Getting It Done

I am so jazzed!

It's been a very busy 2 weeks since the last post and lots of stuff has come and gone since the last post... I had work accepted into PBS's local on air Art auction (it's the big faceted canister that took out 2 kiln shelves in the process 4 weeks ago). This show was a big tado this year... the event organizers turned away lots of great artists this year so I'm feeling pretty good.

I made a huge mess in the studio over the past 2 weeks cutting a dozen billetts of stencils for 25 plus large and medium canisters for my local markets and a good number went twords creating yunomi for FetishGhost's BoneOrchard collection this fall too. This is going tobe the best load yet! (my wife just reminded me that I say that every single kiln load... yeah well.. but it is true!) Over 40 peices are being set aside the soda kiln (BIG, big mojo!) and another 30 are going to be glazed with this springs experimental cone 6 slips and glazes.

NEXT was the juring of art work for the local "Hands in Clay" exhibit. That was this Sunday and I am SO happy to have this behind me! Nearly everyone involved in this project has been really great to work with, but there have been a very small handful of people who seem to feel that this needed to be more difficult than it was. (I think it's a chemical thing...) Needless to say, it has been a learning experiace and I can't wait to do it again, (with out all of the speedbumps).

The show's jurors, Tom Collins and Bruno Kark, seemed to have alot of fun selecting the awards for the show. ( They were great sports and insparational optimists! THANKS GUYS!!! I can't wait for the workshop August 1st!)

My submission for the show, an urn titled "Winds of Icarus", took 3rd in the functional catagory. (that scores another Happy Dance). We even got the entire show installed before the end of the day. Still have to take down and move the art work on the walls, but hey. DONE IS DONE!

For a quick hoot, check out the time laps video of us setting up the show.

Expecting the Unexpected

Another kilnload of question marks was fired off Saturday night. Sunday was spent pulling out the work and looking at it without expectation. Not always an easy thing to do, but after last weeks jaw drop, I'm at least expecting the unexpected.

Whoa!

Ahhh, I meant to do that...

That different...

Didn't mean to do that...

Lumpy bumpy...

Subtly cool

A Handful of Racers

Well... for all my whining this morning about everything in yesterdays kiln load of work conspiring to challenge my preconceived expectations, there were a good number of pieces I did really did enjoy pulling out of the kiln.

These works still play the edge of what I need to come out of the kiln verses what I personally think is fun to hold and explore. Unfortunately, these are more often than not, 2 totally differing ideals. This point is actually becoming a point of personal internal philosophical contention, (but that is definately another post).

Creating a Paper Stencil Part 1

Alright... I know I've shown the process before, but shooting the pictures for these stop motion "how to" videos are how my kids are earning their allowance at the moment and I'm still learning how to put it all together.

This demo is divided into 2 parts. I know I have a hard time sitting still longer than 4 minutes, so I've tried to keep each clip relatively short.

I've got lots of question marks with these videos, but my big question right now is... Does it need sound? I have my stereo blasting Miles Davis and Trombone Shorty while I'm sitting around slapping these videos together, so I assume that everyone else sitting at their computer has their own trax playing in the background.

Self doubt and second guessing always seems to lurk in the shadows, luckily it rarely keeps me from having fun!

BoneOrchard TeaWare

The studio has been a flurry of activity over the past 3 weeks. Between all of the hours and hours spent blissfully gardening, 28 cubic feet of bisque has been put through the kiln and 17 cubic feet of glaze has gone through as well. Well over half of that work was in prep for an experimental soda firing this weekend at Clay Planet in Santa Rosa, CA. with Matt Brown from Moss Beach Ceramics, (more on that in a later post). Finished works are finally beginning to flow out of the studio again. Most joyously, I’ve been very happy with the new works coming out of the kiln for my BoneOrchard collection of teaware. Here are a few works selected from the last firing that will be available at FetishGhost’s Etsy storefront.

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.

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.

2-27 Kiln Load

Before I share what came out of this kiln load I really need to say something... Most people don’t realize how much risk is involved with creating studio ceramics. It’s really all old school alchemy. I stead of lead to gold, it’s clay to sellable work. (It really doesn’t sound as cool, I know, but still, it still takes a huge amount of study, confedence, and work.) I really felt that this was my riskiest kiln load of work to go through the studio in a good while. I loved all of the forms, and the slip stenciled designs were fantastic. It would have been so easy to push everything though with my “I pretty much know what I’m going to get” glazes that I’ve been working with over the past 9 months. But… I have a new glaze that I’ve been playing with. It's a generally untested glaze, but it’s proven to be an amazing glaze that breaks and crawls at cone 6. This load of work was designed to test this glaze’s interactions with most of my studio glazes. this is the point where I point out all of the beads of sweat, lots by the way, over this load of work. It's over 50 peices that will live or die when I open the kiln.

