Revealed by Fire

2010-10-07T06:53:00.002-05:00

Finally, I am back in blogland. A lot has happened in the past three months and while I tried to document it, I didn't have enough time for sleep much less for updating my blog.
This first picture is my new studio from about a week ago, round two of making a very large special order for one of my customers. The first time there was a glaze mixing mishap and they all needed to be remade (moral of the story? Test your glaze batch before putting it on an entire month load of work).

But that whole messy business is finished up and in the kiln so what's next on the agenda? Christmas ornaments! I meant to design and make some the last few years but somehow I never get on that bandwagon soon enough for it to matter. So here's attempt batch #1:

They aren't perfect, a bit weighty and I'm not sure how I'm going to finish them, but it's exciting working so small. Never done that before! Next on the agenda? Serveware. I'm thinking cake stands and salt and pepper shakers and gravy boats and butter dishes and long stemmed glasses.

Plates, plates and more plates!

2010-08-18T15:32:00.001-05:00

Today was a good day in the studio! It was one of these days where I could just tell I was "on". I was working on plates a for a large order I have that until today was a source of discouragement until today. I am back on track with getting the order done. Everything but 12 bowls are thrown (I can do that next week). Until then, I can focus on my favorite part of the process which is decorating.

I suppose it's my favorite part of my work because I feel like that area of my work is where I am growing most right now. Strangely enough, it is also the part of my work I am the most displeased with. No, that's not quite the right word......it's the part of my work that I see the most weakness in. Floral designs. I have always wanted to cover my pottery with floral designs. I remember the first time I tried this, I was going to Parkland College studying under Chris Berti. I remember, I found a photo in my 500 Cups book that I admired the decoration on. It was a little slip covered piece with some sort of a floral sgraffito design. I tried something similar on a little bowl I made and it was okay. My teacher Chris, who is never one to beat around the bush, took one look at it and told me that my marks were too small. They would get covered with the glaze and that if I really wanted to do a design like that I needed to vary the width of my marks to make them more interesting.

I didn't decorate another pot with florals until I was a Jr in college but when I tried again, those words from Chris stuck with me. Even now, when I look at my current work and try to figure out what it is that bothers me about my sgraffito, its Chris' voice that comes through saying those same words. I know that what it still not "right" about my current work is more than just that, more than line quality or drawing ability. But I don't know what it is or better yet, I don't know how to fix it or even how to explain what I don't like about it.

There my rant for the day. Maybe it was inspired by Don Pilchner's rant but even so I'm not one of those great potters either. I do however think that I can learn a lot about my own work by writing about it like this (which I used to do but somehow got outta the habit). I suppose because like many bloggers, I don't feel like anyone would be interested in reading about me going on about my own work. However, after reading that article (and all it's comments), I felt like sharing my own little story.

Here's an interesting thought: I don't think I have ever been totally happy with any pot I have made. By the time they are finished, there's always something I think I should have done better. Maybe that's what keeps me going back to the wheel or in most my pots, to the drawing board in search of the answer to the problem in my design that Chris pointed out a few years ago.

Testing, testing 1,2,3.....

2010-06-08T20:27:00.001-05:00

I just got the all new iPad! This is me testing it out.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

2010-03-25T22:11:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I went for a glorious long hike through a state park near my house. It was perfect! Hiking is something that renews me and boy did I need it after all the hours I've put in lately from getting this show ready on top of working my 50+ hr/week day job. I went on a hunt for spring. And the second I found it (in the form of a flowering tree), my camera died. Go figure. Next time, it will be the sketchbook for me. I need some new ideas.

I think I'm taking next week off from potting partly because my tools haven't arrived yet (remember? I lost my whole tool box) and partly because I want to renew my creative juices. Something about sketching outside helps my ideas grow so tonight as it rains and storms very loudy outside, I've been dreaming of hikes.
Next monday, it's off to Hal Scott Preserve for me. There's a 5 miles trail I have to check out! Well, goodnight all. I have to get up in 4 hours so I really should be getting to sleep.

2010-03-24T21:47:00.003-05:00

Kiln is done firing! Reached a hard cone 9 and seemed to get some good reduction. Don't have much else to write about. Just excited to see my pots and happy that for better or worse, all the work of it is done. I will post pictures sometime this weekend before I ship them out to NJ on Monday. Sorry for the boring post. I promise more pictures than words next time (don't those seem to be the best anyways?).

2010-03-23T23:19:00.003-05:00

The big glazing day was yesterday....here's a few quick shots:

That blue one in front is my new slip color with my new design ideas. I drew a flower pattern and then flipped it and turned it inside out so it's the same pattern but the mirror/inside out image on the four corners (if that makes sense!).

This top shot is just the insides glazed and the bottom picture is the outsides sprayed also. I love spraying the glaze on the outsides because with my carving it gives the pattern a very subtle texture. The insides I prefer to be dipped or poured because when my clear is thicker, it turns slightly blue instead of just being clear. Funny how those little tiny details can make such a difference!

Tomorrow is my firing! And since I'm not actually in charge of firing the kiln, I don't want to be anywhere near the studio. I'm going to Wekiva Springs in a little town outside where I live in Orlando, Fl. I'm gonna bring my I-pod and a book, lay in the sun and relax! If only it was just a little warmer outside I may go for a dip in the springs. The water is 72 year round (it's where the manatees go in the winter) so maybe I will bring my wading shoes!

2010-03-17T22:19:00.003-05:00

Just finished with all my "wet work" today and thanks to my blowdryer and boxfan, they are all sitting on the bisque shelf ready to be fired off tomorrow.
The last few days have been a bit stressful trying to get all my decorating done. I wasn't behind until Monday when I left the studio with my bag of ceramics tool on the roof of my car. Sadly, they were not there when I got home.

Never realized how much I heart my wire stylus. It is by far my favorite tool! Sorry for the very large graphic, I was too lazy to take a picture of mine (yes, I had to run out and get a new one right away) and this is the only picture I could find online that actually showed the tip clearly enough to see the tool. So anyways, the last two days I had my day job and couldn't get out to Bennet's so I tried to make my own. Theoretically, it seemed like it would be an easy thing to do. Best $2.55 I've spent in a long time!

This weekend will be bisquing and glazing and then next week I will have my glaze firing. Will post some pictures of the finished pieces as soon as I can! Am really excited about some of the new designs I've been doing. Well, cheerio and happy potting!

