"Nothing Happens Unless it is First a Dream..."

~ Carl Sandburg

I have a crazy dream. Don't ask me why exactly... but I want to build a life size Polar Bear out of clay. Surely it has something to do with my love of these fierce, majestic creatures, but the idea has probably been percolating for quite some time. Maybe the seed was planted somewhere between making my first little clay creation here, doing this project for an entry level ceramics class at SOU, and finding Lawrence Argent's work online here. (Seriously- watch the video in that post... it's a lot of fun!) Anyhow so here I am, starting a new clay class with some pretty BIG IDEAS! So, needless to say, I was a bit deflated when I discussed my BIG IDEAS with my new instructor and was met with just a little opposition. The words that met my ears went something like this, "there's not enough space... you'd need too much one-on-one instruction... it would cost a lot of money for that much clay..." and something along the lines of "it would be a miracle... like flying to Mars." OK, OK... I get the point!! And seriously, although I was very disappointed... I could see his point. The studio space is small, and perhaps my dreams are a bit lofty considering my limited clay experience. But, dang it, that's what I'm here for... to pursue my creative dreams... no matter how lofty! And I can tell you... it brought up some of the same issues I've been struggling with for years. I thought... shoot, If I just had my own home with a little studio (or even a garage!) I could just start working on these dreams... in my own space, in my own time. But that just isn't a reality at this point. I even tried to think of how I could start in my teeny tiny apartment, but clearly in that small of a space, it wasn't going to work. Sooooooo, I said to myself: "Beck's, you've just got to put aside what you want to do at this time & just be open to all the things you can learn from this particular class." Then, lo & behold, my instructor had a change of heart. While I can't go as big as I had originally dreamed, he did conjure up some space so I can at least go a little larger... and then who knows~ maybe next semester I'll have the skills to go really big! So, my self assigned homework was to start working on techniques at home. Here's some of my results (unfired/unglazed) & process.

The thing is you can't go too big as a solid hunk of clay, otherwise it'll just blow up. So for the one above I hollowed out the center, but left the head & legs solid... that's a little risky, but I did poke holes through them to create air chambers... so we'll see. It's all a learning process at this point. On the second one below, I started from one hunk of clay, & hollowed out the whole bear.

I know, you're wondering, how do you go about doing that?!? So glad you asked... as you know how much I love to document process!

Well, you start with a wire, and cut the poor little guy in half.

I've never actually done this before, so I wasn't sure how it was going to work.

Anyhow, once you've got your two halves, you just start scooping out "the guts" until you have a relatively even shell.

Then, you slip & score the edges, apply a slurry mixture of clay & water, then kinda gently squish it back together, pressing & smoothing at the seams until it appears seamless.

 And, Whala! Many hours later- finito! I actually have no idea if this will turn out as I'm kinda winging it, but I am hopeful it will work. If not, I'll be learning from my mistakes in trying different techniques, and that is not a a bad place to be.

:)

Season Finale of "Clay Days"

    “I do think a  man has missed a very deep feeling of satisfaction if he has never created or at least completed something with his own  two hands”

    -One man’s wilderness, an Alaskan odyssey…(from  the journals of Richard Proenneke) 

A quote my Mom emailed me... and quite appropriate, I believe, for the Season Finale! Clay Days have officially come to an end. You'd think I'd be sad... but actually I'm a little excited to have a bit more free time next week to get out & enjoy the great outdoors as fall is shifting towards winter. Here are the gorgeous bisqued pots, piled & ready to fire~

Remember how smoky that first pot turned out? Well the key it turns out, is to elevate the pots on racks, rather than use pallets as we did the first time. The pallets burn down, and the pots sit too long in the smoldering ash, which gives that super smoky look. Here's all the pots on racks & ready to go!

Again hesitant about getting too smoky a pot, I only put small pieces of Ponderosa Pine bark directly on my pots... then the firing is done the same as last time... wood is piled up to form a tent around the pots and then lit on fire~

After it burns awhile, the pots begin to emerge.

And, after many weeks of work... the pots are finished!

Below is the Charlie Brown Pot~

Still not my favorite, but not so Charlie Brown looking any more.

:)

My pride & joy below... the last big pot that I completed~

And, a tie for my favorite pot below... formerly known as the "Genie pot," I now call it Felipe's Pot (since it was made from Felipe's Clay.)

:)

Being so hesitant about getting too smoky a pot, I went in the other direction this time & feel a bit more of a smoke cloud would've done this pot more justice. But hey, I'm learning... and now have more of a sense of what to do next time I have the chance to work with Micaceous Clay.

:)

And, last but not least... my little Pumpkin Pot! This one was made with Felipe's Clay... and also at the very end of the session, so the craftmanship could have been just a bit better, though I do think it is awfully cute! It's a small pot that fits perfectly in my hand.

