Authentic?

Earlier this year after a trip out west I commented on a pueblo we stopped at, which feature these small quails with beautiful and intricate symbols, which told a story in the Acoma culture.

Many of the natives were selling these quails, and I almost bought one, but snubbed when the price was told. I came home and regretted my decision, but after today, I wonder if maybe I DID perhaps make a good choice after all.

I have been trying to find a good white slip that will adhere to red earthenware without cracking away, but have been having no such luck, so I shot New Mexico Clay an e-mail asking if they had any suggestions seeing that their raw materials were some I was trying to replicate. Well, while browsing their site I came across some Duncan molds, and lo and behold I found this.

http://www.nmclay.com/Amazing/itemdesc.asp?ic=DM0760&eq=&Tp=

It's a ceramic quail mold, which looked very similar to those that the pueblo were selling. I will say, it took plenty of time for the locals to paint on their designs and patterns, but it REALLY got me thinking about the authenticity of hand building. I would have rather paid a fortune for something that was hand-built by their culture than something that was pre-casted. I was a bit disheartened in my finding today.

It taught me a good lesson for when I travel back out west this spring or summer...STUDY and get your facts straight. Buy from well known families in native american pottery and Buy from who you know is authentic, and those who show great artistic skill, and leave the mediocre for the tourists.

Carolyn Concho will still remain my favorite. I treasure my shard necklace I bought from her, and she was even cordial enough to explain the meaning behind it for me. Perhaps someday I can have one of her gorgeous pots, which modernize the traditional acoma pottery. Concho is a direct descendant from the famous Lucy Lewis.

Some dishes for your food for thought

Upon recent searching and browsing I came across Chris Campbell and one of her collections of dinnerware.

Rainbows in my opinion aren't very easy to make look cool. Seriously, you could easily end up on the two year old hearts, ponies, and princesses spectrum if you go too rainbow crazy, but Chris Campbell has developed a way in using colored slips, porcelain and inlays to create such beautiful and unique pieces.

I've linked her dinner ware set, to show the balance, and how all of her piece work together from the chargers, to the tiny drinking vessels. It all clicks, and promotes a playfulness, and vivacious liveliness to often cold, and chilling features that possess porcelain.

A lot of Chris' other pieces, and exhibits again display color for dull objects. She had one set that looks almost like a crustacean fossil, but with her play for color it brings a vividness, and interesting perspective to the main piece.

It's a lot more than just dumping some one color glaze on a piece, and calling it finished. Besides being able to see some inlay and color blocking in her pieces, there are some in which I am completely dumbfounded on, which in my opinion is what makes advanced potters so wonderful. Technique, technique, and a little bit of creativity.

Glazes and the Craigslist mold adventure.

Well, the guessing game is over. My pieces have been fired in the kiln, and I was surprised by some results, and of course mostly disappointed with the rest, which is why I have decided to move onto working with under glazes, and stains for a while. I only have a couple of pieces that I took pictures of the finished product. The rest have been packed up in a box for future refirings, or whenever I get around to them again.

I ran into a bit of a surprise this past week. I was reading up on a tutorial on Ceramic Daily Art’s site about using slip casting molds as push and peel molds with stained clay. I was intrigued, so I went about on Craigslist to see if anyone was getting rid of their surplus of ceramic molds, and boy was it my lucky day. I’m used to seeing ceramic molds on Craigslist, but they usually are around 10-15 molds, and the seller usually wants over $100 for the whole bulk lot, which I usually shake my head and say, “Oh well", and pass on and wait for something better.

I got lucky last week. I found a guy in New Albany whos Dad used to run a ceramic slip manufacturing company and he was posting on Craigslist trying to get rid of the vast amount they had accumulated. In fact, the pictures he posted did no justice. The guy had literally a small hardware store sized barn full of racks and racks and RACKS of ceramic molds and was only asking for a mere $20 per four shelf rack. So, I was running away with these $17-$100 a piece molds for a damage of $40 at the end of the evening. I managed to make out with around 35-40 molds.

(RIGHT PICTURE: Our newly found treasures. )

I felt like I was on American Pickers, rummaging through this old man's collection of molds. He must have had around a couple thousand of molds. I was like a kid in a candy store as my husband pulled me away from the racks and racks of molds. The guy’s son told me about when business was booming, and the processes they went through to make the ceramic slip. They were extremely friendly and helpful, which is something that's hard to come by on Craigslist with the "Buyer beware" mentality.

The trip was successful as I got what I was wanting. I was able to find a teapot mold AND a separate mold for tea pot spouts and tea pot lids. <-- (My absolute worst enemy) Also, I was able to locate a lot of plain molds for plates, vases.. etc.

So there was much shuffling around, cleaning, fighting off black widows and organizing in the basement at the Houston House, and I used some empty shelves in the basement to house my small collection, because I know I’m not going to use all of them, so I figured they’d work out good for maybe a future class, or if someone else enthusiastic such as myself drops by the art league.
(RIGHT PICTURE: A 1960's lamp Crest mold we snagged.)

Speaking of the Houston House, I must be doing something right, because I have been asked by some of the ladies to teach a ceramics class, and don’t let my timid outward appearance and emotions fool you, I am E-X-C-I-T-E-D!

This will also give me an excuse to order some Speed Ball ceramic underglazes for me to test and for the class, as they are easier to paint with and not as much of a hassle as my experience with Stoneware glazes. I've used SpeedBall Stoneware, and underglazes. I wasn't impressed with the Stoneware Glazes they produce as they look very opaque, and look much like you tried to color your piece with a permanant marker. However, I was told the underglazes they produce with a stoneware top glaze usually turn out flawless.

Happy Trails until next time!

Guessing Game.

I'm hosting a guessing game for the next pieces I'm going to show. These pieces have been glazed in a couple of glazes, and are waiting to be fired in the kiln. Take a look at them, and decide what color they're going to turn out, and you'll see the finished product most likely within next week sometime.

I think most of you will be surprised at the outcome.

These next pieces have a concoction of ceramic slip and black pigment, or stain as it's called in the ceramic world.

And finally, a new piece called "The Heartstrings that bind us together."