Woven Trivet
7" long x 6.5" wide x 0.5" tall
7" long x 6.5" wide x 0.5" tall
I'm not sure why, but I like making ceramic pieces which are time consuming. I especially like weaving clay. These are the recently Cone 10 fired results of some of the woven white stoneware pieces I made several months ago.
Serving Tray
10" long x 7" wide
10" long x 7" wide
Not only did I take the time to weave the clay, but I also painted colored slip on two of the pieces. For the trivet I painted green slip on one half and blue slip on the other half. For the woven tray I painted green slip on the handles and edges and half of the woven sections. And it takes more than one coat of the slip to get good coverage. Even then I may not get a spot or two. Painting woven pieces is especially hard, because there are all kinds of nooks and crannies to reach with the slip and glaze, which is all hand painted.
I could never charge enough for these pieces to recoup my time involved, especially considering how long it took me to paint the slip. I'm hoping to sell a few of them to recoup some of my expenses though - fuel to travel back and forth to college, my clay, my glazes, my stains and oxides, and my tools and equipment. Perhaps one day I'll be paid for my time and my art.
Green Woven Cross
10" long x 8.5" wide
10" long x 8.5" wide
I could try coloring the clay and then weaving the pieces. I did make a trivet a couple of years ago where I painted the glaze in alternating colors and that eliminated the step of painting the slip, and then glazing with the transparent glaze. Perhaps that's the most time efficient way to make the alternating colored pieces. Maybe next time I'll glaze the piece with one color.
I was going to take a photo of the back of the trivet so you could see the rolled feet I made, and how I painted the feet with green slip too. I was so proud of this trivet and how it turned out. When I turned it over in the kitchen to look at the feet, it slipped out of my hand. I tried to catch it, but it slipped out of my hand again. Due to the firing this time, almost every piece of mine didn't come out. (More about why they didn't turn out and the firing process next week). Now I've broken one of the few pieces which did come out OK. I'll cry if I want to, you would cry too, if it happened to you.
Oh no!! Sorry that you dropped that wonderful trivet while trying to share it with us. It is always a major bummer to lose a piece that you love. But then again, it is a gentle (or not so gentle, I guess) reminder that it's just clay. It can be made again.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite bowls was pushed off the counter a few years ago by a friend. And surprisingly it didn't upset me that much. I had enjoyed the time I had with the bowl while it was around.
I'm so sorry you lost such a pretty and time consuming piece!! I remember recently watching a Blog (This Artist's Life) video that Whitney Smith made and as she was loading her kiln, she bumped and broke a pretty bowl... she something to the effect of, if you don't break anything then you must not be working in clay (she cussed too). It was refreshing to see that it happens even to the pros.
ReplyDeleteOH NO! I love your clay weaving!
ReplyDeleteOh gosh... what a bummer.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever thought of selling on etsy? It's not hard to set up. I've learned it has helped people to get to know your work in general.
I might not cry, but there sure would be a stream of profanity that would probably reach from here to where you are! Sorry for your loss, been there!
ReplyDeleteYikes I hate that! what about using 2 different stoneware like white and brown to weave and than clear coat or some of my glazes look different on the clay bodies for a cool affect? I would keep that trivet for a day you really need to break it up and than toss it around on an angry kinda day :)
ReplyDeleteHugs from me and Laura. So sorry that you had the accident with the trivet, and the bad firing. I love the serving tray, by the way. P.
ReplyDeleteI would cry with you!
ReplyDeleteThen I would look around for the bad elf in the room!
Whoops I usually find out its me!
We like to say here: break them we'll make more!
We also tell people our pots are:
Fat free and baked on site.
Hi Mary, you must have esp, I was already thinking about making something with two different colored clays and then covering them with a transparent glaze, perhaps even three colors of clay, white, red and brown. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHi Peter, thanks. I'll just have to starting making more than one item, which is my charge to myself for this summer.
Hi Meredith, thanks, yeah, I'm the bad elf too, I was carrying the trivel in one hand, the tape measure in the other and trying to flip the trivet over with one hand, trying to do too many things at once. I can always make some more that's for sure. Fat free and baked on site - I like that.
Anybody remember that Leslie Gore song? "I'll cry if I want to, cry if I want to, you would cry too if it happened to you". I know I'm dating myself. Toodles.
ReplyDeleteHey Linda- Of course I remember and how about Party Lights??
ReplyDeleteI once spectacularly threw a candle stick right across the pottery when I was glazing it. It was huge and very tall; I dipped it into the bucket, pulled it up and then gave t a flick. I began swinging it wildly to dry it (I was probably showing off at this point) and then let go of it. I did cry…it was one of a pair.
ReplyDeleteThe show here went very well, the big Darwin 200 pot was sold and crated up yesterday and has gone to New York!
Hi Meredith, I can't quite remember the tune to Party Lights, but I bet I could find it on the internet.
ReplyDeleteHi Kitty, I was trying to do too many things at once, so probably my own fault. So glad the show went well and you sold your Darwin plate - oh I see I got confused it was your Darwin pot - not your evolution plate, well anyway congratulations on selling. If I bought one of your pots I don't think I would want to risk sending it through the mail, but then maybe that would be better than me arrying it. Ha Ha.
Yes it was the BIG pot, and can you beleive it...it's not in the post but rather travelling 1st class British Airways next to its new owner.
ReplyDeleteYou know you do have to really think about what you wish for. Last year I was utterly gutted when a London gallery wanted to represent me and take my work to the Affordable Art Fair in NY, everything was pretty much set to roll when she realised I was not potting in England but Spain! The whole thing was suddenly off. So I wished and wished my pots would go to New York ever since...looks like one of them got there; touch down about now I would think.
I have been trying to ground myself after this dizzy height by lying in the bluebells. It is working, just
Linda, during the barrel firing on Saturday something dropped after coming out of the barrel- and I thought of you--- I said, 'oh, Linda can understand!'. it's not just you for sure-- peace
ReplyDeleteI would! (cry too)
ReplyDeleteHi Kitty, I think you are right, we really need to think about what we want and that positive energy will being it to us. So glad it all went well for you at the show, those bluebells are so wonderful.
ReplyDeleteHi Amy, thanks, I guess we can all understand. We put so much effort into our art and then to have it break especially when it is nice is kind of heart breaking.
Hi Patricia, thanks, sometimes a good cry is needed, gets the emotions out so we can go on.