Ceramic Jewelry Box Part 3 & News
This is the continuation of part 1 and part 2 of a custom project that I am making for Texas based artist, Jean. It’s always a pleasure and an honor when another creative person commissions pottery from me – Thanks Jean!
Stoneware jewelry box with butterflies and bunny knob
My original plans for today did not call for posting part 3 of this ongoing series, however after tossing and turning for an hour at an ungodly time of o-dark-hundred, I finally decided to get up at 5am to begin my day with a cup of coffee and some blogging before heading to school to substitute teach. I finished the construction of the box yesterday and brought the box inside so that it can begin drying in preparation for bisque firing. I hope to squeeze it in with my student’s work on Sunday afternoon.
When Jean initially asked me to combine butterflies and a rabbit for a special birthday gift for her sister, I wasn’t sure how the 2 images would work together without being too saccharine. After sculpting the bunny knob, I think it works. What do you think? Granted, the box isn’t finished – it still has to undergo separate bisque and glaze firings – and I’m going to be adding ceramic laser toner butterfly decals to the respective shapes before calling it done.
I took a lot of photos to document the project – if you’re interested take a look at the gallery images below.
Meanwhile, I did my first laser toner decal firing yesterday and lo and behold, it works!! More on the process later – I took notes during the firing.
Tea bag saucer with water lily decal
You may remember this sketch of my water lily painting from this post. I took the image into Photoshop and resized it appropriately for this decal test firing and printed it out at 300 dpi onto decal paper. It’s not terribly apparent from the photo, but the image is a nice dark sepia tone which I think will work nicely on Jean’s jewelry box.
I'm attempting to dry the box evenly by adding rubber bands on each end to keep the lid from distorting.
I encountered a slight design challenge – after I cut the lid off of the box, the ends started drying at different rates and began lifting. As an experiment – I am drying the box with the rubber bands in place. I’m tempted to bisque the box with the rubber bands in place – they’ll burn off fairly quickly. Maybe not though, the rubber might leave a discoloration.
So, what’s my news? I received an email from the Landscape Architecture department at the University of Colorado and I’ve been re-admitted to the graduate program starting this fall. I’m super excited – but haven’t received the official letter yet. I was going to hold out, but you know me, I can’t. 
Have a great weekend everyone,
~Cynthia
Secret Treasures
I started making these porcelain boxes and I can’t seem to stop. In fact, I have another 4 in the works ranging in size from 2″ square up to 5″ x 6″. In a departure from the slip transfer that I used on “Birds and Bees”, these 2 are hand painted with underglaze and have not yet been bisque fired. I’m not quite sure which method I like better. There’s a looseness and loss of control in the slip transfer that I like – it’s not quite as tight as these paintings. Irregardless of method, I am going to be showing these at the “Fine Art of Craft Show” at the Center for the Arts Evergreen on April 25th.
I am reassigning the first 2 pieces I originally made for the show using relief printing techniques to the Colorado Potter’s Guild Sale opening on May 1st. I couldn’t help myself. I wasn’t disciplined enough to squelch the desire to make these porcelain boxes even though I knew I was on deadline for the show in Evergreen. I guess that’s a good thing about being my own boss. 
I’m still at a point in my career where I’m trying to find a style that totally resonates and am not yet known for a particular line of work so I do have a freedom of sorts.
Meanwhile, I’m fully aware of a low level undercurrent of stress that is permeating my days leading up to these shows. I must make work, I must make work, I can’t do this, I can’t do that because I must make work. Yes, this is inside my head nearly every waking moment. How do I cope? When I catch myself doing it, I try to breath deeply and remind myself to take each day as it is – live in the moment. Harder to do than to write, but I try. Do I drop everything I’m doing and beat myself up? No, despite waking up and thinking that I need to cancel going to my garden club meeting tonight so I can work – I’m going to make an appearance and start dreaming about getting my hands in a different kind of mud.
Gotta fill the cup,
~ Cynthia