In a situation like this I quite honestly I would have been happy with a 50% loss ratio with this experiment. Hell, I’d have been happy with a 90% loss ratio. I had already seen what this glaze could produce and it would be worth loss just to get a handful of racers with it. I just didn’t know whether the racers I had made before were accidents of application and atmosphere, or whether my assumptions with this gaze were correct. Luckily I hit my marks with 6 out of 10 assumptions. There will be a few refires, but the bulk of this load is going up for sale. First come first serve, these really are amazing yunomi. A local venue has already laid claim to work that’s unsold by the 15th of March.

The first works I want to quickly note are the results of the Agate ware. These have been fired with a clear glaze. WoW! They really look great. The form’s true profile is pleasantly hidden by the marbling effect.
Love it! More in the next few day's...

EMT Stamp Exchange part 2

Yeah! I got my stamps today! They are beautiful... Thank you Charan!

If you are not familiar with Charan's work you should check out his website at http://www.creativewithclay.com/
or his blog at http://www.creativewithclay.blogspot.com/

His craftmanship is impeccable and his designs are top notch!

I've set them by my computer so I can look at them and plot how I'm going to begin making use of these little wonders. I can feel my world shifting with all of the possibilities! Just another hour or 2 until it's studio time. I can hardly wait...

These are what I got in the mail. The results of a group stamp swap for the Etsy Mud Team. I sent out mine just the other day...
If you would like to see the photos of everyone's stamps, just give this a click.

Experessions

After 5 days of Ibuprofen & Hydrocodone to help with a hurt back, I’ve got to celebrate this small victory by saying “Yes!” The 2 vases submitted for the “Expressions” show in Tracy, CA. sold last week! Happy dance! Doh! Ouch…

Mixing Up a Simple Slip

Making a super simple slip starts with collecting up some of your trimming scraps from your current white bodied clay. You don't really need much... 300 grams is a good single batch amount to play with for starters. Multiply that by whatever number you might have in mind to experiment with other oxides and stain mixes.

Here comes the fun part... my kids joyously referred to this particular chore as "let's whack Daddy!" They volunteer for it every time and quite frankly, it's got me rather nervous, but it's got to be done so get whackn!

For this chore I use an old pair of blue jeans, (I know you were saving a pair for something like this). Just load up a leg with a manageable amount. You'll figure out how much is enough pretty quick. Special note, if you pack it too full your crotch will pop... really messy.
Now grab your trusty small hand sledge and just lightly pound the hell out of it. Like I said, my kids think this is hilarious.

This is still pretty chunky, but it'll work just fine.

At this point I feel I should point out another advantage of using crushed clay to make your mix... it's a lot easier to get an accurate weight ratio of clay to colorant you'll need.

I like strong colors, so I multiply the weight of my crushed clay by 5% to 10% to get the weight needed for my oxide colorant. Commercial stains seem to like the 10% to 15% ranges. It's really up to you how strong you like your colors. This is where you get out those test tiles and experiment.

Slowly add your crushed clay and oxide mix to the water. Keep at it, slowly building up an island in the center. The island will subside below the waterline as it pulls water into the mix. Keep adding your crushed clay mix until it all in there. Kind of give the tub a small shake to collapse the island one last time, and let the mix slake overnight. In the morning, just pour off the excess water and stir well and "Voila!" A simple slip.

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!

Back to Burnning

Well, my kiln repair worked and I got a glaze load fired off. I'm always relieved when my repairs haven't created any larger problems. The repair was strait forward enough, but even something as simple as replacing a broken element is really hard on this old kiln. The soft brick walls the elements are embedded into are very quick to crumble and I've been eyeballing a switch or two, wondering when I'm going to get to learn how to test and fix them as well.

I'm happy with how this load came out. The teapots came out really really nicely, and the yunomi cups, with their thickly slipped hakeme surfaces under a translucent dark amber glaze, came out beautifully.

These are gorgeous!



I started pushing a load of small teabag trivets through the studio again. I was surprised at how well these were

received last fall. I've sold and given away all of last years load of trivets and I've already gotten enough seasonal requests for these little dishes to make me begin creating a larger inventory for my fall sales.

There were a few 14 pounders in on this load too. These are some of the large sectional thrown canisters that I've been working on lately. I've I needed a few of theses larger canisters for Novembers Potters Guild sale. This is the scale I love to work in. It's taken over a year to start getting consistent results that I can begin to count on. Now I can more freely invest the time the time necessary to create more elaborate surfaces with out fretting over major defects.

These aren't the most exciting glazes, but they are handsomely warm. Besides... they're a great "fit" for the recycled clay body that I used to practice throwing these canisters.