Textures

Mother nature provided texture inspiration for some of my work now. Meanwhile, Gary and I got the whole garage straightened up and I can actually get to the slab roller. I made some slips with stains and started cleaning up my studio. A bit of Spring cleaning I guess. Comments are welcome.

Cassius Basaltic Questions

Has anyone used cassius basaltic clay or know anyone who does? I'm in a little bit of dilemna with the pieces I've been making over the last several months. The beauty of this clay and the draw for me is the smooth ebony black color it fires at Cone 4. My pieces are all bisque fired and are still the brown color, but once fired the clay will turn black like the white feather vase completed early last year.


I'd like to do a test fire at Cone 4 for a clear glaze I want to use on them. I have a test tile but it's flat. I've glazed cassius basaltic clay vase shaped pieces before and the glaze bubbled. Remember the moon crater pieces. I'm pretty sure the glaze bubbled because it was poured on the inside and was too thick and it was fired quickly (at another studio). I think this clay would be better fired slower during a glaze load.


I did do one test tile to Cone 5 and the glaze was fine, but the tile was very thin and the clay pieces I've made are much thicker. By the way I happened to put the test tile in a kiln load as greenware and once fired it by mistake and it turned out ok. What a lucky one that was. I worried the whole time it would blow up and ruin other pieces in the kiln.


That got me thinking about once firing though. More experiments are in order for that. I just looked at that tile closer. Although the glaze didn't bubble or pit, the clay color is more brown rather than black, I may have just solved my dilema. If I want the black smooth color of the clay to show I probably shouldn't put a glaze over it.


I could sacrifice several pieces to see how various clear glazes fare. Which would mean firing my kiln for only one piece. That seems like a waste of electricity, but I can't think of another way to do it without risking the nice pieces I have all in one load. I no longer have my test kiln.

I may have to consider all of the cassius basaltic clay pieces as sculpture and not water tight. Since there are several which are tall with narrow openings and I can't see how I could hand glaze those to make them water tight for flowers. But then there is the large slip decorated bowl (12 w x 3 H inches) in the first couple of photos, wonder if I can put some type of coating over it after it's fired, like verathane, clear spray paint? More testing needed there.


I think I've decided to leave the clay natural. No sense using a beautiful smooth black clay and covering it up with glaze. I notice on the back of the test tile there is minor white speckling which happens at cone 5, so I'll fire my pieces to cone 4. Hope you don't mind, I guess this turned into a thinking-out-loud type of post; thanks for listening. Comments and suggestions are always welcome. Have a great weekend.

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Kale Chip Heaven

You're going to think I've gone off the deep end; I thought so too. I read in our local CSA newsletter that kale can be baked into chips like potato chips. I was very, very skeptical. How could a green leafy vegetable be turned into potato chips. Besides that, how in the world could it taste good and who, in their right mind, would eat it? The recipe was so easy it was hard to pass up, so I decided to try it and sacrifice four leaves from the bunch in our weekly delivery.


I cut off the stem ends and placed whole leaves on a cookie sheet. I drizzled a little olive oil over the top and sprinkled some sea salt and ginger over them. I baked them at 325 F for less than 20 minutes. Keep a close watch on them and don't let them burn otherwise, apparently, they'll turn bitter.

Oh my, if you like potato chips with a little pizzaz and spicyness or if green goodness and novelty is your forte, this is the most wonderful way to eat kale I have ever tried. These are so easy to make, you can't go wrong, other then you may have a few green leafy pieces stuck between your teeth, but that's a small price to pay for eating kale chips. Meanwhile I'm working each day on my woodworking and tile making and I appreciate the advice I get from all of you via email and comments.


Excuse me, I've got to go now. There are only a few chips left and their crunchy green goodness is calling me. Comments are welcome. By the way I have changed comments so everyone can comment based upon a reader informing me that my comment restrictions were, well too restrictive. So if you've tried to comment in the past and weren't able to I think I have fixed that. So comment away. I'd love to hear from you.

