Jeanette Manchester Harris

And now, for something completely different....

2012-02-15T08:49:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, you need to look at something completely the opposite of what you are doing.

Or sometimes, you need an inspiration.

You get in a rut. You hit a wall. Your muse leaves town.

Well.

Here's a website that will keep you going for months. It is so deep, so varied, so wide, you can mine it for days, months even.

It's every kind of art and craft you can think of. Organized by year, by exhibition, by country, etc. There are several indexes and ways to research within it.

It's eye candy for the soul.

Just saying......

http://www.curatedobject.us/the_curated_object_/opens-201102/

Wow and Not So Wow

2012-02-04T11:38:00.000-08:00

The same blog that presented the wonderful Wedgwood ewers in the original WOW post, did a follow-up with a second version of the pieces.

Not so impressive.

Lesson being: Form is one thing; interpretation is totally another.

Art and Fear

2012-01-23T07:50:00.000-08:00

"Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested."

Sir Francis Bacon, English author, courtier and philosopher (1561 - 1626)

Art & Fear, Observations On The Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Sayles and Ted Orland is one of those books that should be dipped into occasionally and chewed or to be swallowed and digested--whichever way is the most useful to you. It is the kind of a book that should be on hand in your studio, bookshelf or nightstand.

Here is the opening sentence:

"Making art is difficult. We leave drawings unfinished and stories unwritten. We do work that does not feel like our own. We repeat ourselves. We stop before we have mastered our materials or continue long after their potential is exhausted. Often the work we have not done seems more real in our minds than the pieces we have completed. And so questions arise. How does art get done? Why, often does it not get done? And what is the nature of the difficulties that stop so many who start?"

Very deep questions indeed. I plead guilt of many of these very things.

As you can see, this book is written by artists whose words resonate with other artist and with our particular and unique dilemmas. It isn't a book about "Art Or Craft". It isn't a book about airy theories or fluffy ArtSpeak.

If you are stuck or wondering or twisting and turning about your work, have doubts or need to hear a friendly and understanding artist's voice, this is a book to chew on.

Wow

2012-01-17T04:50:00.000-08:00

Today, during my cruise through bookmarked websites, I ran across this image of a pair of Wedgewood ewers.

"Skinner Auction house in Massachusetts lists them as: "Pair of Wedgewood Solid Black Jasper Wine and Water Ewers, England, late 20th century, from the St. James Collection of limited editions, each with white relief, including the Sacred to Neptune water ewer with figure seated atop the shoulders and holding the horns of a marine monster below the spout, and the Sacred to Bacchus wine ewer with figure seated atop the shoulders and holding the horns of a ram's head below the spout, each with printed and impressed marks and in a limited edition of 50, ht. 16 in."

The estimated auction price is $2800.

I'm the happy owner of a large blue jasper water pitcher with sprigged classical figures, early 20th century and a black jasper tea set of the same era--the one with the 'widow' on the lid. Both are wonders to look at through magnification.

I can only imagine how wonderful these ewers are.

New Year

2012-01-09T09:18:00.000-08:00

Well

It's been a while.

We finally got our winter house back just before Christmas. Just enough time to dig out a couple of topiary lighted trees, put a wreath on the door and a ribbon on the house numbers. That was it.

The rest of the time was taken up with moving back in and sorting everything out. Imagine unpacking boxes someone else packed up for you.

When the flood happened, all our things were quickly moved out of the house, packed up and stored away by the recovery company and the contractors came in to remove drywall down to the studs, doors, carpets, cabinets--everything attached to the walls.

It's taken six months to restore the house. Our insurance paid for most, but of course, we did not want to re-install the old stove, sink and microwave. There were things about the house we didn't like. Wall-to-wall carpet for one, so we elected to pay for new tile floors. There was a desk in the kitchen that was a store house for miscellaneous tools, polish, cleaning supplies, so I had the carpenter rework the space to make a utility closet and a home for my old rainbow vacuum. A hall installation of upper and lower cabinets which were not useful became a beautiful new linen closet.

The whole house had to be painted, so we selected soft tones of a buttery yellow, a soft blue and very light green.

Most things that were water damaged that could be repaired were fixed. We did lose some pieces of furniture, most of which were covered by insurance, but our rugs (not the wall-to-wall) didn't fare so well, so we are now living in a house with no curtains or rugs to soften the sound. Pretty echo-y at the moment.

But

We're getting there.

My studio is semi-unpacked. And I still have a lot to attend to before everything will settle down so I can once again concentrate on clay.

Yeah!

The Palm Frond Dish - Technique

2011-12-12T19:09:00.000-08:00

This is the first of many dishes and trays I've made with the palm or branch motif.

It's really not nearly as complicated to do as it looks.

This dish was formed by laying a slab over a hump mold and letting the edges at the top and bottom remain just as formed. I trimmed the sides with a fetling knife, though.

After bisquing and waxing the bottom, I dipped the whole thing into a semi-matt white glaze. Taking a fine brush and liquid wax resist, I painted the negative spaces I imagined between a palm frond. (The white areas.)

Of course, you wouldn't have a white spine on a frond, but I decided that is artistic license.

After the wax sat, I poured weathered bronze glaze in the inside, starting at one end of the dish and, tipping and rolling it gently, covered the areas I wanted green and poured the glaze out the other end of the dish back into the glaze bucket. This glaze had a nice brown residue that showed up in the firing.

Every dish I've made in this way has sold. It's a real winner. I want to try it again and again in different combinations--one brown and a tomato red combination worked really well. And the addition of another glaze, probably applied using a brush, would be an interesting evolution to the design.

P.S. We are still involved with working on houses. We are now in our winter house, which was flooded out and we have been reconstructing it for the last 6 months as well as renovating the kitchen in Washington State.

I'm itching to get back into the studio and back to claywork!

Combining Fibers with Clay

2011-11-24T15:43:00.000-08:00

This little pot has a kimihimo necklace.

Kumihimo is the Japanese art of braiding. Toggle cords for netsuke or decorative cords for kimono incorporates kumihimo.

A friend gave me this little cord and it seems to fit nicely on the sauce bottle. Unfortunately, the bottle is no more, due to an encounter with a tile floor.

But the idea still lives and I'm thinking of doing some more of these kinds of pairings.

What happened to the old Porch?

2011-11-11T13:16:00.001-08:00

The kitchen had a dutch door that led onto a small porch. The porch was charming with three old narrow windows and shelves, but when you went out of it, you were turned away from the water side of the house. If you wanted to go out on the deck or toward the shore, you had to turn around and retrace the path you took out the door.

We had already covered up the old concrete steps that led down to the yard many years ago when we built the side deck onto the house.

So, with the new door now going out of the kitchen from the other end of the room, the old door was taken off, the porch walled in to create a small walk-in pantry/storage room with large, deep shelves and a niche for my vacuum and a hose bracket, all to one side.

At first, I put all my appliances on the shelves just to see which ones I used the most. Those would finally sit out on the counters in the kitchen proper. Most of the canned goods and the recycle went into the pull-out pantry cabnitry and the rest of the pantry is devoted to bulk storage-type goods.

I really don't miss the side door; the new one is much more practical. The dog, however, still holds out hope that the wall will open up to let him out.

The Befores and Afters

2011-11-09T07:00:00.001-08:00

The kitchen is nearly finished.

Even though nothing was changed in regard to expanding walls and the enclosure of a porch to make a pantry, the whole room seems twice as large. Moving and enlarging one window, the addition of a glass paneled door and opening up the ceiling changed everything.

The only thing left to add is a movable kitchen island. I'm ping-ponging between a wooden cart type one and an industrial-look stainless steel.

So, you've already seen the business end of the kitchen--the working area was shifted away from the front and side view area. The previous work plan had me running up and down the long cabinet line. The new work area is now a rather tight triangle from the sink to the stove to the refrigerator at the back of the room.

The new pantry is around the corner where the refrigerator is now located.

The window over the sink was shifted a couple of feet toward the view and is a bit larger than the old one.

The old overhead cabinet and Norwegian "cooler" were done away with and a new door with a very large glass panel opens up the view down the shoreline.

The old kitchen had old strip light cans and another light fixture at the stove. New recessed LED light cans were installed in the ceiling and under the counter LEDs light up the work areas.

The cabinets are lacquer finish ivory white, the countertops and backsplash are soapstone. All the outlets over the cabinets are framed in black so they seem to disappear into the stone.
The old view to the east and the new one with the shortened cabinet and new door. We also placed a smaller table with some English elm chairs at the window.

There was not question that I wanted a solid surface behind the stove and work areas. None of that fiddly postage stamp tile for me! What are they thinking? Imagine what a cleaning nightmare they must be. I hope that fad dies a fast and hideous death!

Besides, when you buy stone, you get it by the slab, so why not use it all? (More about stone countertops in a later post.)

We relocated and widened the narrow doorway. So, even though the kitchen is still a separate room, it seems to link with the living room better.

The wider doorway has brightened and opened up that end of the living room as well as the kitchen.

The old cabinets were replaced with two tall Restoration Hardware French door cabinets. They are oak and have wonderful hardware.

They hold as much or more than the old cabinets. The cabinets were 1 3/4 inches too tall, so the wonderful carpenters trimmed up the bases and they just fit under the curve of the ceiling.

Both cabinets are fastened to the wall and added quarter round anchoring strips finish the bases off nicely. I mixed up some acrylic paint and matched the cabinet finish adding a thin black line between the wood and the flooring.

Woo Hoo!

2011-11-01T06:29:00.000-07:00

Just got word I'll be included in the exhibit, Here and There: Contemporary Nordic-American Ceramics at the Nordic Heritage Museum in Seattle.

The show will be mounted in conjunction with the National Council for Education in the Ceramic Arts, NCECA for short, to be held from March 28 to 1 April in Seattle next year.

The pieces selected are:

Weathered Bronze Jar, Blue Pitcher and Graceful, a white bowl with applied black decoration.

As the Brits say, "I'm really chuffed!"

Finally!

2011-10-31T11:01:00.000-07:00

The workmen have left.

Only a few things remain to be done to make my new kitchen complete: The addition of a stainless steel work table and finishing off the pull-out pantry shelves, adding the soft close to the cabinet doors and a small piece of metal to conceal water pipes going to the new baseboard heater.

