Posts Tagged “functional pottery”

No wonder I haven’t wanted to spend much time in my studio - I can barely even find my wheel!
I’ll start off my little game of true confessions. I’m a procrastinator! There, I said it and the truth is out in the open, though I’m not proud of my procrastinating tendencies. I haven’t gone into my studio for a number of reasons, but the main one being that it was a mess. I couldn’t find anything, and frankly I just decided to play the avoidance technique card. Here’s the problem though… I am getting cranky. Cranky, because something is missing in my life right now - mainly manipulating clay into something, anything.

So, yesterday, I cleaned for 2 hours until I could find my wheel, until I had put everything away in its rightful place, so that my studio could function again. Once I finished and gathered up stray 2 pound bags of used clay, I wedged up some porcelain. Man, the clay hard as a rock from neglect! But after banging it around a bit and forcefully wedging it, the particles aligned and were once again malleable.

I haven’t thrown for a least 4-6 weeks, so I warmed up by making a bottle
Just for kicks and giggles, I cut the bottle in half to see how good of a job I did - not bad!
I decided to keep the second bottle that I threw on the wheel
Throwing on the wheel is a bit like riding a bike; once you learn, you never forget. It took me a little longer to throw the first bottle, but I think I’m back in the saddle. Yippee skippee!

So, why did I decide to finally tackle my studio and get back to work? I think sometimes, I make things harder than they have to be. For example, Tuesday after I subbed all day long, I went for a run around 5pm. What’s so spectacular about that? I’m a morning runner and the mere thought of running in the heat and after working all day makes me nauseous. But, guess what? It’s all psychological for me. I told myself that if I went out and needed to walk, that would be okay. But, I didn’t have to walk. I ran the whole way and my dog was uber thankful after being cooped up by herself all day long. Afterwards, I told myself, “see that wasn’t so bad, tomorrow you’re going to clean up your studio!” And, I did. Whew…

Do you have anything you’d like to confess?

~Cynthia

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Tags: cone 6 porcelain, functional pottery, garage studio, procrastination, studio potter

Stoneware Tea Pot circa Spring 2002, slab built from brown stoneware clay body, glazed to cone 6 in oxidation
I belong to the Etsy Mud Team, a group of artists and crafts people who love working with clay. It’s a fairly diverse group who make anything from ceramic jewelry, functional pottery, to sculptural ceramic objects. We all employ different techniques, materials and processes down to a personal preference for various clay bodies. We are also at varying levels of accomplishment in our clay careers - which is good since ceramic artists are normally very generous with their clay knowledge. The Mud Team is currently working on a teapot “challenge” and entries are due next week. I’ve opted out of the challenge, but decided to look at some of the teapots that I have made since I first touched clay.

In January 2002, I enrolled in my first ceramics class at the University of Southern Maine, after taking a leave of absence from my job at United Airlines and the events of 9/11. I knew that I would love working with clay and it was indeed love at first touch. My very first project was a mask made from stoneware clay - which I have displayed in my bathroom (a post for another day). My class ended up working without much instruction the first month, because my professor’s mother was ill and he flew back to Taiwan to be with her during her last few days.

I was so eager to try making things out of clay and ended up checking out a gazillion books from the library during my prof’s absence. The teapot above is the result of my early experimentation. I was so pleased with myself and have displayed it proudly in my dining room ever since it came out of the kiln, despite the fact that the glaze never fully melted, the lid is ill fitted and it’s heavy enough to kill someone!

Making a teapot isn’t all that complicated once one knows the rules… One being to make the spout higher or at least level with the body so that one can fill the teapot full of liquid. Make it too short, and you’ll only be able to fill the body of the teapot half way, or risk spilling tea everywhere. There are more guidelines that Clay Times has outlined nicely in this article.

Meanwhile, I’ve been substitute teaching every week since August 20th in a K-5 Denver Public School. Guess what? I really like teaching and being in a classroom. I’m even contemplating getting a “real” teaching license which would require a return to school for me to become licensed. One of my goals in life is to leave this world a better place and my job at United didn’t fulfill that desire need nor does working solo in my studio producing work. I think teaching might be a good match and something that I can think about this school year. One of the teachers with whom I was sharing a classroom last week, told me that she thought “I had the gift of teaching.” I was so flattered, but didn’t confess that I was thinking of pursuing teaching as a career.

I’ll be subbing 2 days this week, but have reserved Monday, Wednesday and Friday as full on studio days! I’m ready to get a little muddy again…

Have a good week everyone,

~Cynthia

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Tags: functional pottery, stoneware, teaching, teapot

Eye Candy
I have no new photographs or projects to share with you at the moment other than the lovely photograph above that a gentleman sent to me of a vase that he had purchased from me last year filled with gorgeous zinnias from his garden. I loved the photograph and asked if I could share it on my blog - so here it is.

What am I up to this week? You may remember that I applied for a license to substitute teach in Colorado last year. Wouldn’t you know, I have a substitute assignment the entire first week of school here in Denver? Needless to say, I’ll be away from my studio for the week. I’m happy to report that I survived the first day, albeit somewhat tired to say the least. It’s quite a shocker to go from setting my own hours to working a set schedule and kids have a lot of energy!

On a side note, it looks like I will be selling some of my ceramic jewelry online at Asian iCandy - a retail site that features, you guessed it, Asian inspired clothing, art, accessories and jewelry.

I hope to peruse everyone’s blogs later this week… until then,
~Cynthia

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Tags: asian icandy, functional pottery, porcelain vase