Colorado Art Studio

Clay in the living room entrance
Normally, I don’t mind a little chaos here and there, but things have gotten out of control around my home, purse and brain. Our home is slowly being over taken by clay and work. Luckily, my husband is thus far very tolerant - but woe is me if he ends up tripping over the 350 pounds of clay sitting in the living room. I had to bring my clay inside and I also need to keep work in progress in the heated house as well due to the bitter cold temps we’re experiencing. Forget, having my home on the cover of Better Homes and Gardens - it deserves its own publication, maybe something like Decorating on a Clay Budget.

My student’s work in progress now resides in the dining room
The temperature is in the teens this afternoon - but it’s a damp cold that takes my breath away. Unless I heat my garagio next winter, I think I’m going to have to plan to do most of my production during Spring, Summer and Fall. On the bright side, we really only have about a month of really cold weather before warmer weather returns on a regular basis. The funny thing is that I visited Mile Hi Ceramics in the afternoon to buy even more clay for my after school clay class and the person who checked me out said, “Don’t let clay freeze.” I really wanted to say, “Ya think?” But, instead, I smiled and thanked her and went on my way.

Clay and more ware even resides in the kitchen
Meanwhile, I had a really bad day yesterday. I lost my keys not once, but twice. Once whilst my daughter and I were doing our daily race around the house in an attempt to get her to school on time. Eventually, I found them in the exact location they should have been in the first place but didn’t notice the first time I looked. I ended up making my daughter 10 minutes tardy for school. Then, sometime between walking from my car, visiting the school office, her classroom and some other misc. areas in her school, I lost my keys a second time, but this time for good.Bless the school secretary for lending me her car. I was able to pick up my husband’s keys and make it to a doctor’s appointment I’ve had scheduled for a long time. I was so grumpy with myself for being so thoughtless. One of my goals for the new year is to live in the present, but yesterday, after the panic and adrenaline rush of the am I couldn’t even remember where I might have placed my keys - or did they fall out of my over stuffed purse? I have no idea what happened. Have you ever done something with no thought or recollection of the event? I do it driving sometimes. I end up at my destination, but really don’t remember driving there.

I am holding out hope that some parent accidentally scooped them up or found the keys and will return them to the office later this week. But, if not, I’ll have to have duplicates made. I had to remind myself that there are more serious problems in the world, so if this is as bad as it gets, then I just need to get over it. Coming home to my clay strewn house, however, didn’t help my attitude.

So, today, I’m trying to wade through my purse, kitchen counters and computer files to try to bring a little more organization to my ever busier life. It’s a good thing to do on a day like today when spending time in the garagio could cause frost bite.

~Cynthia

To reclaim old hard clay, I cut the hard bricks into little chunks. Please don’t try to throw with hard clay, it’s a good way to get carpal tunnel and very aggravating. I know, I’ve tried.
So I decided to go back to work the other day (I’m starting to have the clay jones), but was rather dismayed at what awaited me in the frigid cold garagio: 300 pounds of frozen clay which is to be expected after a week of sub freezing temps. I promptly brought my clay inside the warm house to defrost - some say it’s more plastic after it’s been frozen. Time will tell. Today is the perfect day to work in the garagio - temps in the mid 50’s - so I’ll keep this post brief to maximize my studio time. Now, maybe your clay isn’t frozen, but is just old hard clay. Read on - this post on reclaiming clay is just for you.

Soak in warm water until it starts to break down.
After draining the clay, put the goopy mess on a plaster bat or wedging table. Once the plaster has absorbed some of the water and it’s workable again, wedge and reuse.
It’s a very simple task involving a little bit of physical work and a good way to be work in the studio on those uninspired days.

Not to worry, the frozen glazes can be reused too. I will just need to defrost them and resieve the glazes a few times when the need arises.

Meanwhile, I went for a little jaunt around the park today and my porcelain snowflake is gone. It was still there 2 days ago, so sometime between then and now someone discovered it. I hope it brings him/her joy!

That’s it for today - I plan on visiting everyone’s blogs tomorrow since I haven’t been very social lately.

Toodles,

~Cynthia