Oh my, I'm eating something green that's good for me and I just can't get enough. Really I'm not kidding you, I looooove these! I'm in kale chip heaven.

New Directions & Questions

Behind the scenes and in progross, I've been working on wall plaques, tiles, and mixed media projects. Various textures, sprigs, slips, engobes, terra sig, glazes, found objects and more are invading my palette. Along the way I've had issues with warping tiles, flexible backing material, epoxy not adhering, and learning how to construct frames. So I thought I'd post to see if other's have ideas about some of the issues.


When we were traveling across the country in our RV, I collected a few rusty mementos I found at roadside stops. The piece of metal in the first piece I got from the parking lot where we had our trailer axle fixed when it broke. There's a ceramic shelf below the metal, as if it's holding up the metal, but the metal will be glued to the ceramic backing. For years I've also collected driftwood. I a couple of boxes full. Every time we move Gary asks me if I need the boxes of driftwood or can he throw them out. I told him I planned on using them. Each time he just shook his head and said "Sure, uh huh, I believe you".


Well I'm finally getting around to using some of the treasures I've collected over the years. A gopher tortoise in our yard pushed up the two pieces of limestone I've used. I don't know why, but at the time I was so excited to see the two pieces of limestone on the ground. I started thinking of the tortoise digging tunnels and living under the ground while we humans are walking above, unaware of this whole other world below us. I thought the driftwood looked a bit like the shape of a ghostly person.

A tortoise in our neighborhood was killed by the county lawn mowers and I felt so bad about that. Our neighbor put a small white cross where the tortoise shell remains on his property. I plan to construct a shadow box type frame for the piece; a sort of tortoise shrine. Maybe a rusty metal shadow box would look good or a rustic wooden one, so many choices.

I started out making single tiles and then tile groupings which I planned to mount on wood, like the woodland spirit I made during the summer. Later I felt some of the pieces needed a frame around them and then I thought some would look better in more of a shadow box. I guess some of the pieces are really containers of my thoughts and feelings.


Then I started worrying about the weight of the tiles mounted to wood and how heavy they would be to hang from a wall. I thought about using Plexiglas to mount the tile groupings to reduce the weight. I got some 1/4 inch thick Plexiglas and mounted the set of tiles below on gray Plexiglas. But when I picked the piece up the Plexiglas flexed and one tile broke loose. Luckily it didn't drop on the ground.

Maybe I need to use thicker Plexiglas and something other than two part epoxy. Gary said I should use silicone. I'll try that next. But the Plexiglas might still be flexible. I also thought about using Lexan, but that's more expensive than plexiglas. What to do?


I like the idea of the clear backing for some of the tile groupings I'm making instead of mounting them on wood, like the one below. The paper is still on the back of the Plexiglas, but the oblong tiles are mounted to clear Plexiglas. Do you know about using Plexiglas or know anyone that does? I could sure use some information about combining ceramics with plastic.


I know there is a type of French cleat hanging system, but I have to teach myself how to make one so I can hang some of the heavier pieces safely on walls. Oh, I just found a site that has metal cleats, maybe I won't have to make my own cleats. The piece below is another special one to me. I wish you could see the three dimensionality's of the piece in person. My photo isn't very good but the tile has a pale blue and lavender surface with some coral dots. The black point is slag from welding. When one of the welders saw I was collecting scrap metal in the parking lot in Texas, he said, "Don't leave yet, I've got something I have to give you". He went in the shop and brought me this piece of black slag. Isn't that cool, he wanted to contribute to the process of my art making.


I may want to add a little more color to the background, I wish I had made the coral dots larger. I might use some acrylic paint in places. The black point looks and feels like a volcanic mountain, rough and craggy. I've mounted it to a thick piece of ceramic tile I made especially for it. The tile is more than 1/2 inch thick and I was so happy and proud of myself after the glaze firing when it didn't crack. Then on the left side of the black pointed mountain is a turquoise kiln jewel from a drip of glaze of a piece I made years ago. The coral dots lead to the jewel.


