This is a continuation of yesterday’s post highlighting the construction of a custom 2 level ceramic jewelry for Jean. As I mentioned yesterday, I don’t normally enjoy custom orders because it feels too much like homework, but I had already been thinking of making this project before Jean asked – good timing. I should also give you a bit of the back story about how I know Jean before going into more detail.  Two years ago, I met Jean virtually via Alyson Stanfield’s online Promote Your Art with Confidence class in which we were both enrolled.  After the class ended, a group of us stayed in contact using Google Groups – though I confess, I haven’t been participating very much in the past 3 months.  I really appreciate the exchange of ideas that happens between a group of artists that encompasses a variety disciplines.

This covered jewelry box is a birthday gift for her sister who really loves butterfly and rabbit imagery.  Jean gave me quite a bit of leeway with the design (almost too much), but I did manage to squeeze in a few butterflies (8 to be exact) and I am still thinking about what kind of sculpted bunny knob will be most appropriate.

I decided to use a paper stencil technique – I drew butterfly shapes on newsprint and then placed them on the box in various places.  To help the paper butterflies adhere to the box, I spritzed the box and the paper stencils with water.  Note:  I still have not cut off the lid to the box and will do that today.

My original thought was to paint underglaze over the entire box, however, when I went into my studio I didn’t have an turquoise colored underglaze.  I thought I did, but it was low-fire turquoise glaze – eek!  What to do?  Last year, I had mixed up some different colored slips using cone 6 porcelain clay scraps and Mason Stains and remembered I had a celadon colored slip in my stash.  I used 1 tsp. of French Green and 1 tsp. Robin’s Egg Blue to 2 cups of slip.  I painted on 2 coats of slip to the exterior of the box, allowing the 1st coat to dry before painting the final one.  Note: It can sometimes be problematic to mix different clay bodies – the jewelry box is constructed using a ^6 white stoneware and the slip is a ^6 porcelain, but, I have already had successful results combining the two clay bodies.

My inspiration for using the paper stencils comes from a project I did with my students last fall who were enrolled in my after school clay class.  We made tiles using paper stencils that turned out terrifically.  Another cyber friend & potter, Linda Starr also recently experimented with butterfly stencils – only she used pre-made stickers, a technique I love and might borrow someday!  I’ll post some pics of the kid’s stenciled tiles when I find them – I think I’ve moved the images to my external hard drive and I’m too lazy to walk to the other room right now.

After the slip started drying, the paper butterflies started lifting away from the clay making it very easy to get pretty crisp images.  I did take a paint brush and smoothed the edges where the slip meets the raw clay around the butterflies.  When the box is bisque fired, the raw clay will be white – not quite as white as porcelain, but pretty darn close.

Even the insert is decorated – and I’ll probably paint slip on the interior of the box once I’ve cut the lid off today.  I had a flash of  inspiration last night while I was editing these photos.  While the slip and clay are still wet, I wondered whether Jean would want me to carve a little message to her sister….  Luckily, Jean answers her email pretty quickly and I am indeed going to carve a secret word shared between sisters inside the box for her sis to find.  Isn’t that fun???

So, what comes next?  Cut the lid off, clean up the edges and interior of the lid today – followed by sculpting a knob and adding feet to the box.  Then, the box will dry over the weekend and I’ll bisque and glaze fire it.  I plan on using a clear glaze since I’ve already used slip, though I’ll probably use my celadon glaze for the knob – maybe I’ll leave it clear – not sure and that’s a decision to make later.  After the box is glaze fired, I will be adding laser toner ceramic butterfly decals to add another finishing layer to the design.

Speaking of decals, I’m firing 2 test pots with decals as I write this.  I figured I’d better test it out before firing Jean’s birthday gift to ensure success.  I don’t normally operate this way, but I’d hate to disappoint her.  I started my decal firing this am at 6:30 in my test kiln – fingers crossed, they turn out perfectly.  I’m firing the decals to cone 04 based on a handout Linda Arbuckle has provided on her website (scroll to the very bottom for the ceramic decal one – though there is a ton of other great info on her site to check out) that suggests firing the decals between cone 04 – cone 1 for any work fired to cone 6.  It makes sense – the iron oxide in the laser toner will fuse to the glaze at the point when the cone 6 glaze is beginning to flux.  Any cooler, and the image may rub off, and any hotter it may burn off.

I’m substitute teaching tomorrow, so I won’t share my results until Saturday – but you know I’m going to peek inside the kiln tomorrow morning.  I don’t know if I could wait all day!

~Cynthia

P.S.  I have some exciting news to share…

This post is overdue by a couple of days, but don’t worry – I am not feeling guilty about it.  On the contrary, I feel pretty proud of myself that I abstained for as long as I did since I’m trying to wean myself off my addiction to the computer.

I’ve traced the paper template for a large mug onto linoleum

I decided to take my paper cup template that Annie shared with us during a workshop I took with her 2 weeks ago and make a custom lino-cut in the shape of the template with very specific imagery.  Before making this, I decided if it works out I’d make some more linoleum blocks to add to my repertoire.  One of the hazards of taking workshops is that my work could end up looking like the presenter’s work and that’s the last thing I want to do.

Freshly cut linoleum

Since the template is basically a cone shape, I have found that the flat rectangular linoleum blocks don’t print the way I want them to since there’s a curvature once the mug is assembled.  I used my poppy linoleum cut as reference for this one.

