Studio Assisting!

I was handed the most amazing news in my pottery-making life last week. Lisa of the painted pot asked me to become a studio assistant! This is going to change my life and teach me all the things I need to know to work in a studio- Amazing! I have my own shelf now for storage, full use of the studio and perks! Lots of perks! I am going to learn how to mix glazes, use the kiln and all the good stuff. It's really fantastic and I fully intend to take full advantage of this position. Here's a photo from some recently finished mugs from the same style I designed in the last round. Hope these come up just as well!!

Art vs. Craft

I'm so excited about this round of work, I woke up this morning at 6:30am and couldn't go back to sleep!! I am proud to say that I really feel that my work has gone to the next level. If you know me, you know that I usually practice modesty, but this is a shining achievement that even I will admit out loud. It's also amazing because in all the years of making art, this is the first work that I can confidently say stands on its own as well made, and beautiful, without it's maker needing to give an explanation. This brings up discussion on Art vs. Craft. A topic that Reed and I continue to converse about. Right now, I look at my work as both art and craft, and I consider myself an artist. But it will be interesting to see how that position evolves in my life as I continue to make work.
I should note that the weight of these are so light and even, you can tell that the overall form has been a huge improvement on my part. Also, the foot (base) on each mug and serving bowl, are the cleanest, and most professional looking, I've ever done. (I will try to post a pic later of the bottom of these pieces) Unfortunately, these are not the greatest photos and you can't see the brilliance of the color, but take a look. There will also be a forth mug coming out in the next glaze fire to complete the mug set.

Kings Cup

The glaze fire turned out so well! I choose to do sets of two to test the colors. I'm thrilled, as always by floating blue, and the glossy white is really beautiful, and not so manufactured looking as I feared. Randy's red actually turned out redder than I expected, which was fantastic!

These teacups are my pride and joy for the moment. A feat that is difficult to achieve in this unpredictable world called pottery. I salut this work but instead of tea, I think I'll cheers with a cup of hot chocolate!

Item #1

Enter collection item number 1: Tea Cups

I am working on sets of oversized tea cups and saucers. Who doesn't find these sweet and endearing? But also, it makes me wonder what ever happened to tea time? maybe we never really did that in America, but we should! I for one love a good cup of tea and the only way I could only enjoy it more would be with nice warm english scone, some strawberry jam and clotted cream. But if your on a diet like I am now, and I can't exactly indulge in my favorite delectables, how about indulging by using a fabulous and worthy tea cup and saucer. It's not exactly the same, but at least it makes tea-time more fun.

Set the table

It's all about sets. I'm on my way to making this into a handmade business so i need to make sets. Everything looks better in sets because you can outfit an entire table. Not that I don't like the idea of mismatching pieces, but they somehow still need to be cohesive together. I am working on making pieces as close in size and shape as possible, and I think it's finally working. But one thing I am finally embracing is allowing each piece to be slightly different because naturally by hand it's impossible to make each piece exactly the same and anyway I want to avoid it being manufactured looking. That's part of the beauty of the hand made.

Before and After

The most satisfying part is looking back on the process. There are 3 significant stages of ceramics. The wheel throwing phase, the bisque phase and then glazing. Because the process requires so many stages its easy for many things to go wrong which makes a finished and successful piece feel that much more gratifying.

Coffee Break

Seaworld and matte brown win again!

I am actually having coffee in one of these as we speak. I think the new ritual is to try them out before giving them away to get the entire experience. They begin as 1 1/2 pound mounds of clay and slowly become a finished functional piece of art. I'm proud of these because sets are difficult to create. They're all slightly different but I think that just helps emphasize the hand made-ness of them. And the way things have been going lately, you never can tell how the glaze will turn out and if it will drip or crack.

I am definitely inspired to create more sets and give them as gifts for the holidays. But I better get going because the holidays are quickly approaching and the firings are moving at the same glacial rate.

Firing takes patience

More pots waiting to be fired: I am attempting two sets of cereal bowls. And all the while I am STILL waiting for my mugs and vases to come out of the bisque fire. Unfortunately my studio has an extreme wait time for firing and I have now been waiting since the 2nd of the month for those items to come out of the kiln. These new items will have to wait a possible long while to be fired, so I guess Ill just keep throwing in the mean time.

Clay Born

This portion of the process might be the most satisfying. I hope some day it will be the end result that gives me that feeling. Seeing that I have created a beautiful, usable object from an unshaped slab of clay is amazing. My ability to make sets have improved a great deal in the last few months as did my handles.

Fireborn

My first posting of my ceramics in process. Throwing clay could quite possibly be my favorite thing in the world. It's waiting for it to be fired that makes me crazy and then the glazing that can either make or break the piece.