Bisque Texture Plate
Gingko Bisque Texture Plate about 12 inches x 18 inches
Last fall, I made a bisque texture plate by impressing leaves from a ginkgo tree that I planted in my front yard about 2 years ago. As you can see from the photo, it cracked right smack down the middle (a crack developed along one of the stems while drying and then during bisque firing, the heat did the rest). It doesn’t mean that I can’t use it anymore, but the crack limits the size of work that I can make with it. Each side is still large enough for me to make the base for a hand-built mug (see below) and when I had an hour to spend in my garagio the other day which wasn’t enough time to really get into any kind of production mode, but just long enough to test out some of this plate’s other possibilities.
Hand Built Ginkgo Printed Mug
Ginkgo Texture Close-up
The texture is pretty to look at, but also very delicate and fine which proved a little problematic for printing purposes. After my first try, the impression was spotty at best, so I had to smooth out the clay and try again. Since my bisque plate is fairly delicate, I placed a towel underneath the plate and then put my clay slab on top and used a rubber mallet to make sure that the entire surface would be left with an even impression. After tapping the slab with the mallet, I used a rolling pin and my favorite Sherrill rubber rib to smooth out the clay on the non-printed side.
Ginkgo Plate Trio – still green
Since I knew I didn’t have enough time to make a mug, I decided to make a few small tea bag/soy sauce dipping sized dishes with the amount of clay that I had impressed and ready to go. I’ve been lacking motivation after taking such a long break from my studio, but know that doing something even if it’s small, is a step in the right direction in regards to getting back into some kind of a routine.
Small Ginkgo Plate
As with any type of printing – whether on paper or clay, the reverse is always true and what shows up. If you take another look at the ginkgo mug (above), you’ll notice that the ginkgo leaves are not raised as compared with these little plates. That’s because I impressed actual leaves into the slab I used for the mug, and I used the bisque plate for this one which left a raised impression. I’m not sure which one I like better – I’ll have to decide after I glaze it. If I prefer the former, I’ll have to make another impression of the bisque texture plate and then bisque this one – or wait till spring when my tree leafs out again.
Pink Glazed Flower Pendant
I’m still making jewelry – this one is available in my Etsy Shop for $20.00.
Porcelain pendant with slip inlay – still green
To make the jewelry just a bit more interesting, I tried my hand at doing a bit of mishima or slip inlay on a porcelain pendant. After it’s glazed and fired, I’m going to add a ceramic laser toner decal for a third layer. It might be just a bit too busy with the slip inlay, glaze and decal, but it will be a good experiment. I was a bit too hasty when I removed the excess slip and then I sanded fairly vigorously on top of that. Note to self – don’t rush…. Once it’s fired, I’ll add a silver plated Aanraku bail (used by dichroic glass artists) to the back with epoxy glue.
Meanwhile, ever put the wrong cone in a kiln sitter and not realize your mistake until it was too late? I’ve over fired a kiln once before and you think I would learn, but luckily, this time I put a cooler cone in the sitter rather than a hotter one. Yesterday, I fired the kid’s work for my Tuesday clay class and this morning when I went to pop the lid open, everything looked just plain drab ugly. I grabbed the box of cones that I left laying out near the kiln and luckily I put a cone 018 in the cone 06 glaze fire. Thank goodness I noticed my mistake early enough and since class isn’t until tomorrow afternoon I replaced the cone with the correct one and am refiring the kiln as I write this post. It should be cool by tomorrow morning in time for me to unload and pack the work for class.
Bonus – it’s freezing in Denver today and we’re expecting a high of only 18ºF so my garagio will be nice and toasty when I head out in about an hour to work since one of my kilns is firing.
Have a great week,
~Cynthia
Yes, and yes, this is my mishima weed vase from a few weeks ago, albeit glaze fired. It turned out pretty well, in my humble opinion and is a technique worth further exploration. Since I’m a visual person, I don’t like visiting blogs without photographs, so I threw this one in so that you have something to look at until new work arrives.
