This morning I got another commission. Someone saw a piano box that I made and came to our store to find it, only to realize it had already been sold. Thankfully, he contacted me and asked me to make another. I am making this one out of white clay so that I don't have to worry about rubbing underglaze off of the keys!
It's really sunny and cool outside today so I set a table of pottery outside and propped opened the door of our studio. During our quiet season (no classes till january) I like to spend time creating inviting pottery displays. The typewriter boxes have generated a lot of attention.
Our studio is doing well, We have the spring schedule all planned out and the summer camps in the works! Our calendar is full of visiting artists and fun workshops.
I keep trying to list my work on my etsy shop but then I get sad. Its not that I don't want to sell my work, its just the thought of never seeing or talking to the people who buy it. I almost think that I make pottery so I can find people who like the same things that I do.
But I also find joy in knowing where my work is going. Right now I have work locally, in a gallery in Havelock, and under a Christmas tree in Washington DC.
I think I will try selling art at the farmers market instead for a while.
I liked this piece before, but I love it now. The Temoku gives a much darker, deeper effect on the clay than the relic wash, which sometimes burns off in the kiln. I might be brave enough to fire my Zen tangle shoe using the same method.
I used teal underglaze on the greens are.
Temoku has definitely been a favorite of mine lately. But I have also been playing with removal of glazes from certain areas to create contrast and show off the naked clay. She skate shoe is a test, it has teal under glaze under the temoku and the clay is white. We will see if it turns out well enough for me to glaze my Zen tangle shoe with this technique.
My mother and I co-own the little studio where I work. Recently a friend asked her to make an urn for her father. Shelley created this beautiful pot with great white clay from stone mountain. Isn't it something?
I am finally starting to create shoes the way that I like them. I'm getting very close to achieving my original vision, and people are charmed by the results. I have sold many if the shoes that I have posted here, but I still have a lacy teal shoe and the black. Under glaze and rub'n buff shoe. People have started asking me to make high tops. Honestly I am not found of them! They have been nothing but trouble. I will post the shoes I have been working on but I probably won't make any more high tops.
This one came out of the bisque fire falling apart. I tried to fix it with ware repair but no luck. I now keep my crochet hooks and scissors in it. It works quite well in my room but serves as a constant reminder that attaching clay properly is extremely important.
Used the same post firing finish as the mermaids box. I had to underclassmen it black because the clay was a funky color. But I like it!
I love how this one turned out. I feel that I got the shape right even though the color is still a little dark.
So this isn't quite where I wanted to go with the sneaker. But it's starting to grow on me. We fired it way too fast and all of the red burned out. Plus the cinnamon underglaze does not look the same after it has been fired. I'm making more of these. I like the way The relic wash looks on great white clay.
Okay, we used our extruder to create all of these long wonkey tubes, and pressed patterns into them and turned them into mugs. This is the one I made. We dipped it in this new glaze called indigo float. Everyone adores this glaze. We are almost out of it...
More Japanese inspired pottery. I used a fish pattern rolling stamp and green patina glaze. I like How it breaks brown, but I wish i had put it on thicker on the darkest one. These were dipped.
Made three little tea light hobbit homes out of great white clay. I like to imagine lights glowing from inside. I used Rio wash and relic wash to get the aged look. My mom promptly stole my idea and used it in a kids class. We now have about twenty of these things.
Yeah I know, another head box, but this one is different! I underglazed the whole thing black, vitrified it, and than did a post firing finish if rub'n buff...yeah, the picture frame stuff. Its decorative, obviously, but I think it would make a lovely jewelry box.
So I used underglazes and some dry- brushing techniques to get the ancient kind of look on that teapot. I wasn't exactly sure how to tackle it because I didn't have a color in mind originally. But I'm satisfied with the result.
We used a funky firing technique on these things. Involving low fire glazes and double bisque firing.
I find a lot of inspiration from converse, both in art and writing. I've been known to paint them, to write about them, to wear them, and to admire them in public places. Why? Why do we like anything? We just connect with it somehow on a deeper-than-average basis.
This is intended to be semi-functional. I really hope someone will plant flowers in it someday. And in case you were wondering, it's a size 8.5.
Used a rectangular slab to make a tube, and then folded the bottom of the tube to form feet and a base for the cup. I ended up making three or four of these, although I now intend to make more.
My sister and I created a unique personified teapot using the hand building techniques from the workshop. We agonized so hard over this thing. I felt genuinely challenged. That's her doing the hard part in the picture.
I made this in a workshop at my studio. I put holes in the back of her head and intend to mount balls of yarn onto her head as geisha hair. Something about yarn and the Japanese seems to inspire me.
Also made four Cubist coffee cups out of slabs to kind of match it. I used underglazes on recycled clay.
