I wonder what's next...

I feel like a weight has been lifted off of me.  :)  I have one final order to submit to UncommonGoods and I will be FINISHED!  I wasn't able to produce as much as I had originally hoped, so I have lots of boxes left, but those will eventually come in handy, right?

I also won't be teaching a summer class at the Clay Spot.  I think all of the stress from all of my extracurricular activities was impeding my creative juices, because now I feel excited to create my other work and it's coming at a really good time too.  I only have...basically two weeks to make my pieces for the Roswell show. Eek!  I've got to get it done.

I completed my cloud bowl mold last night, but I wasn't able to get the prototype off of the second half and there was some sticking issues with the first half, but they weren't as bad as the first mold.  I'm pretty excited to cast.

I re-fired the plates, but what I anticipated happening didn't.  The decals were stable, but the bubbles didn't go away.  I am doing one more test, and hoping that it works.  The first cone 6 glaze firing was fine.  I then decaled the pieces and that's when the black glaze bubbled.  Just re-firing didn't work so I added more black glaze all over one of the pieces and then added a clear glaze to the outside of one to see if that would help to encourage the bubbles to melt.  I get to see the results of my tests today.

Introducing Big Brother and Little Sister

I'm not sure how long it's going to take me to adapt to this way of thinking.  I have always waited on a kiln to be available.  For the past few years, I've had to pack up the work, transport it to the kiln, unpack it and then load it into the kiln. Rinse and repeat in between firings.

Last night I decided on a whim to re-fire some of my UG plates that had bubbled to see if the glaze would melt properly.  All I had to do was walk the plates from my garage to the kiln.  It was so simple!  The more exciting part was that I fit 18 plates into the large kiln!  I was anticipating only being able to fire 8 plates at a time, but once again the ingenuity of a potter prevails. ;) I started it last night at 10pm, so I will see how long it will take for the kiln to reach cone 6.

I am testing to see if the glaze on the plates will melt again.  The decals are what I am expecting to be problematic.  My hope is that the iron oxide doesn't move too much during the firing, so that I can just realign the new decals with the old ones and re-fire to cone 04.  ::crosses fingers::

I've got to say, at first I was pretty disappointed with the small size of the larger kiln (let's call him Big Brother).  I was already thinking of how I was going to pay and install an L&L Easy Fire e28t-3 (my dream kiln) after I had just gotten the electrician to install these two!  Now, I am rethinking that all together.  It's pretty amazing how much you can fit into a kiln when you really take time to organize.  Also, the smaller kiln runs on less amperage, therefore, less electricity, therefore, less money.  Another thing that I simply adore is that the kiln has a sitter.  With digital kilns, you hear the clicking of the relays "on and off", "on and off." I was sitting outside last week when I was firing my test kiln (let's call her Little Sister) and I felt the subtle warmth of the kiln and saw the orange glow.  It was really comforting, kind of like sitting near a wood kiln on a cool night.  The feeling reminds me that the whole process of ceramics has its treasurable moments and that's why I love being a ceramic artist.  So in other words, I really enjoy my kilns and I look forward to becoming familiar with their firing schedule.

Caged Bowl

Just fired this in my test kiln!  :) One of the chains broke, but I think that I needed to remake this piece anyhow.  The chains aren't flexible, which is something to consider if I were to ever ship this to a gallery; these would break in a heartbeat.

Inspiration

In my web search for patterns and designs, I stumbled upon this:

It's a ceramic cloud stool!  Love it. :)

See more here.

UG, Kilns, and Roswell...

I'm a little tired right now because I stayed up a little later than normal last night packing a few pieces to be shipped to UG.  I recently had the great misfortune of under-firing my plates in the decal firing.  In my last experience, I lost quite a few plates when I had to re-fire and that's what happened in the this batch.  There was weird bubbling on the black glaze on the back, so instead of sending them 20 plates, I could only send them 8. :(  I am going to try to re-fire some of those again and see what happens.

