Happy Tuesday!
I enjoyed a good weekend filled with lots of ceramic work and a BBQ everynight, including last night. We went over to some friend’s who had decided to go with a Greek theme, which was very tasty. Although when the Ouzo came out around 8 PM, I thought to myself, “Wait, it’s a school night, I can’t drink this!” But, I did and now I’m feeling a little bit groggy. I hope everyone else had a nice weekend too.
My daughter still has 1.5 days of school left. When we lived on the East Coast, she attended school until mid to late June. Here in Colorado the kids get out around Memorial day. I swear last year, her final day of school was right before the long weekend. What in the world can they accomplish in the next 1.5 days?? We agreed last night that it was a good experience and parallels what it would be like to be a lame duck president, or maybe someone who has given notice at work and is just filling out their contractual obligation. Otherwise, why bother??
Anyway, the small platter above is a new piece that recently came out of the kiln. I’ve mentioned this several times before, but I learn something about working with clay every single day. Working on this piece was no different. I had formed the piece after rolling out porcelain clay using a slab roller. I slumped it in one of my new plywood forms and after it had set up, I painted colored slip onto it. Don’t do the latter unless your piece is still in your slump mold!!
I did and was promptly rewarded with my piece reverting to a flat piece of clay. Somehow I rescued it, but now it has a fairly small lip in contrast to the original generous one. The good news is that since I considered this piece kaput, I felt free to try a new color combo and technique on my platter. Why does that happen? An item becomes less precious, and I can be a little less rigid design wise. Why don’t I treat all my pieces like this? Some really cool stuff happens when I do. This is also one of those pieces that I didn’t expect would survive the glaze fire; yet it did when they cake platter didn’t.
I need to work on my photography. I couldn’t photograph this head on without getting the glare of the sunlight on my piece. Add another thing to my to-do list! I read somewhere, that artists should never photograph their own work, to leave that to the professionals. Well, it’s quite a dilemma if one has to choose between paying a pro to photograph work vs. buying new material to make more work!
I sold quite a few things this weekend from my Etsy Shop, which pleased me to no end. I’m starting to think that this can really work for me. If you recall, I had a special going over Memorial day weekend, Free shipping for all jewelry. Surprisingly, I sold 1 set of jewelry (earrings and necklace) but the rest was functional pottery. That’s exciting to me.
I hope to get around to everyone’s blogs today or tomorrow. I’m still feeling the need to throw a few more things for the summer art market. This is pretty much the last day for me to make anything. The rest of my efforts will be concentrated on finishing.
Have a good day everyone,
Disappointed…
I had enough ware to have a glaze fire the other day in my electric kiln. I used one of my new favorite clear ^6 glaze recipes, courtesy of a Lana Wilson. Though it’s not on her website. The clear is so easy to make and gives consistent results. It also brushes on quite nicely so that one doesn’t have to make a big bucket batch if space is limited. I sieved it 2 times in an 80 mesh sieve before using.
| Clear ^6 Glaze | |
| Gerstley Borate | 50 | Kaolin | 20 | Silica | 30 | Totals | 100 |
I had my glaze fire on Monday, and yesterday morning when I cracked open the kiln to let it continue cooling, I was super excited. I noticed that the cake platter had not warped and was intact. Boy, was I happy! Later in the day, when I unloaded the kiln, I noticed a hairline crack on the interior rim. Sniff, sniff, I was so sad. I’m trying to think how I can avoid this in the future. Maybe, I need to use stoneware instead of porcelain for objects that consistently have issues. So, I’ll try again. I think it takes a certain masochism to work with a material that isn’t always guaranteed to come out perfectly everytime. What’s that old saying, “That which doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger.” I’m holding out hope.
On another note, the smaller porcelain platters that I had expected to warp or slump in the firing came out great! Don’t have photos yet, maybe later today. I had intended to take my photographs yesterday, but it rained all afternoon and I shoot all my photos outside.
On the bright side, I have lots and lots of porcelain pendants and earrings! That seems to be what has been selling lately in my Etsy Shop.
Happy Wednesday everyone!
P is for Patience…
Is it Wednesday already?? I had meant to post yesterday, but our torrential downpour Monday night prevented me from photographing some of my new work. So, I had to postpone my “photoshoot” till last evening.
