Inspired Assignment

Taking Michael Kline’s 12 x 12 challenge was a good exercise to get my pods made. His assignment was to make 12 things by 12 noon. Well, I got 6 pods made, and as the hour closed in my pods were becoming smaller and smaller! They were a bit more time consuming than I had anticipated, especially considering that these are really TEST pods… you know how I feel about testing anything. This test is really important though, because I need to see how my kiln fires ^6 temps. The clay I’m using is that Seattle Pottery Alpine White SP655 I bought ($16 /25#) from the local ceramics lady. It’s a ^04-6 clay that “handles like a stoneware (which it is) but fires with the smooth look of porcelain.” Not really that great for hand building but it’s all she had in mid range clay for me to fire at ^6. I had collected some Iris seed pods from the garden and was surprised to find they have withstood the snow, wind, rain and moose.

I loved Nature's shape and her 4-season's design, inspiring me to create them in clay. My idea is to hand shape the pods in clay and weld steel stems and leaves in a vertical free standing sculpture. For texture I used some sturdy art paper I had in my “textures bin” and rollered the leather-like paper over my individual pod leaves. To keep the pod forms full, I stuffed newsprint in their bases and draped the larger completed

pods over soap bottles. The idea is the pods will be attached with copper and steel wire and incorporated into the 6’ tall welded steel sculpture. The pods as well as my second batch of sgraffito trays/tiles are on the drying racks now. With my “assignment” completed I cleaned up my mess like a good student should so the studio is ready for this week's metal. Check out the other results from Michael's 12 x 12 challenge here. While the clay is drying, I’m switching over to welding this week making a couple of Valentine special orders that came in. I’ll need to clear the studio main work table of clay dust so the steel sculptures I’m welding up can

get finish painted with enamel. Today it's back to wearing leather, armoring up, plugging in and letting the sparks fly!

This is NOT a Test

Clay is a fickle lover. Popped the top on the SECOND glaze firing… yes, I tried refiring my sgraffito trays/wall tiles thinking I could smooth out the milky-splotchyness of the matt glaze. I had a bit of varied results on the whole load. Couldn’t pinpoint what exactly the issue may be but I was disappointed in most of the pieces. I was hoping for better results considering I used the utmost patience –for me anyways! I THOUGHT, I mixed enough, brushed on enough and let dry enough, even had the kiln controller set to the correct schedule and cone temp of ^05 and even waited beyond the cool down to open the lid. I’m learning (the hard way) that working with clay, you can’t test enough. I’ve admired all the testing Judy Shreve, of Mountain House Studios, has been doing on her Terra Sig journey. Tracey Broome has taught me a lot with her glazing pinhole issues and I admired her for continuing to forge ahead. Reading each post and seeing her photos I could totally identify with the building frustration with each exhaustive round of troubleshooting. It doesn't seem

fair to have a perfectly beautiful piece be ruined at a final stage of firing on a technicality. Clay artists should be able to have a do-over, or some sort of warning flag or digital message that gets sent to us WAY before you open the kiln to disappointment. I know, I know, then we wouldn’t be working in C L A Y –ha!

Above, the Heart tray/tile (used the Amaco Matte glaze) did come out pleasing enough, as well as the small Leaf w/handle tray (used the Coloramics Soft Matte glaze) but the others were not uniform, and on a couple of pieces the black underglaze was altered (the sunflower and Raven Moon pieces being the worse -below). I used two different glazes, the

most successful glaze used was the Coloramics NM-450 Clear Soft Matte, made by Mayco, the other glaze was a Transparent Matte LM-10 by Amaco. The Coloramics only needed two coats and brushed on much nicer than the Amaco. Really none of the pieces using the Amaco Matt Liquid Matte glaze turned out well. A positive was the brightness and true colors (red, yellow, blue and black) of the Duncan E-Z Strokes Underglazes, I love those. Trust me, I’m not totally blaming the material, this seems to be more artist-operator error.

Either the kiln temp/schedule not being quite right (it did fire quick and under 5 hours), glaze too thick, not thick enough or not properly mixed. The good news is I have more sgraffito trays/wall tiles on the drying rack and the Coloramics glaze that I had success with, I have more of. I used up all of the Amaco Mate, so this next batch I’ll use all Coloramics, Clear Soft Matte. I will admit that even with a bit of disappointment, I still don’t think I’m EVER going to be one of those artists that will make tons of tiny test tiles and fire load after load of test firings. Especially since I have a STACK of those smallish tiles, I made over a year ago sitting on the bisque shelf... I’m one of those artists that will just be giving friends and family all my seconds (and thirds) for every conceivable Holiday. Spoiler Alert; Mom, your birthday is this month!!