My new kitchen is such a joy to work in. It is so much more efficient than the old one and I haven't even filled up all the new storage that was gained.

I'm waiting to photograph it in total with comparative before and afters, but for now, here's a hint:

Shown is the old kitchen with the low ceiling and the parquet floor. The only thing we kept was the 'fridge. The new kitchen has a lofty ceiling and a refinished original floor we found hiding underneath the parquet and an old linoleum floor.

Here Today

2011-10-25T17:01:00.000-07:00

This weekend I happened to look out the office window and saw this.

What a great inspiration for a drawing, watercolor or a cuerda seca glaze treatment.

Of course, the wind blew last night and today, it's all gone. Glad I had the camera handy.

Yesterday, My Muse Ran Away*

2011-10-17T06:38:00.000-07:00

*My title.

Beautiful works by anka-zhuravleva at anka zhuravleva.com.

Tea for One

2011-10-11T09:02:00.000-07:00

I ran across this great teapot, cup, creamer and sugar listed in the FDIM Museum (Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in L. A.) gift shop. https://thefidmmuseumstore.org/

Great arrangement of sugar (on top), creamer, mug and tea/coffee pot.

A real challenge to get all the diameters made so the entire piece interlocks!

The rest of the items are worth a peruse too.

Whew!

2011-09-23T09:30:00.000-07:00

This reminds me of what I did once going up the stairs and holding a pot with both hands.

I missed the step,I crashed into the wall putting a divot in it, bumped my knee and elbow, but by golly, I saved the pot!

Perfume Pear

2011-09-21T07:23:00.001-07:00

A customer who had bought a salt and pepper pear set asked me to make a "perfume pear".

It was an interesting problem. Neither one of us had ever seen such a thing, but she explained she wanted a pear with a stopper that fit into the top much like the old fashioned glass perfume bottles.

So, I made a pear with a closed bottom, a long dipper with a stem and leaf handle. The dipper part of the top was waxed to keep it in bisque during the glaze firing. The inside of the pear was left in bisque also.

The stem was fired with a kiln post support--the stem stuck in the hole in the post. Both were liberally waxed.

The customer already had a tiny funnel, but it would have been interesting to make a matching one to use to fill the pear.

The whole thing worked well with an added bonus--since the inside and stem were bisque, the part of the perfume was absorbed into the body and it exudes a faint whiff of perfume. So it can act as a very subtle room deodorizer as well.

Luckily, there has been no leaching from the base--that would be a disaster, since it would ruin a varnished surface.

The next time I make one, I think I'll make a matching tray for it to sit on, just in case.

More Progress.....

2011-09-19T07:41:00.001-07:00

The kitchen is coming along.

The beams have been reinforced and the Insulation is in, as are the light cans.

We even gained a widened door leading into the living room. (not showing, however).

I had debated long and hard about whether to have a whole-room concept with a bar dividing the living room/dining area and the kitchen or to have two distinct rooms.

In the end, decided I wanted the kitchen to be separate.

Adding a bar would virtually put the kitchen in the living room and, since it that room is very large and long, I wanted it to stand alone.

Also, the area where the kitchen is serves as a main traffic area between the front and the back of the house. Putting a bar in the middle of that would not be a good idea. (A main bearing wall also had something to do with it.)

The new kitchen has been opened up visually to a very large degree and it should be within it's own space.

We also gained even more view of the bay from there. And glimpses can be seen from the living room area.

This view is looking toward a small walk-in pantry to the left and the sink location under the window; the stove will be where the metal vent shows at the right.

I'm going to have the wooden wall showing at the back of the room; this is the original wide wooden boards that framed the house. It is shown in at the back of the room in the first shot.

Things Left in Walls

2011-09-13T08:26:00.000-07:00

I remember hearing once about odd things found by renovators within the walls of houses.

Like mice and insect nests--things that would happen naturally. We found an ancient mouse nest behind the wall that covered the chimney. A nice, warm place to sleep after raiding the kitchen.

They never lasted long after we moved in, though.

I remember one humorous English newspaper story that renovators had come across a "Letter to the mice" putting the rodents on notice to "Leave forthwith and never return!"

Especially interesting are items intentionally put within walls by superstitious people wanting to thwart bad spirits, spells, and things of like nature. Water-filled, corked bottles were common in the New England area during the early settlement period. Witches were very real to those people. Effigies, containers with hair, pins, herbs or spells thought to contain magical powers were placed in the walls during construction.

Shoes are common things found in many ancient houses and barns, although the symbolism of shoes escapes me. They are usually stuffed into the rafters or built into chimneys . (Chimneys were thought to be convenient entrances for witches.) Mummified beef hearts (???) were another common thing sealed in chimneys . No one seems to remember the symbolism, though.

I also recall stories about the hiding or burying of things under the front door step. Probably also to serve as a barrier for evil entering the house, and I can well remember horse shoes hanging on barn and farmhouse door lentils as well as talk about three rusty bent nails buried at a threshold.

Hex signs are still painted on barns and houses in the Pennsylvania farm country.

A research paper written in 2007 and found here: http://www.crossingthethreshold.org/welcome_files/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20Soc%20of%20Consc.pdf discusses many items and symbols used to protect a house.

I have a potter friend who, every year takes one of his best pots, walks out to the end of his dock on a local lake and quietly slips it into the water. He's thinking of future archaeologists. Vikings did the same things with axe heads as an offering. And, well, he lives in Minnesota. : )

In Arizona if you can't sell your house right away, bury a small statuette of St. Joseph in the yard. There is some argument whether it should be the front or back yard; whether St. Joseph should to upside down or upstanding, facing the street or facing the house. Poor St. Joseph.

I still have a chance of slipping something between the insulation and the dry wall of the kitchen. Hummm, what should it be? Think I'll go out to the studio and have a little look.

Chinese Alter Fruit

2011-09-11T13:36:00.000-07:00

After I posted the miniature porcelain veggies, I ran across a reference to antique Chinese porcelain alter fruit on a decorating blog.

The collection pictured on the desk is from the blog www.cotedetexas.blogspot.com.

This is a whole new ceramic form and tradition to me. Evidently, these small fruit are highly sought after and are very pricey.

On another site is pictured a miniature alter complete with miniature fruit and other food from the Ming period.

I can see their influence in the 1950s - 1960s glass fruit and carved monkey pod wooden fruit that was so popular then. And even in the blown glass fruit forms still being produced today.

Saga of the Safari Chairs, Reprise

2011-09-07T18:54:00.000-07:00

You may remember this post from May 20, 2008:

These are our chairs. They come from Pakistan, manufactured in Pershawa around 1970 by a man named M. Hayat. They are made of leather, rosewood and have brass fittings. The chairs totally disassemble and can be transported in canvas bags.

I just received a note from a lady who is repairing one of these and she was asking about the seat lacing.

The seats are one rectangle of black buffalo hide perforated with eyelets at the ends.

The ends are placed over the rounded front and back pieces and curled around to the bottom, then laced with heavy cotton cord. If you didn't get the cord, check with fabric supply stores in the drapery department. Cotton is the only cord that will work for these chairs, anything else is either too stretchy or too stiff. Take the seat with you to check if it will thread right--the cotton should be well twisted.

The first part of the cording is threaded through the first front eyelet and knotted to secure the end. The cords run from front to back through the alternating eyelets just as if you were threading one shoelace into a shoe. They don't cross over; it's just a straight run in a zig-zag.

There should be a little slack on the lacing so that there will not be too much strain on the eyelet holes.

Depending on how long the rope is, when you have laced all the eyelet holes, the end looped over and under across the back lacings and tied off. It's always better to have a little slack or extra rope at the end, just in case you need it.

I once got a chair that had the seat put on the wrong way--the leather looped over the square side supports. The eyelets couldn't take it and some of them ripped.

Good luck with the repair and keep me posted!

Cheers, Jeanette

Veggie Porcelain

2011-09-04T15:30:00.000-07:00

Just playing around with left over pieces of clay, I made these little pill/needles cases that can double as Christmas tree ornaments.

It's fun to try new ideas like this.

Each piece is about 2 inches long: A bunch of celery, carrots and beets and a single asparagus spear.

They are hand molded, hollowed out and a tiny cork is glued in to make a stopper.

They are glazed with a clear glaze and an application or layers of liquid stain thinned with water to make the finish look like watercolor.

I worked from light to dark, layering color over the last after it dried. I couldn't get a vivid red for the beets, so I used fingernail polish just as you would use a lacquer--after all, that's really what it is.

Maybe I should think of making fruit and vegetable whistles?

Look What we Found in the Walls

2011-09-02T12:44:00.001-07:00

It is detailed instructions about what to do in a gas attack in 1943. I suppose it needed to be posted during construction of the house.

Clicking and enlarging the jpeg will make it readable.

Also, there is a reference to a 'sealed room' that people were to retreat to and seal themselves into in the event of a gas attack.

And noted at the bottom, evidently you could buy war bombardment insurance.

Three antique thumb tacks held it in place. I remember seeing this style in the drawer of my Dad's desk when I was very young. They were a simple disk with a triangular punch-out that had been bent at a 45 degree angle to make the point of the thumbtack. An elegant design.

Look what we found. A beautiful ceiling!

2011-08-30T06:31:00.000-07:00

If I haven't mentioned it before, we're doing two, count 'em, two kitchen renovations. One in WA and one in AZ.

The Washington one was planned; the Arizona one, not.

The Washington kitchen was charming, but old, decrepit and worn out.

The Arizona one was a whole-house disaster caused by a broken reverse osmosis water system that flooded the house. All the walls had to have the drywall removed, the framework treated for mold and the carpets ripped up. Built-in cabinets de-laminated and had to be removed. Thankfully, we have a very good insurance company that is replacing and repairing all the damage, but we are of necessity doing kitchens in stereo.

Anyway,

We're down to the studs in Washington. And when the ceiling got ripped out this Friday, look what we found!

A Great set of rafters. Unfortunately, we won't be able to raise the ceiling to the apex of the roof--support beams will have to be added and it will flatten the top somewhat, but hey, anything's better than it was before.

We also found a pristine wood floor under the top layers of parquet flooring and linoleum.

Inspiration

2011-08-22T11:51:00.000-07:00

I ran across this on the web the other day.