Oh the other thing I notice is the black slag also looks like a human hand with the index finger pointing up. Does it look like that to you? I've just set the piece on a black background and laid the wood around it so you can see how I intend the shadow box to look. I might make the corners mitered. I do know how to use a miter saw and I finally got the right staples for the air staple gun. I also have a finish nail gun I can use.


These are are some of the projects I've been working on. If you have experience mounting ceramic to Plexiglas, gluing unlike materials together, making wood frames or shadow boxes, or making a cleat hanging system with wood, please email or comment here, I'm swimming upstream. Advice, suggestions, and comments are very welcome.
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Progression

Lately I've been wondering, am I making any progress, or am I going in circles? Do I want to make slab built pieces, pinch pots, do slip work, sgraffito work, make sculptures, do alternative firings, reduction firings, oxidation firings. Please bear with me as I ramble a bit with some introspection regarding my progression.


I feel like I'm all over the place and wonder what in the heck am I doing. I have lots of ideas; I make them and then I'm not completely satisfied with them. Then I have more ideas; I make them and I'm not completely satisfied with those either. There are many more I am satisfied with recently than in the past. Not to say I don't like my work or that my pots aren't good pots, but I feel I'm always striving for something more, something undiscovered, something I haven't attempted, or haven't, as yet, achieved.


I've been organizing my photographs looking at the pieces I've made in the past and present to see if there is a commonality among them. I have photographs on one computer and some on another which makes it somewhat cumbersome, but I am wading through them little by little. I've got to find that mini hard drive, I know it's around here somewhere.

(Oh gee, somehow while I was trying to set up a local email account on the other computer, I deleted all my emails which I thought would still be on the new computer but they are not. So if you've emailed in the last six months with addresses or phone numbers, or the like, please do so again, since I do not have anyone's email address because I didn't have anything backed up. Guess I'll be doing a lot of backing up tomorrow.)


As I organize my photos, I can already see what it is I like about the pieces I consider my most successful. The photos I've posted here are greenware from my old computer except the last photo. Pieces I consider a success are those I was taking a risk, working outside of my comfort zone, and the piece came from a feeling from within. I enjoy the unknown, the risk taking, the challenge, the suspense of wondering if what I try will be successful.


As I've been reviewing my work over the last several years I'm most happy with the more spontaneous, sculptural, and spiritual pieces I make. I feel those are the ones I really put my soul into. I'm not sure if my soul is showing through to the viewer, but it's there none the less.


My shelves are full of work needing new homes to make room for more work, and pieces aren't moving as fast as I would like. Of course I never put much of my work for sale until recently. What with closing my lavender farm, selling my home, living in an RV and traveling for most of a year. And I just couldn't let some pieces go till now. I now have more pieces than I can store, and I'm willing to let pieces find new homes one by one. But I'm not very good at motivating myself to sell my work, mostly I just want to make the work. I have a lot of work filling me up and it wants to burst forth.


I have Gary nipping at my heels saying I need to sell some of my work before I can make any more. Then there's all the work (time) it takes to sell and it takes money to make money. Travel costs to shows and art fairs and entry fees and the potential of not even breaking even on those. Then there's been the unusually cold weather (even for here) putting a damper on most events recently.


I listed quite a few pieces on Etsy, but I think I should have spread out listing them over a few weeks. I retook all the photos, reworded all the descriptions in the first person instead of the third person and now I'm evaluating the titles and the tags. Today I changed my prices to include shipping in the continental United States. Wonder how buyers find one piece of pottery in a sea of more than 85,000 pots? I believe 3d art is better appreciated in person than on a computer screen. I'm putting together a portfolio of my work and working on my gimp photos for shows.


