I'm Still Here! :)

I haven't disappeared of the face of the planet- thank goodness!! I've just been busy!! After a quick visit with family in January, I jumped right back into clay classes... and I've been rather obsessive about it.

 :)

 I'm taking Integrated Projects & Studio Practice... which means I actually have a small studio on campus, thus I have space to work! Therefore, I must take full advantage of it by spending as much time as I can possibly fit in in the studio. (I considered quitting this blog since I really don't have the time if I want to accomplish what I'm working towards this semester, but I've found it really helps to keep a visual & written narrative as I move along with the clay, so I've decided to continue, though posts are likely to remain quite sporadic!)  I'm continuing with the creation of the Polar Bears as I have been working on the past couple of semesters in hopes of creating a body of work; a series of 10 or so bears that I hope to show somewhere at the end of the semester. I have decided to back off from "going big"  (though each bear will still be fairly large... about 40- 50 pounds per piece) in order to test several different clay bodies & see how they react with the same glaze & how they hold up in the somewhat abusive environment of the Soda Kiln.

 Since I want each piece to be unique, I start with a slightly different cut slab of clay as my base & slowly coil & shape my way up.

It goes something like this:

#2 Laguna Sculpture

People have asked me if I sketch out or visualize the finished form... I don't.

I may have a general idea that I want the head to turn left, or right, or looking up or straight ahead, but I prefer to work loosely & see how it goes. 

Having the studio space is great, because I can work on one, or several at once. I've found my time is spent much more efficiently in the studio versus the standard classroom setting. You can only build up to a certain point before needing to let the clay set up before you can add more coils- this way I can start on a new piece while I'm waiting.

(My only problem with having the studio, is that I must attend a 4 hour Studio Practice Class each week that is mainly critique & chatter, which I have to admit I find quite mind numbing. Not to mention it takes 4 hours a week away from the time that I actually have to make work. I am still learning how to deal with this, but I digress...)

#1 New Mexico Clay Super Sculpt; #2 Laguna Sculpture

I'm building each bear roughly the same size & height, and it's been fun to see how they are beginning to interact with each other.

#1 & #2; #3: Big White

I take notes on how long each takes me to build (17-25 hours each,) as well as any notes on how I feel about working with each clay body (ie, too soft, too gritty, just right & so on.) I also observe what I like or don't like about the form & posture of each one.

#4 Soldate 60

The one above is one of my favorites so far... though it will be interesting to see how I feel about it once it is glazed & fired.

# 5: WH8-Rough

 # 6: Death Valley Red

I kept thinking about chocolate when I was making this one.

:)

Filling up the Studio!

I have 6 completed (though I'm working on # 7 now, I am behind my self initiated schedule of 8 by the end of the week. Now, if I didn't have to work... that would be another story!!) They're just drying so far.  In addition to testing out several sculptural clay bodies, I've been drying these pieces considerably slower than last semester, with much larger vent holes in the bottom of each piece in hopes of addressing the cracking issue I had last semester. Eeeesh... I don't even want to think about cracking. Once again, I am breaking the rule of not getting attached to greenware. When you spend this much time on these guys, it's hard to not get attached! I'll find out how they do soon enough. I've got two in the bisque now, and the glaze firing for those will be in a couple of weeks.

Wish me Luck!!!

:)

Where the Magic Happens...

In the kiln of course! This is a pic from loading the gas kiln last week~ note all our little test tiles from Glaze Calc Class.

:)

The test tiles above are all from the same base glaze (far left,) with various percentages of Alumina (stabilizer) added. It's interesting to see how little variations can totally change the effect of the glaze.

Everyone in class is testing different variations & percentages of colors, fluxes & stabilizers added to one of 3 favorite glaze bases that we formulated earlier in the semester. It's a lot of info to take in & talk about. We spent hours talking about the results.

Still working away in wheel throwing... filling up shelves. Thinking how taking 2 classes & working is a bit much...

generally feeling a bit behind & trying to get in the studio during my free time, though open studio hours conflict w/ my work schedule! The good news is, I'm gradually getting some things done & getting a little finished work back. Most of it was just testing glazes on the recycled clay that I'm using this semester. Some turned out just horrible! You don't get to see those~ but here are some results that I can live with.

