Updates and Doings

Its Been a While - Deadlines!

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 Yesterday at 3:48pm | Edit Note | Delete

Geeze - haven't updated in some time!
The heat has really drained me of any artistic gumption at all, but I do have some looming deadlines, so I must get crackin'.

Mosaic Project

I'm working on an address post mosaic for my brother and sister-in-law. Their birthdays are next week, so I gotta get this done! Its not as large as the last one i made, but I'm using much smaller pieces of tile, so its more labor intensive.

Not sure whether to use a dark grout or a light one.

Last Glaze Firing

I was pretty discouraged with my last firing - none of my test glazes worked well, and I just unloaded a kiln full of ugly. This blue needs some work. Its from an article in Ceramics Monthly about subbing Stronthium for Barium. I think I may need to add some Zircopax or Tin Ox to it and opacify it a bit. Maybe a little less Copper Carbonate too.

The bird feeders don't look so hot, but they function well, so at least I've managed to get a good design down. The Bug Jugs need some refinement. The feet are just too intricate for efficient waxing/glazing, so I need to simplify them. Trying out a glaze Melinda shared with me, and had some problems with it crawling, but I was telling Jeff about my glazing issues and how glazes are formulated. I mentioned that I use a postal scale to measure my ingredients and he thought that was probably a large part of the problem, so he bought me a nice new gram scale!

Mi Casa Project

The tiles glazed pretty well. I had initially put a black slip over them and bisqued them.
For the glaze firing, I added some oxide washes and glaze highlights and then put a simple clear glaze over the whole thing and then wiped away much of it. I was pretty happy with the result, but one of the tiles was cracked during glazing and so the piece was not going to work for theHands in Clay show next month.

Rather than try and make a replacement tile, I decided to take the idea in another direction and came up with this plate. its a slab plate with a thrown foot. I inlaid colored slips into the textured background and then sprigged the figures on top of that. It has all the life and chaos I had wanted, though I did have to omit the goat :(.

I also made some test tiles so I can be absolutely sure of my technique before I glaze the plate. They are firing tomorrow, with a variety of treatments. I'm most hopeful that using a dark Tenmoku wash instead of the black slip will work.

So I am loading a glaze/test tile kiln load today and hopefully firing tomorrow (wind and heat permitting).
If I like the results, I'll fire the plate later this week and if I'm happy with it, I'll deliver it to Modesto on the 30th.

Calaveras Arts Council Studio tour

Ack!
The last couple years Jeff and I have gone on this great, self guided tour of local art studios.
This year I joined the Calaveras Arts Council, and the San Joaquin Potters' Guild.
I've signed up to participate in the Calaveras Arts Council Studio Tour at the end of September.
I'll be showing up at Quyle Kilns (I hope) as my studio is too small and too remote to be practical on its own.

That means I have to get into production mode in August!
Son after that, I think both groups will be gearing up for holiday gallery sales, so I need to be thinking about that too!

Sketch Book Project

I started taking ceramics as a distraction from my other art classes in college.
For most of my life I considered myself a 2D artist and focused on drawing, painting and printmaking.
Recently I learned about something called the The Sketchbook Project put on by the ArtHouse Co-op.

They send you a little sketchbook, and you have till January to fill it and send it back to them where it becomes a permanent part of a traveling exhibit.
I chose the theme "Face in the Crowd", as I want to do some studies of my goat herd.
Its been a long time since I've picked up a Turquoise #b1...

Collaboration!

Lastly (whew!) my former Stay-at-Home mug exchange partner and FaceBook friend Sabra Wood has proposed a cross-country collaboration! We enjoy each other's art very much, and she suggested we find a way to collaborate and develop an item together.

I love the idea and can hardly wait to get started. Gotta clear out a few of these other things and then we'll see what we can come up with.
I've anchored a blog for us so when we get started we can keep track of our progress.

The only other thing I need to do is take new pics of my Etsy pieces. I haven't made a sale in a while and need to promote my stuff more.

The KC Clay Guild show has closed. I have not received either my tea bowl or a check, so I don't know if it sold or not. I'll give it till Aug first before I inquire about it.

So, that's the big ol' update from the Mother Lode.
I'll post again after this test firing.

Cracking Up!

Well...
Went to bed last night very happy with my newly redesigned bird feeders, only to wake to this:

These are thrown in one piece.
I have been covering them loosely, but took the plastic of last night because it was pretty humid here and they seemed to be pretty even in terms of moisture/dryness.

I dry them on this plastic grid (its a panel meant to cover an in-ceiling fluorescent light fixture) to get a little air flow all around the piece.

You can see that the one next to it has cracked all around just under the rim.
A third one has not cracked at all (knock wood).

Wondering if this is primarily a drying issue, or a compression issue. If its a drying issue, I'm wondering how better to dry these, and will I have the same challenge when I glaze them or fire them (I typically single fire to cone 10).