2010-03-10T21:01:00.005-06:00

Today:

--threw 6 1lb. cups
--threw 4 2lb. bowls
--threw 2 2lb. batter bowls

--slipped and inlayed underglaze on large salad bowl
-- decorated 4 plates
--decorated 4 tumblers
--handled 8 mugs

Altogether, a pretty productive day! I think I'm actually ahead of schedule. How often does that happen? It's pretty much because I haven't had a moment away from clay (or my "other" job) in the past two weeks. Next week will be my last week of wet work for this show (assuming I don't get behind!). Wish me luck!

New Teapots

2010-03-09T10:41:00.004-06:00

I am in the middle of pottery making mayham. There's a lifestyle gallery in New Jersey that wants to sell my work so I'm trying to make them up the requested amount of inventory. About $1000 worth. These pics are from my teapots:

As you can see, there's a few changes since the last time I made teapots. My knob is different and I have a new stamp. I hope they like them (and sell well)!

2009-12-20T21:07:00.005-06:00

I stumbled across a few inspiring artists today that I thought I would share with you all. Enjoy!

Liz Summerfield:

(pics found at the AKAR Gallery website, even more images at her personal website)

Benjamin Carter:

(above pics found on-line at Charlie Cummings Gallery website, with even more images on his personal website)

2009-09-19T19:09:00.003-05:00

I have been wasting today away surfing on the web and I have come across a few images I just had to share!

These first few I came across looking up embroidery patterns.
The first one I will be printing out to try on a test tile or two. I love the way the lines of the bird sort of blend into the foliage surrounding it! I am thinking of slowly adding a few birds to my designs but blending them with the surrounding vines and such so they seem just a part of the landscape.

2009-06-27T20:48:00.008-05:00

Finally I am back! I know it's been a long time, my life has been pretty busy. I've actually had a bit of a selling spree this month, a commission to finish up and some other things in the works so it's been good!

Also, as you can see, I'm getting back into making some test tiles to try and experiment a little more with my work. As always, it's one of those things that takes quite a bit longer than you think it will!

I'm also trying to play around with my sprig molds again, in hope of getting some of that "wallpaper patterning" that I was talking about in a previous post to start happening on my pots.
This is one of my old sprig molds that I started to play around with on one of my test tiles (sadly, the fit of my slip was not as good as I could have hoped for and this one cracked off in the firing).

Here's a pic of the actual mold I used. It's made out of scrap plaster that I had left over from making some larger molds. I just use a brush to paint the slip into the mold, wait for it to get dry enough on the outside to come out of the mold and then I take it out and attach it to my piece.
The mold on the right is finished and the one on the left is one I'm currently working on. I drew the design on the plaster first with a pencil and then I just carve away at those lines in the right places, test it out a little, making it thicker in spots if it needs to be. Once all that is done, I have a nice sprig mold!

The idea I had for these molds is to start using them to create some extra pattern in my work the same way that use repeating designs in wallpaper. Such as this one by William Morris:

There's just something about that "mirror image" sort of thing that starts to happen but at the same time, it's organic (that sort of controlled organic) that I'm really enjoying. Mine would be simplified down quite a bit but it's still that same sort of idea.

I was actually fishing with my husband the other day and saw the way the reflection of this tree that had fallen into the water had this same quality to it. Here's a few snap shots I took of that that I've turned on their sides so you can see the "seam" of the mirror image vertically as you would in wallpaper.
Interesting, yes? I can almost start to see the damask pattern popping out at me just from this picture. Who says damask wasn't taken from nature!

2009-03-31T11:15:00.006-05:00

My life has been busy lately-- too busy for my taste, haven't had enough time to get into the studio more than once a week or so for the past two months. I'm getting a bit ansty to really get my fingers dirty but this time has been good for filling up my scrapbook/sketchbook with new ideas.

Admittedly, I probably could have found more time to go if I really tried but my work feels like it's at a bit of a stalemate right now. That's how my work seems to go for me. I'll have these great times when I'm just pushing things out but then it seems like I hit a wall and am unsure where to go next. I'm starting to not be satisfied with my work, to look at it and only see flaws and so that's why I think I need this stepping back for a bit. I've been doing a lot of thinking and drawing and I think I've sorta figured out what quality in my work it is that I don't like, now the hard part: to change it/fix it so it's something I'm happy with again. Frustrating to do on only a few days a week!

So enough venting (that's not the reason I wanted to post today), I thought I would put up a few more of my inspirations and things I've been looking at and mulling over lately.

First is this lovely little blue and white tile handmade in Istanbul, Turkey. It's a more modern adaption of the Iznik Tiles of the 15th and 16th century. One of the things I've been playing around with adding to my work is a more fluid line for the vines and leaves of my pieces. There's a stiffness to my work right now that I don't like and am trying to get rid of.

Then part of me thinks that maybe I should play with that stiffness and try to make my designs more geometric such as these four tiles below which more islamic in style and use the flowers and leaves very symmetrically but something about them is still more graceful than my current designs.

So, in a pinch, those are the two main "types" of drawings I've played around with lately. Using symmetry as a tool to fashion my designs around and also the opposite. I guess the play of those two things is what I'm pretty interested in and have been throughout this body of work.

I did a painting in during undergrad that was modeled after some William Morris (another major art influence for me) where I took specific pieces of his floral designs and crafted my face in a repeating pattern. To me, it just reminded me of being a little girl staring at different wallpaper trying to find the faces and animals that would eventually emerge out of them. It turned out really well. I think there's something about that duality that I like as well (but I'm not sure if it fits into my work right now-- maybe it's best saved for the paintings!).

2009-02-11T06:51:00.001-06:00

Today is promising to be a perfect day! So far it has been anyways.....woke up when my hubby got out of the shower, we ate breakfast together before he headed off to work.....I just took a (perfect) shower and now I'm sitting here drinking my tea with the sunlight spilling down on me thinking that right now, nothing could go wrong! Not yet anyways:) I have yet to go to work today.....but if nothing else, it will be a short day and I have an idea so I can feel like I'm contributing. Then, I get to go to the studio this afternoon for a few hours! Throw a few tissue boxes, trim (if they're ready) my lotion dispensers and soap dishes on round two of making Joy's bathroom set. I have to say, I'm really glad this set is for my sister because I would feel horrible about this whole thing if it were anyone else. Not that I don't feel horrible, but I feel less horrible.

Really, they didn't turn out all that bad but the glaze is thick since it's the end of the bucket so they're a little foggy looking and also the reduction wasn't right (basically means that the fire got too much oxygen from the outside of the kiln so it didn't pull oxygen molecules from my glaze) so they change colors as you go around the pieces to this, what I think, is a really bright, ugly green.

