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.

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?).

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!

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!).

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.

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!

A little work, a few pots

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!).

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!

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!

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....

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!

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!

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!

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.

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. :)