It really hit my eye.

At first glance, I thought, "Round picture frame."

It is not that, but my mind went spinning into design mode and I saw this wonderful charger with a plain center and a highly decorated curved rim.

It is a form I've done before experimentally, a large plate with a curved down rim. But I have not made one with the plain center and ornate rim.

I'm clipping this as a springboard to tack up on the wall of the studio. A reminder of the next project, perhaps.

Now the full story--

It's an antique silver Japanese incense jar. The first photo was an overhead shot showing the bottom and rim of the piece.

Not a bad form either.

On the whole, Japanese silver is underrated and under priced. Only recently has it come into it's own as valuable pieces.

Same goes for Mexican silver. The quality is high in silver content in both productions, but until the value of silver began to go up, the work had little attention except for affectionados.

Virtuosity

2011-08-20T09:12:00.001-07:00

An artist who paints, makes sculpture, weaves and makes jewelry is confusing to the world of commerce. Even though there are people who do all these things. It almost seems you must have a certain amount of fame before 'permission' to do multi-level work.

Let's face it. Artists are a unique breed. We see things differently. We have a different attitude toward work and our own interpretation of it.

Look at the work of Bennet Bean. Instantly identifiable. Once his work hit the main stream and the gallery world, everybody wants to have one of his sculptured and painted ceramic pieces. Debate raged about how to classify it. Is it sculpture? Is it painting? Is it 'really' pottery? (Who cares?-----me.) It's art. It's beautiful. That's enough for me.

But that's not the end of the story. Did you know he designs Tibetan rugs too? And jewelry? And knives? And he paints? I'm in awe of this man.

Take a look at bennettbean.com.

I have seen some of his knives and they are a thing of absolute and breath-taking beauty.

Renovation Revolution

2011-08-16T10:12:00.000-07:00

Coffee and Dog Food are now available in the guest bathroom,

dinner will be served in the Living Room,

and the laundry room is the new multi-purpose room.

The kitchen renovation has begun!

P.S. Wonder if you can make a ceramic gong? I've made a bell before; it could work.

So Simple

2011-08-02T09:05:00.000-07:00

How beautiful.

Featured artist at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Portland OR, Jason Russell's work is the essence of distilled form married with beautifully simple design.

His is the kind of work that makes you think, "Wow, I wish I had thought of that."

Definitely reminds me of Danish ceramics.

Flying Dreams

2011-08-01T08:54:00.000-07:00

According to one source:

"Flying dreams fall under a category of dreams known as lucid dreams. Lucid dreams occur when you become aware that you are dreaming. Many dreamers describe the ability to fly in their dreams as an exhilarating, joyful, and liberating experience.

If you are flying with ease and are enjoying the scene and landscape below, then it suggests that you are on top of a situation. You have risen above something. It may also mean that you have gained a new and different perspective on things. Flying dreams and the ability to control your flight is representative of your own personal sense of power."

Well

That's encouraging.

Last night in my dreams, I was in a space-age airport. I watched a conversation between a uniformed pilot and a stewardess and decided to collect my luggage, which was wicker, and get my car so I could drive to a ferry and head home. My luggage disintegrated before I could pick it up. (So now, I have no baggage??)

I was in a hurry so I decided to fly. I levitated as soon as I left the terminal and floated near the treetops toward a security gate of hurricane fencing. People were pointing to me, but I didn't care, I was making really good time. All of a sudden, a reporter began running on the ground trying to ask me questions.

"How are you doing that?" he asked.

"I make a counter force against gravity; it's very simple." I said. "But I have to concentrate to maintain it."

"Who are you and have you been doing this long?" he asked.

"I won't tell you my name. I've been doing this since I was a child." I answered.

Meanwhile the gate guard begins running around in circles like a bug, worried I will cross the gate without identification. I know I have the right pass, but ignore him anyway and proceed to float across the area where the gate is.

"Will you tell the secret of how you can do this?" the reporter asks.

"Yes, I'm going to do a college seminar soon on how this works." I said.

I woke up feeling absolutely wonderful, exhilarated and well-rested.

The reference article ends with:

In reality, we cannot really fly, of course. Thus, such dreams can be representative of things that are beyond your physical limitations. In your mind, you can be anybody and do anything. Another way of interpreting flying dreams is that these dreams symbolize your strong mind and will. You feel undefeatable and that nobody can tell you what you cannot do and accomplish. Such dreams are sure to leave you with a great sense of freedom.

I guess my mind is saying, "Everything is going to be okay."

I'll go with that.

Update and Thoughts on Pitchers

2011-07-23T10:29:00.000-07:00

Before & Now

Our house is slowly being put back together. Thank heavens we have another place to stay.

However

We will soon be tearing that up......but only partially. We've been planning a kitchen re-do for some years and finally, finally got down to it. Of course, practically the day we signed the contract was when the flood happened. So some fast reshuffling had to go on.

I must remember to take some before and after pictures.

Anyway

In reference to the previous post, I was thinking about pitchers. What makes a good pitcher?

I immediately thought about balance and function. First, a pitcher must feel right when you pick it up. It shouldn't be too small or too large depending on what you plan to put in it.

Almost goes without saying.

A pitcher must feel right when you pick it up--not too heavy on the bottom that you feel you cannot pour it without ease. A lot of that has to do with how high the handle sits on the body. Too low and it feels uncontrolable; too high and it feels like you cannot pour it all out. Luckily most pitchers are made well so the problem rarely comes up.

The handle should have as good heft to it, one that gives you the confidence that control will be easy.

The body must be big enough and light enough to hold the quantity of liquid needed. Nothing is worse than a pitcher that isn't large enough to contain all that you want in it.

And last, but most important, the spout must pour well. You must be able to aim the liquid to the target with confidence. Not too stingy; not too generous, the spout must also be designed to contain the liquid without the threat of spillage.

I've often wondered why pitchers have traditionally been made with no lid. Of course, fitting one would be tricky, but do-able. You would think keeping bugs out might be a good thing. Wine, fruit juice, beer--they all are attractive to bugs. The German beer mug is one example and the Mediterranean net-work cover is another, but an integrated lid just didn't seem to happen.

Some of the best examples of well-made pitchers are the old wash stand sets used in the age when indoor plumbing was absent. They were made of all shapes and adornments, designed to hold large quantities of hot water. And the decorative designs are legion.

Today, pitchers are not used that much. As a matter of fact, one show I was in brought a surprise when a very young child looked at a pitcher and asked his mom what it was. Juice boxes, canned drinks, milk cartons, plastic bottles have just about pushed the pitcher out of modern life.

Two Pitchers

2011-07-18T12:35:00.000-07:00

Charmer

2011-07-18T06:59:00.000-07:00

Since I can't get to my studio to work, I thought I'd share a few pictures of pots I've grabbed off the web to dream over.*

This little gem comes with not much information. All the information is in what the eye can see.

It's either Japanese or made during the period of high influence from Japan and China. You can guess just by looking at it that it isn't large; it's probably very light in the hand.

It's interesting both in form and decoration. The piece probably was mold-made. It is more than likely porcelain and has an applied lid knob and handle. The triangular shape is unique.

Two things tip you off to know it's made in the East: The side-mount handle and the spout, which hearkens to saki-pot pourers.

Just look at that glaze design! Almost like someone had taken glue and layered the pot with fine brocade. And what a sensitive bounce of bluish white and dark navy. That fine white line all around the rim sets off and calls attention to the triangular shape. A sensitive design element that adds grace to the pot.

How I would love to handle this pot. To turn it over and see what the base looks like, what clay was used, to try pouring out of it. (Although you already know it would do an excellent job with nary a drip.)

What an inspiration to use for shape and decoration.

*If you have a Mac, it's easy to click on a jpeg, drag it to the desktop, let it go. It will sit there waiting to be opened or drug into another folder to be stored for later viewing. I usually re-name the file as a memory aid, or if I know who made the piece, the artist's name.

Yee Gods!

2011-07-08T07:51:00.000-07:00

From this:

To this:

Our osmosis water treatment unit under the sink sprung a roaring leak and the entire house was flooded up to the door sills.

The carpet and pad soaked it up like a sponge.

The yardman noticed our side patio door porch was wet and went to take a look. Then called us.

We don't know how long the leak had been going on, but enough to damage the walls and furniture.

We have a wonderful insurance company who immediately called a disaster rescue company who arrived with about 5 trucks, big pumps, fans, dehumidifiers and went to work moving all the furniture to the center of the rooms, removing soaked carpet and, when the dryness reading was reached, started tearing out the walls up to about 3-3 1/2 feet. (In the second picture, you can see from the dining area into the kitchen through the bottom of the wall.)

All, I mean all, of the cabinets in the house had to go as well as the doors--except the outside ones for now. All of the closets and storage areas had to have the bottom shelves and built-up floors removed.

So, for the past week, we have been dealing with insurance contractors, first in damage control and now in trying to figure out how to put everything back together.

Some furniture can be saved. We're in the process of working with a restorer/estimator who will take the fixable back to his workshop and start work on putting it back to new. My great barrister's bench, which is mahogany, will probably survive. As will the safari chairs and end tables. (we think). My lounge chair and the office chairs will make it.

Our very clever hide-a-bed cabinet delaminated and the mattress is toast. The front of this chest folded down to reveal a folded-up twin bed. I'll not find another one like this. And, I'm afraid the Chinese Chippendale chairs may have split legs.

An antique Empire red oak drop-leaf table is standing in the family room looking very drunk. Legs splayed like a poleaxed oxen. I think it's done for.

Our office furniture is ruined, but the paper in the files survived. The beds are all okay, since they are on high metal legs. But our bedroom furniture didn't make it.

We just put new drapes in the family room and bedroom.

And my little Featherweight Singer carrying case with it's custom card table were on the floor of the guest bedroom. They may be a loss.

My studio was virtually untouched. All the books survived as did my pictures and prints. The Christmas decorations were all in a big plastic tub. My quilts are okay. The family room sofa and chair as well as the end tables seem to be okay.

But--

Nobody died; nobody got hurt.

And it's just stuff, after all.

And our insurance with either restore it or replace it. So in the end, we're lucky. It was worth all those years of premiums.

And guess what. I not only 'get' to to a complete kitchen renovation, I get TWO kitchens and a whole house.