But enough about failures! What about successes? It actually feels really good to be working full time and not worrying about money again because I can focus on my work as work and not feel like I have to crank things out really quickly and I think that will let my work develop a little more naturally. Also, I'm going to start spraying my glazes again. After the last kiln load disappointment with the thick glaze application, I've decided that I would get a more consistent product from spraying even if it does take a little more time. Oh, and one of my clay buddies, Jack and I were talking about my work a little while back and he thinks I need to spray them also just because of the subtle texture that happens over the pattern when the glaze is sprayed (which I agree with also). As he said, it's those little details that make my work so great. The subtle textures on the outside, the inside texture when I make little dots on the outside, the transparent areas where I carve through more deeply. Those little things take my work from good to great! At least to me.

Well, enough talk for today. I need to finish my cup of tea and get ready to go off to work. Sorry about the somewhat boring post! I will try to throw in a few pictures next time.

2009-01-31T17:02:00.006-06:00

So I'm getting antsy to get my fingers into clay again! I feel a bit out of touch with that part of my life. I have been gone from home (and thus my studio) for the last five weeks and still have one week to go and I am READY! Ready to be home, sleeping in my own bed, makings things in my studio. Agh, I can't wait!

There was one very exciting thing that happened while I was here: I sold another piece on Etsy! To another potter, from Rochester, NY. She put it up on her pottery shelf in her kitchen:

Can you find mine? (hint: it's really quite easily spotted)

Her name is Carol and she is another Etsy potter; you can find a link to her work here.

Thanks again Carol, for supporting my work!

2009-01-17T16:24:00.003-06:00

So this post is going to be a bit short because I (accidentally) stabbed myself in the hand with a thermometer today and my hand is a bit sore.

I wanted to write because I've been looking for inspirations lately and I found some really beautiful vintage script letters. I was thinking possibly for my new chop stamp that I've been meaning to make out of some extra blocks of plaster I have lying around.

I actually really love the colors on this one. They are very vintage/scandinavian/60's/Medieval which I think is very fun!

This one is embroidered and the color palate is more in line with my work. I'm actually going to try and get a yellow similar to that one but maybe a bit more buttery. I have the test tiles but I haven't fired them yet. Once I get back home (I'm in NC training for my day job for 6 weeks), I will get those fired!

This one, I think, is my favorite! The leaves remind me of the swirly way the leaves are drawn on Islamic Pottery.

A little work, a few pots

2009-01-10T18:07:00.006-06:00

So I've been terrible about updating my blog lately. I was just in a mood where nothing seemed good enough and I was getting a bit frustrated with trying to sell my work (still am, but I'm a little more accepting of how hard it is now!). I did my first sale (as I talked about in my last post) and I sold one cup all day. Yes that is right, only one cup. I actually lost money on that one. But slowly I grow....there's a woman in Salt Lake City that is interested in selling my work at her store so I have hope again.

The bright side of that sale was really just the extra effort put in the month before to make new work. Since I didn't have my normal slip (it was still on order at Bennett) I had to improvise and the results were actually wonderful!]

Here's a few of my favorites:I love how the copper green blushes in little corners and how the lines look underneath the oribe. Also, if you can tell on the cup, the little dots go through the cup to show up on the inside so it's just another wonderful little detail. I love how the little dots feel!

And my very absolute favorite:

This picture was taked at the show so it doesn't really show how perfect it is. One of the things I really love about it is actually that the bottom is so thin that the outline of a leaf that I carved into the bottom of it is actually transparent! It's a great little surprise when you're finishing your last bit of drink. I decided after the sale when it didn't sell that I was going to keep it and so I will (for now anyways!).

2008-11-23T09:36:00.002-06:00

Well, I have officially sold something on Etsy now even if it was to my sister Joy. She's also commissioning me to make her some things for her guest bathroom and I can't wait to get started! I also have another alchemy request for a large bowl so things are slowly happening on Etsy which is encouraging. Also, I will be doing another sale in the Orlando area the week before Christmas. Me and one of my studio mates Whitney will be at the Homegrown for the Holidays Artisan Market in Thorton Park (a trendy downtown area of Orlando). So needless to say, I'm pretty busy in the studio right now working on those things and testing a yellow slip color and experimenting with other colors of underglaze just to see how they look.

Here's my first "sold" Etsy item:

Voila! I think it's my best teapot so far!

2008-11-13T13:21:00.003-06:00

If you're in the Orlando area this weekend, me and a few studio mates are having a home sale on Friday evening from 5-8pm and during the day on Saturday from 12 until 5.

Come check it out at the home of Hank Schubert:

3214 Inverness Ct.
Orlando, Fl 32806

Hope to see you there!

2008-11-10T15:32:00.004-06:00

Well, directly after I posted my disappointing entry this morning I decided that before I go to the studio I should decide what pots I wanted to bring to the sale this weekend, pack them up and drop them by Hank's house (where the sale will be). This got me thinking that it would be really nice if I had some business cards or postcards or something to give out to people who like my work. So I designed my very first postcards, here's the print samples below:

I'm pretty happy with them especially for being my first go at designing postcards. My only concern at this point is whether the pitcher in the top picture will be cut off a bit at the top! I really hope not. I didn't realize it until after I bought them and came back tonight to try and post their pictures on here that I read and realized that somewhere between the green and red lines is where the axe will fall. Everything in the red will for sure be kept and the green is the "fade out zone" or something like that. Oh well, they still show good images of my work and communicate how to get a hold of me. I'm also thinking for next time, to just write my name on the front rather than my pottery (that I hope to have one days name). These are more geared toward a retail market whereas just something with my name could be both retail and gallery.

I think these maybe point me squarely in the direction of crafter/designer vs. artist and I'm still not really sure where in there I do fall or want to fall. I think that's why my artist statement is giving me so much trouble- I'm not sure of all that stuff yet.

Oh, and in other news, I have gotten over my recent rejection and decided that I should subject myself to more of that at least once a week. That will be my goal for the rest of the year-- to find some gallery, store, online shop every week to try and get my work accepted into. Rejection is good for the soul (or something like that). Keeps us grounded....although most of the time I think I'd rather still be dreaming!

2008-11-10T08:03:00.002-06:00

Well, I have received my first official rejection as a ceramic artist! Does that mean I have arrived?

