze where they overlap that I really like.
In an effort to use and store a limited number of glazes and all the associated raw materials in my small garagio, I thought this white would be good as both a liner and I might like to try painting some stains on top in the future maiolica style. I decided to be conservative and only made a 5,000 gram batch just in case I didn’t like it, but I have to say, it fires terrifically!
In regards to glazes, I decided to bite the bullet today and purchased the Digital Fire Insight Glaze Calculator after testing several different programs, even a free glaze calc program. I’m all about free, unless it isn’t working for me and this one isn’t a terribly intuitive program – but that really applies to me only. Maybe now that I have the glaze calculation program, I can add my glaze recipe page to my website. I’ve been too lazy to format tables in word for my recipes and it would be really cool for others to see the analysis that accompanies each.
Square Bottom Mug – hand built from slabs of clay
I really like the way this mug turned out – round top, square bottom and the faux majolica MC6 glaze interacts nicely with this green one too! In an effort to move away from the templates that ceramicist, teacher and writer Annie Chrietzberg gave to everyone this past summer during a workshop I took here in Denver, I tweaked her template just a tad giving the mug a square base instead of a round one. The tweak was minimal, but effective.
Speaking of Annie – I wonder if her ears are ringing right now…I enjoyed spending a couple of hours with her yesterday in my studio. She’s warm, funny and very generous with her knowledge. Oh Earth to Annie…thanks for stopping by!
Meanwhile, yesterday was hectic and I didn’t get a chance to do all my daily Internet activities such as responding to blog comments, answering emails etc. In the am, I took my daughter to visit the Denver Center for International Studies, which is a 6th grade -12th grade public magnet school in Denver. Denver residents are lucky to have school choice – but we are also cursed because choosing a school is like applying to college. She will be starting middle school next year and we’ve narrowed our choices down to 4 including the one above, Denver School of the Arts, Morey Middle School which has a gifted magnet program, and one other neighborhood school.
My first choice for her is the international studies school – it’s so cool, they start studying a foreign language in 6th grade (French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese or Japanese) and they visit countries where their language is spoken starting in 9th grade. Her first choice is Denver School of the Arts – but they only accept 20% of applicants. Besides, does our family need more than one artist? DCIS accepts about 50%, Morey is an automatic in – and the other school is just an extra for decision making purposes. All 3 of these schools are urban & very diverse – and bonus upon bonus – they provide busing!
The downside to all of school choice is that applications are due by Dec. 12 for following year and include essays, interviews, teach recommendations, test scores – all for 6th grade! It’s a little overwhelming for both of us. I promised her that if she decides to go to DCIS, I’ll take classes in whatever foreign language she picks. Wouldn’t Japanese be cool? Of course I’d sign up to chaperon field trips whenever possible!
TGIF,
~Cynthia
Earth to Annie Workshop
Me, Lillian, Annie, Cindy, Diane and Kathi
On Saturday, I took a one day hand-building workshop with 5 other people taught by Annie Chrietzberg at her studio. In addition to being an accomplished artist, Annie has been writing articles for Pottery Making Illustrated and graciously shared her hand-building techniques and templates with us. If you visit her website, check out her workshop schedule and download her some of templates for your own use. I highly recommend taking one of her workshops if you happen to be in the Denver area or any other of her scheduled workshop cities this year.
Kathi and I making handles for our cups
We’re really paying attention and don’t want to miss a thing!
Rolling out slabs for our platters
Another demo
My cup
I’m super excited about learning how to make a more refined cup using hand-building techniques. When I first saw Annie’s gorgeous cups, mugs and tumblers I wondering how she got that texture on her cups that look like they could have been thrown on a wheel. The cups we made are HUGE! I’m guesstimating that these would hold upwards of 20 ounces once fired. That’s a whole lot o joe! I love coffee, although occasionally, I drink a good strong cup of English tea or green tea. Check out all the different ways one can drink coffee.
We also made a small platter with double sided texture. These are really cool! I imagine that I will further shun my wheel in favor of hand-building techniques. My challenge now is to change the templates and to add my own textures. One of my main concerns when taking a workshop is that my work will end up looking like the instructors. So, I’ve got some work to do to make these my own.
I really enjoyed the day and am ready to make some new work!
Have a great week,
~Cynthia
