Clay Notes From Home...

Do you ever have those times when life feels like it is busier than it has ever been? I'm experiencing that currently... and feel like I can't quite get caught up!

I'm sure you've all experienced this as some point or another. In between work & class & looking for that place to call home, I feel like I've hardly had the chance to breathe, let alone blog. Anyhow, I wanted to eke out a little time to share my experience teaching my first micaceous clay class...  to my mom when I was back home in July- yes, July! I really am behind aren't I? 

Ah, well... so it goes. 

The great thing about hand building/coiling pots, is that you really can do it anywhere... though it can get quite messy, so having some outdoor or garage space is quite nice. Below is our work station in the garage back home... tools, notes, puki's etc.

And Mom, with lots of great instruction (ha ha!) building her first ever coiled micaceous pot! Nice job, mom! (She was an excellent student & we laughed when I learned where I got my passion for perfection from!)

"PIPs"~ pots in progress... Mom's in the foreground, mine in the background.

Mom cutting the rim on her pot, mine taking shape & setting up in the background.

My cone shaped pot from above turns into a closed form... there is something I love about the shape of a rounded form of clay, even though the lid fitting which comes later is a lot of work!

Many days later (the clay takes a long time to dry when the humidity is high as it was when I was back home) the pots are removed from their Puki's & the water scraping, and later sanding begins. It's quite a process!  The rounded form above became the bear pot below it it's rough/dry stage.

Showing Mom how to apply slip & burnish a pot. Note my pot... dangerously close to the edge of the table... what am I thinking?!

Mom's pot- after water scraping & before sanding/polishing.

Below~ same pot- after sanding & polishing. Pretty awesome job for her first pot, don't ya think?

:)

I didn't get a chance to finish my latest bear pot while I was back home- so I packed it up & brought it to NM~ just got around to sanding & polishing it last week~ 2 months to make one pot, LOL. I do like it though, & I think the lid fit was quite stellar. :) I won't even get into all the "repair work" that needed to be done on this pot, but suffice it to say, I think I worked longer on this pot than any other.

Below, another pot I made while back home.

And, you know me, I couldn't resist doing another bear... he's pretty abstract-y & I quite like him!

We had a ton of fun, Mom & I, on our pot- making adventure! They have all made it through the bisque fire & I am anxiously awaiting a Raku firing for the final finish next week. Only 2 months or so from start to finish, now how's that for patience?!?

Good News, (Im)patience & Another (not so) Big Bear

The good news is, my "cartoon bear" from the last post made it from my little apartment to school & onto the kiln shelf intact. Now comes the waiting... and trying to remain patient.   I often feel I use up all my good patience at work, and then when it comes to getting things done in my personal life... I want it all to happen now, and I have to admit, it's one thing that drives me crazy about ceramics in the classroom setting... the waiting for firing- which could take weeks (or longer!) Aiiiiiiiii!!! So, in the meantime, what's a girl to do but do more work. I swore I wasn't going to work in my apartment again due to the tight space & constant clean up, but sure enough, as soon as I dropped off the Big Bear, wouldn't you know I picked up another bag of clay & got right to work the very next day. Here's the finished bear (soon to be in line w/ his buddy on the kiln shelf!) He's quite a bit smaller- about 8 inches tall & 16 inches long, which is still rather large, considering what I was doing before I started this class.

Another angle below~

I rather like the way it turned out... a bit less cartoonish & more bear-like to me.

And while I won't bore you all to tears with a million photos on process like I did last time, I will share a few... lucky you!

:)

I figured it would be easier if downshifted a bit, and went a little smaller this time... still working mostly w/ slab construction. I also figured I'd let the slabs dry a bit instead of working w/ wetter slabs that tend to collapse. Problem w/ that was, the thinner/drier slabs tended to crack during construction... so I was constantly re-wetting, smoothing & repairing as I went along. My 3 hour project turned in to an all day affair. I don't feel my construction was all that consistent, so I figure this one has a pretty good chance of blowing apart during the firing... so we'll see. Here's the work in progress below~

And as usual, there was the problem w/ the dreaded head! I can see in my mind exactly how I want it to look, but I can't seem to get the picture in my head to translate to the form!

Yes, again I redid his head at least 3 times before I could live with it.

Though the pic above would probably adequately describe how I was feeling as I was trying to get it right. And now, again comes the waiting game. In the meantime, I have been working on some assignments for class... but nothing I have really been able to sink my teeth into, or get really excited about, though I'll probably post some assignments here at some point or another. I have, however, been checking out various different types of sculptural clay online, & ordered a few clay books that I'm (im)patiently waiting for. There are certain types of clays that tend to be a bit more forgiving which would be a huge plus for larger sculptural works, and I'm anxious to give them a try. Until next time!

:)

Hummingbird Studies

Hummingbird Photography & Fun Facts~

Hummingbirds are native to North & South America. Their average speed is 20-30 miles per hour, and some migratory species fly up to 500 miles non-stop!

They are the smallest bird, yet their brain comprises 4% of their body weight, hence they have much bigger brains than their larger counterparts.

Their little hearts can beat up to 1260 times per minute. Surprisingly... they do sit still sometimes, just not for long!

Sadly, the majority of hummingbirds don't make it past the first year of their life... but if they do, their average lifespan is 4 to 5 years, though some live up to ten years.

There is an estimated 325-340 species of hummingbirds. They are a fascinating bird... fun to watch, and challenging to photograph!

Equipment used: Nikon D80 w/ 18-135 lens & iPhoto for basic cropping. Pictures taken to get about 10 good shots: approximately 140.

Photo Etching~ Learning New Techniques: Assignment # 2

Our assignment last week was to play with text & image by using ink, toner, sharpie & so forth on frosted mylar... to see how those marks translate once we expose the plates, develop & etch them. Also just continuing on with working on applying film correctly to our plates, getting our exposure times times down and so forth. My results were far from earth shattering, let me tell you! But, I kinda felt that way in Print 1... when everything was new. And, this is a new technique with many directions you can go... so, I tell myself... "Patience... Grasshopper... Patience." :)

Basically, you just draw, write, ink up this mylar~ place it over your plate (plates shown here without film), expose it, develop it, etch it, clean the plate (takes forever!) and then, finally get to print it! I had to do 2 plates with text- neither of them worked well. I think it had to do with the translucency of the marker I was using. Aye Carumba... the learning curve strikes again!