Regular Joes vs. The Volcano...

This first image was taken on our flight down to Seattle with no volcanic ash in the air. Today we are hoping to be as lucky as we try and make our way back to Anchorage. The second image was taken during a observation and gas data collection flight yesterday, looking at the north flank of Mt. Redoubt Volcano. Image courtesy of AVO/USGS.

"Alaska Airlines Travel Advisory: Anchorage flights are now operating on a limited schedule due to Mount Redoubt."

"Alaska Volcano Observatory: 2009-03-31 12:58:20 Continuous emissions of steam, volcanic gases, and minor amounts of ash continue at Redoubt Volcano, and have been visible in the Redoubt Hut web camera images throughout

the day. These emissions have been generally at low level altitudes, less that 15,000 feet above sea level but occasionally rise as high as 25,000 feet. Satellite images from this moring show a broad layer of volcanic haze extending east of the volcano over the Kenai Peninsula, the Anchorge Bowl, and the Matanuska-Sustina Valley. Satellite images from last night show a thermal anomaly at the vent and are possible due to the extrusion of a lava dome in the summit crater."

Some more GREAT art I saw at Fireworks Gallery was made by artist Jim Mullan. These birds were FANTASTIC. My favorite was a large, black Crow. I have always abided by the artist and gallery golden rule of NO PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE GALLERY. But on this trip to Seattle it was REALLY HARD! I saw so many great works that I wanted to share with everyone.

I resisted the urge to whip out my camera phone and opted to

look for other images of work created by Jim Mullan, so I could spread the good word of this gifted artist and share his work. The vintage bird collection was inspired by his fascination with birds and antique objects. The crows were used as hunting decoys in the 30's and 40's and the smaller birds were carved in the 1950's. You will also find other unusual relics used in his work such as croquet balls, old toys, vintage rulers, jewelry and more, giving each bird their own personality. 

Sculptural Sightseeing in Seattle

For now, the volcano is not in an eruption phase. A little huffing and puffing with steam plumes...but we're keeping our fingers crossed the airport will stay open so we can get back to Anchorage from Seattle. A handful of my artist friends who are glass makers and potters told me they are collecting the ash that fell in the Anchorage area for use in their art. Can't wait to see some of the results.

The Pacific Northwest has an incredibly large artist population. The galleries, outdoor sculpture,

ure, public art, studios and architectural design is fresh and invigorating. Artworks I've seen in very cool shops such as Fireworks (one of my longtime favorite haunts) has inspired me to try some new ideas and designs. Though my offspring are growing up, another new favorite store I visited was The Land of Nod. So sweet! I did find (and buy) a great book for the youngest "The Kid Who Named Pluto -and other stories of other extraordinary people in science" by Marc McCutcheon. 

On an outing in the Seattle U-District we came upon this cool sculpture. The entire outdoor sculpture is made of cast metal and titled "Lifes Motion" by Brad Rude, 2004. 

More Explosive Eruptions and Ash Fall

We are still in Seattle and have a few days before we need to return to Anchorage, which may be good considering that the Alaska Volcano Observatory released information on the latest blast. "Another explosive eruption of Redoubt volcano occurred at approximately 15:29 AKDT. NWS reports a radar cloud top above 35,000 ft above sea level. Seismicity is still quite elevated." The Alaska Volcano observatory is now on Twitter. For ash fall advisories, refer to the National Weather Service Redoubt Coordination web page. The volcano images are from the March 27 and March 28 eruptions as captured by Dennis Anderson, taken from near Homer, Alaska.

Before I left for Seattle I was able to pop the kiln lid on the laser decal test pieces and take a couple of quick pictures. What I did (due to my tight schedule) is I applied duplicate decals over the first faded decals and refired lower and slower. I know this really wasn't the best way to get solid results but I hated wasting the pieces that didn't fire so well. In my larger kiln, it appears that lower and slower will work better for firing -kiln controller set to Slow Glaze setting at only ^07. This isn't actually a fair test and will require a few more firings to confirm my hypothesis because of the success that 

the first round of laser decals had when I used the Majolica gloss glaze. PLUS, I added the same small butterfly decal on the "Frog Prince" plate that had successfully fired on the Majolica, and when fired on the Matte glaze it wasn't nearly as clear and dark...hmmm. I'm really thinking the trouble lies with the decals being fired on my favorite Matte glazes. Bummer. So that means I need to crank out a few more pieces of ware and use some of my other glossy glazes -which I don't like as much. Hopefully the volcano will let me get back into the studio sooner rather than later!

