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...

Visiting Artist and Field Trips

We've been having lots of fun in the studio the past couple of days learning printing techniques for clay.  Here, Jason Bige Burnett is getting ready to demonstrate his method of screenprinting engobes.

And, of course, here's Jason hamming it up for the camera!

These are some sassy mugs I am experimenting with after an inspiring visit to the studio of Nicholas Joerling.  Nicholas is an incredible potter with a warm heart, enchanting smile and some wonderful words of wisdom.  He lives right down the road from the school so I think I will be taking another trip down there.  I will share more on the studio visits in the next couple of days.  Today is our day off from the studio and we are headed on another field trip into Asheville.  Have a great weekend!

Oh Yeah!

The good news.  This mug!  I have been working hard to get this last kiln load out so I can finalize the images for my last two grad portfolios. When I saw this in the kiln I said "What the heck is that?"  Until I pulled it out and took a good look at it.  It is a complete accident.  I tried a different underglaze and the shino wasn't quite compatible.  Thankfully, I put the glaze on thin or I think it would have gotten sharp blisters all over it.  But, I hope I can repeat this as I am completely in love with it!  It is my absolute favorite of the whole kiln load.

The not so great news is that Kickstarter did not approve my initial proposal.  Hmmm...   I couldn't really figure out why but I think I may not have worded things correctly.  I asked them for feedback and am waiting a reply.  Perhaps I can give it another go.  We'll see.  Here are some more images of tonights kiln load.

Ok, gotta get these added to my portfolio and get some z's.

Open House and New Work

If you happen to be in Chico, CA tomorrow come on by and say hello.  Our host, the illustrious, Pat Koszis, went to Penland School of Crafts last summer and had such a great time that we all decided we wanted to go.  In order to raise some funds to attend a workshop we decided to have this holiday sale.  So if you want to help us get to Penland next summer come on down!

Since I promised, oh so long ago, to upload some images of what I have been working on, ta dah!  Here they are.

I started playing around with paper resist and underglazes and am really learning a lot. I'm so used to firing cone 10 reduction that some of this has a bit of a learning curve now at cone 6.  I am loving the direction this is taking.  My mom and I are already fighting over the red plate above.  It is luscious and the satin was in the perfect spot to cool slowly.

I started this body of work with tumblers and then moved on to the mugs.  When I started everything looked like the mug in the flyer above but I felt like they just needed a little something so I started adding texture and staining them.  Love! Love! Love!