Some of you may know that I live in a quasi turn of the century vintage home in Denver, Colorado. I say quasi, because my husband and I basically bastardized the poor cottage a couple of years ago in order to carve out additional square footage for our small family. It blends well into the neighborhood and it does retain it’s vintage charm inside and outside, but it’s been changed way too much to achieve historical status protection. What you may not know about me is that secretly, I would like to live in a modern prefab minimalist home like something you find in between the covers of Dwell magazine. I’m always inspired by the clean lines, funky furniture/accessories and the re-use and purposing of common materials that I find featured in Dwell.
On Saturday, I was thumbing through the July/August issue of Dwell and came across a little blurb about some cardboard furniture. It piqued my interest enough to actually visit the website that was listed in the magazine. How often does that ever happen? Turns out Swiss architect, Nicola Enrico Stäubli, designed a line of child size furniture using regular old cardboard. He is offering the patterns free of charge from his website, Foldschool. The former landscape architecture student is me is excited to make some for my daughter. One of my favorite things to do while in school was making models and this reminds me somewhat of that activity. I wonder if these patterns could be translated into adult sized models? It’s a project for the future, because I have a lot on my plate right now – but I’ve been eyeing some mattress sized cardboard boxes currently sitting in the alley behind my house that I just might have to save!
Meanwhile, Diana – aka The Lone Beader bestowed me with the “Rockin’ Girl Blogger” award. Thank you and much obliged! I won’t bore you with a long acceptance speech. I am to pass this on to 5 other rockin’ girls out there in blogger land that have never received the award.
Drumroll please…
- Chi aka Peppa’s Studio
- Janet over at A Planet Named Janet
- Even though she’s been absent awhile, I love W.J.’s fractal digital images at Art 166
- Heather at Bad Kitty Art Studio the inspiration she provides
- Paula at Manning-Lewis Studios
I could add many more terrific bloggers to the list, but in the interest of time, stopped at 5. Recipients, please bask in the glory and pass it on if you feel moved to do so.
~Cynthia
Mishima or the Art of Inlaid Colored Slip Decoration
One of the cool things with keeping a blog is that it serves as a journal for me for trying new techniques and also a way for me to share the results with whomever is interested. I have been meaning to try the technique of inlaying colored slip into a piece, otherwise known as Mishima for awhile now. I just happened to have a leather hard pot available and decided to try it out yesterday afternoon.
Mishima originated in Korea during the Koryo Period (935-1392) where floral and animal motifs were incised and filled in with a contrasting colored slip on tea bowls. Contemporary ceramic artists borrow techniques from the past and make them more current – though often straying from and breaking some rules along the way. Now, isn’t that fun? I certainly like breaking the rules. For example the celadons and blues that I favor are normally fired to cone 10 in reduction (gas firing), however, I use a cone 6 glaze that resembles a traditional celadon in oxidation (electric kiln) that Mary Cay shared with me. Is it cheating? Nah, I don’t think so – I’m just making it work for me.
If you’re interested, a very basic Mishima tutorial follows below:
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Meanwhile, I received a very exciting email and phone call last week. I hope to be able to share the good news with you soon!
In other news, Mary Cay and I visited Denver artist, Mark Brasuell on Friday afternoon. Mark trained as a metalsmith, but has since turned to drawing and painting where he excels! After visiting a bit, touring his studio and getting a sneak peak at some new work in progress for an upcoming show, we purchased a huge lot of jewelry findings, beads, stringing supplies and tools from Mark now that he is no longer interested in jewelry making. We haven’t gone through the lot yet – it’s a bit mind bending with how much inventory we have. This coming week, we’ll be culling the supplies that we want to keep for our own work, and then expect a sister Etsy shop to open in the near future, where we will be liquidating the remaining stock.
Have a creative week,
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