Speaking of re-firing...

look who got her kilns hooked up!  I got an electrician out to look at the connection on Thursday, and he was out hooking up the kilns on Saturday!  It is such a luxury to have a kiln at my house where I don't have to rely on anyone else's schedule.  Since they are on my back porch, I'm going to add clear plastic over a few of the screens so that there won't be any water damage to mah babies.  I have ordered kiln shelves and posts that I hope to get in the mail by the end of this week (c'mon Clay King!).  The only unfortunate thing is that I didn't realize that the larger kiln's inside diameter was so small.  I will only be able to fit one plate per shelf.  A friend recommended that I should use plate setters, so I have a few of those ordered as well.  I will see how those work with the clouded beasts.  

In other news, I think having my kilns hooked up has reignited my motivation to make new work for the Roswell show.  I've felt so overwhelmed during the past few weeks (months maybe), that when the weekend rolls around I just want to sit and veg in front of a book or the TV.  I need to figure out a balance between working on my new work and UG, so that I don't feel burnt out.  I have a couple of great ideas that I really want to start creating.  I don't have lots of time left to make pieces, but I'm going to try!  Here is the post card for the show (June 8-August 10).  

Excitement and a bit of boasting...

I got my prototype back from the printer.  It is so exciting!  Here are two different angles of the prototype (please excuse the crummy photoshopping).  I have a few more steps to take before I can make the mold.  I have applied a primer and sanded using everything from 110-400 grade paper.  I need to fill in some of the seams from the printer and sand some more and then I can make the mold tomorrow.

And finally, after all that hard work, UG commission is almost through and I am finally reaping the benefits.  Besides getting paid for the work, publicity is the next best thing. :)  If you don't have a catalog, get one today!

The Gulfstream Experience

At SCAD, we have a very amazing building, Gulfstream, that houses the furniture and industrial design majors.  I have been submerged in that community recently because I am involved with a few projects there.  

For my first project, I am learning how to weld.  I am creating two custom made glaze carts (see incredible depiction below) that will accommodate a small space that is at the end of two tables in the room. 

I met last Friday with a very capable individual at Gulfstream to begin the welding process. I would just like to insert here, that just because I'm a ceramicist, doesn't mean that I'm a pyromaniac.  It was quite interesting trying to use a Mig welder that leaves a spray of steel everywhere, but I kinda enjoyed it after I got the hang of it.   I learned how to make coils and dots.  It was a very basic session, but I decided to assemble my tests into an interesting piece of junk, which now serves as a business card holder residing in my office.

  

Email me for details on how to purchase this wonderful and one of a kind piece of artwork. :)

For my next project, I am assisting our Ceramic Tableware Design Class in a collaborative project with a Furniture Design class Accessories for Living.  The first part of the project is to create a prototype of the form you want to make using 3D modeling software.  I created the raw bones of my cloud bowl in Adobe Illustrator and I emailed my design to Justin, the technician in Gulfstream who is assisting the class as well. He is familiar with Rhinoceros (one type of software, which I would love to learn how to use one day), so he took my drawings and creates these:

I will get to "print" this prototype by using a FDM (fused deposition modeling) plastic printing.  There is a particular machine that prints this shape in a closed chamber. It divides the shape into layers and builds each one at a time.  I then have to sand the prototype to erase the appearance of the layered marks, but after that, I will get to use this form to make a plaster mold.  This will then become a ceramic bowl that I intend to function as a dessert bowl (think banana split or ice cream sundae).  I will get to print this week and start sanding soon.  

The advantage to using this type of system is that I can get an exact prototype free of any unwanted marks or undercuts in a few simple steps.  Typically you would either make the shape by hand or use a found object.  I like this system because it incorporates both of these aspects.  I'm way too excited about this.

Other good news, I have shipped 84 plates to UG.  I am firing 25 more right now and hopefully I can glaze those this week so I can have those shipped out by late next week.  Almost there...!