Freehand drawing in pencil

Traced the drawing in sharpie marker

Many of you thought that the black sharpie drawing was actually underglaze or some other material to transfer the image block to clay, much like a paper print.  At this point, I’m simply using the lino-cuts as texture tools to transfer the imagery to clay.  It sure as heck beats hand-carving each and every piece.  Essentially, the carving is done only 1 time when I make the lino-cut and I’ll be able to use this for years.  The sharpie marker basically firms up and simplifies where I need to cut since many of the pencil marks overlap.

Freshly carved lino-cut

Finished stoneware relief printed poppy mug

Well, it’s almost finished – this one is still green and must survive the bisque and glaze firings.  I’m not in love with the handle template and am trying to figure out how to alter it to suit my tastes.  I’m starting some glaze testing too using mason stains as colorants.  I want a bright sherbet Technicolor palette.  Some where in my blog travels one of you mentioned Colour Lovers – which is this wicked cool web based color and pattern maker.  You can browse the libraries or make your own palettes and patterns.  My daughter and I played around with this site the other day for hours.

I’m not sure whether or not I’ll be able to truly achieve this bright of a glaze palette since glaze chemistry is tricky.  I’m going to start with the use of mason stains and need a couple of good base glaze recipes.  I already have the celadon color so I really only need to work on the other 4.  Yesterday, I spent the day reading up on the use of Mason Stains as colorants in glazes vs. oxides.  From what I’ve read, the reds, pinks and oranges sometimes need a higher calcium based glaze to achieve the color shown and the presence of zinc can change the color.  So, some testing is in order in the next week.  I think I’m going to head over to the Colorado Potter’s Guild studio on Tuesday evening to mix up a few 100 gram batches of 2 different base glazes to start with.  The glazes also need to be transparent to highlight the texture on my new work.

Frog Stoneware Box

On Saturday, afternoon, I finished up the second of 2 boxes I assembled last week.  My relief printing efforts are the result of all the hand painted porcelain boxes I’ve made in the past couple of months.  The boxes are incredibly time intensive and I need to be able to work more efficiently.

Duds

This became apparent when these boxes came out of the kiln either glazed shut or some otherwise damaged.  I was heart broken, but if ceramics teaches anything it’s humility and working out the technical aspects of working with clay.  So, after briefly flirting with getting a 9 to 5 job, wiping away my tears and frustration, I became determined to figure out how I can make better work with minimal losses.  Somehow, the prospect of becoming a claims adjuster trainee for an insurance company just doesn’t sound too fun or glamorous.

Meanwhile, I have been losing tools left and right in the studio.  I know that they can’t just get up and walk out the door and that they’re in there somewhere!  The problem is that my studio hasn’t been properly cleaned in months.  1/4 bags full of different kinds of clay littered the floor, dust was everywhere, clay bits and scraps everywhere, trash, bits of paper, notes etc. were strewn about.  So, I spent yesterday afternoon cleaning my studio top to bottom.  It’s sparkling clean (well as sparkling as a ceramic work area can be) and ready for a new productive making cycle.

Have a great week,

~Cynthia

Colour in Clay by Jane Waller
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. My colored porcelain pendant experiments
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. My “agate” ware thrown pots from 2005 using 2 different stoneware bodies
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

My creative corner studio in the garage
It has been a productive past few days around the Guajardo household! Inspired by Pinky’s home renovations, we have begun painting the trim in our home, clearing out the garage and general sprucing up of the homestead. After remodeling our house 1 1/2 years ago, we basically moved in and have been living with all sorts of unfinished projects. We sort of turned a blind eye to it all, until I said, “enough is enough!” We have to finish it, I feel like there’s something that still needs to be done every single day of the year and after the feng shui seminar, it’s just plain bad energy.

In addition to painting the trim we have begun the process of cleaning the garage in anticipation of my studio conversion. I’m working in there, but it’s not pretty. Functional, but not pretty. I can already picture the crisp white walls and light streaming in from the new windows…bits of inspriation and eye candy hung on the walls. Back to reality, we posted several items to our local Craigslist for free and for sale. We arranged the items for easy extraction from the garage that will find their way back into the house including an upright piano and a set of bedroom furniture. Stacks of boxes of slides are sitting in our dining room waiting to be scanned and archived.

And, I am letting a large portion of my stash of artist’s canvas go via Ebay. If you looking for cheap canvas – give my auctions a looksie. I have 6 packs of 6″ x 6″ x 3/4″ stretched (staple free edges) canvas starting at $7.99 per box and 6 packs of 16″ x 20″ x 3/4″ stretched (staple free edges) canvas starting at $15.99 per box. These are all still sealed in their boxes by the factory. I purchased these new from Art Supply Warehouse last year for $12.99 and $29.99 respectively.

In the meantime, I started coloring some of the porcelain clay with mason stains to begin some experimentation with millefiori for my ceramic pendants that I’ll be selling on Etsy.

Several people commented that they had no idea what 500 pounds of clay looked like. I purchase this pre-made from Mile Hi Ceramics by 50 pound boxes. It comes with 2 – 25 pound bags per box. Here’s what one bag looks like. So, I had 10 – 50 pound boxes in the back of my Pathfinder (one of the few times I need an SUV – that and camping).