In the Studio

Smaller child size mugs, this one personalized for N, I love how it looks, I may have to do one for myself too.

This one is for my niece- the lace may be too girly for her- but I think a nice black glaze will win over her pre teen heart.

Lots and lots of running this week, mostly with manic looks of glee on her face.

I have got a few more mugs made this week, I'm actually finding that I can make about 10 in one day- then put handles on the next day, or about five with handles in the time that I can also keep N busy with a show on her travel DVD, (not the best parenting techniques, I know, but I've got to get some work done right?). After that she wants to 'help' me, or to eat chocolate chips non-stop, and that's not good for anybody. Of course I still have to finish smoothing them and shaping the handles before they get into the kiln, but it's been making me feel pretty productive anyhow.

I've been working on a couple of different sizes of mugs, the first ones I made were so giant they would give me a crazy caffeine rush If I drank a whole one. So a few new sizes including a child's size, will go into this batch, and hopefully one of them will be just perfect once fired. (Clay shrinks as it goes through it's drying and firing processes, so it's always a bit of a guessing game as to what the end size will be, there are people who can figure this out with precise tests and Math- I am not one of them)

I'm planning on firing a glaze kiln this weekend too- a few test glazes for some new colours, I want to get a nice spring green colour, and maybe an orange one as well, but I'm not sure I can do it from my current colours. I use stains to get my glaze colours, in the same clear base glaze for ease, and I generally love them, I have used oxides in the past, but it's more difficult to get a bright candy coloured hue, if it's at all possible. The other thing I love about Mason stains is that they seem to mix like paint- as in a blue stain and a yellow stain will make a green one, which mostly doesn't happen with oxides as they derive colour from chemical interactions, not pigments. 

This is how I think they work after a few experiments, but I don't know if they all work like that- or if it's just that particular yellow stain, with that particular blue one that just happen to make green, (if it is just some random thing then that is just the pottery god's way of screwing with painters who make pottery). Anyhow, I plan to do a big glaze test using all my colours and mixing them methodically to see what else crops up.

In the Studio

 I did get a few mugs done up this week, I'm getting back on track with some art making (and housecleaning...ugh). I also got the bisque Kiln fired, and nothing broke, even my patch job with Paper clay, which I was really skeptical of. We'll see what it looks like after the glaze firing, right now it's not quite the same texture as the rest of the piece. Probably no one else will notice, but if it takes glaze differently it'll be quite noticeable, so the verdict is still out on that.

I tried a few new designs on the mugs, some cut out stamps I made and some word stamps as well, I like them- but as of yet I'm not sure how to glaze them. I've set a bit of a strict limit on firing for the next couple of months, I want to fire the kiln every weekend, alternating Bisque and Glaze firings. That should let me get enough stuff done so that I can relax a bit over the summer, and also attend the big craft sale in the fall. I'm sadly short of my intended Quota though, so I need to step it up.The weather in these parts is not helping, as it's supposed to reach 22 degrees today (in MARCH!!!), and that makes me want to be outside, getting the yard ready for spring, or just basking in the sun.

So we'll see if I can keep on track with all the planting and stuff going on around here, hopefully I'll have a few finished items to show next time.

In the Studio

A heart plaque, made by my good friend Kristen Perrott, stands out amazingly well on the wall colour.

This is maybe the best picture of the blue- though it's a little more saturated than it looks here- lovely against the white trim though.

N, demonstrating her new no milk diet- actually I don't know why she wanted to cover her mouth- but I loved the light in these pictures, and the way she looked, so here it is.

Okay so not so much in the studio per say- as in not so much art making going on round these parts- but lots of activity none the less. My mom was out visiting for a couple of weeks, my sister is going through some health stuff which which (I assumed) required some freezable comfort food, and also we're expecting another baby- sometime in early fall- and so life has as usual taken precedence over art making.

When we moved into our house- our giant king sized bed was already in the master bedroom, and we'd just completely re done the house we moved out of, so renovation was not uppermost on our minds- we also kind of loved the crazy velvet flocked wallpaper- even though it made the room feel pretty small, and I wasn't crazy about the colour, and the carpet needed to go, but we focused on the rest of the house, and lived in our bedroom as is.

Now with another babe on the way and most of the public spaces in the house painted and updated more to our taste- I figured I really wanted to make a special space for us- a relaxing sanctuary, so we did it- took out the carpet- took down the wallpaper, painted a bright and calming blue/green and made curtains, (a padded headboard is forthcoming). I'm so happy to have done that, as K said, it feels frivolous to spend time on a room just for us- but it's awesome to have a nice space to close your eyes on at night and open them up to in the morning.

Also this week- the babe has weaned herself from breast milk, I really should write a post about all the growing up N has been doing this winter- it's amazing. It all started with her sleeping in her own bed- after co-sleeping and nursing through the night. She was still nursing through nap time though- this last week, we cut that out- and to my surprise she started to nap in her own bed- no milk required. She also got put to bed by Nana one night and I realized she really didn't miss the milk at all. So I stopped offering it- and she stopped asking for it, and suddenly it's been a week and no milk- no big tears about it either. Anyways- all of this has put a break into my making art work- I 'll resume this week- but also I'm getting my appetite back after having 'morning' sickness for a couple of months. so I've been really trying to get more cooking done too, now that I actually feel like cooking again, thank goodness- I think the Man was going to revolt if I didn't start making tasty food again, all I could stomach was mashed potatoes and other 'invalid' style food- not our usual fare.

