"Room Temperature Glaze"

So I've been cleaning and sorting out the studio lately and ran across this small tray that's been knocking around for some time.

Originally it had only the 6 blue dots in glaze, which did nothing for it.

I stopped, took a good look at it and, grabbing my 'Room Temperature Glaze' of Pebo Porcelaine and a liner brush, added a few brush strokes and now the whole thing looks much better.

This finish will set in a kiln temp of 300 degrees for 30 minutes. And it truly does bond with the glaze.

This can be done in a regular household oven, but I'm not having that--don't know what kind of nasty off-gasses might stick to the oven lining and transfer into the next loaf of bread dough--not worth it, to my mind. So, I would recommend putting it into the next kiln firing at the very first when you're candling the ware or just do it in an empty kiln. I doesn't take long and you can dry a few pieces of greenware while you're at it.

Besides, this little tray is designed for serving only and not for the oven anyway. Doubt if I'll sell it.

I would use this on anything that is decorative. If you layer on several coats thinned with a bit of water, it produces a very satisfying result. And you can accomplish a nice watercolor effect as in the tray.

Given the choice between this as an overglaze and using an underglaze, however, I'd choose the underglaze every time.

See how easy it is to get out of cleaning and organizing the studio?

Test Tiles and Stamps

I'm in the process of making a lot of small test tiles for some new glazes.

I've just rolled out 1/4 inch thick, 1 inch by 3 inch tiles for drying.

These are previous test stamps.

I was doing just indentations across the bottom of the tiles to check for pooling and breaks, but when I looked at my great collection of stamps and these, I thought, "Why not use stamps on the new test tiles?".

New Blog

While I'm in the process of converting old slides of my fiber work, I decided to begin a new blog called, Fiber, Needle and Thread.

Progress will be slow because I plan to post as I organize the slides-- whenever I can grab some time.

Anyway, give it a look and tell me what you think.

Feed Your Inner Potter II - Internet Images

I keep files on my computer desk top labeled: Reference Clay, My Work, Teapots.

Whenever I download digital images of my work, I stick them into My Work. That way, I can keep better track of what I've photographed lately and what I have in my files already. I have a Resume, Portfolio and Shows Applications file folders located within My Work folder. It's a good way to keep track of where you are with your digital records.

The other files, Reference Clay, Reference Jewelry and Teapots are for images I run across on the web that I want to remember and look at some more. Or I might print them off for my paper files that I take to the studio for personal reference. With a Mac you can click on an image, hold down the curser and move it off a page onto the desktop. Then it can be sorted and filed for later viewing.

I started an image file 'way back in college in conjunction with study in commercial art. The idea was if you wanted to do an illustration, having actual photographs from publications and your own making of faces, locations and articles would help in pulling it all together for a composition.

I began filing references for paintings and graphic designs also. Loose examples in a file folder were much more accessible than images in a book or magazine or a group of slides or photographs. Until the computer, managing slides and photos always seemed to be clumsy and difficult.

Today, If you want to have an image within easy reach, you can even photograph it, download the image into your computer, print it off onto paper and file it in your personal files.

Tile piece by Bede Clark. Isn't it great?

When I tend to get too tight with glaze application, I can take a closer look at this jewel and get inspiration from it.

Since that beginning in college, I've kept up the idea of an image file. Over many years the idea has grown into many other files like travel, architectural design and interior files, antiques and furniture references, ethnic clothing, weaving, quilting and specialized sewing like French hand sewing.

I have a whole section of art business with shows, consignment form examples, information articles.

I have painting references such as faces, landscapes, abstracts. Jewelry files, paper box making, holiday designs, 2-dimensional graphics, handmade books files are also there.

I also keep files of my work in design and commissions. They take up 3 drawers in my office.

In my studio I have 3 more drawers filled with images of clay pieces--teapots, plates and platters, animal images, sculptures, drawings, patterns, booth display layouts etc.

There may be a photograph of a beautiful piece of fabric filed in the glaze ideas drawer--a motif in the design could be the beginning of a design on a pot, for example.

The rule is, if I look at anything in a magazine or on the web for more than a few seconds, it goes into the 'to be filed' stack or desktop folder.

When you think about it, 6 file drawers is not a lot of space, but once in a while, I purge them removing outdated images, information or ideas I am no longer interested in.

The system has served me well when I need an image for reference or to re-engage with an idea.

Recent images:

Advice for Artist - Feed Your Inner Potter

Become Master of the Pot

Art books are expensive, but they really never go out of date.

I still have my old Daniel Rhodes' Clay and Glazes for the Potter textbook. I keep that book more out of nostalgia than for use.

