Posts Tagged “kiln goddess”

In an ideal world, I am super organized and plan for all possible outcomes. My make up is always perfect and I am the the epitome of calm and cool. In reality, I seem to be flying by the seat of my pants these days and it ain’t pretty. I have been meaning to change my ways, I just don’t know how to do it since I’ve been operating like this for so long now. I look more and more like Bill everyday:

Meanwhile, I’ve been a pottery making, glazing, firing fool all whilst working against deadlines and being a mom and wife. My porcelain boxes came out of the bisque kiln on Saturday morning (among other things), and by yesterday afternoon, I had the ware glazed and the kiln locked and loaded. The kiln has cooled down to 750 degrees F, as I write this and I’m hoping by noon, I’ll be able to unload her. I’m trying to speed things along for those of you rolling your eyes at me right now in disbelief since work needs to be delivered to Evergreen today for the show that opens on Friday.

Included in the glaze fire is my first wholesale order. I did a little dance and prayer to the Kiln Goddess before firing. If ever I needed a good outcome, today is it!

Things will relax a bit in May - and when the adrenaline calms down to a normal state, I vow to change my ways. It’s not good for my sanity or health. I was just reading an article in the paper yesterday about super centenarians - those who live past 110 years of age - and the consensus seems to be that the common underlying factor of their longevity is low stress levels. Even though I love pottery - I don’t like having clay stress. That can’t be healthy.

I hope to share a few photos of the pieces fresh out of the kiln before the show opens. Everything will be for sale - so I might not even get some nice photographs for posterity.

Have a great week,

~Cynthia

Tags: cone 6 glaze fire, kiln goddess, porcelain, skutt 1027, stress

My new kiln goddess
Last week, or maybe it was the week before, I was doing some studio clean up in an attempt to make some room so that I can “modernize” my space with a little insulation and drywall. Yep, just the basics for me. Whilst tidying and peering into storage boxes, which moved with us from Maine, I came across a box of old ceramic work - some dating back to my very first class. I saw my little goddess and was more than a little embarrassed that I shared her with my class. I was about to destroy her and throw her away, when I thought, no she will receive a pardon and serve out her days near my kiln.

As I held her and gave her a good once over, I realized that I made this figure at a time in my life when I was in love with the possibilities of clay. I swooned over every free moment when I could sneak away to the ceramic studio on campus. She represents a notion and a feeling that I would like to hold with me. She is pregnant with possibilities and will guard my firings from future disasters and mishaps… and perhaps even my artistic soul. If not, boom badaboom she’s outta here!

She is currently standing guard over a bisque fire as I write this post, which by the way, is past my bedtime. I am waiting just a few more minutes before I can turn up the temperature to high and allow the kiln sitter to turn off the kiln when it reaches cone 04 temperature which should happen between 12 - 1AM.

Meanwhile, I’ve made some decisions. I am going to focus more on making and less on being the main marketing machine - that’s exhausting. I’ve decided that I’m finally going to get some promotional packets together and approach some galleries, including one in LA that sent me a query last spring that I never followed up on. I’m ready to weather a little rejection, and will hopefully hear a few yeses along the way too. The new Ceramic’s Monthly arrived a few weeks ago which is slightly serendipitous. It’s their annual gallery guide, which highlights galleries across the US that specifically represent ceramicists and potters. I will start locally and see what happens.

I also want to thank everyone for all your comments to my last post. It’s very affirming that I’m not alone concerning some of my views. I value everyone’s input.

~Cynthia

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Tags: ceramics monthly, kiln goddess