Darn Studio Monkeys

For the past 2 days I’ve had to cough-up the newly appointed wax bench to the house critters and close my eyes and walk away. Encouraging the next generation and all that… but anyone that has young intrepid studio kids knows, reclaiming studio resources from the monkeys will make you wince. It’s totally worth it, but… hey, it still sucks.


Ok, so while the kids took over the wax bench, I used the time to get some of this spring’s Bone Orchard yunomi started moving through the pipe. This collection is just getting better and better. The approach to creating our designs is getting more and more refined and complex as the project evolves. I seriously enjoy creating the new works for this collection.

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.

Secret Studio Sale

Ok ok... it's time to get around to doing this. I've been digging through my limited storage area looking for one particular canister and I've realized that I'm begining to have an inventory control problem.

I have little or no control, that's the problem.

At the bottom of the pile I had 2 crates of ware that hadn't seen the light of day for 3 years or more. I'm not hording work, I just forgot I had it.

Well... I really need to make room for this spring's new works, so it's Secret Studio Sale time! Stop by my RedGate site on Etsy and find a great deal in time for Mothers Day.

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I'll carry the water, but don't expect me to shoe the horse... just a thought.

Ok ok... this is the last posting showing new works with the crawling glaze...
yeah right...

I just had to share these two small gift canisters really quickly. I traditionally offer this size locally as a "small nut jar". These just happen to be amazing! The crawling glaze separates and sinks in and fuses to the underlying glaze and body. They are beautiful in pictures, but they are luscious in your hand.

Lodi Community Art Center's 49th Annual SPRING ART SHOW at the WoodBridge Winery

I fired off a kilnload Wednesday night in hopes of finishing off a sculptural work for the years Lodi Woodbridge show. After opening the kiln Thursday morning I came to the conclusion that it would need a little more detailing before it would be ready. Some yellow enameling hinting the play of lightning bugs in the circles... And a base of brass and cast hydrostone. Might as well get to work figuring it out because there are 4 more going through the kilns over the next month and a half.

So I ended up pulling from the trove of new work from the last 2 weeks. It was fun rooting through the 3 loads of work that was fired. The two yunomi are to be shown together as "Tea for Two", (creative, huh?) and the canister is simply "Crawl Glazed Canister". They still have to get juried in though...

March Cairn

I've been patiently letting this winters cairns dry over the past 2 months. Three of Decembers cairns were dry enough to begin working their way though the kiln earlier this week. Even with long slow bisque, I was waiting to hear the "PoP!" in the middle of the night. The bisque was Wednesday, and I fired off the second leg of the project last night. This was the first glazing for the 3 works. One was designed as a multi-fired piece, needing at least one more trip through. Another has options... involving decals and a re-fire. The 3rd is what's shown here and might stop at this point, or I might try a low-fired blob of lipstick red crowning it's top. That's the problem with sculptural works... lots of fidget room.