I try to keep only the books that are relevant to me. I sell ones I've 'outgrown' or find are not relevant anymore.

You can find some great books in used bookstores and thrift shops. And if they are a bit worn, so what? They fit nicely in the studio where you don't have to handle them with kid gloves.

"Working" books in my library are written all over, have pages turned down and notes and bookmarks jammed all through them. "Keeper" books are in the house lined up in bookshelves and kept pristine.

Great art books like great cookbooks are enhanced by finger marks, dog ears and splashes....don't you think?

Magazines are good too. Ceramics Monthly, Pottery Making Illustrated, Clay Times and are the leaders.

The Studio Potter is pricey and is published a few times a year.

Crafts, a UK publication, are excellent magazines, though pricey, it gives you a good idea of what is current in the UK and Europe.

Ask your local library to order them. Librarians are usually delighted to get input from patrons for

their orders budget.

Make it known that a subscription to one of these magazines would be a welcome gift for your birthday or Christmas.

There are some good discounts are available through Potter's Council membership for Ceramics Monthly, Pottery Making Illustrated and Clay Times.

Check out the online site Ceramic Arts Daily to see information and other artist's work. http://ceramicartsdaily.org.

UK Art Magazines on Google is another great art magazine online. I particularly like Danish clay work.

http://www.veniceclayartists.com is another international site full of works from Europe.

Don't limit what you look at to only clay-related publications. I keep images of baskets, weaving, jewelry, glass, metal work and other kinds of work I like. Even a piece of pottery on a coffee table in an interior design magazine gets put in my files. Many can inspire you and feed your inner artist.

Breaking News--This just in--

The Bulwar-Lytton Contest results are in --

http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/

The best contest of good, Really bad writing.

Footnote to the previous post----

The little verse seen on the sculpture in the previous post is a quote from an inscription said to be engraved around the silver collar of a dog belonging to Prince Fredrick of Wales, eldest son of King George II. Said to have been given to the prince by Alexander Pope, Probably similar to the one shown.

--Looks uncomfortable for the dog.

"I am his majesty's dog at Kew,

Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?"

So, in other words, I began to stop being my job's dog and become my 'own dog' - mentally at least. : )

What You Do Today Affects Tomorrow

When I was working at a 'regular job', I commuted an hour+, worked eight hours plus, sometimes attended an evening class, commuted back home, did the regular house thing, cooking, cleaning, etc. went to bed and started all over again the next day. I was up before the sun and many times fell into bed long past evening time.

Weekends were spent catching up on things that had been left hanging during the week like food shopping, running errands, the million other things that have to be attended to in life.

While I liked my job, felt I was learning new things, living on a small farm in a beautiful valley, and was reasonably happy with my life, many times I was just too tired or wrung out to pick up my art and do anything with it. For me, art requires a bit more peace.

True, I did have windows here and there where I was commuting on a ferry or waiting in the queue to board that didn't require me doing anything but sit. And I sometimes read, ate, slept or just zoned out. It wasn't a bad commute.

One day I realized I was actually grieving about losing my desire to make art. That's when I made a promise to myself. I would FIND TIME EVERY DAY to do SOMETHING to "feed my art". And I would carve it out wherever I could find a few spare minutes.

I would sketch.

Read an article from one of my magazines.

Visit a supply store and catch up on new products.

Go somewhere to see new works.

Plan or get a new project going.

Sort through my stash of supplies.

Interact with other artists.

Think.

Soon, I felt I was doing something. My mood lifted. I began to find more time to work and made some good things. I even arranged for a showing of my pieces in the gallery space where I was working. I didn't feel like I was just plodding along.

Even though it was slow going, this time period helped me find focus and was the basis for the kind of work I did for many years to come. It was a creative seed bed. I would have missed that whole evolution if I hadn't woken up one day and realized I was wasting time I could be using for myself instead of handing it all to other demands.

Sometimes you have to be selfish for your art......

"We are what we continually do."

---attributed to Aristotle.

Note: This little sculpture was cut out of a flat slab of clay. Patterned from a piece of cardboard, the form was cut out, then gently opened up to make it stand. A cardboard 'tent' held the legs apart while the piece dried. The collar is 3-D and fitted when the piece was drying. The black chain was from an old necklace. Lettering was done over the dry glaze prior to firing. Cone 5/6 oxidation.

Rules for Artists - Work Environment

Find your own best work environment:

This would work nicely, but the turret needs some kiln vents....

For years, due to my husband's occupation, I had no workspace of my own for clay. A spare bedroom or the dining room was fine for other things like weaving, painting and drawing, fibers, etc. But clay is a different matter. Finally we settled in one place where I knew I could plan on returning to working in clay.

