This and That
Throwing porcelain – teacher appreciation gifts
I’ve been a little quiet on the blogging front this holiday weekend. I think it’s because my hubby is off work and we’ve been trying to fit some gardening in between thunder storms, playing games, and just hanging out with friends. I did manage to get a little throwing in on Thursday – I realized that only a week remained until the last day of school and decided to throw some mugs for teacher appreciation good bye gifts. I need to attach the handles this morning and then bisque fire tomorrow evening. Nothing like last minute planning…. I suppose worst case scenario, these don’t get fired and I purchase something. I tried, I really did.
Colored porcelain clay
I have also decided to work with some colored porcelain a là Jane Peiser style and dried some slip that I had previously colored with Mason Stains.
Meanwhile, we’ve been making plans for our big trip to Europe this June and spent the early morning looking at apartments for short term rent in Paris. Hubby and I decided to take a short side trip to Paris during the latter half of our trip to Germany – maybe 4-5 nights max. Round trip plane tickets from Frankfurt to Paris on Air France are only $113- per person and by getting an apartment for the 3 of us, we’ll save on dining out expenses. I’ve found some really cool, centrally located pedestrian friendly ones that aren’t terribly expensive – anywhere from 95 – 120 € which I don’t think is terribly bad for Paris. (The exchange rate is currently $1.39 to 1€.)
Gotta go make some handles,
Cynthia
P.S. We’re going to see the new Star Trek movie today – I’ve heard some positive reviews from friends who’ve seen it.
Colored Clay
Last summer, I started some experiments using mason stains to color porcelain to use in my work. I was inspired by an article in Pottery Making Illustrated featuring the work of Chris Campbell, a few years ago.
I didn’t get far and became distracted by other techniques I wanted to try and life itself. I still have a few blocks of colored clay, but at this point, they probably need to be reconstituted. I was reminded of my experiment the other day, when the green pendant on the right sold. I was quite pleased that someone bought it, and had recently been considering removing one of these from my Etsy Shop for my own use.
I checked out some books from the Colorado Potters Guild the other night when I attended new member orientation, including Colour in Clay by Jane Waller. As I glanced through the book, the section on “agate” ware caught my eye and I remembered some of my own work, now long gone from my possession.I have a whole bucket of porcelain slip in my garagio right now that I plan on staining soon to use in my work here at home. In addition to Chris Campbell’s work, I love the work of Jane Peiser and Vince Pitelka.Meanwhile, I picked up 25 pounds of ^10 porcelain to make some work for a gas firing that the guild is going to do in a few weeks time. They’re having a workshop on how to fire the big gas car kiln and I’d love to sneak a few pieces in.
Have a good weekend,
~Cynthia