'Thar She Blows!

Mt. Redoubt finally erupted after a few intense weeks of seismologists and staff at the Alaska Volcano Observatory being on high alert. Air traffic was either cancelled or diverted yesterday and again last night after the volcano blew ash 60,00 feet into the air.  Last night's blast was the sixth such explosion since Sunday March 22, when Mt. Redoubt first erupted sending a volcanic plume into the air. As of 1:00 pm today Aviation color code remains Red. Alaska Airlines listed that flights in and out of Anchorage have resumed, which is good news for us because we are going to Seattle again and our flight (hopefully) is scheduled to leave early this evening....

The above image was taken from the AVO webcam on March 23, 2009. Image courtesy of AVO/USGS.

Mixed Results Using Ceramic Laser Toner Decals

Well, my decals didn't turn out quite as good as Cynthia's! Mistakenly, I originally set the kiln controller to Fast Glaze ^02, and in a panic, I had to stop the firing at about 800 degrees when I realized I meant to set the kiln to a fast glaze and at ^06. I think this had something to do with the majority of the images "lifting off" or looking like they got too hot beacuse the decals on the matte glaze pieces were very faint. All pieces were on the same shelf and the only items firing in the kiln. I am re-firing right now, slower and lower at a Slow Glaze Fire ^07... so we'll see. Linda Arbuckle's article has some possible trouble shooting solutions as well. "Laser-printed decals for ceramic use, by Linda Arbuckle, University of FL ceramics."

Getting back into clay, I wanted to see what the current trends and processes were. For me, reading any books, magazines, Blogs, publications etc. is my favorite vehicle for absorbing information, so I immersed myself in whatever I could get my hands on -the more non-traditional the clay process, the better. One of the books I checked out from the library that piqued my interest was "Image Transfer On Clay" by Andrew Wandless.

The use of transfers on clay interested me because in my past 20+ years as a graphic designer, I have an extensive library of "legal" copyright free images and original graphics. If I incorporated my designs into my clay work, I thought this may contribute to my work's originality. Combined with the good fortune of having the latest in graphic design software (Adobe CS3) and my MacBook Pro laptop, I feel good hardware and software helps to produce successful results using artful decals and transfers. First, 

I purchased a package of decal paper from Bel Decal paper on line. It arrived in a plain brown box from Florida with no real instructions, other than a reminder to remove the protective tissue before hand feeding the card stock into your laser printer. To be honest, I wasn't sure I even had ordered the right stuff! The most important piece of equipment, besides the decal paper, is using the right printer, or more specifically, the right toner, which has enough metal oxides to sustain in firing, and fortunately I have an old, large HP 4500 full color laser jet printer.

When I printed the decals I turned all of the images to black or grayscale in Photoshop and output only in black and not CM

YK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) because my printer is a full color printer. Cynthia recently purchased a very affordable HP p1006 laser printer in which the single black toner toner worked perfectly. Once you have filled a page with your designs and printed the page out, the application is pretty straight forward. Trim the paper close to the image, soak in warm water and slide onto your surface, blot dry and squeegee smooth. The peices I used were made using tile white clay bisque fired to ^04, matte and majolica glazes fast fired to ^05, then decal fired using fast glaze ^06 (which I think I goofed up). 

Here are some GREAT additional resources for using decals on ceramics: Justin Rothshank's Decalware, and Rothshank Artworks. On the Rothshank Artworks web site, click on the link pmirothshank.pdf for a great article printed in Pottery Making Illustrated March/April 2008 "Breaking the Rules -Pushing the Limits With Decals." There are vivid examples, resources, step-by-step 

instructions, applying to wood-fired ware and also how the decals work on unfired clay -which I didn't know you could do. Here is also a link to a Video from Ceramicsartsdaily.org with Justin applying decals and demonstrating the process.

Ahhhhh-laska! The Vernal Equinox

We may not have any crocus or daffodils popping up like at Mom & Dad's, but Spring in Alaska is still beautiful. The days are finally longer now. Last night walking Tauzer-Schnauzer the sun was shining and reflecting off Chester Creek, near our house. People were out, happy to be walking, skate-skiing and jogging on the Anchorage Coastal Trail. The daylight has brought a much needed attitude adjustment and people along the trail actually said hello to us! The high was still a brisk 29 degrees BUT, the sunrise was at 7:59 am and the Sunset was 8:15 pm, for total daylight hours of 12 hours, 16 minutes -yipee, we made it!!!

