Colorado Art Studio

Glaze Tests March 21, 2007
The “keepers” in my opinion

Gee, is it really Thursday already, because it feels like the week is just flying by! Here in Colorado, we have been enjoying warm spring days for the past few weeks; that was until Mother Nature decided to remind us that she’s still in charge. We woke up to about 4 inches of snow in the Denver metro area this morning. I really can’t complain because come summer we’ll be crying for moisture.

My goal for my blog is to post every 2-3 days, and this week I let 4 days stretch between posts…. Not my intention, but what can you do? I could backdate my post to make it look like I posted yesterday, but I won’t. It’s not like I don’t have anything to say either. I have a blog post saved as a draft with future blog topics all ready to go.

Anyway, let me get back on topic. I wanted to share my glaze test tiles that came out of the kiln last week. I had tested a high calcium semi-matte base glaze recipe from Mastering Cone 6 Glazes, page 89 in the book, and then added variations in color: 3 to be exact. I also re-tested the cone 6 Chinese Blue Green recipe, which compared side by side with my tests from college, turned out perfectly! My ceramic’s mentor, Mary Cay, is coaching me through my glaze testing and is having me use Robin Hopper’s method using the “color progressions pie” from page 187 in The Ceramic Spectrum.

Do you remember back in high school or college math, thinking to yourself, “when am I ever going to need to use this information again?” Well, I had to dust off my algebraic capabilities from my brain files in order to calculate the glaze recipe once my tiles came out. I was scratching my head, wondering how am I going to get the colorant amounts for test tile #5 from the pie?? Algebra to the rescue. The algebraic formula is explained on page 190 of The Ceramic Spectrum.

In other news, I subscribe to an online newsletter called Practical E-Commerce and there was a really good article today on keywords and how to choose wisely to optimize your website’s ranking with search engines. I’m paying attention, because when I google my name, my blog comes up first and foremost, but not my website. I have two domains pointing to my website, http://cynthiaguajardo.com and http://coloradoartstudio.com, and my website doesn’t come up on the first few pages of my google search. Now my blog comes up #1 and my blog does have a link to my website, but how many people are going to poke around to find it?

If I search for pottery, ceramic pottery, ceramic vase, handmade pottery or other vague search terms, my site is no where to be seen. So, the question is how can I choose and narrow down the focus of my keywords to help people find my website? Here’s a link to a free keyword analyzer that will help to narrow down that search. Obviously, hitting the streets, networking, word of mouth will help people find my work, but my quest is to help my website stand out anonymously on the Internet. The article advises that webmasters use narrowed down specific search terms. In other words, pretend to be one of your customers. Think like a consumer of your product. What would you search for?

Top view-unfired sgraffito tray brown and light blue slip, 9″ x 15″ x 1.5″
Side view
This was a fun project to make. I have been concentrating so hard on perfecting my wheel throwing skills that I forgot how much I liked handbuilding. This tray was made by rolling out clay with a slab roller, letting it set up a bit, and then slumping it over a telephone book. After the clay had dried enough, I painted 2 contrasting colors of slip onto the try. I used some fairly trendy colors-brown and light blue. I like the design I had done on my cylinder last week and decided to replicate that on this tray. Again, using the shellac as a guide for my own use so that I could scratch away the unpainted part of the tray.

This tray is currently sitting on the bisque shelf at the Art Student’s League. I should be able to add a clear glaze and have it ready the week after next. Actually I have quite a few things that will be coming out of the glaze kiln this week that I’ll share, including 4 new cone 6 glazes that I made up and tested last week. I pulled a recipe from Mastering Cone 6 Glazes by John Hesselberth and Ron Roy. So hopefully they turned out (fingers crossed)!

Heather over at Bad! Kitty Art Studio tagged me in a meme last week, so now I must share 5 things about myself that you may not know.

1. Yesterday was indeed my birthday- I was outed by my best friend Nikki out in San Fransisco. I’m a Saint Patty’s Day baby-no green beer for me last night, but I did enjoy some green margaritas out on our patio-basking in the 70 degree weather!
2. I collect styrofoam meat trays. I know it’s sick, but I always think that someday, somewhere I might be able to use these gems again. I hate to throw them in the landfill, so they end up in my studio, stacked in nice neat rows. I have way more than I can use, so if anyone needs any, let me know.
3. I can’t stand to wear night gowns to sleep in-they get all bunched up when I’m sleeping and is just very annoying to me. So, I really like to wear old fashion men’s pjs-if they have a really high cotton thread count-even better.
4. I snored like a trucker when I was pregnant. My husband kept telling me it was true and I thought he was exaggerating. He has the recording to prove it and keeps it in a secret place so that I can’t find and destroy the evidence.
5. Let’s see one more thing…I was a cheerleader in high school-eek! I’m trying to convince my daughter to be a jock and a nerd instead. Here’s the picture to prove it:

That’s me on the left circa 1982
I think it’s only fitting, that I tag my friend Nikki! You’re it.