(Um, all the bathroom cabinets have to be replaced too.)

Paint chips.....floor tile..... granite counters.... cabinet doors ....This is going to be my life for quite a while, I think.

Kitchen Renovation

2011-06-28T05:47:00.000-07:00

Note: This is not my kitchen.

What do you do when you want to renovate your kitchen?

The first rule before you do anything else is: Know Thyself.

Before jumping in, take a very long think and decide what your cooking style is. Ask yourself what kind of cook you are - how you work your kitchen and how you want your kitchen to work for you.

If you're like me, you've been saving pictures of kitchens for a long time, dreaming of sailing around in your gleaming domain, giving something a stir or hauling a delectable symphony of roasted things out of the oven.

But then

You must be ze detached, calculating Hercule Poirot and analyze how your kitchen works just for you. What kind of a cook are your? A baker? A vegetarian is always working between the 'fridge and the sink? A cookbook librarian with shelves and shelves of cookbooks? Someone who buys lots of vegetables and needs a big crisper storage area in your refrigerator? Or you like to make meals ahead and freeze them? Do you cook on the fly just throwing things together?

Do you bake a lot? if so, are you tall or short? (Stiff or limber, I might add) At what height do you visualize opening an oven door and hauling out a turkey?

I am a baker (who happens to be short. There's a joke in there somewhere.) and when we went to look at stoves at Sears, I visualized lifting my much-loved, giant pro baking pan out of an oven. Honestly, some ovens on some stoves are so low, you feel like you would have to be on your hands and knees to get something out of there. You might as well kiss your back goodbye some Thanksgiving.

On the other hand, some wall ovens are mounted so high, I couldn't see into them well enough to know if something was done let alone maneuver around enough to haul anything out.* I'd need to stand on a step or something and that's not a good idea.

I know I could have an oven mounted especially low, but then just about all the storage space above and below would have to be special ordered and even then, whatever I put in the above area or the below areas would be practically dead space. So that's a waste. And boy, do I hate waste.

*I used to have a big block of wood next to my tall kiln to stand on in order to reach the bottom for loading and unloading. I had visions of my husband coming out to the studio after hearing my yells to see only my feet sticking up in the air out of the top. Now I have a 'shorty' Skutt.

Why oh why don't they make wall oven doors that ratchet upwards like a car hatchback, out of the way so you can reach right into them? Instead, you must fetch from one side of the oven or the other and rotate the dishes out to a heat-proof surface.

I did find to my surprise that I liked one particular stove with two ovens--the large oven just below the cooktop and a shorter, smaller one nearly on the floor. I reasoned that the heavy stuff would be high enough to remove comfortably and the smaller oven would work well for smaller things. Lifting small pans and dishes from nearly floor level would be easy. (Great for proofing bread, Yea.)

And, of course, for artists, looks are important. We 'see' everything. And if you're like me, you see it every time. The room you walk into and work in a good deal of the time needs to please your eye.

So the upshot of this tirade is this: Figure out what your 'Style' is; aesthetically and operationally and then start looking and looking and looking and looking and looking.......

Time Out

2011-06-25T08:36:00.000-07:00

Well.

It's been a while.

I haven't done any clay work because we're in the throes* of all-consuming kitchen renovation planning. Ugh!

*The other day I saw that someone wrote 'throws'. Maybe that's right after all.

Decisions, decisions. My head is spinning with cabinet fronts, appliance specs, electrical wiring layouts, blueprints, estimates, etc.

We have spent 3 days, so far looking at humongous slabs of granite, soapstone, marble. How do you balance beauty and practicality?

Like the Mud Lady in the mop ad, I stuck to a beautifully undulating-patterned, buttery sea of slab of marble. Going back to look at my kitchen brought me back down to reality and I realized it was infatuation, not a marriage. I'd still like to live with that slab of rock in my house. It was beautiful. But soapstone it will be for the countertops.

So be warned, fair reader, I will probably subject you to the agony and the ecstasy of renovation.

Thinking with your Hands

2011-06-13T06:39:00.000-07:00

Making pottery is like thinking with your hands.

There's this almost mythic connection between a part of your mind that commands your hands and touch and that place in your head where you daydream.

The brain shifts into neutral--like coasting.

A free-floating, altered, but intuitive state--almost self-hypnosis.

Is it shifting into Alpha Brain waves?

Is meditation the same kind of state? Like driving down long, boring freeway, looking at the ribbon of asphalt laid out to the horizon?

Or like standing a steam-filled shower--just you and the water drumming on your back--and you're just there; Being?

Throwing clay: Your hands and your mind suspended in a dream. That's when you make magic.

Another Experiment

2011-06-03T09:21:00.001-07:00

This is another totally experimental piece.

It's almost impossible to photograph.

It started out to be a trivet or small square dish.

I was thinking Japanese pavilions and made these fanciful fly-away legs just for fun.

The underside tells the story with little buttons at the corners to keep their shape.

The glaze did not behave well.....it bubbled and bloomed.

I don't care, though. This piece amuses me every time I see it.

Being Loose

2011-05-30T09:43:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, when it doesn't count, when there's no pressure, when it's "Let's just see what happens"....... wonderful things can happen.

That's just what happened with this little trivet.

I was busy teaching myself how to throw an upside-down trivet.

I made essentially a bowl with an exaggerated bottom that was thicker than usual. I extended bottom rim and brought up the sides and turned the top edge outward, making a convex shape.

I let it sit on the batt until it was dry enough to take off. I turned it over, trimmed the (now) top to recess the surface and create a slightly higher rolled edge.

Then I cut into the sides of the bowl to make 4 feet, rolled worms to support them and let the whole thing dry.

It warped slightly during the bisque firing, but I kept it for a test piece anyway.

I dipped it in white glaze, dipped a big brush into watered down cobalt stain and just let the brush dance. I was thinking Sandy Brown. http://www.sandybrownarts.com/sandybrownarts.htm

During the firing, the stain went nuts. It popped all over the place making a lightly dotted patterns all over the white glaze.

Lessons learned.

Give a piece strong enough legs so it won't warp in the bisque firing.

Don't use straight cobalt stain.

It's possible to throw a trivet upside down with little trimming and alteration.

Big brushes and a fast and loose application makes a piece that comes alive.

Shows

2011-05-29T08:09:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, when you're doing a show and you've set up your booth, when the doos open and the customers come in, the cosmos come into alignment.

The right work is sitting in your booth and the right customer appears and snaps it up.

Hallelujah!

This is exactly what happened with this salt and pepper.

You can almost see them coming. They zero right in on the item, scoop it up, don't quibble about the price.

This is a golden moment.

Don't let that customer escape. Talk to them while you wrap up and bag the item. Don't hurry.

You want to know this person. Find out why they like what they bought. How they plan to use it. Try to establish a rapport; a relationship. This is someone who 'gets' you and your work.

Gently suggest they join your mailing list. Let them know about your next show. Make sure they get your card and contact information. Invite them to your studio, if it's feasible

Maybe slip a little "Thank You" into the bag in the form of a small spoon rest, a coupon for 10% off, any little something that will be a surprise when they get home and open the bag. You want them to tell their friends about the piece they bought and the wonderful potter who made it.

Add them to your customer list when you get home.

Put a star by their name.

You want to see that person again.

Random Thoughts.....

2011-05-17T08:04:00.000-07:00

Collecting.

Most of us take our favorite cup to use when we pack our stuff for a show. I have a few pieces that I like to use in my booth.

And sometimes, when I go to a show or visit a potter's booth, I see them drinking from a cup or eating from a bowl.

How often I have been tempted to ask, "Is that your own mug and is it for sale?"

It might make a most interesting collection.

This is one of my favorite mugs, but I'm afraid I would never sell it.

Pedestrians and Racers

2011-05-17T07:57:00.000-07:00

Some potters refer to their best work as "Racers", those pieces that, when you crack the lid of your kiln after a firing just dazzle you when you lift them out.

They are the surprises. The exceptional. The keepers.

And keep them you should. This is your best work.

Photograph them.

Put them in a place of honor.

Respect them because they are the very best representatives of your talent.

Keep them as your personal work index.

Use them as a reference for further work.

Analyze them to find your next pathway.

They are your past and future.

Creamer and Sugar

2011-05-15T13:46:00.000-07:00

Cream and Sugar-er?

Creamer and Sugar?

Cream and Sugar. That's better.

Hand formed in porcelain with touches of dark stain applied. A happy pair.

Click image for enlarged view.

Art Myths

2011-05-06T12:30:00.000-07:00

Art/Craft can be "Quick and Easy".

Artists/Craftsmen can't make a living selling their art.

If it costs a lot, it must be good art.

If it doesn't cost a lot, it must not be good art.

It just takes "talent" to make good art.

You can always buy the piece later.

You can find the same thing at Target/Walmart/Macy's/a garage sale.

Your child/grandmother/kitty cat/ could make something just like that.

Art is a luxury.

Art can't be useful or functional.

If it's big and ugly, it's gotta be art.

My Life, Lately

2011-05-04T20:21:00.000-07:00

After a short interruption, we will return to our normal programing.

Small Saki Jug

2011-04-28T09:23:00.000-07:00

This small saki jug is an early experiment in bottle-type throwing.

Stoneware works very well for these. It's easy to heat the saki to just the right temperature using a microwave.

I was surprised to find the Japanese were doing this the first time I went there.

I have several saki sets collected here and there.

Wonderful ceramic saki barrels can be found at flea markets. I have two barrels similar to this one. One I bought in Japan, the other I found at a flea market in Tucson.

And I have one straw-covered one that has never been removed from the straw wrapping.

Many times huge barrels are lined up to make a wall of them at temple festivals.

Three Pitchers

2011-04-25T20:29:00.000-07:00

I love experimenting with spouts.

This little pitcher is designed to fit in the hand. Suitable for cream or milk or some sweet topping, the spout works like a champ.

The next two pitchers are forms I've developed.

It all started when I decided to alter the front to add a spout instead of forming one.

The handle echoes the split form at the back. It is attached solidly at the base and rests inside a split of the rim at the top.

A clay button secures the base of the split opening.

2011-04-24T09:02:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter

A Funny Antiques Story

2011-04-14T10:13:00.000-07:00

In another life, I was an antiques dealer.