:)

I splurged & got a sheet of background paper for photographing finished work. Surprisingly, I couldn't find it anywhere in town, but I did find it online- it was over 40 bucks w/ shipping! Also, finally got my good camera back, thank goodness! That was over 200 bucks- another unexpected expense! Such is life... you all know how that goes.

Well, gotta run... studying The Complete Guide to High Fire Glazes to pick a glaze to test on Wednesday & gotta get in the studio to do a bit of glazing for my wheel class before the next firing!

:)

One Finished Piece & More "Magic Clay" Testing

Finally! A finished, fired, glazed piece! I was quite happy with the way it turned out, though it's not very large, perhaps 4 inches tall & 6 inches long. I used a clear glaze on a white stoneware clay body. Though I got it back right before spring break, I'm just getting around to posting... as I have been working a ton this week! In the evenings, I have been trying to muster up a bit of creative energy to work on further Magic Clay testing. I would say it's highly likely this next piece blows, as I believe I was pushing the boundaries a bit in terms of what I think this clay can do.

Day 1:

Rolling out tubes (which will be legs & body)

& letting them dry. 

Day 2:

Moisten dry body, slip & score, add more clay...

& add the legs.

All legs attached, now we have a loose bear form.

Scoring the form for addition of more clay.

Day 3:

Adding more clay to try to shape the bear. At this point in the process, I could see it would have been more helpful to have started w/ more than random hollow tubes & given more thought to the final form. It's legs were too long & the body a bit short. 

Day 4:

Finishing up. It is in times like these that I have some serious envy of those of you that actually have studios! (Or homes, or garages, or space!)My impromptu "studio" set up in my apt takes up about a 3rd of my tiny living room space!(And makes for some serious clean-up afterwards!)

The semi-finished bear. I definitely could've kept going on this piece... but I had already added so much clay, and I could tell I wasn't going to get it to look the way I wanted due to my lack of pre-planning.

Plus, supposedly, you are able to go from dry clay to wet, (if you moisten, slip & score) which you cannot do w/ "normal clay," but I have some serious doubts to whether this will actually work & really didn't want to spend much more time on it if the chances are high that it won't work!

So, we'll see what happens. It'll likely take weeks to find out, so I guess I'll just have to start another project...

:)

Magic Clay & New Assignments

A friend of mine had recommended to me a paper-embedded clay called Akio that is supposed to be great for larger sculptural works... apparently you can build thicker walls, & experience less cracking, which would be awesome. Problem is, I couldn't find it here. And to pay for shipping from the Pac Northwest... well, that wouldn't be cost effective!

But, as luck would have it, they had a similar product called "magic clay" @ NM Clay in Albuquerque. It's a fiber embedded clay that is supposed to have those same magical qualities: less cracking, more forgiving AND supposedly you can build wet to dry... thus you don't have to worry as much about keeping the clay at a uniform moisture level, which I had some difficulties with on the previous larger works I attempted. I peeled off a strip so you could see the fibers. What a trip, huh? It's like furry clay! :) When the clay is fired, the tiny fibers burn away, leaving just the clay body behind.

Well, I had really been wanting to try this new clay, but had been busy w/ other class assignments (w/another clay body) & life in general, so it has been sitting & waiting. We were given our new assignment (loosely based on the concept "inside out- outside in") so i decided to try this magic clay w/ one of my 2 ideas. I wanted to incorporate the bear in this project, and when I was out hiking the other day, an idea came about making a woman emerging from a bear form. Now, I thought this was an original idea, but it also felt very familiar. A woman in class & I had been talking... a conversation originating from my previous bear projects, about how she had heard that if a bear was skinned, it looked very similar to a human form. I thought the idea I had was perhaps related to that conversation... a relationship between human & animal form, and incorporating the concept of bringing the inside (human form) out. But here's an interesting thing about making art- we are very often influenced consciously or unconsciously by other artists. After several days of thinking, I looked up some Kiki Smith images and found very similar subject matter. But I wanted to go with it, because I did like the idea,  & I've never tried to sculpt the human form. Oh, Geesh, here's some of my sketches so you get the general idea of where I was heading.

