Done Watching the Devils Dance

17 Fiddlers & Fireflies done and dancing into the box.

A few will be looking for new homes soon,

but I think I need to live with this series for a bit before they all leave.

 

Tap, Tap, Tap!

Decisions

Tested two finished surfaces last month by running through two cups through the kiln.

One with a white glaze with the black clay body burning through and the other was just a liner glaze on the interrior and lip, revealing the beautiful black bare clay body directly to the touch.

One feels safe, the other is just dreamy...

I had more votes for the one that felt the way work is supposed to feel, but that other surface felt more elemental. The juxtaposition of a smooth lip and the texture of stone.

Time to make a decision.

Roll the dice and let the load ride on what moves me to pick it up.

Hello New Home

I think I'm in love...

Comfortable You

"Something is bothering me... I don't think this looks right?"

"Well what is it supposed to look like?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know... I'm trying to be original!"

"Oh"

"Let me know when your done trying to be original..."

"I like it best when you are comfortable just being You."

 "Yeah... Me too"

Passing Time

Never sure how this work translates outside of the studio. 

Brown and round soothes my soul but will it actually have meaning in anyone elses hands?

Just dreaming about watching fireflies

 and passing time...

Smash

Price doesn't define the experience. 

It's the dance between the Maker, the made, and the Beholden that defines the experience.

 

But tonight the experience begins and ends in the studio with the made hitting the shard pile.

Smash!

Evolution

Simple but not Plain...
I've been following this thread of an idea in the studio over the course of the past year and a half. I've had a lot of personal reasons for staying on track and seeing this idea through... the least of which is getting an idea market ready.

It's rewarding to look back and see the trajectory of a vague idea pulled out of a dream of dead sleep. This one was special fun, working it's way slowly down the path of call and response of trying out approaches, and happily falling short...

Teasing out the threads, learning how to make the idea work, pushing it forward, and letting the idea evolve.

 

Until it finds an evolutionary niche.

Time to scale up the finished idea.

Lovely as You See Me

The question is an expression of desire...

Am I beautiful?

As I am... Without a story.

 

Could you dream of holding me in your hands, feeling my rough broken skin, bring me to your lips?

I am... I become as Lovely as you see me.

(I'm so pulled to the unglazed surface. It's character begs so many questions, while the glazed surface asks to few questions, it sits compleat in itself. It is "beautiful" in such a way as to disappear.)

Goof'n

 Pushing through a few works for a "garage sale" next month...

Anyone need an invite?

The Purple Cow

I struggle with Seth Godin's idea of the purple cow. (if you don't know what I'm referring to... do yourself a big favor and Google Seth and listen to anything you can find.)

Frankly, I don't believe it's enough to anchor myself into the notion that quality alone is even capable of carrying anyone's work out into the world anymore. You can make ripples with quality, but it takes something more to make an impact.

Stark... 

I'm just not that confident in myself, my work, or the world in general. Shooting for the middle doesn't feel safe anymore. 

Gotta stand Bold and play loud if you want anyone to stop and watch.

If that wasn't bad enough, but it just doesn't feel comfortable any longer to sit on yesterday's successes... 

Yesterday is long done.
If you like yesterdays designs, pick em up as they hit my Etsy.
Those designs are going to become rarer and rarer very quickly.

I'm still pushing to invest myself into the idea that every work needs to be inventive and unique enough to warrant the attention the work can find. I'm becoming more and more interested in impact and expression rather than sales. Probably a very unhealthy desire, but it feels suited to my needs as someone that makes because I enjoy the act of making.

 Whether I like it or not,

I am a purple cow...

Studio Partner...

What are the qualities of a fantastic studio partner?

Honest

Supportive 

Independent

Driven to grow

Ambitious

Insightful

Instigator 

Button pusher

Carries their share of the load.

Encyclopedic 

Tells you what you need to hear whether you want to listen or not.

Can be counted on to do what they've raised their hand to do.

Knows when to give you space.

Buys a round when someone needs cheering up.

Doesn't complain without at least one solution in hand.

Has an opinion.

Will happily play devils advocate just to hear you push your viewpoint.

Cheers you on (for better or worse)

Is one of the most exciting thing in your world...

I'm glad to have mine back home :)