Out of Round

I love the water towers around town and I have taken quite a few photos of them.  I had turned one of the images into a stamp so that I could make decals or photo litho transfers.  This image, however, was made using an EZ Screen.  This image was burned onto the screen and then I used a red Mudtool rib to squeegee some underglaze through.  I made the screen while I was in North Carolina and I have wanted to try it out again since I got back home.  I found a jar of underglaze that had conveniently dehydrated itself for me so that it was a good and gloppy thickness to print.  I've been needing a coaster so that is where I started.  This image came out great on the wet clay.

I tried it again on this leather hard piece and had a more difficult time. This is on the interior of a long, oval dish so there was a slight curvature and I was trying to figure out how to get the squeegee to get the whole thing at once.  I missed a few spots but I also think the print didn't work as well because of the dryer clay.

I've been trying to get out of the round mode of thinking that I get stuck in as a wheel throwing potter so I made this fun little cloud candy dish.  It looks flat in this picture but I actually draped the shape over a small oval plaster mold.  Super fun!

Shall we have a bit of sgraffito?  I free-handed my design with a pencil before I got started with the scritchy scratchin'.

I'm feeling like it is a bit too busy.  Next time I think I will have more contrast without quite so much pattern going on but I am enjoying it.  Uh, but I painted the back black also so I still have to do something with that side.  Hmmm...

Penland Rocks!

Today marks the end of my first week here at Penland.  We have had an amazing time so far!  Weather up on the mountain has been quite dynamic.  We've had warm weather, up to 75 degrees a couple of days ago followed by thunder, lightning and downpours.  Then it is back to clear and beautiful.

I love how the mist settles in between the hills overnight.

Kathy has been teaching us a number of different techniques.  This is my EZ Screen waiting for the sun to come back out to be exposed.  We have also been working on photo litho transfers and have had demos for multi part constructions but I keep forgetting to take my camera into the studio with me.  Lol, even though my bedroom is only 200 hundred feet away, if that.

Here is the group shot while waiting for the sun.  Kathy King is in the black and white.  She is awesome!

Drying in the sun, finally.

My space in the studio.  How did I make such a mess in such a short period of time?

Here are a few of the mugs I have started working on.  I'm still trying to figure out how to balance my work, studio, and personal time.  I haven't made as much work as I would like to but this weekend is free of classes so I have big plans.  And I get to do my laundry!  Really, it's the small things in life, like clean underwear, dontcha know?

Next week, Jason Bige Burnett, will come to the studio for a guest appearance and demonstration of screen printing with underglazes.  The group will also be going on a field trip to the studios of some Penland area clay artists.  Woo hoo!  I can't wait.

Here's a super quick post for y'all.  It has been a whirl wind of activity the past couple of days.  I worked all day on Saturday cleaning the studio, mopping floors, arranging wheels, offloading chemicals and getting a general feel for where everything is.  My fellow studio assistant is great!  He is an incredibly hard worker with a great attitude and lots of youthful energy.  Last night we had orientation and today was our first full day of class.  Sunday I finally got to meet Kathy King after her marathon drive out to Penland.  She is an absolute doll!
Today I got to mix glazes and organize underglazes and we have lots of delicious colors.  We set some of the underglazes out to thicken up for screen printing which we will be doing tomorrow using EZ Screens.  I can't wait.

Here is a pic of the design I am working on for printing.  Can you tell I took this in bad light with my laptop cam?  That's because I am in my jammies tucked away in my little bedroom half falling asleep.  I'll scan this image and clean up all the goobers so that it can be used for the transparency.  I can't wait to see how it prints out!  Nighty, night.