:)

My instructor thought it might make a good garlic roaster... hmmmm...

I did get back a little work from throwing on the wheel at the beginning of class, but not having the time to do glaze tests... the results were less than adequate, and really not worth posting, though I do have a few things left to be fired... so we'll see. But for now, I'm ok with this, as I simply didn't have the time to do it all... and am actually quite happy with what I did get done, considering the full time job & all. And I learned so much about working with Micaceous Clay in the traditional manner that stretches back generations... before there were such things as wheels & glazes!

Happy Fall, Everyone!

:)

Wednesday is Clay Day... Part 5~ My Special Pot!

I'm getting my "Clay Day" post out early, 'cause I'll have a long day at the studio on Wednesday as it's my last day to do actual work before the final firing next week. This particular pot is really special to me, because the clay is not a commercial micaceous clay from a big clay company, but clay right from the mountains of Northern New Mexico. (Ever since I started doing clay work, it has been a dream of mine to find my own clay... so this is the next best thing!) On a tip from our instructor, one of the gals from class drove up to purchase clay from Felipe Ortega, a very well known Micaceous Clay Potter here in Northern New Mexico. If you want to check out the work of a true Artist, check out his web page here~

http://www.felipeortega.com/index.html

I found this clay a bit more challenging to work with... I experienced more cracking and it didn't seem as smooth to sand & so forth... the commercial clay has likely been processed in such a way that it has more plasticity and is of a finer grain or something. Working with the traditional clay felt a bit like when I was a kid building mud pies...

:)

 So here's the building & finishing of my special pot in various stages. (Whereas my last one was the Charlie Brown pot... this one made me think of a Genie Pot... though I sanded & buffed it for what seemed like a very long time... no one appeared to grant my 3 wishes!)

I got a little "photography happy" shooting the finished pot! I just find it interesting how different it looks from different angles, in different settings and with different lighting. Creating pottery is such a Zen activity... it's a lesson in non-attachment, because so many things can go wrong at so many different stages. But, I have officially broke the potter's rule of not getting attached to your work. I love this pot... mainly I think, because it's right from the mountains of Northern New Mexico.

:)

Wednesday is Clay Day... Part 4

Well, truth be told... pretty much all my days off for the past 2 weeks have been clay days. Which is great, but then other things that you need to do on a daily basis don't get done. You know, thing like running errands, going grocery shopping, cooking a decent meal... those sorts of things. You see, I only have a couple short weeks left until my class ends and when it does, so does my access to the studio. Sooooooo, this is why on any given day, my kitchen table looks like this!

 I was playing around w/ slab work. My very loose template was the vase on the left... but I wanted to make it a little more "flowy," & came up with this~

It has the potential to look quite cool once it's glazed! And do you remember my little bear from "Days off are the Best," many posts ago? 

http://beckypinnick.blogspot.com/2010_08_01_archive.html

Well, I made another one, though a smaller version~

And I finally got back the original from the other post!

Here he is glazed~ I call him my good energy bear... 'cause he really is chock full of good energy!

:)

And here they are together, so you get the idea of size~

And now back to the Micaceous Clay! Well, those of you who have been following my blog since I was taking classes up in Oregon know that I love to document process, and am rather intrigued by it. But dang it... I forgot to take pictures as I was making this pot! To give you an idea... I'm showing some of the scraping & sanding that goes on to reach the finished product. Pretty exciting stuff, eh?

Here I am scraping the inside of the pot. This one was a lot smaller than my first one, and my first closed form (has a lid) pot ever. Since it was small, I felt the walls should be thin... and in order to get nice thin walls from where I started, a lot of scraping was necessary. This was actually a lot of fun! I sat out on my front porch in the sunshine in my PJ's with an endless cup of coffee... my kinda day! :) Below is the pot after the scraping, but before the sanding.

My feelings about this pot are fairly neutral. I don't absolutely love it, except in an I made it so I gotta love it, kinda way but I don't dislike it either. I do have to say this though, doesn't it kinda remind you of Charlie Brown's head?

Seriously... I didn't mean for it to come out that way, but it is kinda shaped that way, is it not?! Then on to the sanding... will this excitement ever end???

... and more sanding~

And finally, after applying 3 coats of micaceous slip, and hand burnishing w/ stones

(oops! forgot to take pictures of that~ suffice it to say it is a long and lengthy process!)

My finished pot... sparkling in the morning sun!

Whew! That was a lot of work! Now again comes the wait for the firing & the anticipation of whether it will make it through, and how the look will transform if it does. In the meantime, I finally got some glazing done on some cups & bowls I threw on the wheel weeks ago, and I'm concurrently working on 2 more Micaceous Pots... another small closed form & another big one like my first~ but they've just been placed under wraps for now... as I go back to those crazy 10 hour shifts at work. It's funny, 'cause I get tired after 8 hours in the studio... so imagine how I feel after a 10 hour work day! 

