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
Caulking Tool Useful for Hand-Building with Clay
Caulk tool
I found this caulking tool at Home Depot a few weeks ago and as I was building a covered stoneware clay box the other day, I remembered to test it out. The box was constructed using stiff slabs of clay – and by stiff, I mean leather hard and not pliable. I use paper clay slip to join the mitered edges, and then force clay coils into the joints for added strength and to cut down on cracking. The rubber tip on the end of the caulk tool worked really well and it was much faster and left a really clean area. You just never know when a tool designed for something else will work when making items out of clay. The tool was less than $5, and I’m not quite sure how I can use the other tool – the caulk remover?
Here’s the step by step:
Testing a different top
After I finished making the box, I decided to try making a domed type of top for the box mainly, because I didn’t have enough sides to complete the box and I needed to close it up. I rolled out some fresh clay and then place it on top of the box and gently forced the center down slightly. I let it set up for about an hour and then trimmed it to size, scored it, added paper clay slip and closed the box.
Rounded pillow top
Here is it closed up after which I covered it with plastic and am letting it rest and dry some more. Today, I plan on cleaning up the edges and will add feet and cut off a lid. The box will finish drying until it’s time to be bisque fired.
Speaking of bisque firing, I must run now and load the kiln and fire the work from my kid’s class so that it will be ready for Tuesday’s class. I work on a really short time schedule – the kids make the work on Tuesday, and I fire it on Sundays (normally). It tells me that I could dry and fire my work significantly faster than I was taught to do.
Enjoy the rest of Sunday,
~Cynthia
Happy Belated Birthday Mom!
Stoneware Poppy Box
I’ve been a bad girl. When I say “Happy Belated Birthday” – I really mean inexcusably late, like maybe I should save it till next year late. My mom’s birthday was July 11th – yep, I’m 5 months late in finishing her birthday gift. Spank me now.
Poppy Box
No excuses really, just procrastination to the extreme.
Poppy linocut
After all, I carved the linoleum back in June and after looking at my original files, I constructed the boxes on June 9th – which would have given me a month to finish her gift.
Unglazed
This was even bisque fired in Sept – so I’ve had plenty of time. Mom, I’m so sorry and I hope you know that I love you! I’ll pop this in the mail this week. Think of it as a Christmas appetizer – xoxo 
Till later,
~Cynthia
New Mug Printed with Linocut and Kicking Myself Offline
Leaves hand built mug printed with linocut
I whipped this mug out last Thursday for something special that’s on the horizon…. Despite carving the design in the linoleum last summer, I hadn’t actually used the linocut to date. The template wasn’t exactly made for this type of mug, but I sort of like that the vining leaves are on an angle.
Linocut mug templates – I used the bottom left linocut for the mug above.
Here’s a couple of my linocuts – I’ve added at least 2 since then and have ideas for many more. I like carving the designs into linoleum because it’s a rigid material, maintains a uniform slab thickness and leaves an evenly distributed texture. And while I do use some commercial textures, I really prefer using my own imagery.
Meanwhile, I’ve been spending too much time online between blogging, social networking sites, Etsy Mud Team, my website, emailing and my volunteer duties with the PTA (which involves the computer). My husband was just a tad irritated with me last Sunday and I agreed that I need to find a better balance. It’s hard being self employed because as many of you well know, my computer and internet use is my life line to the world. So many opportunities have come my way and new connections forged that I might never have made without my computer.
I did ask my husband how many hours he spends on a computer at work – he hemmed and hawed and admitted that it was 8+ hours a day – but he emphasized that he leaves it at work. I asked him how he thought I could fit it all in? As a small business owner and mom who works at home the boundaries between work and home life blur considerably.
Nonetheless, I conceded to limit my tweeting, blogging, commenting, Facebooking, emailing etc. to 10-15 hours a week. I try to accomplish my computer time in the morning while having my coffee, but it doesn’t always work. If I put in 20 hours min. studio time a week, that’s still part time work hours on my part and allows me to connect better to my family. Regarding commenting on other people’s blogs – I’ve decided that rather than trying to digest my whole bloglines subscriptions in one sitting, I’ll answer those who comment on my blog first, and then attempt to read 5 feeds a day. That’s so much easier than 70!
Question: How much time do you spend online a day whether you’re for pleasure or business? What is acceptable – what is too much?
Meanwhile, I made up for the perceived neglect by making some home made artisan baked bread…keep in mind that I’ve never made home made bread before – but I found the easiest recipe in the world. I have to admit that it’s delicious and now my family doesn’t want me to ever buy store bought bread again!
Must run,
~Cynthia
