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!

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!).

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.

Wallpaper, self-portraits and William Morris

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!