My first studio of my very own was an old dirt-floor garage/ex-chicken house ca. 1940 on a small farm we bought. It had drafty barn doors, single pane windows and was about 30 feet from the house. There was a standpipe outside the studio door for water.

The first thing I got was a kiln. There was already shelving at the back of the garage, so I bought plastic sheeting to keep the moisture in and used that to store my works in progress.

I poured a concrete floor for the kiln space and, using pre-formed concrete deck footings built a floor for the rest of the space.

I heated it with an old-fashioned kerosene heater. I had an old drafting table I covered in plastic and canvas, an old wooden stool and I was in business. That first year I made sculpture and slabwork pieces.

Since then, I have been lucky enough to expand to a two-car garage with wonderful lighting and big, bright windows. The only thing bad about it is there's more space to clean! So aside from the physical space, what other aspects of a workspace is best for you?

Solitude or in a Group Setting?

I prefer solitude with music. It helps my concentration.

But sometimes--

I like working in a group because I like the give and take of conversation and being with other artists. I learn a lot that way. Sometimes working in a group studio setting is the only way you can go, but if you have a choice, Ask yourself these questions:

Do you work best by yourself?

Do you find others distracting?

Do you feel pressure to 'perform' well in a group? Are you competitive?

Do you need positive reinforcement from others?

Do you learn better when watching others work or when you can work it out by yourself?

Do you need to have someone show you how to do something or can you solve the problem by using a book or video or working it out alone?

Do you pick up a 'vibe' by working with others?

If you work alone:

Is silence the best atmosphere for you?

Do you like music?

Do you listen to discussions on the radio or like to hear recorded books?

How about your physical surroundings?

Are you bugged by mess? Does everything have to be clean before you can get down to work?

Do you need :

Lots of elbow room or only a small space?

Lots of tools or only use a few?

Do you like to work in your own area or are you comfortable in a shared facilities situation?

Do you like to work a while, leave it, then return to work more or are you one of those Stay-up-all-night Gotta-get-it-done-before-the-inspiration-leaves kind of artist?

Rules for Artists - Safety First

First and foremost, you must school yourself in clay safety.

Sure, you will hear people say, "I've been spraying glaze/looking in the kiln/sweeping out the studio/ for years and it hasn't affected me." Or something else of that ilk.

Maybe it hasn't affected them..............yet.

How would they know until it is too late? Hazardous materials have a way of building up in your body. You may not have symptoms for years. But when and if you do, it could be devastating.

How many times have you walked into a pottery supply place where classes are going on and a kiln is firing in the back? You can smell it the minute you walk in!

Or have you known someone who lets their toddler play in the studio while they are working? I even had an instructor (internationally known artist and author who shall be nameless) say when she was a child, she played with a box of powdered asbestos her clay-artist father (also famous and nameless) had in the studio when she was a child. "And it didn't bother her." (!!)

Always take care of yourself and be mindful of others' safety when working with materials and firing. There are no prosecutable laws governing material content of clay, glazes, colorants, or handling. It's up to you to school yourself. If you can't find the information, proceed with judgement.

Safety of materials is not usually a part of the arts curriculum, but in my opinion, it should be the FIRST thing covered in any program.

For instance, I never handle glaze, underglaze or any material that could possibly be hazardous without wearing surgical gloves. As a matter of fact, surgical gloves can actually help in handling freshly-glazed pots because the glaze doesn't come off or smear. The gloves are cheap, disposable, easy to use once you get accustomed to them. (There is an ad that runs in clay magazines showing a young girl with a paintbrush in her mouth and hands covered with colorant that just sets my teeth on edge.)

I never mix powdered substances or clean the studio without a respirator on.

I never fire lead or other hazardous glazes in the kiln because I know the residue can stick to the walls and affect future firings.

I never eat or drink in my studio or invite others to do so. (I can't tell you how many classes and workshops I've attended where food and drink is available. I even went to a class where I wondered if it was for clay or eating!)

Here are some resources:

The Artist's Complete Health and Safety Guide - Monona Russell - available at Amazon.com

Artist Beware: The Hazards of Working with All Art and Craft Materials and Precautions Every Artist/Craftperson Should Take - Michael McCann - also available at Amazon.com

You can review both books by sourcing them on Google Books)

Websites:

http://www.amaco.com/html/amaco_safety.html

http://www.claytimes.com/reference-guide/health-safety.html

Good videos for safety and other subjects can be found on:

http://www.ehow.com/video_4946355_pottery-clay-making-safety.html