We used to have a booth at a few shows during the year and also had a space in a couple of antique malls. We specialized in furniture, although I liked to include all kinds of other things.

At one show in particular, the territory was rich in nice pickings. We would load our booth up on Thursday, get up early on Fridays and Saturdays, make the rounds of garage sales and then reprice what we found to fill out our booth. One time, I scored a beautiful cut-glass pitcher and a darling pair of hand stitched linen child's drawers and bonnet, ca 1900.

Many times at these shows, we would see this one dealer who also had furniture. He specialized in French pieces. He would go to Paris a couple times a year, fill up a sea van and sell at exclusive shows.

I always enjoyed talking to him. He was a real Southern gentleman, hailing from Georgia and had the most beautiful, soft southern accent.

In one conversation we had about moving cumbersome pieces, he recounted this story:

He had a wonderful French Porter's chair similar to this one from the blog, My French Country Home (excellent blog, by the way).

These chairs have a tall, hooded back because Porters, who were like doormen or night watchmen/reception or lobby attendants would sit in the entrances of clubs, residences and apartment buildings and attend the doors, help residents with packages, etc. Many of these huge old buildings had lofty, drafty entrances. So the Porter's Chair was invented to keep the cold drafts away.

An extensive write-up can be found at http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/retrospect/porters-chairsretrospect-112117

Anyway,

My friend had owned a beautiful, old upholstered chair that was quite tall. Just tall enough to make it a real pain to move, load, unload, store, whathaveyou.

He had had it 'way too long, too. And he was very anxious to sell it and be rid of all the trouble of moving it to shows and back again. (Just like me and rocking chairs--they never seem to fit in the van, get tangled up and are cranky to carry.)

So he had this beautiful thing at a show and one woman seemed very interested. My friend was equally interested in selling it. They discussed the price and he gave her a good quote. She pondered. He was sure he had it sold.

Then she said, "Let me go find my friend and ask her to look at it."

His heart sank. We all know the minute a customer says that, it's the Kiss of Death. The friend/sister/husband/dog takes one look and says, "What on earth do you want with that thing?"

They never say, "It's PERFECT! Buy Two!"

Sure enough, the friend came over, gave it the stink-eye, and said, "Oh, Lucille, if God wants you to have a chair like that, you'll find one at a garage sale."

Baking Dish

2011-04-13T14:48:00.001-07:00

Since I love to bake, I make and sell a lot of baking dishes.

I also love this shape.

Baking dishes should be:

Large.

Thick, to hold the heat.

Rather shallow for quick baking and for crispy topping.

Have a flared shape for easy handling.

Smooth with a curved inner surface between the sides and the bottom for easy serving and cleaning.

Equipped with handles for added ease in handling.

Totally smooth with no cracks or crazing.

Beautiful on the table.

An Odd Bit of Whimsey

2011-04-12T06:29:00.001-07:00

I ran across this on the web the other day.

A rather odd dish....I wish I knew the dimensions. At first glance, you would never guess it is a covered tureen, as the all-too-skimpy notation says. The shell form is the handle.

Someone or several someones have taken good care of it, since the fish head and tail are still intact. And the tureen was being offered at auction.

From what I can tell, the lid extends 3 plates down. There is a slight variation in the rim.

The other odd thing is the flower decoration on the stacked 'plate edges' ; as if those edges would produce a pattern. And yet, somehow, we accept it at first.

More Glaze Slinging

2011-04-10T14:18:00.001-07:00

A set of 4 green and black mugs.

Celedon and black glaze.

The rims were dipped in black, then I used a very large Japanese brush to slap and dribble glaze randomly on the outside surfaces.

Do this over a floor covered in newspaper so you can be totally uninhibited.

Return to the Frozen North

2011-04-08T07:36:00.000-07:00

Well, it isn't quite THIS bad, but after a winter in Arizona, it feels like this.

Everything needs to be done, it seems.

We're still in the process of unpacking.

Coming back into a house after a period of absence makes you see everything with a new vision. I didn't even go into the basement or the storage building until yesterday....

I need to deep clean every room, get blinds put up, rearrange the furniture, cull out 'stuff'. A lot of stuff.

The grass is long, the ground is soaked. The garden must be planned and I really do need to dig up those irises that have bolted. But outside must wait; it's just too cold.

At least I can think about what I'm going to make when I get back into the studio.

Should This Kitchen be Remodeled?

2011-04-02T11:02:00.001-07:00

Here's a panorama of the present kitchen.

Shabby Chic on Steroids.

Another coat of paint won't fix it.

The drawers are all wooden and slide on the cabinet framing, not on smooth rollers. They are so worn they don't fit well anymore.

They create sawdust in the drawer below.

Several coats of white paint were also applied and I covered the swirly Kelly green linoleum(!) countertop and backsplash on both sides of the sink with off-white mosaic tile.

I do love the dough and cutting board pull-outs, but I think this bank of cabinets have to be replaced with more workable ones. The sink would remain in the same place, the idea of two drawer units on either side are just too handy to change, but new drawers are badly needed.

I would move the dishwasher (now a portable) to the double-drawer cabinet space at the left of the sink.

In this corner, I want to put a glass-paneled door in the place where the cabinet is. The door would open out to the right.

Yes, it's a Knoll pedestal table and chairs. The table is five feet in diameter, so the center area is large in this kitchen.

I would probably keep the three windows just as they are.

The glass overhead cabinets are built in place. They are not really cabinets at all. The original owner/builder, a Swedish shipwright, built them and probably the base cabinets as well.

The original base cabinets that were on the other side of the room, (sink cabinet unit) are in our basement.

I added new handles for all the cabinets when we moved in.

I like the curved ends on these old cabinets that flank the doorway. They match the high, overhead (and strange) cabinets over the sink.

The glass cabinets hold a lot of dishes are just my height. I'm considering keeping the whole wall as it is even though both the cabinets below the glass ones above are shallow.

This is a bearing wall. A new beam would have to be installed if I took out the cabinet wall. And, even though it isn't fashionable today, I rather like the separation of the kitchen and living area--at least in this house

The antique painting over the door says, "Guds Frid" meaning God's Peace or Peace be with you. It was painted by the original owner/builder of the house.

The tiny pantry in the corner is so small and awkward. I would like to replace it with a floor-to-ceiling, shelved space or a corner cabinet space with an appliance garage.

I want to switch the refrigerator with a new, wider stove with two ovens and put the refrigerator where the stove is now.

The watercolor over the stove conceals an old ventelator fan which must be removed. I want to install a wall of windows from the end of the cabinet on the right to the end of the cabinet on the left, where to the new door so that the entire sink area has no overhead cabinets, just window. The view is wonderful from here.

There is a small porch off this door with antique glass windows on two sides. This is the current back door.

Of course, the old ceiling and light fixtures need to be replaced. I'll find a new place for the round glass one.

And I want to keep the floors, just have them refinished.

I like the idea of engineered stone that looks like marble. It's durable and easy to keep clean. White cabinets, "marble' or steel countertops, stainless appliances, natural wood, a touch of my own tile here and there--a good clean look for the kitchen.

So, what do you think?

Keep it?

Or renovate it down to the nub?

P.S. The walls behind the rack and stove were covered with cracked, wavy plaster and old stick-on copper tiles when we moved in. The sink cabinet top was covered with swirly deep green linoleum (!) and the cabinets were painted cream, tan and pink on the outside; sky blue on the inside. The floor was grey linoleum so old and worn, there was no pattern anymore.

I popped off the copper tiles (still have them somewhere) covered the walls with a mix of spackle and straw. I love these walls; they look so Old French, but a new finish will have to be done, I think. But maybe I could repeat the wall in the new kitchen.

Sloshing Glaze

2011-03-29T16:31:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, it's good to slosh glaze.

Here's a stoneware bowl, reduction fired, that I made during a class.

I was in the class because at the time I didn't have my home studio set up then.

Thankfully, the instructor excused me from most of the participation and just let me work.

Using glazes I was totally unfamiliar with and had no clue how they would turn out, I decided to do the "Ink Blot" approach and put a base glaze on, then slosh a contrasting one over the top, rotating the bowl to make it run in interesting patterns.

I think the purple glaze was called "Fish Guts" or something.

Not for the faint of heart.

Big X

2011-03-26T15:15:00.000-07:00

This is a test of two contrasting glazes.

The base is a Chico Glaze's Copper Blue. The big X is Eggplant.

The plate is fairly large; about 16 inches in diameter.

I love doing this kind of glazing--you just take a big breath, and DO it. No going back.

Free and Loose - Sauce Bottle Up Close

2011-03-21T07:35:00.001-07:00

Bottles like this have a long history.

Ancient Chinese and Middle Eastern ones with an oval body and two spouts have been found in archaeological digs and are displayed in museums all over the world.

Many were designed to hang from a saddle (or maybe from a wall inside a dwelling).

Sometimes it's nice to just make something that is purely spontaneous.

This little sauce bottle was done after I had made some very precise, controlled ones.

It may seem a strange way to work, but I start these bottles from the bottom up--Using a slab and a needle tool I cut out oval base. No pattern, just making it by eye.

The shape will change slightly with construction anyway, so there isn't a need to be precise.

The body was cut out the same way after I merrily stamped the heck out of it.

I rolled the body clay into my hands, shaped it around the base, then sealed the seam with a rolled a clay worm. Then I whacked the bottom/side seam with a paddle to merge them and make sure it won't leak.

The upper part was brought up and the two sides were left open so I could attach the spouts. If needed, I cut a rough opening for their positioning. The spouts were hand formed, the seams joined and smoothed by hand, but no effort was made to conceal the seams. The spouts are and secured and smoothed into the body of the form on the inside.

I overlapped the front seam making it's rough shape obvious. The top was joined, trimmed and a fat tapered-ended roll of clay makes the finishing seal at the top.

Even though the sauce bottle looks freely formed, all the lips of the spouts, inside seams and closures are well-smoothed. I don't want any food to remain on the inside since these are cleaned by rinsing them out with very hot water.

Height: 6 inches

Shelter Boxes

2011-03-18T08:30:00.000-07:00

You can help.

This world wide organization supplies boxes custom-loaded for whatever kind of emergency help is needed.