In the studio

This week I've been redecorating- so not so much studio work per say- but a bit of painting and sewing in the master bedroom, and it's not quite done yet- but more so done- we are minus one old wall to wall carpet- and up one nice hardwood floor. The top photo  is of the velvet flocked wall paper that used to be there- covering some truly funky old green wall paper. We removed both and opted for clean painted walls in a light greeny-blue. the fabric is for curtains- I'll post photos when the project is over.

In the Studio

This is an example of the work I'm doing right now- not exaclty my style- but a good learning tool-I really love the way the thread looks in those french knots

the winter tree from the seasonal apple tree needlecase the group is working on presently

I also really love this picture of N, though it's not as clear as I'd like- I've been spending a fair bit of time this week dressed up as a princess fairy.

This week has been clay light- embroidery heavy- just getting the batch of clay ready to fire- smoothing out the edges of my test tiles, pulling out supplies- organizing threads, learning how to make French knots. I've been totally inspired this week by the Embroidery group- the breadth of the projects they're working on is amazing, not to mention the dazzling quality of the supplies.

I'm thinking that I'd like to design some of my own patterns for this hankie project, but I realized this week that I'm completely naive as to the availability of embroidery patterns out there, not to mention stitches- and might need to spend a bit of time familiarizing myself with that. I am somehow reluctant to use someone Else's pattern on a project- but at the same time I can't quite explain why I feel that way. I'm aware that any attempt at pattern making on my part would likely not be as complex or sophisticated as some of those available. I'm not a professional embroiderer- and I have no plans to become one- but I really appreciate the form, and I'd like to do my own stitching- I feel like that aspect is important to my finished work. That said I am a very very beginner- and so for now my work is more sampler like than the end works are in my minds eye.

In the Studio

New Mug sizes and patterns

My first attempt at a gravy boat-
It looked like an ocean liner before I carved it- graceful, but tooo big, but the vertyicals really help to loosen up the shape.

I also love the handle, I think I'll repeat this handle again.

the second gravy boat- a little more flowing

Scalloped Platter

This was a sample for a kids class I taught- I found it, and propped it up by my window, and I love the way it looks with the sun shining behind it. (It's a mini mixed media collage landscape)

So this week I finished up my kiln worth of stuff- it needs to get fired sometime soon, a whole bunch of smaller mugs, and I made my first platter- which I allowed to dry out a bit too much before I stippled the raised areas- and subsequently crippled myself trying to muscle them in. It worked but I couldn't even grate cheese that night. I'm not totally sold on the scalloped pattern on the platter, I think it's either going to be really cool and detailed, or too fussy, It's too early to tell, once it's glazed we'll know for sure. It's also rather small once it's dried down, more like a small side platter, but I am limited because of my kiln size- I can only do a 15 inch platter at most- and this is not that wide. I think I'll have to either search a thrift shop for a larger dish to use as a slump mold, or manufacture a plaster slump mold- ugh!

Also this week I've joined an Embroidery group! I was really happy to go to the first meeting and find such warm and welcoming women, kindred spirits- (despite the expected age difference) who all also talk about hoarding fabric and supplies, and seem to be always learning new things, and willing to teach me. I am amazed at how much easier it is to learn from a person than from a book, and looking forward to learning more surface work techniques with embroidery (I've only ever done cross stitch really). I've got a stack of vintage hankies that I've been buying or saving and I think a little project with some images, either photo transfer or painted, and some fresh embroidery patterns would be really fun and lovely, I'm sure I could work them into some project.

So keep tuned for more embroidery work next week!

Oh hello there...

Dear Blog

 I've been meaning to write to you, to apologize for neglecting you this past month. In all honesty, I've been under the weather- and any moments when I haven't been under the weather I've been concentrating on things like- feeding my family, or keeping the kitchen sanitary, or getting some clay work done. I've been making some work, and getting a good start on a cache of stuff for a fall sale.

Since deciding to take a bit of a seasonal approach to my myriad hobbies, I think that I'm more productive in each of them, and also more able to act on ideas that crop up while working. Instead of thinking of ways to improve the next gravy boat and then starting it weeks later, I'm making several in a week, perfecting methods as I go. Which is probably no great insight, especially if you can keep your focus, but for me it's a revelation.  I am starting to get a bit nostalgic for my sewing machine, but really I don't miss it all that much, and it's only until spring that I'll keep it packed away, maybe I'll bring it out in May, to get started on some summer stuff for N.

I'm a long way from where I need to be in order to have the type of booth I want in October, but I think I'll make it, and starting early is going to make it so much easier for me. At any rate- I think I'm going to keep it a little low key around here until May, I'll post once a week - an update on what's happening in the studio, and maybe a little photo of N here and there, but nothing major until spring- just think of it like a hibernation.