Colorado Art Studio

Anti-fatigue mat for standing and throwing

On Friday, I drove to the hardware store because I was out of mapp gas for my torch and while I was there, I decided to pick up an anti-fatigue mat for my new wheel set up since I’m pretty sure, I’ll never sit down to throw again.  The mat is cushy and much more gentle on my legs than bare concrete, but it has that noxious rubber/new carpet smell that makes me nauseous.  Anyone know how to get rid of that smell?

On a side note, I was very sad to pull into my favorite mom and pop hardware store that’s been in Denver forever.  The doors were shuttered and a sign read “Out of Business”.  Instead of being able to run in and out of the store fast, I headed over to Home Depot to find what I needed and wandered aimlessly until I found what I needed.

Wheel thrown porcelain orb vases

This is one of my favorite forms to make.  I’m not sure how practical they are, but I like them.  I’m trying to figure out how to finish and glaze these after I bisque fire them.

The cool thing about my recent studio push is that a ton of new ideas are popping into my head every day.  Making stuff is giving me ideas which makes me think that when I’m having one of those uninspired moments, I just need to do something in the studio - anything.  I need to sketch/write some of these ideas in my notebookso that I can explore some of them after the sale ends.  Today and tomorrow are really  my last day to make work for the Colorado Potters Fall Sale opening in 2 weeks.  Today, I’m going to make some butter dishes and tomorrow, I plan on making some ornaments.  I figure the ornaments will dry pretty fast.

Hand built and wheel thrown vases with different necks and two in progress

I’ve also been playing around with different thrown necks for the slab built vase bases.  I kind of like how no two are alike.  Do you ever make stupid mistakes in the heat of making work for a show?  I did that on Saturday and I swear, I almost cried and was cussing like a sailor at my carelessness.

2 slab built vase bases and 4 wheel thrown necks hit the deck - err make that concrete floor

Shelving is at a premium right now and I had placed a ware board with 2 vase bases and about 3 wheel thrown necks on an unstable surface…topple, crash, bang, boom.  Lesson learned.  If I’m going to take the time to make the work, I need to be conscientious of where I place it.

Work is drying everywhere

I think it’s time for me to fire a load of bisque and to start glazing so I can free up some room.  My shelves are full and there’s no extra space for work.  Consequently, I’m getting creative.  If you look closely, that is indeed a margarita sitting on the drywall board.  The drink was courtesy of my husband and was his way of saying, “time to quit for the day.”

Meanwhile, I’ve been having a lot of fun playing around with Facebook.  If you’re on FB, look me up.  I’ve found a ton of old high school classmates and continue to add clay people to my “friends”.  I even chatted with someone from Turkey the other day.

I also have a ton of blog posts lined up - too much to say, so little time.  I actually sat down at the computer around 9 pm last night intending to write this post, but I didn’t have the energy to write.

That’s it for today,

~Cynthia

New table for my wheel

Three weeks ago, Ben posted an image of a table that he built for his pottery wheel so that he could throw while standing, instead of sitting.  After seeing his table, I knew I wanted one too so I saved the image to my computer to show to the perfect person for the job.  No - not my husband - he’s not really into building stuff.  My in laws flew into town from San Antonio, TX last Thursday and my father in law loves to make stuff out of wood and he is always looking for projects to do around our house.

I showed him Ben’s photo and handiwork and my FIL started designing, measuring and making a shopping list in preparation for building a table for me.  He’s so good at improvising and winging it.  I think the trickiest part was figuring out an ideal height for me to throw standing.  I basically had to pretend I was air throwing at a comfortable place for my hands and arms so he could come up with a combined height of table and wheel.  I think the rim of the splash pan stands about 35″ high - the wheel head is slightly lower.  I’m not a tall person though - only 5′5″ tall.

Table has storage on 2 levels

What can I say?  I love it - thanks Tig!  I’ve never thrown standing up before, so I wasn’t sure I would like it.  Since trying it out, I can’t imagine throwing sitting down ever again.  I love being at eye level (almost) when working on the small finishing details.  It’s so much easier on my back and neck to throw standing up.  The only thing that is a little tricky is when the piece gets taller - I figure I’ll need a little booster for those instances.

I love my Thomas Stuart Wheel!  After seeing a 4 page advertising spread in the new issue of Ceramic’s Monthly yesterday, I learned that the local Denver company just merged with Skutt and the wheels will soon be sporting a new name.

Original Maverick mug by Justin Rothshank

Meanwhile, I will soon receive a piece of Obamaware in the mail.  The Obama/Biden fund raiser ended yesterday and I almost missed it because it was dinner time here in Colorado and with my in laws in town it’s been quite busy.  I didn’t win my first choice which was also a mug by Justin Rothshank, but with minutes to spare, I was the winning bidder on another one of his pieces.  I wasn’t able to do the “buy it now” for the one I really wanted - suffice it to say that end of the month finances didn’t support it, but, I was able to bid up 2 other pieces to my max price so I helped a little.

My in laws left this morning, so I will be in the studio till 3pm today,

~Cynthia