I don't actually think it was because of the quality of work but rather because of my lack of sale (thus feedback from customers) on Etsy. Either that or they are just currently filled up in that category because I refuse to believe it was quality of work because I can see that, even with the faults of my work, it's every bit as good if not better than some of the people on that site. At least that's what I've chosen to tell myself....

Somehow I'm not feeling so motivated to get to the studio today. Not just rejection but also the fact that I am out of decorating slip and it's still on order from Bennett's and will be another week so the only thing I really have to do in the studio is glaze. I don't think I'm alone in saying that is my most unfavorite part of the process.

Regardless of all of this, I think I will head off to the studio today and perhaps throw myself a few nice caseroles. Something that requires lots of pieces and time so I can put off the decorating until my slip comes!

2008-11-09T17:02:00.003-06:00

So I had a pretty busy morning today photographing some sets of pieces for my new banner on Etsy and to apply to sell my work on Trunkt. We'll just have to see how that goes but hopefully I will be selected to sell from their site (which really just links buyers back to Etsy). I suppose as long as I'm getting my work out there it doesn't really matter to me where they decide to purchase my work from.

Two shots of my cup designs- mugs and juice glasses- I also make taller tumbler type glasses but haven't gotten any of those out of the kiln in awhile.
A few different bowls- again with my favorite that blushed orange!
This pitcher just came out of the kiln yesterday- have to say I am really pleased with how it came out! If only there wasn't a baby crack on the bottom....

2008-11-06T08:13:00.006-06:00

Yesterday at the studio, I brought my new camera so I could get a few good shots of some of my in-progress pieces. I'm very excited about my new camera (a Nikon D60) that my wonderful hubby bought me as a present for officially starting to sell my work. It will also come in handy for keeping my portfolio up to date.

This pitcher was one of my favs from yesterday:
I'm very happy with how the above little flower turned out! It will look just lovely pooling glaze!
Below, is a close up to explain my process a bit. See the fine line running through the red underglaze line? That is a shallow cut from an exacto knife. Then I fill it in with the red slip and when it's all stiffened up quite a bit, I use a metal rib to scrape away the excess and I am left with a red incised line (like the bottom picture).

Here's another pitcher that I made yesterday along with a full shot of the above finished:

These dots in the sides are something that is new to this recent batch of pots made within the past two weeks or so. None have come out of the firing yet so I'm pretty anxious to see what they look like. I really hope they bleed down a bit in the firing. Although I have done dots from a slip trailer these are actually made from pressing the end of a paint brush into the wet clay and then filling the inside with underglaze. One thing I love about doing these dots is that I throw thin enough so you can see the clay pushing through on the inside as well!

Here's the decorating of my first batter bowl:

Those first two are pre-scraping and the last one is the finished (ready to be fired) batter bowl. I love, love what is happening under the handle on the back with the green only inside the handle and the leaves wrapping into the inside!

I also decorated ten teacups/mugs yesterday but I didn't get pictures of those. When I left they we all too wet to scrape still so that will probably be the first thing I do next time I get into the studio! I'm pretty excited also because this Saturday is the first wood firing of Jack's new kiln. Can't wait to see how all their pieces turn out! Too bad my patterns would be totally obliterated by the firing. One of these days I may make some things especially for the wood kiln. I do love the atmosphere a wood kiln creates!

2008-10-29T07:23:00.003-05:00

Ah! What a beautiful morning! The sun is shining, it's a little chilly outside (for Florida) but I have my cup of tea so all is well with the world. My baby brother is flying in from Illinois today to stay with us for 5 days and I'm really looking forward to seeing him again!

As far as studio news, I've been working really hard the last couple days to get my etsy site up and running but it officially went live Monday night. Yay! Also in preparation for my brother's visit, I've been working really hard in the studio to get to a stopping point so I can take all those days off and not have work drying out on me.

Yesterday I trimmed and handled 10 cups which is a lot for me. Because my work requires doing so much leatherhard work, I try to throw in multiples of 5 and 5. So if that was a usual day, I would have done 5 bowls and 5 mugs. That way I could decorate the bowls right after trimming while I was waiting for the handles to set up and all that. So in any case, doing that many handles at the same time seemed a little like a marathon to me! While they were drying I started decorating two pitchers, one vase, one mixing bowl and three salt and pepper shakers. So as you can tell, I got a lot done yesterday which I'm pretty excited about. Also, my two teapots survived the bisque with no cracking which is always a good sign!

2008-10-27T01:46:00.006-05:00

It's late but I had to work late tonight ("day" job not ceramics) so I'm still pretty wound up. Hope I can get up in the morning...I wanted to get into the studio by 9am...but that's not what I got on here to talk about. Really, I wanted to post a few more pics of my pots before they end up on Etsy tomorrow. Just to forewarn you, the pictures are far from professional quality. What you are about to see is total improvisation (aka a piece of blue pastel paper thumb tacked to the wall that I took pictures in front of and then edited in a pseudo-shadow on top to give them the illusion of a bit more depth).

The last two pictures are the same mug, I just took a picture with each cup and my hand to try and show some scale. Otherwise, it's just too hard to visualize the actual size of an object in a picture. They really are dainty for mugs, especially compared to how large I usually make my mugs.

All things considered, I'm actually happy with how my pictures turned out. They make it clear how bad my camera is though. The backdrop was actually a bright light blue rather than a gray and the "white" areas of the pots really have a slight blueish ting to them. One of these days I will get the camera of my dreams and then just try to imagine the pictures I will take!

2008-10-25T11:56:00.003-05:00

Horray! I have work out of the kiln and they turned out fantasic! The slip color couldn't have been more perfect if I would have been able to mix it up with paint (which we all know is not how glazing works!).
Of course these snapshots are not the best, they don't show the subtle blue tone on the insides of the mugs but that's okay. Once I get my etsy site up and running, the pictures will be professional quality but these are good for now!

Here's a few more pics of what I'm working on in the studio at the moment. I have going a pitcher and batte bowl, a few cups and some knobby salt and pepper shakers.

Oh yes, and I cannot forget my little bottle that I'm making for one of my good friends. This is a photo taken after I incised the lines, before I scraped away the excess underglaze. Once it's finished the lines will look as sharp as the fired ones above.

2008-10-22T20:38:00.002-05:00

Woot! I am excited! I FINALLY have things in the kiln....not too many but a few. I'm pretty anxious to see how they look since I haven't gotten any pieces out of the kiln since last May. Way, way too long. Of course it's hard to fire things with no studio over the summer and making a 18 hour cross country move but I am finally starting to get something like a schedule mapped out for my studio time.

