Wax working

Ok… It’s been nearly 2 weeks since I last had a good opportunity to share what’s been going on around the studio. It’s been busy, busy, busy for us here. The monkeys have all finally been cleared away from the wax bench and I’ve been working on new work and spruing up wax trees for a silver pour. I was hoping to squeeze a pour in before today, but the incessant rain this week hasn’t helped. It did give me a little extra time to mix up some new test glazes and design, cut, and test a new group of paper stencils for my local summer markets. Ferns, gears, and bones… ooooh the anticipation is killing me!

With spring officially here I’ve been spending more and more time in my client’s gardens getting ready for the new season. I love the chance to get out of the studio and get some really good exercise but it tends to create chaos with my schedule… Lots to do and never enough time!

Confessions....

This may come as a shock, but after 50 plus postings about clay and ceramics, I've got to reveal something... My big Love is... Silver.

Yep... I'm a closet metalsmith. I love making Gothic silver. I've been in denial for about 2 years now, I even considered medication, but there it is... I'm a metalsmith. My kids know, they pieced it together after finding daddy in the garage with a blowtorch. My wife has always known and she still loves me. She's just worried about the children... "What if they grow up wanting to be metalsmiths? My god! What if they want to go to Art School! What if the neighbors find out!"

No worries... So now that the cat is out of the bag we are going to start sharing what's happening at the bench.

Busy busy busy...

It's been a fantastic week. It started with a late night bisque firing Sunday night and the rest of the week was spent glazing, firing, doing 2 more bronze pours, and I got in a lot of gardening. The bronze pours are going really well. We're still tuning up the foundry layout and getting it outfitted for work flow and safety. The fun part is tyring to get a new crew of interested students drummed up.


I had 33 pieces go through the firing and I managed to not loose any pieces this time! Not only that, but everything came out fantastic! The optical effects of the GhostBlue and White Liner glazes is ammazing on this kiln load. The neighborhood florist promptly confiscated 6 of the vases, 3 cups have already been pulled for gallery submissions, and the rest of the ware is either for the local Potters Guild fall sale next month or for posting on Etsy.
It's more of the same next week, I can't wait! Gosh I love this job!

Bronze Pour

Gosh I love bronze pours! I've done literally thousands of them and I still get all giddy just hearing the rumble and smell of a furnace. There's something that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy about pulling a 1900 degree pot of molten bronze out of the furnace.

High octane liquid potential.

I have to thank Sculptor and professor Gary Carlos for letting me help with these pours at Delta Community College in Stockton.
I had done a pretty good job putting out of my mind how much I enjoy the experience, but I think that's been blown... I'm hooked again. Damn!