Back to the title of this post. Now, I don’t want to have a pity party for myself or anything, but I have been learning or maybe re-acquainting myself with the nuances of working with clay in the past few months. She’s a demanding mistress and will not be rushed. But, if one waits too long, then the opportunity to manipulate the medium quickly disappears. How am I learning this lesson? The cake platter above, is one that I threw Sunday, May 6th, and it’s only been ready to handle in the past couple of days. I had already trimmed the piece, but I’m drying it very slowly. I don’t want it to warp or crack at any stage of the making process.
I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I really think that I have a touch of ADHD. One of the reasons clay works for me is that I bounce from project to project depending on where the pieces are in said making process. I can throw something, put it aside, carve something else, glaze something, fire the kiln, etc. etc. all in the same day. The ultimate multi-tasker’s nirvana. Or, maybe I enable myself?? Not sure.
Despite the bouncing around that I do in the studio, I’m learning not to rush the clay. I have had more than my share of warped and badly glazed projects come out of the kiln in the past month, not to mention cracked handles etc. I am really trying not to become attached to a piece, until after it comes out of the kiln for the final time, which is hard to do when one spends X amount of hours on a piece. All of my pieces become like my babies.
I have to say, that I really like how this one is turning out. In the top 2 images above, I hadn’t yet finished carving the design. I’m pleased to let you know that the carving is complete as of last night. I finished carving the platter while I watched AI and Haus last night. It’s always good to multitask while watching TV. I don’t have a new photo of the finished platter, but you get the idea. Now, my project has to finish drying so that I can bisque fire it this Friday/Saturday.
As far as the design goes, it came about as the result of 2 mugs whose handles I cracked while transporting them from one side of my studio to another. My first instinct was to launch them accross the room, but then I thought I should use these as test carving pieces/colored slip pieces.
Anyway, must get going now,
& Blogaversary Give-away">New Bisque Work Fresh From the Kiln & Blogaversary Give-away
Yesterday was a dreary day in the Denver metro region. We received about 2″ of rain in less than a 24 hour period. While I’m not complaining about the moisture because Colorado sure can use it to replensish the aquifers, I was happy to wake up to clearing skies this morning. I celebrated by unloading my kiln full of new bisqued porcelain pots and by taking my dog outside on a nice long walk this morning.
I did spend the rainy day yesterday in the perfect place. I chaperoned a field trip to the Denver Art Museum. I’m embarrassed to say that this was my first visit since the new Daniel Libeskind addition was opened. I need to go back by myself because I missed so much in my efforts to stop the 8 & 9 year olds in my charge from setting the alarms off. In fact, one very wise security guard became our personal detail whilst in the RADAR Exhibition – Selections from the Collection of Vicki & Kent Logan. It was a pretty intense grouping of art from installations, paintings, photography to sculpture.
I wish I could have written down info on some of my favorites, but was too busy herding my charges. I’ll be lucky if I don’t hear back from any parents because some of the art that was represented, from a Damien Hirst cow head preserved in formadahyde to a triptych of a pregnant Mona Lisa with surgical cut-outs to some very anatomically (and some not so) correct sculptures, paintings and photographs. While I personally don’t find any of it offensive and would not shield my own daughter from the exhibit, I’m pretty sure some other parents would. Fingers crossed. You should have heard the giggles and comments coming from the kids. My personal favorite? Headless, 2000, by Michael Joo.
As quickly as I shuttled the kids out of the temporary exhibition gallery, a kindly museum volunteer found us in the African Gallery and channeled the kid’s energy into making a quick art project before our scheduled museum tour began. The kids were totally into it, as was I. They used texture templates and stencils to recreate some drawings based on African art on display in the museum. I was looking through the book (see below) and think I’m going to look for it myself. The ideas behind all the layering and symbolism would translate well to clay and sgraffito work. Turns out the author, Moyo Okediji, is a professor of art at the University of Colorado at Denver.
I’m off to the Art Student’s League right now, half of the ceramic work in the top photo above will be glazed there, half here at home.
Oh, I forgot the whole reason I’m posting today. My “blogaversary” is coming up on Saturday, April 28th. While the custom normally calls for the birthday baby to receive a gift, I’m going to reverse this. If you leave a comment, you will automatically be entered into a drawing for one of my new ceramic pendants – color and shape of your choice! If you don’t want to be considered, don’t leave a comment. I’ll draw names out of a pot this Saturday, the 28th.
Drawing will be at 10:00 AM MDT – I’ll try to upload a video of the action!
Whew, that’s it for now,