Oh I can't wait to get the kiln unloaded on Saturday! Maybe then I will finally post some pictures of my current work. I think that day I will actually have pictures of things in most stages of being worked on. I threw a beautiful batter bowl today which I'm hoping will have a better fate than the last two (one got bumped on the shelf and the other cracked when I was decorating it). Sad story really but I can always make another!

2008-10-14T12:08:00.002-05:00

Today was a good day at the studio. I got a lot done even if I was only able to go for 4 hours. I started by throwing the batter/mixing bowl that I designed this weekend and the first one turned out so well that I didn't throw another. Then I threw two teapots and lids and a small pitcher. I wish I could have thrown all day but I had to come home and get ready for work. I also finally finished decorating that batch of cups and bowls from last week. I keep saying I will post some pics from the studio but everytime I go I seem to get in a time crunch and don't have time to snap a few photos. One of these days I will post a few!

Right now, I'm trying to get on Ayumi Horie's site to check out the obamaware but I can't get the page to load. See if you can have any better luck. Maybe I will try later tonight when everyone is (hopefully) asleep!

2008-10-12T07:56:00.003-05:00

So this week (starting tomorrow since I have to work today), I'm going to be throwing my first batter bowls.
First step for me is to look at other batter bowls, think about the shape and function of them and find something from all that which I like and which fits with my work. Since I'm making something handmade, some people may look just to handmade sources but I find that sometimes leads to either copying something someone has already done or making something in a way that may not function as well as something else. My solution is to go straight to the source, I usually start with a Google of the piece I'm going for. Here's a few of my favorites that resulted from that search:

Okay, so as I was looking through the different bowls and thinking about what would be the most comfortable position to pour from I got to thinking that if I use a full handle, the sides of the bowl have to be a bit straighter just to keep the center of gravity correct for pouring. Also, you don't want the top to get too wide because it makes it harder to channel the liquid down the spout. Of course these are things we all know but I want to try and keep them on the forefront of my mind while I am drawing designs so I don't find something that looks really nice as a design but becomes something that doesn't function as well as I would like it to.
So for alternative handle options I will look to potters:Lorna Meaden Amy Halko Deborah Schwartzkoph

These three artists are a few of my favorites partly I think because I have seen two out of three of them work and so I feel a bit more of a connection to their work.
Deborah came to Illinois State when I was a student there and actually made one of these batter bowls. Although it's not a very good angle to see her handle, it's actually a cut out space on the outside of the bowl which is very comfortable to grip with your hand while letting your thumb rest either right on that red dot or laying comfortably above it.
Lorna was a demonstrator at NCECA this year and I really love her funky oversized handle which works well for the smaller size of this bowl but may not be comfortable for something larger that could hold more batter.
Last we have Amy Halko whose work I have never touched in person but I really love it all the same. Her bowl must be a smaller one as well since it doesn't have any handle on it. Of course this isn't central to the function of the design, but I love her bright patterns and bold color combination of greens/blues with a bright popping red. I use it often on my work as well!

Well, I guess those are my thoughts as of now about batter bowls. This way I will have time at work to mull over which ideas I like and what I would like to use when I start the sketching phase of my bowl design.

2008-10-04T12:01:00.006-05:00

While at ISU, I developed a love of floral design books and really based my first drawings and carvings on my pot from those. I never actually got the pleasure of looking through this one but I stumbled on this artists work while blogging one day and fell in love. His name is Frederick Edward Hulme and he was a graphic designer/illustrator/writer in the late 1800s from around 1870-1890. These are a few pages from his book Suggestions in Floral Design:

I love not only the drawings in this and other design books from this era but also how they talk about pattern and using it as a design element. It's interesting for me to read about these ideas-- repeat patterns, drop repeats, reverse repeats, etc.
Below are a few of his drawings (giclee prints) from another book he wrote and illustrated called Familiar Wildflowers that are remarkable as well!

2008-10-01T06:41:00.002-05:00

I'm excited! The studio opens up again today after it was closed for a week for cleaning. I was naturally there helping to clean things up but now I'm getting antsy to get my fingers into wet clay again. Tonight, after work, I'm heading to the studio. Maybe I will actually get some pictures taken of the pieces I've been working on. I brought my camera all week the last week the studio was open but I never remembered to use it until after I left.

I've been in a flurry of making, even this week I haven't thought about much else. This week was spent researching galleries and residencies (a little prematurely but good things to do). I don't know if I've talked about my plan but I'm starting an etsy site and a separate bank account for my ceramic "business" and then once I get a few sales I will use that money to buy postcards and whatnot to put in gallery packs and try to get some of my work out there. But all this is waiting for another kiln load of pots. I'm getting really antsy to see some thing fired and coming out of a kiln. I haven't had new fired work since my final project at ISU last May! I think it's about time. Also, since I don't have acess to a soda kiln right now I think this next firing will go much better than the last few. I guess we should keep our fingers crossed!

2008-09-18T03:21:00.003-05:00

So when a bit of insomnia overtook me this morning at 3am, I started surfing the web in my usual fashion. Going from artist blog to blog when I came across a few pieces in the Santa Fe Clay cup show from an old teacher of mine, Chris Berti, who teaches at Parkland College in Champaign. Here's the link to the entire show here. These are his cups below....drat, now I really want to buy one!

I'm excited to see his work out there. It's not very often that I see it even though he is a very talented artist but then again I am a bit bias, he was my teacher and clay mentor for 4 years.

2008-09-13T06:07:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, as I was taking the long way home from the ceramic supply store near us (translation: long way=very lost since I had never been there before!), I realized something. First a little back history, we've only lived in the Orlando area now for about 1 month and up until the last week, I was still chasing doubts about this being the right place for me to be. Not anymore, as I was driving home, I realized I wasn't worried anymore. What was the surprising reason for this? Was it because I had a job and felt financially secure here? Nope, that hasn't happened yet. But I have a studio and so I am content.

Little realizations like this make me realize that being a potter really is what I want to do with my life. I can think of nothing better to spend my life trying to do! That's a happy thing to know, and comforting especially when you find yourself in a new city 18 hours from everything you know. I found my studio so I am content.

2008-09-11T10:56:00.004-05:00

Well, my first week at the studio went very well. I talked to a few guys yesterday and they're going to let me help them make and fire their wood kiln! It's a very large anagama with two chambers. They haven't fired it yet but I think they're going to soon. I'm always in on things like that! I love a good wood firing as much as the next potter....not that it really makes sense with my work but I would stick a few things in the 2nd chamber so they'd be a little more protected from so much ash. We'll see, I may just find a way to make it work with my work!