And the people of Japan need all the help they can get.

http://shelterboxusa.org/index.php

True Beauty

2011-03-09T07:25:00.000-08:00

Went to a flea market a couple of days ago and came home with this.

It's on the column over the fireplace.

Iconic.

Ahem

2011-03-05T07:34:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the non-posting.

I'm off chasing ancestors.

I've discovered a colonial seagoing-merchantman and am busy tracing his unfortunately short voyage through life.

If you've ever done any of this kind of research, it can be intense and all-consuming. Every clue and trail must be searched out and well noted and, of course, each door opened reveals yet another one.

So the sails will be hanging in the sail loft for a little while. Bear with me......

Buddies

2011-02-28T16:07:00.000-08:00

A bit of my own amusement.......two little hand-held pitchers on a tile base.

I don't know what they're for.

Maybe two kinds of salad dressing.

Maybe cream and sugar. Sure, you can pour sugar. We do it at resturants without batting an eye.

Maybe two kinds of gravy.

Or sauce. Chocolate or carmel? Maybe both.

The tile base is free form and has a little curled lip---just for fun.

Some Experiments with Tile

2011-02-22T13:57:00.000-08:00

I'm trying some underglaze and stamped designs on a few tiles made of porcelain. I have no idea if the black will even register, but thought it would be interesting to see what would happen using a stamped figure and a light underglaze over the design.

This last one is just drawing on a blank tile.

I plan to use a transparent glaze over all of them.

Note: Please ignore the light shadows that are in the photos--the tiles are really quite blank-looking.

I also have some small test tiles with underglaze stripes down one side and various glazes over that. Those may not work at all, but who knows?

Celadon Fish Tiles

2011-02-22T09:38:00.000-08:00

Experimental tiles done with fish impressions. The impressions are concave, made from convex bisque molds and celadon glaze.

I like the look of the celadon with the impressions.

Worth pursuing in a more controlled, larger set of tiles, I think.

Looking at Images

2011-02-17T07:28:00.000-08:00

Here's four images of a medium large pot:

Image 1

This one gives you a good overall idea of the rim--that it extends out and gently turns down. Not much is shown of the size of the inner opening but the outer and inner shape of the rim is evident, although the back inner edge is not shown well.

The fact that there are two curved loops or "handles" and their relationship to each other is evident. The volume of the body is evident.

An enlargement of this image shows that the front and back rims are not quite in focus--the depth of field is shallow, although the loop handles are well in focus.

Image 2

This image shows the sweep of one loop but says nothing about the other one except that it's there.

This is a kind of "Look at my muscles" shot. The whole story is the loop. And for some reason--lighting, reaction of the glaze, weird lens response--the loop doesn't look exactly rounded.

There's more definition of how the inner and outer rim are constructed, but you don't know what's going on on the other side of the pot.

If this were going to be entered into a single-image juried show, this is not the image to send.

Image 3

The story of the rim is better here. You can see that it is lipped and recessed below the edge. You understand the curve of the handle and the bulk of the pot.

Turning the pot picks up the rim's great glaze coloration. Show this stuff off!

The sweep of the loop is better defined. And you do get a better understanding of the bellied out body of the pot and the size of the opening.

Image 4

The story here is the shape of the upper lip of the rim, the width and depth of the opening and the two handle's relationship to each other. But the bottom half of the pot is obscure. You get a better idea of the coloration of the glaze on the rim.

I like the blackness of the opening. This shot gives the pot a lot of weight. The lower half is in shadow, however.

On the left-hand side,I don't like the top of the loop shape aligned exactly with the side of the pot behind it. This is a bit ambiguous. And the focus isn't good, although the focus at the bottom of the loop is great and shows it off well.

So the story here is curvy loop, deep dark opening; rim coloration secondary, but a nice balance with the showiness of the opening.

So, if you were picking slides to send to a jury, which would you choose?

Wait, there's more!

2011-02-09T08:00:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I thought I had been to Ali Baba's cave. Just when I thought it couldn't get more boggling, I was nearly boggled to death.

Pendents? you said pendents?

How about donuts of every kind of glass or stone? And all kinds of sizes.

How about finished jewelry?

Turquoise?

And all I bought yesterday was boring tools.

No photos, but it was a bonanza.

More Bling

2011-02-07T15:33:00.000-08:00

Second assault on the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show today......

There's umpteem ga-zillion shows around town that have minerals, gems, supplies, tools, fossils and beads.

I've only concentrated on the bead shows part and I'm in total sensory overload. Here's only a small sample of the displays. Some booths are full of bling. There must be enough crystal strings to go to the moon and back. And pearls--there's barrels of pearls. Every color and shape you can imagine. But not the really good ones--the ones that have been irritating an oyster for say, three to five years. Some of these look like they were taken out last Thursday. Not for serious jewelry.

Some booths are full of precious and semi-precious stones. There are worlds of polymer clay and Bakelite. I had to forcibly avoid the buttons.....There's all kinds of silver do-dads and some people who have nothing but fancy clasps. Uuuugggghhh

Click on the photos to get the full impact.

I found some intriguing colored copper wire that might work with clay as well as jewelry. That's the great thing about looking outside your own box--new materials can inspire new creativity. As a matter of fact, one vendor who stocks buttons and a special backing was telling me her supplier was not making many of these backs anymore. (I was wanting to purchase some.) So I was telling her about kiln wire and that maybe it would work for her. I got home yesterday and sent her all the info to check out.

I picked up some silk wrapped bands from a most unique booth and am in the process of putting together six necklaces from that inspiration alone.

I learned how to knot pearls and beads and have found some really good tutorials on the web. Just search for Jewelry Making and you get a huge data dump.

Making my own beads and pendents has definitely gone into my creative stew pot.

Tucson Bead Show

2011-02-01T16:23:00.001-08:00

Just got back from 2 days prowling the halls of the Tucson Bead show, part of the megga Gem and Mineral Show. Today, I spent the day at To Bead True Blue. Two huge display areas showing everything from crystals to precious clay and fimo jewelry.

Yesterday we went to the African Village, a very large area of extended tents filled with carvings, iron works, fabrics, beads, furniture, rugs---absolutely boggling. Had to leave early because a storm blew up and all the tent-holders had to roll down all the sides and close down to keep the tents from becoming airborne. Not fun to be standing in a dancing, flapping tent with rain and wind swirling around.

Here's a shot of one of the tables laden with piles of beads before the storm roared in. (Click the picture to get a full view of the beads.)

These chairs were completely covered with seed beads.

We had previously visited a tent that extended about the length of a football field showing beads, fossils, metiorites, minerals, jewelry, even stone sinktops, bowls, plates and even a desk.

If I just concentrate only on beads, there are at least four more venues to visit during the show!!! Don't know if my budget will survive.

Clay Solutions for Small Problems

2011-01-28T15:15:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, a problem can be solved using a clay design.

On occasion, I do quilting and it seems I was always reaching for the large white thread spool. It never seemed to be in a convenient place. So, I designed this thread holder. Now, I can reel of mass quantities of thread when needed with very little fuss or searching.

Just made of a slabbed stoneware, I cut out a paper pattern first. The piece is a bit longer than the spool plus the length of the front and back which are bent up, slots are cut with a fettling knife and smoothed out in both ends. This makes for easy removal and replacement of the spool and spindle.

Add a springy piece of bamboo (a skewer will do if the pointy end is cut off) to hold the spool.

The holder keeps the thread in one place, like on a table top within easy reach. It makes it easy to recharge your needle and doesn't look too bad just sitting there.

Now if I could just figure out how to mount a pair of scissors...........Better yet, an Exacto blade glued into a pre-made slot offset somewhere on the side for a thread cutter.

Next time!

Record Keeping

2011-01-24T10:47:00.000-08:00

I have an old 3-ring binder standing on a music stand in my studio. A pencil is tied to the stand with a string. (I can NEVER find a pencil or pen when I need it.)

The binder is divided in sections and one section says, Glaze Record. Another says, Firing Record. A third says Throwing Record (although handbuilt pieces are included).

I make blank pages for these sections so they are already formatted for my notes.

Here's what a sample looks like filled in:

The last page, the firing page, has a check-off box for the type of firing, a place to note the program number on the computer and one for noting how long the firing took. (Kilns change over time and you need to know about any changes in firing.)

The box in the corner is for quick notes on this firing I want to remember. The space at the bottom of the page is for more elaboration. This makes it easy to flip back through the pages and find what I'm looking for if I need to review a past firing.

The Throwing page is really just a blank grouping of sheets available for me to note down the measured diameter of a teapot lid, the beginning raw clay measurements of a piece so I can know the shrinkage rate, a place to diagram something--whatever you Think you'll remember, but Know you won't.

I find this works for me and I keep scanned copies of these pages in a file on my computer to print new ones quickly when I need them.

2011

2011-01-20T09:05:00.001-08:00

The Christmas tree has been down for a week or so. The decorations are all packed back in their boxes--I used to take everything down right after Christmas because I worried about the tree drying out and becoming a fire hazard. A couple of years ago, we bought an artificial one and it's okay, but I sure miss that great smell. Oh well.......

The house got a good New Year's clean. I finished sorting through my 'To File' file and gave the studio a good going over.

Time to regroup, to access and to think about 2011.

I spent the last few days sifting through my visuals stack--all the clip-outs of clay and other ideas, hints gleaned from the magazines I had received this last year. All my own notes and thoughts of new projects and ideas. It does get the juices flowing.....

It wasn't until I had sat down and sifted through all the little scraps, notes and various pages of my purse notebook that I realized what a great batch of things I had thought up at randum points in time. (After I read the book on Agatha Christie's notebooks--How in the World did that woman keep track of what she was doing? Even with notebooks**) I know that jotting down ideas as they pop in your head isn't such a bad idea after all.

**Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks by John Curran.

I never go anywhere with some kind of small notebook. After I leave a show or while in a museum, I make rough sketches and notes (sometimes even too cryptic for me if I let them get cold) about what I have seen and what might be a good springboard for my own work. Sometimes, mixed in with that will be grocery lists, book titles, other reminders. I AM learning to use my iPhone to list book titles to look for, thereby avoiding the amnesia that always descends on me at the library or bookstore.

