Rejuvenate 3 of 3

An older wheel thrown piece fired with Mayco Cobblestone. REALLY neat stuff.

I was able to attend a workshop hosted by Lisa Bare Culp at her studio for glazing and it was AMAZING and so beneficial. Lisa is the head ceramic artist for Mayco glazes right here in the heart state, so she spends most of her day testing glazes and testing glazes, and testing some more glazes and different combos, and the results are amazing.

One of Lisa's gorgeous pieces.

I was at this past years Winterfair helping a friend out and she introduced me to a good potter friend who asked who I was taking classes from. I said Lisa’s name, and he said, “You’re in wonderful hands.” It’s true—I can’t complain and last night confirmed it. I can’t wait to see the finished tiles we created and I REALLY can’t wait to start stocking up my Mayco inventory. I have a few of their glazes and they’re great commercial glazes.

Anyways—I am back in the studio after a winter hiatus and in between the craziness, but it feels great.

Some test tiles of some really old toxic glazes. No wonder they're so pretty.

Part of a painting I've been working on for a southwestern painting set. Made me think of the test tiles from all the different colors.

A potter's wishlist...

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me.... well, a lot of things.

In the past couple years, the holidays seem to be anything but joyous and plentiful. My husband and I have no exchanged gifts on Christmas for the past couple years, because we have both been so broke, and it came down to, "Do I buy the DVD set he's been wanting, or do we pay the electric bill?"

Neither of us really NEEDED anything. Who gives a crap about phones, ipads, and MP3 players? They're short lived electronic devices... certainly nothing I get giddy about.

As I regained my interest in ceramics this past January, I have come to see the expenses of buying clay, glaze, slip, stain, molds, etc...

So if Santa were to ask me what I wanted from Christmas, then here's a quick list. Nothing fancy, but just some essentials, and then some.

Bamboo tools' Siphon Blower (See a couple entries down about what it is)

Naomi Cleary tumblers

Carolyn Concho bowl--

Shimpo VLITE Potters Wheel

(5)-12" drilled plastic batts (10" drilled holes)

Now--- For the fun part

GLAZES!!!

MAYCO Jungle Gem glazes (Non Toxic) ALL OF THEM

MAYCO UG-19(Electra Blue Underglaze)

MAYCO UG-50(Black underglaze)

MAYCO UG-51(White underglaze)

MAYCO SW-101 (Stoned denim Stoneware)

MAYCO SW-104 (Black Walnut Stoneware)

MAYCO writer bottle and tip (18ga)

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So yes, I have a list of wants a needs... now if only I could find such a generous Secret Santa....

If I don't write before... Happy Holidays to you and yours!!

UPDATES--UPDATES---UPDATES

Whee! Updates! First off, as I am typing this the kiln is getting all wired up and ready to fire, which is GREAT, because I bought some red low fire clay after checking our CAD's story about potter Daniel Ricardo Teran who uses such a simple technique, but BOY what talent does he have!? I am absolutely inspired from his studio to the techniques and meanings behind his work. A lot of Daniel's work displayed on his site depict the works of a man caught in between a tin foil hat, and an environmentalist... but it's all in good flavor.

Another cool thing I discovered was this Siphon Blower, which makes penny pinching potters like myself drool. With this product there is no need for an expensive air compressor, and then the expensive gravity fed spray guns. All you need is this helpful gadget and a good set of lungs. Genius!

WELL, look at that purdy pot sitting on my work desk! Yep, this is one of my smaller Mayco pieces I didn't take home. While I'm not 100% thrilled with the outcome of it due to some glaze not reacting like how I envisioned, it still makes a nice little pencil holder, and I got plenty of comments about it at work, too!

POTTERY CLASSES ARE COMING TO THE HOUSTON HOUSE!!

You should be very excited, because I am SUPER excited and can't wait to get started!!!!

Viva la Art.... but not so much for the kiln.

Once more the kiln is out of commission. This makes the second time this year. The darn thing apparently won't "shut off" even after the kiln sitter has flipped down.

I know... I was confused, too.

Anyways, while I'm on hiatus, the board at the art league I work out of will be voting on using emergency funding to purchase a used kiln off of another board member's Aunt. I also inquired with this board member that if the board voted down the request, then I myself would personally buy the kiln and house it at the Art League for their use until I get my own studio. Win-win for them either way.

But, either way, they need one. I will be teaching some ceramic classes come spring time, as we have been receiving a lot of requests for adult clay classes.

