Bust Update

I wanted to share an update on the bust. It showed

some minor cracks on the inside after it was bisque fired and I feared the worst. My teacher suggested I use paper clay to fill the cracks. Strangely, none of the cracks I patched opened, but there were some others that showed up in areas I did not expect. It survived Cone 11 reduction firing, and the head did not fall off. None were on the face and overall I was very lucky. The porcelain slip I used gave it a beautiful almost marble-like appearance that I am very happy with.

Hand Built vs. Wheel Thrown

When I first discovered pottery, all I wanted to do was throw. I had no interest in learning anything having to do with hand-building and was fully consumed by the spinning and lifting of the clay. I have continued to create wheel-thrown pottery until this spring when I had enrolled in a hand-building class and became in awe of what I was missing.

Being a bit of a perfectionist, I loved the perfectly centered form the wheel helped create (on a good day). At first my impression of hand-built pottery was that it was very wonky and misshapen. However, once I took a class with Biliana Popova and discovered that you can create very symmetrical, smooth forms much like the wheel with liberties that the wheel just does not allow. I realized that I was keeping myself from something so satisfying. Hand-built forms, even when perfect and smooth still have a textile quality that cannot be reproduced on the wheel making you want to feel it, allowing you to unmistakeably recognize that a piece is hand-built once you hold it. If you never held a piece of hand-built pottery, do it.

I am not sure I will fully convert to strictly hand-building from now on, but I have developed a respect for the quality it creates and look forward to adding those elements to my future works.

Unconditional Love

I can't help but feel a strong connection between clay and the human condition that we call life. It all started when I was attaching a spout on a teapot. It was surprising how it's personality changed each time I repositioned the spout. Then I accidentally nicked it, and immediately began to rub it to make it better. I imagine that love for pottery is very much like the unconditional love a parent might have for a child. When a woman gets pregnant, she may wish for a boy, but in turn get a girl. She might think her child will have blond hair with blue eyes, just to give birth to a green eyed red head due to some recessive gene no one knew she had from her great great grandmother. But the child is loved all the same. Each time a kiln is fired, I find something unexpected, even thought it is so different from what I was hoping for.
I have always wanted to sculpt a bust, but was always hesitant to take on such an endeavor. However, this semester I am taking a hand building class with Biliana Popova, and as part of the curriculum were asked to hand in one hand built piece of my choice for our final project. So I thought - Just Do it! - This is the piece I've been working on. Now anyone who knows anything about clay will tell you that it is still very early in it's stage to get excited. But I don't care! I have always enjoyed painting portraits, but this was so much more satisfying. To be able to run your fingers across the bridge of the nose or placing your palms on the shoulders is very different than staring at an image from a canvas - No matter how life like it looks. At the moment this piece has not been fired and is still its leatherhard stage. I wanted to photograph it just in case something bad happened during firing. I hope that the kiln Gods have mercy on this humble potter.

Attack of the Robins Egg

Spring is here, the birds are singing, the westeria has bloomed and I can't help but smile. My latest Robins Egg kiln load came out and the pieces are lovely! I feel like a proud mama of her babies and it feels good. We may not be certain of a lot of things, but one thing we can be certain of. Every year spring will come, the robin will return, and I will have speckled Robins eggs in my shop :) and I wouldn't have it any other way.

A Streak of Bad Luck

I am generally a very laid back person, and when throwing I get to zone out and create little pots and shapes without giving much thought of how many pieces an hour I can make or glaze, or what is my top seller. However, now that I rely on pottery for money, I've become a complete basket case. I've become Etsy obsessive, and to make matters worse, for the first time ever, my pieces started to come out of the kiln firing wrong! I've had to re-do a custom order a third time because my copper-red glaze came out white during the first two firings, and a custom vase cracked. I shouldn't say that I've never had a piece stick to the cookie, or come out a totally different color, but not when it mattered. I now understand completely about the frustrations experienced by full-time potters that have orders to fill and deadlines to meet. I am sure feelin ya now.

April Fool's 2009

Etsy Mud team comes through again with their good, clean, fun for everyone April Fools Joke.

They have infiltrated the Etsy Ceramic Showcase for the day, along with 225 listings containing TP.

All works are available for sale, minus the toilet paper of course.

Here are some of my favorites:

Maid of clay

Studio Elan

Judy B Freeman

Where does the time go?

Its been almost a month since I've broken free and became a potter. I had some family visit for the first week and a half, then we went on vacation for another week, and I find myself wondering where did the time go? I have certainly been engaged in more pottery so that's been simply awesome, and it is nice to be on your own time for a change, but that may be the problem. I no longer have to get up at 6:30am, so even if I go to bed at my usual 10:30pm, I still feel the need to sleep in until at least 8:30. Then I get up, feed Mopsy, pick out the mug to drink my coffee out of, and head into the garage. Several pottery pieces later, its 2 o'clock... and I didn't even eat lunch! Not working in an office has done wonders for my figure, so I am not really complaining. It's amazing how preoccupied with food you are when you're stilling still for eight hours. Days and weeks have been flying by, and I am so grateful to be swooped up in it.

Step two - getting organized.