Anyway--

I have a new camera to learn how to use and have been taking some shots with it and the old camera to see if there is a difference--and there certainly is. An 8 GB video card just arrived in the mail.

I'm still finding there is work I have never photographed. And I will try to correct that in the coming year.

This is one of the first photos I took of a piece I made early on. This was before I took a class from Roger Schrieber, one of the best professional photographers there is, whose work can be seen at http://www.schreiberstudio.us/index.html.

It's out of focus, wrong angle, strange background (my driveway) at least it is a record for my own use. I usually take my own shots (in the basement, excluding all outside light, using a special bulb and neutral grey backdrop roll, tripod and my old SLR). I'm sure the new camera will do fine, but I won't have that great hands-on ability as much as with my old camera and it's beautiful lens.

I just uploaded a bunch of photos for my Gallery page on the Southern Arizona Clay Artists' Association website. With the exception of the big green teapot, which is a pro shot, they were all taken with the old camera.

I have no idea how the new camera will work. I won't really know until I can return to my set-up and get a new light bulb. It makes me wonder how long those special lights will be available......

Two Beauties

2011-01-17T05:50:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, I went to a flea market/antiques fair and found these beautiful pieces. They are porcelain lab ceramics made by the Coors company. Both are about 5 inches in diameter at the rim.

I just couldn't resist......Their shape is so beautiful and the form of the pour spout is perfect. The smaller one is only glazed on the inside and about an inch down the outer rim. The bisque is a pleasure to feel. They are perfect on the inside--no cracks or stains. The spout on the smaller one has a tiny chip on the lip that will grind out easily.

I felt I 'rescued' these pieces. They were sitting on a bargain table labeled, Each Item - $5.00. The vendor sold me both for a total of $5.00!

My first thought was they would make perfect molds, but I brought them home and put them on a cabinet in the living room and there they have sat ever since. They are just nice to look at.

Tangents and Springboards

2011-01-07T07:07:00.000-08:00

Springboards and tangents--the most brain tickling thing to do.

This is the sketch or doodle that started a train of thought.

Vertical lines at random placement across the form, then doing the same with horizontal lines, connecting a diagonal line at the intersections--simple as that.

Regimentation is created with the vertical and the horizontal, but the irregularity of placement creates interest.

The introduction of the diagonal creates the feeling of movement. However, if I were to draw diagonals in the opposite direction, the whole thing would become static.

Could be the beginning of a painting, fabric, metalwork. A broach, a wall piece. - think steel plate with gold pins and lacing of silver wire with one solid gold square placed three-fourths of the way up and off-center.

The design holds up. Theme and variation.

One way to know if a design has integrity is to hold it up and look at it from all four directions--vertical, horizontal, rotate it all the way around. If it looks good no matter which way it is turned, it's good.

What followed in the doodle process was not jewelry, but thoughts about a series of square, rounded-edged plates.

(The first has a note to do wax resist dots on the dark ground.)

Woo Hoo!

2011-01-04T06:53:00.000-08:00

I just opened my January issue of Ceramics Monthly and saw they had published my suggestion about how to make a foam trim batt, first seen on this blog in May of last year.

One free year of Ceramics Monthly! Yea

Being Sharply Aware

2010-12-27T07:53:00.001-08:00

Can you remember color?

Do you recognize scents?

Can you visualize the room you had as a child?

Can you call up the taste of your favorite dish or the taste of something you didn't like?

I think artist's brains are 'wired' differently, that we have heightened sensory abilities; a heightened awareness of their surroundings; a fuller reception, better connection and recall of the senses.

Maybe that makes us artists in the first place.

Maybe because we have the sharpened tools, we naturally develop into artists.

How many far-sighted artists do you know? Most of them I know either have very good eyesight or are near-sighted.

Could it be that because of the physical make-up, we DEVELOP differently? Nature creates nurture?

Think of Leonardo for instance. He must have had exceptional sight to have been able to observe and then draw birds in multiple positions of flight. He had to have a heightened understanding of this movement to then interpret THAT into a mechanical example of flight.

His studies of the movement of water are a revelation. He 'saw' what was going on within the motion of a transparent medium.

Not only could he observe acutely, he could interpret and produce visuals of what he understood.

Along with heightened senses, we also must have tactical skills as well. We must control the movements of our hands in concert with how our brain works in order to command them to produce what we want or conceive in our heads. Not everyone can do that either.

Take a look at his visualization of the local landscape AS SEEN BY A BIRD IN FLIGHT. In Leonardo's time, there was just no way he could have actually seen this.

Many of us can visualize a piece before we make it.

One of the early frustrations I had as a child was that I would 'see' what I wanted to make, but what I made didn't turn out like I 'saw' it in my imagination.

No one I tried to talk about this with understood what I was trying to convey. I would get very puzzled looks.

It was because I was trying to describe, analyze and work through a problem that just didn't exist in their scope of experience. And it probably never would.

My assumption was always that everyone had the same perceptions and conceptions I did. I was buffaloed by why they didn't get what I was trying to describe or understand why I was frustrated.

I have since learned to live with a blending of the vision in my head and what progresses and develops as I work and to be conscious to seeing the avenues that open up during that process. To make the choices of which way to let the flow take me and explore the possibilities that are presented.

That's what is so engaging, so fascinating and so mysterious about making art. No wonder those artists who have gone before talk of the Muse.

Do you have a Muse? Several Muses? Museses? Musii?

Christmas Wishes

2010-12-22T05:49:00.000-08:00

May you

Learn,

Grow,

Discover,

and Make

All the

Pots

you Have

in your

Head.

Joke

2010-12-19T10:11:00.000-08:00

So our friends have invited us to a party and asked that everyone bring a joke gift.

Since in the desert, we live with marauding javelins*, I decided to make a Javelina Repellant Jar.

(Small jar with a rock inside)

Disclaimer: I never throw rocks at Javelinas. I just watch them while my Schnauzer becomes hysterical.

*Small, pig-like wild peccaries, native to the desert.

They aren't really bad, just busy running in herds and foraging for food. If stressed or excited, they exude a skunk-like odor.

They are protected in Arizona and can become a hazard to humans if cornered or feel threatened. They are very protective of their young.

Males are equipped with sharp tusks.

I respect Javelinas.

Prophetic Tile

2010-12-14T06:56:00.000-08:00

About 7+ years ago, I made this tile in a workshop.

The workshop focused on drawing with underglazes on pre-bisqued tiles. I had never tried this before and had no expectations going in about subject matter or technique.

After a short demo, we were handed the tile, given access to colors and told the "draw something".

I was stymied. My mind went blank. I couldn't think of one thing to draw. None of my lexicon of images or designs floated to the surface of my mind so I just began to doodle directly on the tile. I laid down a square. I added lines on the diagonal. Then I began to draw a landscape in the square and drew two snakes.

All totally out of character to what I usually did.

Years later. Guess where I am. In the desert, looking at landscapes like this one. Surrounded by these colors but, thankfully, so far---no green snakes.

The Mexican Agate Necklace

2010-12-12T15:54:00.000-08:00

I finally finished my Mexican agate/bead necklace yesterday.

I decided to put the big clasp on, at least temporarily because in all the time since I bought the beads last year, I have not been able to find another that I liked.

I still feel this isn't the final clasp but it will do until I find the right one.

The beads are threaded onto a very fine silver chain. The spacers are African clay beads (black and white) and antique black glass beads.

I wound up making the jump rings out of pieces of regular dress pins. Anything larger in diameter wouldn't fit into the fine links of the chain.

It works well, actually, since I have this nifty pliers tool for making links.

Paper Cranes

2010-12-09T10:25:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, I learned how to fold origami paper cranes.

We found ourselves in a hotel at Christmas in Bahrain. We had packed a medium sized artificial tree into a big trunk along with toys and took the whole lot with our luggage (in those days when you COULD take luggage) on the trip from the East Coast, through Spain and to Bahrain.

Every time we had to go through customs, I had to take the kids far enough away that they couldn't see what was in the trunk. The contents amused and puzzled lots of customs agents along the way.

We couldn't squeeze in ornaments too, so I took sheets and sheets of colored paper and, instructions in hand, we all folded paper cranes in the hotel until we were cross-eyed. It was a beautiful tree, though. The hit with all the hotel staff.

None of those cranes survived to return with us two years later......but cranes have been associated with Christmas in a small way ever since.

One year, with the help of a wonderful old Mac program called Super Paint, I designed a way to include features on the cranes before the paper got folded. I made lots of those cranes and gave them away. I still have a few left, but alas, I can't use Super Paint again. (I loved that program.)

They look like little Concordes.

Paper Christmas Stars

2010-12-04T05:16:00.000-08:00

It's time to start unloading the box of Christmas ornaments and think about decorating the house for the holidays.

I ran across boxes brimming with folded paper stars.

A few years ago, I got the Martha Stewart kit for folding Moravian stars and went totally mad making basic forms and then inventing variations.

I made them in three different sizes and three colors.

A video with instructions and examples of stars and star May baskets (which I had never seen before) is available on: http://www.highhopes.com/3dstar.html

Wonder if you could make them out of gift ribbon?

A Different Cat

2010-11-30T09:42:00.001-08:00

While I was doing a set of pieces for a show about cats and dogs, I set myself a design problem making a loose, free drawing of a cat.

I wanted to draw it as a child would draw--just go for it!

The other restraint was to lift my brush as little as possible, making the expression in one continued line. To be as free as a child in making the image.

The head outline was one line. The body another. Face and claws were last.

You almost have to do this holding your breath.

It's fun.

It's harder than it looks.

It's also a good discipline for visualizing what you are going to do before you do it.

Doodle to Design

2010-11-23T06:04:00.000-08:00

All my school notebooks had doodles down the margins.

It wasn't that I was not paying attention; actually, I could remember what was being said by looking at the doodles.

I took notes too. I don't mean to say the doodles were the ONLY thing I did while in class.

Some doodles grew into pictures or expanded into design.

This little doodle is about 3 times larger than the original. I liked it so much I cut it out and glued it on a larger piece of paper so that I wouldn't loose it.

The first time I used this design was on a large slab of clay rolled out with the intention of cutting it up. But when I looked at the shape, I liked it so much I coaxed it into a large platter, smoothed the edges and fired it. The "Angry Cat" was done over the iron glaze with thinned oxide.