Open Sesame...

WHEW! The kiln load of sgraffito fired beautifully. The underglaze colors really popped –I was happily surprised, especially with the red and yellow. Very fun and vivid. I know I shouldn’t be so doubtful, but I’m one impatient artist, especially for EVERY phase of working in clay. The hardest part is waiting for the kiln to properly cool before I pop the top. Which I did, I actually waited until my controller said it was below 150 degrees –I think that’s a waiting record for me. On several of the sgraffito trays I used highly textured borders that I may or may not have attached very well –but it turns out I did attach them well and when I slab rolled the clay, I may or may not have wedged it properly or long enough –but it turns out I did. No explosions or breakage yet… Up next is my most UNfavorite part –glazing –arrrggh. I’m using a Amaco Clear Matte ^04 which unfortunately needs to be brushed on as I don’t have enough for dipping –dipping seems like my kind of glazing!

Oh well. The goal of trying the higher fire clays and glazes will be buying bulk glaze and putting it in DIPABLE 5 gallon buckets. Keeping with the mood of patience my mantra will be; “I will apply three coats as the instructions recommend, I will apply three coats, I will apply three coats, AND LET EACH COAT DRY BEFORE THE NEXT COAT IS APPLIED… O o ohhhmmm!

Moonlighting

The kiln is loaded and firing away. I have the first load of sgraffito trays firing on a ^04 Fast Bisque schedule which should put the firing complete this evening and be able to open the kiln late tomorrow…if I’m patient. Tauzer had to have ear surgery a couple weeks ago and on Friday finally had the ear apparatus successfully removed and her ear is thankfully all healed. What better way to celebrate than a groom and bath! Not according to her but according to us. Before I actually started grooming her myself I used to think that a dog grooming business might be kind of fun –ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I’d go broke –or I’d have to charge $300 a dog –ha! Giant Schnauzer’s don’t shed per say, so their hair grows continually and can get matted and dreadlock-like if not maintained and should be groomed every couple of months. She’s very patient with the grooming part but isn’t

too happy about the bath part so she got one of her favorite treats, Yummy Chummies to entice her into the tub. Good girl. Of course the real work wasn't the bathing or grooming, although it kills my back. The real work is taking the ShopVac to all the cut hair in the shop -it looked like I gave free haircuts to every kid in Anchorage with black hair! THEN, it's the major bleach down cleaning of the bathroom. I swear, I'm so germ phobic, I used more bleach than a community pool does at Spring Break!

Nothing Like a Good Party of Artists to Cheer a Girl Up

I pulled myself out of my little funk on Friday. Partly due to the supportive blog comments from other artists, the afterglow from the Art Coffee party and partly due to just jumping right back into artmaking. The party Thursday night was a huge success and I even drew the lucky “#1” for our Chinese auction and I SWEAR it was total luck. There were even witnesses that I drew fair and square! Katie, her husband and I even established the rules of the auction BEFORE any alcohol was consumed. Man, o man do I love that Midnight Sun Brewery Kodiak Brown Ale! If any of you have ever had a Chinese auction, when there are coveted gifts, establishing the rules BEFORE the auction starts is paramount! Like limiting the number of times a gift can be exchanged and deciding does the “#1” person get to select any gift at the very end. And lucky for me, YES the “#1” person does get to select ANYTHING at the very end!! Every artist that came, brought a retro appetizer, beverage, artist trading cards and a gift ($25 or under) that had been made by themselves for the auction. There were WONDERFUL artworks to choose from, everything from handmade jewelry, fused glass, oil paintings, encaustics, illustrations, metal work to hand dyed silk.

We all agreed that many of our customers and clients would have killed to be in our auction! The gift I brought was one of my Good Fortune Pea Pods and it even got traded a couple of times. For the gift I selected, which was a hard decision, I chose an absolutely wonderful painting on board by Duke Russell, I am so sorry Katy W. (she's holding her short-lived prize in the top photo) but I HAD to have Duke’s piece and swiped it out of her hands at the very end of the auction. The photo of our Chinese auction gifts are sitting atop “Dog Table” one of Duke’s sculptures (Duke is wearing the white shirt) on display at the Upstairs Gallery and the photo of Katie Sevigny and myself holding my lucky “#1!” The party was hosted by the artists of The Upstairs Gallery in their very cool common room and was a perfect venue, thanks again Katie S. for hostessing. Everyone agreed the Soirée was a hit and we’re looking to hold another when the weather warms on their outdoor, rooftop deck. We're thinking tiki theme...