So since I can't go to the studio today, I've decided to make it a housecleaning/grocery shopping day! Already I've gone grocery shopping, baked a loaf of banana bread, watched Miss Potter (a great, GREAT movie) and folded and washed three loads of laundry. I think that's quite a lot to do before noon so I've impressed myself! Here is my yummy looking banana bread that I couldn't help but eat a piece of:

Tomorrow I will handle the slip problem that has mostly been solved by the niceness of John (one of my studio mates) who gave me a bit of his slip yesterday. Now I just have to figure out how much colorant to put in to get the color I would like. Really, for me, with colorant, less is more. I think my work would still look great if the colors were a bit on the muted side but too dark could really ruin them in my eyes. So tomorrow I will venture over to one of the ceramic supply places in town and get a bit of mason stain. I will start with a very small amount (like one tbsp) this batch and move on from there. The nice thing about that stuff is that while it does darken a bit, for the most part, the wet powder color is pretty close to the color of the finished piece which is a pretty rare thing in the world of ceramics! Now I know in a perfect world, I would make a few test tiles and test a few different mixes and decide what color I like best but that's not really available to me right now so I will have to do with the slower, less precise trial by error method.

Then my next trick will be figuring out where I packed the rest of my slip trailing bottles.....

Moving woes....

2008-09-06T10:12:00.003-05:00

I'm getting little bit discouraged now trying to find somewhere to make my work now that I've moved to Florida. I did find a few centers but their hours are not as many as I would like but then again I suppose something is better than nothing. Monday I am signing up at one of the studios for better or worse. I may even end up at two different ones if I think it will give me more studio hours. Right now, I have to admit, I'm missing school quite a lot. Hopefully, it will be better once I can settle in and have a routine. I'm just anxious to get my fingers in clay again! It's been almost two months and I'm definitely starting to go through withdrawal. Not for the first time (or last) do I wish we could buy a house so I could have a studio of my own!
Here's what you get when you google "happy pictures" (I didn't want to end this post on a sour note!) and I have to say this little guy is very fitting today. He's happily playing around in his little mud hole! Soon (hopefully), I will be doing my own version of playing in the mud.

2008-09-02T08:39:00.007-05:00

Thanks to the wonderful world of Etsty, I have found a few new ceramic artists that I love and would like to share with you. For more info about each artist and to see their Etsy store, click on their name.

Molly Hatch
"Molly was born on a small organic dairy farm in central Vermont. Raised to appreciate doing things from scratch and making with her hands, Molly strives for her work to express elegance and simplicity and her love of nature." (words written by Molly about Molly)

Jenni Brant
"Jenni Brant developed an appreciation for the simplicity of life and the beauty of natural materials that comes through in her elegant and carefully crafted pottery. Jenni is a maker of functional ceramic objects focusing on serving vessels and dinnerware made for celebratory occasions, often making the most mundane of activities a cause for merriment and remembrance." (a few words about her work written by Jenni)

*Something that I love about Jenni's work is the clean simple forms which are both fluid and refined at the same time. All the decoration reinforces this theme from the organic dimples and dots to the swirling patterns.

Naomi Cleary
"Dishes hold the potential for human connection through their tactile nature. Most of us have associations and memories connected to dishes. We look at dishes and can easily imagine using them. They live in our physical space, in our kitchen cabinets, are used every day. They have a relationship to our bodies. We pick them up and even touch them to our mouths. Dishes speak of history and lineage, passed down from mother to daughter, connected to family dinners, celebrations and sharing. They are a reminder of the warmth and comfort found in domestic spaces." (Naomi writing about her work)
*Let me say that I just love when things are on the bottom of dishes! Not only is it a nod to good design training (learning to think about the object in the round, as a full 3-D thing and not as something that has "sides" and "top" and "bottom") but also it's such a sweet surprise for the user!

Kirsten Bassion

"These are porcelain pieces that are wheel thrown and stamped with hand-carved stamps. The work is then decorated with a layer of underglaze and fired. All my glazes are made from scratch and painted on before the last firing." (Kirsten writing about her own work)*I really appreciate the way she uses repetitive patterns to define the separate areas of each piece as well as how the different colors bleed in one area and are clear in another depending on the glazes used.

Kristin Pavelka
"I think about many things when creating my candy-like coated functional earthenware pots. Forms are inspired from Midwestern architecture and the body, classical pots and contemporary containers ranging from 1950s kitsch to modern day fast food containers. Martha Stewart has been a great influence regarding my color palette, as well as candy and mid-20th century design. Patterns are inspired from my everyday surroundings." (Kristen writing about her own work)

*Love how she decorates the underside of the handle on this baking dish. Like I said before, it's so wonderful to discover little surprises like that as your using the dish!

2008-07-25T08:41:00.003-05:00

So in case you can't tell, the subject for this post is paisley patterns. So for a little history, our friends at Wikipedia say, "[Paisley] resembles a large comma or twisted teardrop, the kidney-shaped paisley is one of the most recognized patterns in the world. The lacy pattern is Persian in origin, but its western name derives from the town of Paisley, in central Scotland. Pakistan Paisley designs are widely termed as the "Carrey" design. Carrey in Urdu means the Mango seed."
For a few modern uses of the paisley pattern, check out this leather settee from Horchow. Love the more traditional style mixed with the fun, more modern paisley adaption. They had a few other very fun paisley pieces such as a few rugs, a chair, and a upholstered headboard!

As far as wearing paisley, there are many current options for that as well. I have to say, those paisley sandals (Privo by Clarks) are my favorites!

One day when I have a studio, I want to buy cards like the one above and make an inspiration board. I think it will actually make my work much stronger to see these things as I'm making.

2008-07-08T18:07:00.008-05:00

So I know it's been awhile since I've posted anything on here but I have been very busy in the studio (a real studio in fact) at my teacher's house. They were on vacation and I was house sitting and keeping their dog company. So without further ado, here's a few pics from my time there.

So on top of having the use of a studio for a few weeks, I also really enjoyed being able to use their dishes since they have quite the collection of pieces from other ceramic artists. I think this mug was my favorite while I was there. I want to say it was made by Sarah Jaeger but I'm not entirely sure. I just thought that it looked like one of her pieces. On a side note, that Mortar and Pestle set are something that my teacher made. Also, I can't forget little Ida who is the sweetest dog anyone could ever ask for (even if she is a little neurotic!).