Every time I've used this design, I've sold the piece.

Stress

2010-11-14T07:37:00.001-08:00

I made this little sculpture when I was working. It expressed all that I was feeling at the time.

Not that I didn't love my job; I did. It was just a high-demand, high-pressure with a long commute coupled with home demands. At first, when I was at work, I was totally -at work- and when I was home, I was totally there. But as time went by both sides began to erode into the other.

Thank heavens this isn't my situation now.

The head is segmented with spacers in between to give the appearance of pushing upward. The bands are holding it down.

Originally, the head was encircled with rubber bands, but I decided that wasn't permanent enough and replaced them with wires. I don't think the message is as effective as with the rubber bands.

That's why it's never been shown. The resolution of where the wires go and the base doesn't work well.

I love the idea of the tension, though.

It's a do-over for sure. Next time with something that looks like rubber bands and slots in the base for them to 'fit into' as if anchored down.

I also like the use of the same clay to form a base.

Maybe a base that appears to be metal with bands of metal.......

Break a lot of bad pots; Keep a lot of bad pots.

2010-11-11T09:21:00.000-08:00

Photo by the very talented Erik Johansson. See more at http://www.alltelleringet.com/

Break a lot of bad pots.

My rule is, if it offends me, I break it.

If the piece glued itself to the floor of the kiln and I had to break it off, definitely break it and stick it into the bottom of a flower pot.

If the piece has a crack, a break, a dangerous glaze result and doesn't contribute to the "look", break it.

If the structure or the glaze just didn't work, break it.

BUT

If the piece was a good idea gone bad, keep it.

Photograph it.

Analyze it.

Try it again.

Or pack it away and forget it for a while.

I have to admit that there have been a few pieces I've applied the hammer to that I wish now I hadn't been so hasty. Or so persnickety. That was when I first started making ceramics and had this image of perfection embedded in my mind. After I went to a few NCECAs and looked carefully at a huge variation in other people's works, I edited my ideas of what is and isn't perfection.

I do have a series of mugs that I thought would be a good 'family' with variations in shape, but uniform in glaze and unique (same) handles. I still think it's a good idea, just didn't pan out that time. They are sitting on a shelf in the studio as a reminder.

So, trash the 'failure', don't trash the idea.

P.S. Don't forget your goggles while you're happily smashing stuff!

This is TOO Funny

2010-11-04T20:04:00.000-07:00

Re: How Long did it Take You to Make This Pot?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8kaYg3XjVQ

Mystery Flower Pot

2010-11-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while, I run across a pot on the web and wonder about making one similar.

Here's a rather strange one.

I wonder who designed it and why.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Saint-Cloud_porcelain shows a detailed photo of the piece.

The side portions are designed to be flower holders.

They would keep a stemmed flower upright. Daffodils? Tulips?

But what are the four other holes in the middle for?

Maybe to hold cord for a hanging pot? That would then mean it wasn't designed it sit on a table as a centerpiece. But somehow, it doesn't look like a hanging pot either.

This was made in a period of highly experimental china making. So who knows how it was used. One thing I know, pieces were not made with holes without a reason.....so I like to imagine: An elaborate Dutch shoulder yoke sat between two of these pots suspended with cords?

A search for St. Cloud yields several short articles about the company and lists collections that pieces can be found in, but not much else.

A mystery.

"How Long did it Take you to Make That?"

2010-10-30T08:17:00.001-07:00

Image from http://www.inspiri-art-and-craft.com, a good site about home-based craft business.

What do you do when someone asks you, "How long did it take you to make this?"

It is said Whistler's answer was, "All my life."

I like that. Because your work changes and grows all your life and what you do today is the sum and culmination of that growth and evolution.

However,

An answer like that will--

1. Probably not be understood.

2. Come off as being flippant.

Besides, the questioner is usually not interested in an account of the hours and minutes you put into making something or the different steps you took to make it.

Some people feel stumped when face to face with art and the artist who created it. They have no experience talking about art. They're a little perplexed and intimidated.

Artists are sometimes seen, in the public mind, to be romanticised, exotic creatures, out of the main, someone slightly mysterious, ethereal, touched by the gods of creativity, owners of a 'gift'.

A little bit of that could be a good thing. But that's not why we are there, standing in a booth in front of shelves of your work, slightly exhausted, keyed up, waiting for customers to come in and buy something.

They are approaching you because your work has drawn them in. They would like to open up a dialog with you, but they don't know how. Picking up one of your pieces might be a bit too forward for some, afraid you'll land on them, make them feel they are obligated to buy something......

Anyway, as I said, they don't REALLY want to know the whole step-by-step story of how you made a piece. That is, unless they want to learn about clay or are truly the curious sort. So recognize it for what it is: A cautious opening, an attempt to talk to you about art.

On the other hand, you may be talking to a bean-counter. That guy who wants to figure out Work x Time x Material = That Price?

Don't go there. It won't work. You can dazzle the daylights out of that guy by peeling off facts about the time it took you to learn the skill, how long you studied or traveled or spent making that very piece with all the steps from pugging the clay to fishing it hot out of the kiln to grinding it's foot down.

He won't understand and by the time you get to about the third fact or so, his eyes begin to glaze over and he starts backing away. Besides, you didn't give him the answer he was looking for anyway.

"When I'm in the creative mode, time just goes away."

"That's a nice piece, isn't it? I'm really happy with the result. Handmade things just have a soul of their own, don't you think?"

"I made that on the wheel/by hand using slabs of clay/etc. The process is so complicated, I couldn't tell you how long it took, but it turned out well, don't you think?"

Always give an answer that will add value and lend uniqueness to the piece. Pick it up and hand it to the customer. (Give them permission to handle it.)

Talk about the color--maybe say, "That's an iron-based glaze." Or "Ceramic glazes are really a very thin coating of glass. That comes from firing it in a kiln at over 2000 degrees." (You can slip in a little education as you go.)

Encourage them to ask questions and start a relaxed, friendly dialogue. Talk about how you can use the piece.

"I really like a big, hefty mug for my coffee in the morning, don't you?" or "Isn't that a comfortable handle?"

"I have a bunch of bowls like this in my home and I use them every day, they are so handy."

"These make great gifts." "I love inventing unique pieces."

"This looks so great near a window where the sunlight can show off the glaze."

Tune into the customer. Try to hear the subtext of their question. See if they have a sense of humor, are wanting to learn, considering the piece for themselves or to give to someone. The quicker you can hone into where they are, the better.

Avoid those who are there for entertainment. Or those who will monopolize your time while other customers come and go!

The minute you are buttonholed by one of those, be nice, but make sure the other people in your booth know you're there to help them buy something. Make a point of saying, "Please ask me if you have any questions or need help." to them. Or disengage yourself from the "clinger" by saying, "Excuse me, I'll be right back." Smile. Leave, keep an eye on them, check back, but telegraph the fact that this is a business, not entertainment.

**Another comment that just kills me is, "Did you make all of this?"

A New Mold

2010-10-26T07:51:00.000-07:00

The other day I decided I needed a mold of a half sphere.

I'd been prowling toy and variety stores to find a child's ball large enough to make what I had in mind.

Surprisingly, it was difficult to find but I finally located one after previously buying three of varying sizes.

I had a used box that was just the right size, but it was rather hole-y.

That's when I got the bright idea to line it with duct tape.

Duct Tape - the wonder fixer.

No matter how hard I tried, though, it was impossible to get the tape inside without some seams and wrinkles.

After the duct tape was all in, I coated the inside of the box with a liberal slather of cheap dishwashing liquid. Same thing for the ball I wanted to mold.

I mixed up the plaster and poured it into the box, then positioned the ball half-way in and half-way out.

BUT WHAT I HADN'T THOUGHT OF WAS THAT THE BALL WANTED TO POP UP!

Yikes.

There I was, one hand holding the container that had just held the plaster, the other pushing the ball down to just the right depth in the mold box.

What to do, what to do.

Luckily, I was able to grab a bucket filled with water and put it over the top of the box.

The distance between the top of the ball and the top of the box just happened to be at exactly the right level to keep the ball in place where it should be.

Whew.

Otherwise, I could see myself sitting in a half crouch, holding down the ball in the mold until the plaster finally hardened.

Meanwhile, in the other hand, I still had the container I mixed the plaster in. (Too bad for that, it went into the trash 'cause I didn't have time to clean it out with water.)

Not impossible, but damned uncomfortable.

Sorry I don't have a picture of the ball or the whole thing when the plaster set.

I did have to wiggle the ball a bit and work it loose before everything really set solid.

I'm happy to report that the duct tape idea worked the box was very easy to dis-assemble and the mold, after a bit of a clean-up on the top surface (I don't care how the outside looks) is a beauty and I'm looking forward to using it.

Even thinking about making others in smaller sizes.

And maybe even a positive of the negative.

Next time, I'll be much wiser about logistics......

Handmade Books

2010-10-22T07:38:00.000-07:00

This post in a slightly different form, also appears on my other blog,

http://fiberneedlethread.blogspot.com/.

I have an old book press like this one and I use it for fall leaves. I love lacy fall leaves; the ones the bugs have eaten holes in. I save the leaves from year to year so I have a good supply for when the spirit moves me.

I also hoard great paper, raffia and beautiful twigs. (Rocks too, but I haven't figured out how to use them yet---maybe a cut-out with a suspended rock.........)

No reason why I couldn't make a small, bas relief, very light-weight decoration from porcelain to use on the cover of a book. I once saw a potter flip a slab of porcelain to paper thinness. I wonder if there are ceramic book covers in existence.

Or maybe make half-round bosses to attach the binding on the outside.

Or create an interesting bookmark to coordinate with the cover piece.......

Making books is another thing I do when I'm at a slump with clay or it's too cold to go out to the studio. You know, when you're 'off' or stumped or just not in the mood.

The cover of these books are from a stash of old photograph mounting albums. I ran across a bunch of these, dismantled them and cut them to fit the pages, another stash of paper from a book publisher. They are off-cuts from a print run.

The second book is made the same way, but I had to figure out how to attach the bare twig to the back.

Breaking News:

I just googled ceramic book covers and found this:

http://www.behance.net/Gallery/Ceramic-Book-Covers/249094