Can anyone say "Couch Potato?"

Until next week...

:) 

Days off are the Best!!!

I do enjoy my days off! Presently I am working far too much & far too hard... but sometimes this is just a part of life, and I try to accept this. I am paying down some of my tuition from going to school up in Oregon, and putting a little aside for my next "plan." It is my hope that soon, I will figure out a way to create a little more balance in my life. My plan is that by the end of the year, I'll have figured out a way to work part time, go to school part time, still make ends meet, AND have more time & energy for getting out in nature, and more time to do the things that nurture my body & spirit. Dare to Dream!!! Presently, I don't have time to squeeze in all the things in I'd love to do, and sometimes I just need to REST! That's what I did last week on my first day off. Leisurely coffee drinking, house cleaning, cloud watching... you know, the important stuff!!

"Rest is not idleness... or watching clouds float across the sky is by no means a waste of time."
J. Lubbock

On my next day off I finally got to meet one of my bloggy friends... Annie, of "Blissful Bohemian."  Annie is an artist living in Taos, New Mexico... I found her blog when I was living in Oregon, and bought one of her ceramic cups on her Esty site. Here it is, pictured in my Oregon apartment~

Isn't it just the cutest?! I thought it the perfect reminder to keep following my dreams! Annie is just as sweet & wonderful in person as she is on her blog. It was fun to see her art in person, have lunch & talk about art & life. you can visit her at:

http://blissful-bohemian.blogspot.com/.

I was also treated to a spectacular sunset on my way home!

In other news, my clay class starts next week, and I can hardly wait! I was inspired to buy a couple of bags of clay and start playing around early, so that I'll have something to fire & do some test glazing on. I love making these little bears!

 They are a little rudimentary & I still have a little cleaning up to do with them, but if they make it through the bisque & glaze firing, I think they'll turn out quite cute!

As for my upcoming class, there were so many fun classes to choose from, it was hard to decide! Below is the class I chose... a Micaceous Clay class. I doubt mine will turn out as beautiful as Anita's (pictured below) but how fun it will be to try!

Anita Ginocchio

"Micaceous clay has been used for centuries by indigenous peoples of the Southwest to create functional cookware, which has the unique quality of withstanding the direct heat of stove top cooking. We will build our pots using the traditional coil method, then scrape and sand them so that the walls are of a relatively thin and even consistency. The pots are not glazed, but are finished with several coats of micaceous slip, which are stone polished to a high luster. We will then do an outdoor pit firing, which embellishes the lustrous surface with distinctive smoke clouds. Instruction will be highly individualized, fully geared to the experience level of the student. Though the process is labor intensive, the product is a unique blend of beauty and utility. The vessels are remarkably sturdy, and once you have cooked with micaceous cookware, you’ll be hooked!"

 Sounds great, doesn't it?! I hope you're all having a wonderful week & are finding the time to do the things you love, too!

:)

Clay Creations!

Well, this is it... the end of the term. Had a little delay in getting back the last of the ceramics as one of kilns was down. Now I'm in the process of packing them up & deciding which to give away, which to keep & wondering if I can wait as long a Christmas to share them. Probably not, as I've already started giving them away! Here's the bulk of my creations this quarter, minus the 20 or so I've given away~

And some "up close shots" of some of my favorites... of course I made some more of the coffee bean mugs~

Here's the big salad bowl I was so happy about in a previous post, though it doesn't look so big in this picture! I also made 4 smaller bowls to go with it. I wasn't ecstatic about the glaze choice afterwards, but chose a clear glaze to try to bring forth the natural dark clay body~

One of my favorite bowls I decided to keep for myself... I just love this glaze~ 

It looks like a plate here! I think I'm a lot better at landscape photography than studio photography! Here's the back... I'm experimenting w/ different "signatures" & liked this one.

The next one I call the "Zen Bowl..." I don't know... it just looks Zen to me. I've decided who this bowl is going to, but that is top secret!

Another "keeper," I've already used the bowl below for french toast! (None of my plates turned out well, and I don't really like making them, so I just cut the french toast into bite size pieces, add banana & syrup.) This funky bowl was an experiment in carving & use of stains.

The glaze in the bowl below kinda looks like an eye, doesn't it?

And just a few more favorites~

It was fun experimenting with different glazes!

I think the use of different glazes can totally define what the bowls are used for... whether decorative, salad, soup or ice cream. I love the glaze in the one below, and it was difficult not to keep, but I already gave it away... it's fun to give handmade gifts!

I've really enjoyed my ceramics class this quarter, and am hoping I can figure out some way in the not too distant future to have this sort of creating be present in my daily life!

:)