I am excited for what the Houston House Arts Center will be doing for 2012. We're pretty much revitalizing the way we do classes, and are adding more events to our agenda in hope of gaining members, and having more outreach to the community.

There has been talk about one of the closer Arts Centers a county over possibly closing up shop due to lack of funding, which makes me extremely sad. I say, if you have to teach painting out of a shack, then do so. Arts in the community is so important, especially to children and young adults who cannot receive the freedom to express creativity with the watered down school art class agendas. Not to mention many schools have cut their art programs all together, because of financial issues.

I didn't mean for this entry to turn so sappy, or political, but I stand highest for arts, because promoting creativity in the young minds of today equals a future of innovation, and different thinking. It means the difference from followers, and creators.

The last thing I would want in life is to be stagnant, and be around stagnant people.

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Back to ceramics.... I have some really nice pieces made up from Mayco, which will be glazed this week! I'm so excited!! I can't wait to see the final product!

Mayco--

Class on Wednesday was quite phenomenal, and I had wonderful instruction from Jen H. She answered a lot of my questions, and gave me tips for areas I was absolutely struggling with like cylindering a piece up. It's amazing how one tip in the night makes the biggest difference.

Last week I was so mad, frustrated, and mopey, and about given up that I could learn the basics to wheel throwing.

Then, voila!

A good shape for a mug, which will get its handle next week. But my God, I have actually made something of use. Well, I made a bowl the week before that, but it's disappeared... I didn't ask about it, because it's not going to break my heart if it blew up, or anything during the bisque firing.

I know I'm crazy for doing this, but I'm signing up for another four week session, so I can learn some more glazing. I'm dying to ask questions, but I'm need to get around this shyness/dorkiness thing. I don't want to be perceived as a total nerd, because I check Ceramic Arts Daily, and am often found sifting through potter's blogs.

ANYWAYS-- I have more updates!!!

I am working on a commission piece for my Aunt's friend, which is cool. It will probably hit the kiln on Friday evening.

THEN-- I'm going to be set up selling my ceramics, and a couple of my paintings at The Indianola/Clintonville Art Crawl!!! EEEEEP!!!

That was a good eep by the way. I am so excited, but at the same time my brain is going, "NOOOO! You are sooo stupid!!", because I need to build up some more inventory due to some sales, and so my table doesn't look sad and lonely.

So.... I will be sending the husband to pick up some slip, and it'll be a weekend of slipcasting, glazing and firing! Oh Joy!!

Oh crap! I almost forgot! Here' s a picture of me at the Houston house Art Exhibit. I had paintings sprawled all over the house, but here' s a good pic of me with a few ceramic pieces, and an oil painting.

A tale of inspiration

I started my first Mayco ceramics class, and I am ecstatic, because I learned so much within the 2-ish hours I was there. I felt so awful, because I felt like the annoying kid in class, "Teacher, teacher, help me! Help me!!!" Meanwhile so many other people there were just so lost, and clueless as to what to do with it being their first time ever touching clay.

Every single piece of information I have learned about wheel throwing has came from hours of scanning through videos, Youtube, and online articles, but you REALLY need the hands on, so you have someone telling you what you're doing wrong. This helped me IMMENSELY, and by the end of the night I had a gorgeous, thin walled, small bowl, which was better than the thick, ugly past pieces I've attempted. I am so excited to go back next week, but I fear the three week time span might hinder all that I want to learn. The hubby might not go for another $100 payment per session, but we'll see.

Bless his little heart, because this weekend, he let his little ol' wife buy an amazing $80 dress for a mere fee of home cooking for the week.... and this brings me to my next point...

Schedule wise, this is a crazy week for me, and I have a lot of events on top of my 9-5 job this week. Apart from starting my ceramics class, I still have a crazy schedule of Assistant Directing for a community theater production, AND on Wednesday, I have a rooftop masquerade in downtown Columbus.

This is where the 'inspiration' part of this entry comes in. I have to attempt a mask tonight with some fabrics, and crafty things I have stuffed in a closet somewhere. I had an idea at first, but my dress color is not so accommodating now to my original idea. So, this is where ETSY comes in to play.

Etsy, I love you! If there ever was a place for creativity lacking individuals like myself, it would be you. It HAD to be you! Wonderful-wonderful YOU!

I found some of these masks, while milling about, and I am in awe. I just wanted to share them.