If its an issue with my throwing, I'm wondering if there is something I should be doing such as making the "plate" part thicker, compressing differently etc.
I typically run a wire under the piece after throwing but leave it on the bat till its leather hard.

Thanks Clay Gurus, for any thoughts!

Latest Firing

Ok!
Lots of stuff in this load. I wanted to make a bunch of lint feeders so I have a good supply. Lower left are the shakers I made. They were featured in this month's PMI - I really like them and loved making them!

I did some glaze testing on them, and got some good and some ugly results.
The firing was to cone 11, fairly heavy reduction.

First one I tried, which I thought would be a nice white glaze for my palette was a simple Shino from Lasse Ostman.
Also from Mr Ostman's site was a Green Matte Crackle.
Lastly was Hamada Rust from John Brit's website.

Not a one turned out as expected. I also experimented with applying a white slip over my dark clay body to brighten some of the glazes. That works well!

The Good:

While Lasse Ostman's Green Matte Crackle didn't turn out at all as I had hoped, I am really liking this glaze! Its pale minty green, flashed with pinky-gray, silky and just begs to be touched. It needs to go on a white clay body (this is Laguna 1/2 stoneware/1/2 porcelain ) and may do something different in oxidation, but I don't do much ox firing. Its definitely a keeper!






The Bad:

I have never done a Shino glaze before, and don't know much about them, but I like them when I see them.
However, my attempt at Lasse Ostman's simple 3/3/3 Shino has some obvious issues.
It should have been a speckled white that breaks nicely. Instead its a greenish semi-matte without much character. Just not anything I can see using. As suggested, I applied it to my dark clay body.
Its greener than showing here BTW...








The Ugly:

John Britt makes glazes sing. I was so taken with the Hamada Rust on John's page and in his book that I wanted to try it. His examples are a deep smooth black breaking to rust. Simple, rich and classic.
I tried this on both white and dark clay bodies, with similar ugly results.
Yuck!

I am still searching for a successful Tenmoku...
I want something opaque, something that breaks nicely and something very dark.

Perhaps some of my fellow potters can offer some insight.
I wish glazing was not such a struggle for me.

Raku Boxer Fundraiser

I've set up an eBay auction for this little guy as a fundraiser to help with Rowdy's medical bills.
You can bid on him here:
Rowdy's eBay Auction
The ceramic boxer pictured (Wiggles) was Raku fired by me (Cathi Newlin). White earthenware bisqued boxer comes all the way from Nottingham, England to be glazed and raku fired here in Angels Camp, Ca. Wiggles is fired using the Horsehair technique - The ware is glazed with a white crackle glaze and fired to about 1800 degrees Fahrenheit and removed when the glaze is molten. Strands of horse mane or tail hair are laid across the ware, carbonizing and producing unique patterns. He is aprox 6 inches tall. Raku is a kinetic and somewhat unpredictable firing process. No two pieces ever come out of the kiln alike, which makes Wiggles truly one-of-a-kind.

Rowdy the Boxer was bitten on Monday, May 4th on the neck by a water moccasin. Rowdy is a good sized boy - but the snake was very big. Wes was in the yard when this occurred and was successful in getting the kids and Kira in the house, but was unable to get Rowdy out of strike range in time.

Rowdy, like Nugget, as you'll read later, is a hero.  He blocked the little boxer girl pup
(Kira) from getting to the snake.   He’s currently at the vet being treated for the bite and “holding his
own" according to the last update.

About 5 years ago the family suffered another tragedy involving a snake and a
dog.  Nugget, who was also recognized as a hero, knocked then 7 year old
Tori away from a water moccasin placing himself between the snake and the child
and was bitten.  

Unfortunately, treatment was not successful for Nugget
and he passed away due to complications of kidney failure.  Tori is 12 now
and she was 7 when Nugget got bit protecting her.  She remembers it like it was yesterday and still cries over Nugget..  She is terrified.  I have posted Nugget's story as told by
Susan at the end of this email.

Wes has recently been hired at a new job after being out of work for a 
year.  As we all know, it's tough enough providing for a family without
dealing with being out of work for an extended period, and then when something
like this comes along, it becomes an overwhelming financial burden. 
Anti-venom is expensive.  The cost for the anti-venom alone is going to
run $950 a vial, and it's not known how many vials are going to be needed in
order to save Rowdy's life.

Not interested in Wiggles?

You can still help, and anything will be appreciated!  Rowdy was a rescue coming out of Rockin'P Rescue, and in the event that more money is raised than is needed, any extra will be donated to Rockin'P Rescue.  

 
Please.  Send whatever you can, be it a $1 or $100.

Donations can be sent to:
Susan McKinnon
322 Dallas Circle
Folkston, GA  31537


If you’d like to verify this, Rowdy is being treated at:
Russell Road Animal Clinic
904-291-9511
http://www.russellroadanimalclinic.com/

A Brief Interruption to Celebrate Owen's Birthday

Semper Fi Tin Soldier (Owen, O-man, P, Wenny) is 12 years old!