i'm a dork

I get giddy when people notice my work on etsy

Sold that bowl this morning too :)

In other news: I love dancing with my baby.

penguin and octopus

Ayumi Horie- Pots in Action contest

Don't mean to try to sway anyones vote...

but if you'd like to vote for the cutest baby in the world, please do :)
Hunter took his biscuits off of the plate, smooshed them into the carpet and then proceeded to lick the plate.

http://www.ayumihorie.com/photo-contest.html

(scroll down to the bottom 4)

Lots of great pots in action shots.

eating cups

is one of our favorite activities!

can anyone name that mug?

slowly moving along

So turns out it takes me about 30 minutes to draw on a plate. I'm obsessed with time because I don't really have any.

The above is a plate i'm working on, the alphabet will get black underglaze to fill them in and they wrap around to the back of the plate.



This is a plate for a friends' daughters' first birthday. The text will be filled in with white underglaze.

new directions

So here is what I gathered from my workshop with Diana Fayt

Don't be afraid of underglaze
color is good
bold backgrounds go well with my drawing style

I just doubled the time that goes into each piece.

I figure that I'm not a production potter and never will be, if it takes me a month to make 20 pieces, so be it. I'll just fire every other month. I would much rather make few well crafted, highly detailed pieces than rush through a large batch, if that makes sense. (thankfully Jake can support us and any profit from ceramics goes to the rainy day fund)


Here is a piece I made before the workshop. It was dark stoneware with a porcelain slip and underglaze applied to the surface for a little bit of color.



So on a similar path now but substituting underglaze for slip and being less timid with color.

I still need to carve into these, but the background is laid out.



here are some drawings that will be carved into the new work




along with more whales and octopi

So that's what I am up to.

Hunter is still teething so it's hard for me to get any time in the studio. By the time he passes out, I'm exhausted and am ready for bed at 8:30 myself. He's crawling all over the place, people tell you your world gets flipped over when they start to move, man oh man.... yikes. I never thought our house was dangerous until he started moving and pulling up on things! it's like having a heart attack every 30 seconds.



The other day I left him in our bedroom while I went to get a glass of water, when I got back into the room he wasn't there.. He's not a fast crawler by any means (the fat rolls slow him down) but he found his way into the shower and was just sitting there putting his fingers into the drain.

pictures

These are the cups going to the 2nd annual national cup show at Barrett Clay Works



These are the objects I made in Atlanta










Turned out muddier and darker than expected and I wasn't a fan of my clear glaze over it, the finish was a bit rough.

bad blogger

I'm on my way out to the Atlantic Beach Art Walk and have meant to blog about my last baby kiln load.

Things turned out different than I expected them. I may not have bisqued high enough or put way too much stain on, but it got the ball rolling for me to be a lot more colorful and graphic with my work.

Besides Hunter teething like a mad man, I did get 2 cups into the 2nd Annual National Cup show juried by Ayumi Horie First show I've ever applied to. Hopefully it goes well.

Time to pack up the little guy. Pictures later. :)

1187 and cooling

cooling is part of the process, cooling is part of the process. (repeat over and over)

Whenever I'm testing something new I get so anxious to open the kiln pretty much right after it hits temperature.

Regardless of outcome, I don't think I'll be absorbing Diana's technique. I learned some great things and a new way to add color to my work... but the whole etching process is going to drive me insane. Think I'll just stick to sgraffito.

Not that I need to produce X amount of pots because they are flying off the shelf, but the spending a week glazing a small load (it took me 4 days to glaze 10 pieces) will drive me nuts.

almost time to fire!

Didn't realize how many little 20z jars of underglaze I had accumulated over the years, even though I've never quite knew how to use them.

test tiles on 3 clay bodies. ( didn't have the time to throw them, so slab and cut will have to do.)



I'm so excited. Doing the first firing tonight, then glazing.. and hopefully I'll be ready for the last firing on Tuesday night and have results by Wednesday.

wish me luck

carving away

Man of wars with mustache
hammer head. (also has manta rays on the side of the bowl)

time

I need more hours in a day...
or I just need to give up sleep...
or get Hunter to nap longer.


3 days to make 9 pieces.

these are firming up a bit and I'll get to carve into them later tonight.

workshop thoughts

(Diana Fayt platter for sale at mudfire, unless it has already been snatched up)

The workshop was more than fantastic.

I learned so much in the 3 days. I'm still blown away that Diana would teach a workshop on her technique that has taken 15 some years to perfect and here we are getting the cleaned up,nicely packaged up version.

I went into this workshop wanting to know more about color and adding on layers. I came out with an appreciation for the personal narrative that goes into each object and the dedication it takes to create your own process.

Diana's slide show/lecture was my favorite part and unfortunately I only got to stay for the first half both times. (suppose that is the price you pay when your 7 month old is hungry or sleepy and mr. mom is losing his mind) The back story is so important. You can tell that everything she etches onto her pots means something important to her, every piece of every vessel is informed by her experiences. It was so great listening to the stories behind each drawing.

I've always been a firm believer that a good pot looks like it's creator. You've got to put yourself into it, otherwise.. it's just another object.

Hunter is about to wake up and I have some more thinking (and making!) to do. I had a lot of gradschool flashbacks and need to work through those thoughts as well in another post.


Here are some photos.








and the mandatory Hunter at the hotel shot


I didn't sleep much last night and made some cups/bowls so Hopefully I'll be able to fire these in the next 10 days.