Last week it occurred to me that before I place my big mid-range clay order, I’ve never fired my kilns higher than ^04. I purchased both of them used with a brand new electronic kiln monitor and started out using lower fire clay. Though I’m sure it will be fine, rather than have a pallet load of ^6 clay sitting in my shop unable to be fired, I picked up two bags of the only ^6 clay the local ceramics lady had on hand, SP655 Alpine White. Shaking off my funk on Friday I made some more textural trays using this Alpine White and can test fire them at the higher temps after they are dry. I’d like to do some more sgraffito on them but will wait and see how these first ^04 trays come out next week.

My Chinese Auction Art by Duke Russell,

Isn't it wonderful?!

I Need A Party

With the month coming to an end it was time to finalize the details of the Half Moon Creek Anchorage Gallery closing. I’ll be picking up the few remaining pieces on Tuesday from the Gallery. Yes, Half Moon will be opening a Gallery in Palmer within the coming months, hopefully by May 1. But until then I’m bummed. Their closing has been much more depressing than I care to admit. I really owe it to the girls at Half Moon for getting my sculpture career off the ground eight years ago when Chris (one of the owners) noticed my metal work at an outdoor fair and told me about their new Gallery that was soon to open. This one gallery enabled me to sell enough of my artwork to more than pay the bills, buy more steel and become a real live working artist. Because of Half Moon I was able to unplug my mega-graphics systems network and plug in a plasma cutter and welder. My hands finally had a chance to create art and not punch a keyboard and draw with a mouse. Before their Anchorage Gallery opened, I was only a weekend art fair warrior, selling my metal garden art at craft fairs and events less than part-time. My 20+ year old successful graphic design business generated a terrific income, though I couldn’t go anywhere with out a laptop, Palm Pilot (yesterday’s iPhone) or a portfolio stuffed with client proofs strapped to my body. There were impossible deadlines, corporate to-do’s, demanding clients, new media to stay ahead of and no real hands-on artmaking in sight. I was thrilled to make the switch from Graphics Girl to Carhartt wearing Flame Chick. Sure, my income took a 50% hit in the beginning, but my mental and physical health immediately improved –just ask Daddy-O!

Over the last eight years, I’ve gotten spoiled on how I sell my sculptures locally. I make them, drive them literally down the street to Half Moon and they sell them. They send me a nice check BY THE 10^th of EACH and EVERY month. They filter the weird customers, put up with fussy customers, call me with special requests and commissions, they happily package, they carefully ship and they will even pick up a sculpture if Daddy-O has the truck that day. I’ve been in a bit of a funk and didn’t want to admit it was because of the closing, but it is. Karmatically I know how dangerous these “lows” can be for an artist, so I’m pulling straight out of it with a PARTY. Yes, tonight we’re throwing the first Art Coffee Soiree downtown. I’ve requested artists from our informal coffee group bring retro-themed* appetizers and BEVERAGES, artist made gifts for a Chinese auction and everyone is also bringing Artist Trading Cards to share.

*for the retro themed appetizers think fun frilly toothpicks, deviled eggs, spam, cheese balls, mini marshmallows, bbq meat balls, Little Smokies, Jell-O dishes gone wild, melon balls, potato chips, mixed nuts, cup cakes, popcorn balls or anything wrapped in bacon or dipped in hot Velveeta!

I’m already feeling a l i t t l e better, I just was notified that I won an Amazon Gift certificate from Lesley Riley’s Art Fabric Blog (via Judy’s Painted Threads Blog) and I know just what I’m buying!! In our house, food really is Love...

Watching Clay Dry

Working in clay can take so LONG! Wedge, make, apply three coats of this, dry, wait, fire, glaze, wait, fire and wait some more and hope the pieces haven’t exploded in the kiln because you haven’t waited long enough for drying or didn’t wedge the clay long enough –holy cow! The amount of time put into one piece can require a lot of dedication and PATIENCE. Working again with clay I’m quickly reminded to toss any need for instant gratification and quick completion of a piece out the window.

For successful clay projects there can be so many steps that all take attention and time. I’m feeling that prices for pottery are greatly undervalued. I’m reading through my favorite clay artist’s Blogs and am starting to better understand why so many potters work in volume production, stick to one type of clay body, limited palettes of glaze recipes and firing styles. It seems in working this way there can be a higher rate of success and a larger body of work in which to sell and make a living.

My main clay rack is now full of Tile White ^05 drying greenware. I’ll need to remind myself to be PATIENT and let the sgraffito trays dry before I fire them for the first time. Patience isn’t exactly my middle name, but I’m doing my best. It’s just that I’m so excited to see how some of these color underglazes are going to turn out and I’m even more excited to glaze the bisqued trays with some new matte and satin clear glaze I bought and see how they turn out. So see, I’m already IMPATIENT for two whole steps ahead!

