With the flip of the calendar from October to November(!) I’m on countdown till the big Bad Girls of the North Show which opens at 4pm on Friday… Less than 3 days of production left –yikes. It seems like there were still so many other fun pieces I wanted to make. There are clearly not enough clay with steel works made. Originally, I had BIG plans to
introduce my new medium of clay at Bad Girls but I didn’t do a very good job of juggling “mixing of the mediums” very well at all this year. Heavy sigh –so much art to make, so few 28-hour days. My stomach always gets a bit rumbly-tumbly and does flip-flops starting a whole week before a show. I’ve been working hard and diligently planning my artmaking but I’m never sure if I’ve made the right stuff or even enough stuff. There are only so many forming, welding, firing, glazing, finishing, painting, drying days left now, so a few things that were on my “want to make for Bad Girls” list have been crossed completely off.
One of the clay and steel sculptures that I really wanted to finish and DID finish -yippee, was “Tired Old Moon.” When I looked in the archive to see when I first Blogged about Mr. Moon I would have never guessed it was last January! Holy cow, where did time go?!
When I finished the Magpie sculpture last week, I was inspired as to how to make a stand for “Tired Old Moon.” Both sculptures are free standing, welded to round, 14” steel plate bases and are about 6’ tall. The Moon can slip on and off the steel stand through a fist size hole in the back of the Moon. He was formed using Tile White clay, fired at ^04 in my electric kiln and I used an Amaco Matte aqua glaze.
O.K. I admit my muscles (and Tauzer's too!) are moving a bit slower today than normal and it’s not from all the steel I’ve been slinging! Saturday, on Halloween Gus wanted us to look for ghosts up at Crow Creek Mine in Girdwood. The mountain scene photo was taken up at Crow Pass Trail, where we took him up to the trail head to see if he could see any apparitions. With no sign of spooky spirits in the bright sunshine, we headed back down the mountain toward the trailhead of
the Iditarod National Historic Trail which extends from Girdwood to Eklutna. His voice echoed in the frozen boreal forest “If any of you miner ghosts are out there, just give me a sign –even if it is a creepy one!” That had Derek and I biting our tongues not to laugh out loud as we hiked along the Winner Creek Gorge Trail. The reward was reaching the hand tram and crossing Winner Creek. Thankfully, Daddy-O has Popeye arms and pulled me back across after I got a picture of the creek!
5 comments:
That all looks so much fun! Nice to hear a real Alaskan voice too! Good luck with the Bad Girls exhibition.
Your pieces look so great on those stands. Makes me want to try some steel! I love the mining place, way different from the place we spent our Halloween, isn't it!
wow great tone in the vid....time for a break now all that works done??
happy showing..
I remember Mr. Moon, he turned out great and I like the magpies too, these mixed clay and steel pieces you do are great. Do you pad the steel spike which is inserted into the clay moon? I think it is a good idea to make it removable so it can be transported easier. Wonderful work and love the snow photos, now with my new computer I should be able to listen to the video.
Thank you Peter! Kind of embarrassing to admit, but I didn't realize that my camera had a video component on it until this weekend!! So stay tuned for more real Alaskan sounds -ha!
I showed the family your Halloween post of the street party Tracey!! What a great time that would have been! I so wanted to fire the Moon in a White Raku glaze -wouldn't that have been the bomb a black and white contrast on his face details?!! Your work would really look cool being combined with steel. I've been closely following your pursuit of what kind of clay to settle with -I'm in the same boat. Trying to find a suitable higher fire clay for sculpture stuff... arrrggh!
I wish Ang! I'm still painting a whole flock of Garden Ravens for the Show!! Then it's pricing and tagging! I'll be able to "rest" on Sunday after a huge amount of Margarita's Saturday night after the show closes!!
Hi Linda! No, I did not pad the inside of Moon but I thought about it. I gently squeezed the upright round stock to create a bit of tension and the way the 3 sticks were welded he fits really snugly. you are right, it was better to be able to remove him easily for transport. I originally thought of adding some white, fluffy fiber fill coming out and around him to look like clouds but it looked too cluttery. I'm still getting the hang of mixing the mediums -but it's fun! I'm just ready to find a higher fire clay body to work with. So much experimenting needs to be done with the clay -I admire all you potters out there!!!
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