Three of my water color crayon drawings from 2007 served as the inspiration for my stamps.
Just for fun, I modified one of the projects in Printing by Hand by Lena Corwin to make some original stamps to print on fabric using only some craft foam, chip board and blank canvas tote bags. The original project called for using acrylic blocks on which to attach the foam, but I didn’t have any acrylic and found some chip board instead. I do recommend using something heavier like acrylic or wood since the chip board is pliable, but it worked in a pinch.
Meanwhile, I spent the last couple of days setting up a little website for the Pearl Street Potters….
Pearl Street Potters
The group is comprised by 12 members (myself included) of the Colorado Potters Guild who have banded together to sell our wares at the Old South Pearl Street Farmers Market every Sunday, now through October 25th. The website has a map to the market and includes a calendar when each artist will be participating. I’m currently signed up for July 12th and August 2nd – see you there!
Have a great weekend,
Cynthia
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
Colorado Potters Guild Fall Sale Invitation
Reverse
You are cordially invited to the Biannual Fall Sale featuring work by members of the Colorado Potters Guild.
Late last year I applied to become a member of the Colorado Potters Guild located on Old South Pearl Street in Denver, CO and was juried into the Guild as one of its newest members in early 2008.
The guild boasts 38 active and 10 associate members and we host a large pottery sale twice yearly. The Fall Sale opens on Thursday November 6 and closes Saturday, November 8. It’s a great place to find handmade pottery by local Colorado artists just in time for holiday shopping. Guild members staff the sale in shifts – I will be working Thursday evening and Friday & Saturday mornings if you want to stop by and say hello – especially if you know me through my blog. If you have friends who appreciate handmade pottery, please pass this invitation along.
If you are a potter, the membership chair will be available to talk with you about becoming a member of the Colorado Potters Guild. Openings occur occasionally and Marta Rodeheffer will be glad to provide more information about how to apply to become a new member of the Guild. The guild’s facilities include 2 30 cubic feet gas kilns, 4 electric kilns, 1 vapor kiln, wheels, glaze mixing area, electric slab roller, extruder and a congenial group of people dedicated to clay. The Guild also hosts workshops with nationally and locally known potters on occasion.
The show hours are:
- Thursday 6:00 – 9:00pm
- Friday 9:00am – 9:00pm
- Saturday 9:00am – 5:00pm
The Guild’s facilities cannot meet our space needs for our sales so we rent space for the weekend at:
First Plymouth Congregational Church
3501 South Colorado Blvd.
Denver, CO 80113
(Huge church at the SW corner of Colorado and Hampden – follow the signs)
In the meantime, as much fun as it is to prepare for shows, I’m looking forward to a more normal slower pace to return and hope to catch up with everyone later this week.
One last thing – thank God the election is over – and GO OBAMA! It was so exciting to see the results start trickling in last night. I was alternating between glazing (yes I’m pushing it up to the last minute!) and watching the results until about 11pm last night. Around 9pm, my daughter came bursting into my studio and exclaimed that Obama is the new president – I thought it was premature, but lo and behold, I came inside the house just in time to see McCain concede. Wow.
Lots of things to do yet for the the sale and I have some exciting news on the horizon!! Stay tuned….
~Cynthia
Yesterday, I finally nailed down a schedule for my after school clay class that I have decided to teach again this year. If you’ve read any of the past month’s posts, you’ll know I have been on the fence about it – so it’s a relief for me to finally make a decision. Instead of teaching twice a week like I did last school year, I have decided to teach one day a week this fall partly to help with burn out and also because my daughter has a super busy schedule this year including soccer practice twice a week, my clay class and a music class. It means less of an income, but it frees up more time for me to make my own work during school hours – which is a good compromise if you ask me.
I have also been working on my website the past few days and uploaded the current enrollment form for my after school clay class to my Teaching Schedule page, along with a gallery of children’s art work which is a sub page of the teaching page. I’d be glad to hear any feedback if you have any. Next up on my agenda is to flesh out the gallery page for my own work which still shows under construction. Also, I am not sold on the current header image and am continuing to work on the theme template I’ve settled on. I would like to have the colors of the little graphic icons and the text (titles, links, etc.) be in the same color family. I will be working on my website a little bit at a time when I have a spare moment or two and definitely don’t feel the same urgency as I did a few weeks ago after breaking my site.
- Big Blue Bear who stands 40 feet tall is seen peeking into the Convention Center in Denver
The bear is really called “I see what you mean” by Lawrence Argent
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, I pulled my daughter out of school (with her teacher’s blessing) and headed downtown to see some of the sights and sounds of the Democratic National Convention that has taken over Denver this week. I figured it is educational and who knows when we’ll ever be in a city again where either party will be holding their convention. First we traveled by light rail and went to the non partisan “American Presidential Experience” at Invesco Field. There is so much security in town right now that it was like planes, trains and automobiles just to get there. We were on foot from the light rail and ran into swat teams, secret service and all kinds of blocked streets which added quite a bit of travel time to our journey. The Presidential Experience was interesting, but it is a commercial enterprise which devalues it just a bit for me. I’m not sure I’d do it again, but my daughter enjoyed the event (especially touring through Air Force One, seeing an exact replica of the Oval Office, and seeing some of Jackie O’s Clothing) so I guess that’s what counts.
- Invesco Field is ready for Obama to speak tonight
A normal 20 minute walk from Invesco Field to downtown Denver took us an hour because of road closures and other obstacles. We arrived at our chosen lunch destination, The Market, bedraggled, hot and hungry. Luckily the food there is delish and after refueling and cooling off, we set off for Robischon Gallery to see a political exhibit as a part of “Dialog: City” during the DNC. In between, we saw some celebrities and almost literally ran into Senator Tom Daschle, and got caught up in all kinds of protest and demonstrators, which was interesting but just a little disconcerting for my daughter who sort of lives in a protective bubble (like most kids should).
After spending some time at the gallery, we headed towards the convention center where many of the caucuses are taking place. Surprisingly, we were allowed to go in and watch the caucuses after going through a security check point. We wandered around from meeting room to meeting room and eventually went to a “watch” party which sounds way more exciting than it actually is. We had intended to head on over to Civic Center Park where many of the demonstrators where camped out, but when I finally looked at my watch, it was 5:00 pm, so we decided to skip the park and catch a train back home.
Things are returning to “normal”,
~Cynthia