For my latest sgraffito work I experimented with using some Duncan E-Z Strokes underglazes I had bought off Cr@igs List last year. I really liked how the Black and Midnight Blue flowed from my brush onto the greenware and loved carving the softened greenware. I’m worried that the first Amaco Black underglaze I used on the Raven sgraffito pieces isn’t going to be intense enough. I did paint the recommended three coats, PATIENTLY waited in between coats, so we'll see.

I’m hoping I can fire up the kiln loaded with sgraffito trays in a couple of days. The good news is that right now the Alaska winter air is really, really dry –tough on my skin but GREAT for my trays!

Octopus On Ice

It was mixed use mediums of metal and mud this week in the studio. The tip of my middle finger I use for drawing is REALLY sore from all the sgraffito work! Wrapping my tools in athletic tape cushioned my finger which helped, though a bit too late. I think I'm going to get some of those pencil cushions for my tools. I got the Octopus commission cut and welded and now it’s just chillin’ out on the deck! The client wanted a rust patina finish on the sculpture and in the middle of the cold, dry winter it’s a bit more difficult to achieve than in the warmer, wetter, summer months. The client also expressed a great interest in the eye of the Octopus be just right, so I

took care to create it as best as I could. Creating the eye was fun because it’s one of my favorite parts of the sculptures. The client had seen another one of my Octopus sculptures and had wanted hers to be very similar. Fortunately, I had a digital image on file of the piece she had seen to work from.

To speed up the oxidation process of creating a rust patina I clean the steel of any protective grease and oil (the mill ships all the steel with a thin coating of oil so it DOESN’T rust) by using Kaboom bathroom cleaner –I’d NEVER use this stuff on anything in my bathroom because it works that good on my metal!

Kaboom actually acts as a corrosive and a great base to the commercial rust patina I use. I originally bought it at FartMart because it was really cheap, then discovered how well it worked on my metal. The extensive warning label actually warns AGAINST using Kaboom on “frosted glass, brass, aluminum, galvanized metal, natural marble, stone, Mexican Terra Cotta tiles, reglazed surfaces, fabrics and carpet”…not sure what’s left in most bathrooms.

The only ingredients listed are “Contains organic acids and surfactant” which are just perfect for cleaning and prepping Mr. Octopus! To achieve a nice rust finish, I’ll “weather” the Octopus outside for a few days, intermittently spraying a saline solution and fine sanding the details of the sculpture. Eventually the rust will become encapsulated enough allowing me to spray an enamel finish on the back and a clear coat on the front, especially around the eye and the front will get a final, fine finish sanding. I welded a reinforced frame and hanging washers on the back so the client can easily hang indoors or out. Probably on Tuesday or Wednesday I’ll be able to hang picture wire on the back, wrap him up and put him in a large bicycle box shipped from Alaska to Louisiana with love. I'm sure he'll be glad to head for warmer climbs and thaw out a bit!

Gettin' Fired Up

The last of the Tile White ^05 clay was used up yesterday by deciding to make a few more slab trays to continue working on my sgraffito technique. Though I haven't found my sweet mini ribbon tools, I did bring out a whole set of sculpture carving tools I had kept with my sculpture supplies. The steel tools are used for working with hard surfaces but worked wonderfully on the new sgraffito pieces I made. I also pulled out some old issues of Pottery Making Illustrated and was inspired to try some cone shaped handles I saw in the September/Ocotber 2009 issue. In the article, artist Lana Wilson had created highly textural pieces and made these really cool looking cone-shaped handles from textured slab pieces. I didn’t have the right proportions and I think my cone-handles look a bit turd-like on the larger Raven tray!

Once the proportions are right, the cone handle process is really fun and artful looking. The sgraffito images I’m going to use on these new trays are going to be more colorful. I remembered

I had a small bin of various underglaze colors that I bought with that lot of used clay supplies last year. They are the right cone temp for this lower fire clay and should be fun to experiment with. While the new slab trays are slowly becoming leather hard, I have to fire the welder up to make a steel Octopus sculpture that’s going to be shipped to Louisiana. I wasn’t

thinking I'd be welding this week or even working in metal but the client needs the piece shipped by the first of February. It will all work out because I need to get the dust covers off the kilns and better organize the shop area where I weld and fire, before I fire the kilns again. It’s been so long since either of the kilns have been fired, I’ve broken one of my rules to not stack anything on top of the kilns and noticed there are quite a few specially cut metal pieces that I’ve “set aside” ON TOP of the kilns…