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.

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.

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!

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, 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!

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 MeadenAmy HalkoDeborah 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.