Thursday, June 24, 2010

Centering



Anybody who knows me and/or reads this blog regularly knows that my attention span is as long as an ant's. This is not something I'm proud of. I seem to switch styles every two weeks. I come up with the best idea ever and I'm off - trying to master something new and completely different. This summer I am attempting to change my ways, to focus and work in a more directed way...attempting to center my head as well as my pots.

So far this hasn't been too difficult because of two reasons:

1. I decided NOT to take any workshops this summer. I am a self professed "workshop whore" and will take anything that looks even vaguely interesting. I live in the mountains in the summer and Sierra Nevada College has a wonderful program of visiting artists. Look at the great folks they have this year- Sequoia Miller, John Britt, Linda Christianson... Oh, man these workshops look interesting to me. However every class means I go spinning off in a new inspired direction. With GREAT self control I am staying put in my cabin studio this summer and not participating. I can go to the free Tuesday "Meet The Artist Night" and get my groupie fix that way .
2. I got a huge (for me) reorder from Gumps ...YAY! This order requires me to make the same little bowl (pictured above) 25 times, the same 2 vases 6 times, the same 2 compote bowls 6 times. For a girl with CADD (ceramics attention deficit disease) this could prove to be very difficult. So far I've got the bowls made. The rest are a bit more challenging as I have never had to really duplicated the same work twice. Thankfully I took photos before the original work was delivered. This ought to keep me busy for awhile. If it doesn't center me nothing will.

Monday, June 07, 2010

Cluck...

I got a nice order for rose bowls the other day and I began rolling and rolling and rolling. I actually enjoy this labor intensive process, it's quiet, meditative. I joke I am getting "rose butt" as it requires sitting for long periods of time and I can feel my already rather large ass getting larger as I settle into my comfy chair.

I have always glazed these pieces with a creamy satin "white" glaze that is a close match for my clay body. If the spraying of the glaze misses a bit underneath where the roses attach, no one is the wiser. I have always dreamed of doing pieces in red (and maybe even black) but have stopped short of applying the color as the pieces take so frigging long to make. I was scared to risk losing one to an experiment in color. Last week I took a deep breath and filled my sprayer with a satin cherry red.

Take a look....a lesson learned for me...stop being such a chicken.