The glaze firing went well. A couple of

experiments worked and I was pleased with the matte glaze on two of the "Woobie Souls," pictured here. Though my glazing skills are still not that great, and in all hon

esty there may be a serious lack of "glaze desire" on my part. A gloss, dark blue (Speedball commercial glaze) doesn't look as good as the matte finishes. When I use the matte finishes, their velvety finish makes you 

want to hold and gently rub the bodies of the sculptures. Their softness lends the piece a quietness and overall subtlety that I wanted to convey.  The glossy, shiny glaze, in my opinion looks too reflective, slick and bright. I do like that Blue Speedball gloss glaze on some of the Sea Tiles. Everything was fast glaze fired at ^04. The real Blog news is that I finally got to try the ceramic laser decals today! I have a few test peices in the kiln RIGHT NOW -I'll post the process as soon as I can safely pop the lid on the kiln...

One Old Mushroom!

While taking pictures of Mom's beautiful, Pacific Northwest Spring flowers, hidden among the budding Tulips was Mr. Toadstool! This old mushroom is about 30 years old. It was easy to calculate his age because I made him in my high school pottery class! He's about 6 inches tall and I think made from stoneware. What was interesting and a bit weird to me was the design of his face looks very similar to the new moon's face I'm making...  Along with the Crocus, Mini-Daffodils, Primrose and Tulips, Mom grows luscious Succulents. I love the creative containers she uses and all of her plants seem so happy. I wish the Alaska climate was a bit more hospitable so I could grow Succulents year round.

The Bird TLC fundraiser is this weekend. I read in the newspaper this morning that their famous "Cash-Crow" is named "Kodi," after Kodiak Island where he originally was from. Other fundraisers I'm contributing

artwork to this week are the Catholic Social Services Charity Ball and the Anchorage Concert Chorus. Donating to the CSS Charity Ball is easy for me to support because of the various programs CSS funds and operates, especially Clare house, which provides temporary emergency shelter for women and women with children. Though it may not always be financially convenient to write a contribution check, I can always make art for good causes.

It appears the bisque load of new "Woobie Souls" and other work fired successfully. I was surprised that the new Raku clay I used fired to a pinkish color. It started as a grayish ^04 clay with more grog in it than the Tile White I was also using. I took a quick picture after I opened the lid this morning, I'll unload the kiln and glaze today after I drop off the donations to CSS and Anchorage Concert Chorus. Among the "Woobie Souls" is a pinch style goblet that the youngest son made (inspired after too many Indiana Jones movies...) and the tile on the far right was made by the middle son and says "Love Life" -

I thought that was a good mantra to live by. 

Freeways, Ferry's and Crocus, Oh My!

We went to Seattle this week and had the chance to visit my folks on the Olympic Peninsula. It was a bit of a culture shock, in a few hours to go from skiing and stargazing in Girdwood, to the hectic city  and driving in the traffic of Seattle's I-5. Seeing the peace and calm of where my parents live, green grass and my Mom's Crocus and Mini Daffodils bloom blotted out images of freeways and concrete. Mom has an amazing garden and though the ground isn't quite ready for her prized Dahlia's, she will soon grow them to the size of dinner plates. Seeing my folk's studio was inspiring, it made me want to make some more of my Shrine-a-rella's. Both of my parents are creative, mom originally worked in ceramics and now enjoys paper toll. Dad worked in copper and now makes assemblages. Dad and I share and send each other any extra treasures we come across for our found object sculptures and I could really use some glazing and brush instructions from Mom. Their studio work area was loaded with treasures, supplies and projects. I know where I get my tidiness and need for organization from...I thought it was from being a Virgo, but it cannot be denied, it is in the DNA!

The Sow Jumped Over the Moon

The first moon sculpture I made called "Tired Old Moon"  fired nicely, but my (lack of) glazing ability left him looking too mottled for me. I decided to make another moon sculpture but added a little fat pig and called this one "The Sow That Jumped Over the Moon." I will wire the fat little piggy so it arches up and jumps over the yawning moon. This moon turned out bigger than I intended and needed newsprint stuffing for form, propping, some drying to the leather hard stage and special support before I could begin the detail work. I used a ^04 Raku Clay. I just might have to ask my friend Gina if we can have a Raku day...

Here is a picture of new stamps I ordered. The folks at The New Printers Workshop who made me the stamps did a 

great job. I have a couple of more simple chops made from potters plaster as well, and some simple stamps, but wanted a stamp with my Nautilus and name on one. There are a few sculptures where I'd like my name stamped on them and not just the mark. Though not traditional for clay purists, I've found that customers who are not familiar with various marks appreciate being able to easily read who the artist is that made the piece.