Below, building a rough human-like form. Behind it are the bear legs, but I couldn't get it to look quite right, so had to improvise from the original sketches.

Addition of head, arms & bear head, which is hollow & hangs off the side. If you're wondering what that thing is hanging of the left arm, it's supposed to be bear skin ( c'mon, use your imagination!) And the left leg... well it blends into a bear's hind foot, of course!

Addition of hair & attempting to sculpt the body a bit.

The semi- finished piece below.

It's very rough,amateurish, and of course featureless (I need to take a class on sculpting features!) but there's something about it I really like. I think it's actually the "unfinished" look it has to it... the way the woman's legs are not complete, as if she's rising up. Plus, it's a starting point, as well as a test of the Magic Clay. 

Clay Class Assignments: Functional & Non- Functional Cups & Use of Slips

Good Golly! Six weeks later and I am finally seeing results from class! The slow pace has been a bit hard for me to take... and I admit I have lost a bit of motivation for creating when I see the work sitting on shelves for weeks. Anyhow, our very first assignment (6 long weeks ago!) was to hand build functional & non-functional cups & the application of slips. On the one below, my idea was to create a fragile & whimsical cup. The clay body was covered w/ a fine white slip then bisque fired, coated w/ clear glaze & fired again. I thought it turned out pretty cute.

:)

Below is it's non- functional counterpart. I used the same whimsical design, but created a bullet hole through it to suggest the fragility of life. (Just as a cup is a vessel... so is our body... and it only takes one act of violence, or one thing to "go wrong" to render it non-functional.) 

I think the concept came across well in the piece. Below is another functional cup. I wasn't so happy w/ the "final product," but it was a good experimentation in the use of colored slips. The clay body is white, a black slip is applied, then either carved into to show the clay body beneath, or further painted w/ a white slip. I did a little of both.

I wanted to put something I love into the cup... so I added mountains, a full moon... and well, let's face it, who would not want to wake up & drink a "cup of joy" every morning?!

But when I took it home, I realized I just can't drink out of a black cup~ can't really see your liquid level & I prefer lighter colors for drinking & eating. I'll use it to put my glaze brushes in. 

:)

Below is probably my favorite piece. Inspired by the design of the first functional & non-functional cups, I made this little vase... but added a bit more "movement" to it.

It's about 4 inches tall & would be perfect for some spring wildflowers once they arrive! I've been experimenting w/ different sizes & shapes of the same sort of design and they are quite enjoyable to make. We're also in the process of learning how to mix our own engobes (like an underglaze) so that is pretty exciting.  In fact, I'm off to throw some test pieces in the Kiln... hoping to get a rich black like in the mug above to use for my "oil spill" in my Polar bear city piece.

Happy Weekend, Everyone!

:)

Coffee, Anyone?

For those who were wondering... my mug from "When your Apartment becomes your Studio"  just made it out of the kiln this morning... and it survived! Yippee!! It's the little things people... I tell ya! Here it is~

I was really excited to get this back, as I have made four more in various shapes and sizes, and with different stains for the beans (hoping to get a bit darker & more realistic bean.) Sometimes you don't really know what's going to work & what isn't... so I was very pleased! I volunteered to unload the kiln this morning & the pieces were still very warm... literally right out of the "oven!" I got back several pieces... I won't bore you with them all... but I do have to show you the cute little container I made to hold all my ceramics tools!

Much better than the old plastic tub I was using!! The bowl below had to be sacrificed in the name of testing for the big bowl... so it's a bit of a mess! 

Other than that... I had a glazemania sort of day! Looking at my notes, thinking about what glaze to mix with what other, dipping, mixing, wiping the bottoms of countless bowls so they don't stick to the kiln shelves... all in all, a great day!

The wonderful thing about the end of the quarter is that the kilns are going non-stop... so I only have to wait until next week to see the results! Now I just keep my fingers crossed that all goes well in the kiln!

:)