I'm really happy with quite a bit of the things I did while I was there. Although most of the pieces were mostly pretty simplistic shapes (vases, bowls, etc), I was exploring shape with them and found a few that I really enjoyed. I made one vase in particular that I think the shape would be fabulous for a set of covered jars. Also, in the way of decoration, I went further with my vines and leaves.

So one of the new things I played with was confining the floral patterns to the slipped blocks of the pieces. I like to think of those as barriers for the pattern at times and then also at times I like to completely disregard those edges because they look like too obvious of a place to end the design. I played a very little bit with the deeper carving again that I did a lot of at the end of last semester.

I was happy just to see how much I enjoyed the repetitiveness of making the same forms over and over again. I did rather like that part about it. These forms pictured here are only about 5 days of the work that I made. I also made two more pitchers, finished the two tea pots, made 8 more bowls and 8 more cups. Those last bowls and cups still need to be decorated though. I will call over there tomorrow and see if I can bring those things here because I don't really want to be in their way in the basement. Also I think I left my CD in the CD player. :)

2008-06-12T09:27:00.005-05:00

This last week has been a week off of ceramics for me. I'm not sure if it was the frustration over the earthenware plates (only 5 survived-- I was having major cracking issues) or whether my energy travels in three week bursts but whatever it is I started making again today. Now I have six plates and I'm left waiting for the leatherhard stage to begin my decorating. In a few minutes I will be off to my teacher Erin Furimsky's house to help her out in the studio for a bit and I'm going to attempt to transport about 9 of the plates I've made. This will be a bit nerve racking since I have never transported anything in the greenware stage before so keep your fingers crossed that they will all survive.

Also, at last, here are a few pictures of my earthenware plates that somehow turned out a bit rougher than I was hoping for. I think a good next time thought would be that maybe I need to layer more colored slips (so the entire surface except for the carved areas is covered!).

2008-06-05T13:26:00.003-05:00

So here's a few new pictures of the plates I'll keep working on all summer. These are new because they have slip on them that is carved through. I like these a bit better than the ones I've been working on. The design is more easily seen and I like the green of the slip (at least how I imagine it will look when they are done). This is our classroom cone10 slip with leaf green mason stain added to it. It turns out quite a bit more green than the pastel green shown here but nothing as dark as a hunter green. Finally, you can see the designs clearly that I was trying to show you on the other plates.
As far as glazing these goes, I don't think I would do much more than just put something clear (or a light celadon) on them. What you can't see as clearly in these pictures still is the lines of underglaze inlayed into the stripes without slip. Once they are glazed those will pop more as well.
Part of the reason that I went back to slip as a method of showing the pattern is that I'm still uncertain what sort of stain or oxide I want to put on the others so that they show their designs once they are finished.

Also, just so you don't think I forgot about my earthenware set, these are them still in progress. I have feet on two of them currently and I have these 5 that are drying a bit more before the foot can be added. Once that is done and they dry a bit more, I will slip them and then inlay underglaze, more slip and then they will be ready to show you all as well.

2008-06-01T10:43:00.003-05:00

So after two weeks of making plates, I need to do something else so today I went to the school studio and snatched some earthenware clay and a bit of slip to play around with for awhile. I like the idea of carving through to reveal the clay below which will also help me with my problem of getting my designs to show up on the fired work as more than just something subtle to notice when you're holding it close. Doing this, I am worried I may be venturing into the territory that Ayumi Horie made popular, the white slip with things carved into it. I don't like doing things that others are doing so if I feel like it's going too close into this realm, I may do something else instead.

I am excited with working with the darker clay body. That will be nice. I found this recipe somewhere online that I modified a bit to get my own cone10 dark stoneware at the beginning of last semester so I may start using that once school starts. I suppose I am jumping around a lot but this is the time to do that, right? And this way I will be used to jumping around but still keeping my work somewhat cohesive so that once I'm out of school, I will be able to be more flexible about what temp I'm firing to which will help me find somewhere to work easier (and make it a bit easier to set up a home studio as well)!

Spring is such an inspiring time to be an artist! On my walk to work this morning, I was thoroughly enjoying drinking in the smell of the air which was perfumed with sweet smelling flowers (maybe the lilac bush behind our carport). I'm thinking that some time this summer I should visit the botanical gardens in Chicago again. Justin (my hubby) has never been and I haven't been for a long time. I just think looking at and taking pictures of the plants and flowers could influence my work right now.

On that note, here's some amazing flowers for your viewing pleasure:

2008-05-27T23:07:00.002-05:00

It's getting a little bit late for me right now (yes, it's only 11pm- I must be getting old) so I'm going to make this post very short. I just wanted to upload a few more images of some of the plates I've been working on.

These first three pictures are different views of the same plate. As you can see, on that one I'm really playing with the idea of putting design all over the plate rather than just the typical areas. I like the idea that someone has to actually pick up the piece to get the full effect of it. Each plate I'm making is completely different. I make up the flowers and patterns as I go along and I even use different colored inlay in each (currently I'm using blue, red and black with red being my fav). Yet they all have enough common elements that they still seem to belong together in a set-- the floral patterns while different have the same leaf element which ties them together and I'm trying to keep the shapes simular (which is a bit easier on these molded plates than it is when throwing!).

This is still that same plate in front (since it's my fav) with some of the others stacked behind.

Wallpaper, self-portraits and William Morris

2008-05-26T17:39:00.004-05:00

William Morris wallpaper designs have been an inspiration to me from the time I discovered them almost two years ago yet it didn't really start to appear very strongly in my work until this past year.
I really enjoy the curving lines of the vines and the vintage feel.
Also, even though this isn't something that's in my work, I like the childhood game of finding shapes in the paper (like you would in the clouds). I did a self-portrait in my 2D class last semester that was based on William Morris wallpaper designs but the vines and flowers became a repeating face motif if you looked at it long enough. Of course I could see my face in it right away, but for some it was a discovery after staring at the painting for a long time (and I really liked that about it as well!). That discovery that happened after spending more time with the piece. Who knows, maybe one day those ideas will find their way onto my pots. For now, I'm very content with the layering of patterns that's currently happening.

The wallpaper design on the right is entitled "Artichoke" and it was designed by John Henry Dearle for William Morris & Co. in 1897. I love the design of the artichoke, very stylized and (of course) vine-like. William Morris was one of the main contributers to the start of the Arts and Crafts movement in Brittan, a movement whose ideas myself and many others still look to for inspiration.