Take Care of the Tools That Take Care of You

Here is a picture of four new "Woobie Souls" I made this week. First, I hand form the details in their faces using a variety of tools, then I slab roll the various "wrapping blankets." Most of the "Souls" are formed around recycled 20 oz. espresso cups. Joe and Christy from Windy Ridge Pottery recently shared their favorite throwing tools, inspired after Brandon Phillips did the same. Finding just the right tool has forced me to get innovative when it comes to wanting custom implements. I've read and observed in other studios that almost all artists, especially clay artists, end up forming their own tools from various raw and benign sources like CD's, Popsicle sticks, pencils or chicken wire to make that perfect mark or create that signature form. A few of my favorite wood trimming tools and ribs were gifted to me by mentors, teachers and experienced potters. I like to think that these gifted tools came with a special energy and experience that they're ready to share with me. I even scored an entire utility cartload of tools, glazes and various kiln parts from a garage sale for $15. Once washed up and sorted I now have plenty of extra tools for workshops or to gift to other artists just starting out.

A few months ago at the craft store, I purchased several cake decorating tools that I thought would be perfect to use in clay. A group of tools that's seen a lot of use lately is a Fondant Paste Tool Set that I use to make the face details on the "Souls." Another is a Spiral Pattern Roller that I roll onto some of the slab blankets of the sculptures. Though I prefer natu

ral materials, especially wood, the precise details cut into the plastic tips of the Fondant tools are hard to replicate. I took a quick picture of some of my tools (after their bath) I used this week -all clean if only for the moment!  Another tool I love the feel of is my navy blue French Silicone Rolling Pin, (also in the photo) I got from Seattle Pottery Supply. I was taught early by my folks to take care of those things around me, no matter how small. Sometimes I listened to their advice, and well, other times... Thank goodness I valued and did take care of most of my old art supplies. One of the best wooden trim tools is from a set that my parents had to buy me for a high school ceramics class. I've never seen one quite like it, fits my hand perfectly and the wood is smooth and has an oil patina from age. Whenever I go to use it, it's like meeting an old friend.

Cross Country Snow

It seemed this week that white was the color seen across the country. With power outages, closures and freezing temps, some artists in the South were not pleased. Rather than post more beautiful Northern winter images, here is one reminding me that green will soon be seen here in Alaska. And as requested, this is the famous Tauzer Schnauzer last summer covered in grass seed after a romp along Glacier Creek.

Yesterday I delivered some donation pieces around town

for various fundraising auctions. It was a pleasure to get out and see where other people work and was a good reminder of how hard it is for non-profits to sustain their efforts. One of my favorite stops was at the Bird Treatment and Learning Center. I donated a Raven Wall Sculpture for their upcoming "For The Birds" event on March 21. I met the coolest Black Crow (not to be confused with a Raven) who is an education bird for the Center. He was so beautiful, all black and shiny, his intelligence and incredible beauty inspired me to create a future piece of art of him! 

This may be a secret surprise for the upcoming fundraiser, but a handler at Bird TLC was teaching the Crow to take dollars and drop them into a container!! The Crow was getting so good at it he didn't want to stop -who wouldn't, the reward was fresh meal worms. The folks at Bird TLC are calling him their "Cash Crow!"

Blue Bird Day

After the storm yesterday dumped more than a foot of snow here in Girdwood, the skies are clear blue today. With no cloud cover, it is a cool 12 degrees outside but has made the snow conditions on the mountain perfect for the North Face Vertical Challenge. The bird feeders are busy, busy, busy with little birdies having Sunday Brunch and knocking seeds everywhere. Tauzer (my Giant Black Schnauzer) is keeping an eye on all of the bird action -she'd rather be outside chasing snowballs, but with her new, short haircut she'll have to wait till later when it warms up.

Here are some pictures of the dry pieces ready to bisque fire. I tried a new Raku clay and another White Tile clay -both around ^04. I won't have an extra-full bisque load to fire, which economically, I normally would like to do, but afterwards I'll have enough glazed pieces for a more than full glaze load. The smallish slab bowls I made have sea themed textures pressed onto the insides and I made the bases using sprig-style shells and starfish. The Raven tile was freehand sculpted and if it fires nicely might make a good mold. We'll see. I've got this beautiful, new black matt glaze that I thought would be perfect for some Raven pieces.