At the Essential Architecture website I was just looking at, it describes the Arts and Crafts movement in this way: "Originating from the teachings of William Morris, John Rushkin, and other late-19th century English Theorists, the Arts & Crafts movement's emphasis was on "humanizing" design through simple, crafted forms and honest expression of materials."

I love that second part, "simple, crafted forms and honest expression of materials." That's what I want to see in my work. But at the same time, I don't want to forms to look stereotypical or too "crafty". Right now, I feel like I'm just starting to touch on where my work could be headed and what direction my career as a ceramic artist is (stylistically) going.

To read a few thoughts by William Morris about his ideas of what is (should be) art and what is craft, read his book _Hopes and Fears for Art_ .
Here's a link to a free online copy at gutenberg.org-- Enjoy!

2008-05-19T14:02:00.004-05:00

So I took a few pictures of my makeshift studio setup that in my kitchen right now. This first one is my little table covered in my latest project: plates. They are actually molds of paper plates that I made by laying a slab of clay in between two chinette brand paper plates (the paper part is the most important). I saw the idea in one of the millions of random printed materials I grabbed from NCECA this year.
These are the ones that still have the plates attached to the bases and are still drying. I think these look very "paper plate-ish". My hope is that my finished ones do not. These are my two finished ones. I really should have taken a picture of their feet as well because once those were added, I felt like they lost the paper plate feel. In these pictures, however, right next to the other ones, they still feel a bit that way. Um, other things I'm working on with this set will be using slip squares under the floral patterns as I did this semester in my sets. I don't have any slip on hand right now, but once I get some I think I will be more satisfied with them (my plan is to "borrow" some from the studio.....keep your fingers crossed for me!). To me, they just look strange without the slip. The lines seem awkward, stuck in the middle of the plate for no reason rather than looking like their sectioning off different areas of design. They are, in short, a work in progress.

2008-05-16T16:17:00.006-05:00

I was just browsing the web today and I stumbled across some really beautiful henna designs and so I thought I would devote this post today to the traditional art of henna painting is known as Mehndi in India, where it has been practiced since the beginning of the 12th century. In Indian Mehndi, a person applies designs (traditionally) to a woman's hands and feet, on special occasions. After two to twelve hours, during which the Mehndi dries, the wearer scrapes the paste off to reveal the designs, which resemble tattoos and last one to three weeks on the skin.
It reminds me a lot of the sort of effect you get from a slip trailer. It makes me want to practice with my slip trailers. I'm only so-so with them, I have trouble getting the lines to change widths as beautifully as the artist above has done.
This last picture I had to throw in here because it looks like that would have been such fun!

For more info about the Mehndi process or design pictures and such go to this website:
http://www.hennapage.com/

2008-05-12T16:06:00.004-05:00

I'm starting to get the itch to throw again even though the semester only ended last week. With all the glazing and firing I've been doing and after getting such promising results from the kiln, I'm really aching to get back into things.

Since I can't throw today, I thought I would find some exciting images to add to my personal collection of inspirations.

Beautiful machine-knit scarf/runner made by Christel Seyfarth, an artist who lives in Denmark.

Another piece by Christel Seyfarth. More of her work can be viewed on her website at: www.christel-seyfarth.dk/englishsite/indexen.htm

Both of these pieces I think relate to what I'm doing right now with my work because of their floral and yet geometric patterning. I really enjoy how the top scarf is interesting from both the green side and the red side and I like how she's paring the more organic floral designs with the geometric squares (something I'm also interested in doing in my work).

I think it's very important as an artist for me to look at other artists work. For me personally, I especially like to look at non-ceramic work because I feel like these inspirations translate themselves more personally into my work than just taking a specific technique or something from another ceramic artist who has already translated it from some other place into clay.

2008-05-10T13:55:00.002-05:00

Here's a few pots from that last firing that turned out pretty well. The surface isn't exactly what I wanted, the copper wash ran quite a bit more than I had anticipated (and more than on my tests) and the copper slip squares didn't quite show up on most of them, but in general I'm very happy with them. Of course, as always the next ones will look much better!

I was very happy with this bowl shape that I came up with, I think it will be my regular shape for awhile. I love the feet especially and the opportunity for hidden decoration on the bottom.

This one is my favorite cup-- I love the way the soda traveled around the pot in that one spot!

So.....all in all, I think it was a pretty good firing! Next I need to work on getting my slip to show up so I may try a recipe with more copper or add another colorant to it as well. What I really need to do at this point is to make some test tiles with the slips and carved florals and inlayed slip just to test a few surfaces.
Also, I'm somewhat debating with changing the clay body a bit to something that might flash a bit more in the soda (something with more iron).

2008-05-04T12:09:00.004-05:00

Just woke up after our long night of firing. For some reason it took much longer to fire off the soda kiln than we had initially thought it would. We were anticipating sodaing around 5-6 but that got pushed back to 9-10 and then we lost so much temperature (100 degrees or so) that it took until 2:45am before the kiln was ready to be turned off. So the firing went a long 35 hours and I was at the studio for 23 hours yesterday.

Me and the ring of fire (that doesn't look nearly as burning as it was!)

Note: Laura's shirt lies-- we are from Illinois State University not Central College

Our homemade damper

All in all I think the firing went pretty well but I guess I won't really know until Tuesday afternoon when we're unloading. Mostly I'm just proud that I fired the kiln without Joe or Tyler. For being my first firing, I would say it went pretty well and I can't wait to see my pots!

Spring has Sprung!

2008-05-02T15:31:00.006-05:00

This afternoon turned out quite beautiful after the rain this morning. It was a big work day for me and Laura-- loading the soda kiln, cleaning up the kiln yard, washing shelves, making our dry soda to set us up for tomorrow.
Walking to the studio this morning, I picked a lilac and now the smell of that one little blossom has permeated the entire glaze room! Here it is in a little bowl of water.

We're testing a new way to fire the soda kiln tonight. Nothing too crazy but last time we had issues getting to temp on the top (mostly due to the way this kiln is designed!). Our test is going to be to try a bit of a longer firing.....although really the basic idea is to get to cone 012 for body reduction right when we come in tomorrow around 4am instead of the usual noon. That equates to a bit of a long night and early morning for me but I don't mind that. I'm just nervous my lids are going to crack. I'm trying a new design that is thrown hollow and the only one I fired so far (my test piece) cracked right down the middle of the knob. I won't dwell on that however.......without further ado, here is our lovely 3rd soda kiln load:

Goodbye intact knobs, I hope to see you again!