I'm much more motivated to work on my wall tiles and sculptural wall hangings which is the direction I've been going in lately. I'm intrigued with keraflex porcelain which I heard about last Spring, but rediscovered lately and I can't get the possibility of working with that clay out of my head. The strength and lightweight qualities appeal to me because of the direction I have been headed lately with my work. But then that would be more work taking up more space and keraflex isn't the least expensive clay either.


This post has helped me organize my thoughts a bit. Perhaps it's the Gemini in me that makes for a duality in my work, there's the funky, fun, retro, whimsical side and the earthy, sculptural and spiritual side. I guess I am going somewhere I just can't see the forest for the trees right now. As I re-read the first paragraph, I can truthfully say I want to make them all but I have a feeling the next group of work I'll be combining several techniques all in one piece. Thanks for listening to my ramblings.
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Let There Be Light

It all started when one of the fluorescent fixtures just fell out of the ceiling and was hanging by the wire. Of course one of the bulbs fell out and broke. Seems the previous owners installed the fixture on the wallboard seam, but not in a stud, and not even with molly bolts. After that catastrophe, we decided to evaluate the lights in the garage. With the cold weather, the older fluorescent fixtures were slow to come on and flickering when it was too cold.


Since I hand brush most of my glazes in the garage and sometimes I work in there, and Gary said he can't even find his tools unless it's daylight, we decided we needed more light. We got the lights with daylight bulbs. One ballast in another fixture was out so we needed to fix that too. Sad but true, we found out it's less expensive to purchase a whole new light fixture than to replace the ballast. Pays to check prices that's for sure. Why must we pay more to recycle things than buy new things?

Oh, fluorescent bulbs or CFLs, have mercury in them which is toxic when they break and when they are disposed of. Many have gone into landfills for years and leached into ground water. Perhaps Edison bulbs aren't that bad after all. The question of what type of light is best remains; it's still an inefficient world we live in. Anyway I digress.


Let there be light, and now there is in our garage. I just looked and it is like the heavens have opened up with light. I'm sorry I don't have a photo of what it looked like with the old lights. You'll just have to believe me when I say it's a huge difference. Also we have the light installed over my work table instead of behind me. Now there isn't a shadow on the work.

If you need workspace light, try some of these daylight fluorescent fixtures. As long as the temps stay above 0 F we'll be OK. I like these light fixtures with the diffusers, the dust bunnies and spiders can't get in there as easily. Dust bunnies and spiders are Ok by themselves, but when the spider webs and bunnies get together they make quite a mess. Then there's the mood enhancement properties of more light in our winter working environment. My tired old eyes are very happy now and so are Gary's. Now I can work on the sculptural work I've been thinking about lately. Comments are always welcome.

Cat Intuition

My cats figure high in my daily activities. I've found cats to be very sensitive and intuitive animals. My cats keep me company when I'm working and can intuitively sense my moods. I've noticed cats can pick up on unspoken cues much better than we humans can. My cat, Butter, likes the new chair. He always looks like he's thinking really important thoughts. Wonder what they are?


I think Butter is wondering what your thoughts are and I am too. I'm going on my fourth year blogging and I've made 600 posts. That's a lot of blah, blah blah. So I thought I'd ask you. What do you like to read here, what would like to read more of or less of? Please make a comment or two and let me know. I'll let Butter and my other two cats know what you have to say and of course I'll try to accommodate your wishes in future blog posts. Thanks for stopping by, for reading, and especially for your comments. Happy Saturday.

Parsnip Afternoon, Garnet Evening

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know I add everything but the kitchen sink into my soups and today is no exception. I've added carrots, Swiss chard, green beans, and potato. My CSA delivery included parsnips so I also added those into the soup.

I have to admit I'd heard of parsnips before, but never tasted them, until today. I must have known about them in the past because I knew what they were just looking at them. They smelled wonderful when I cut them up, earthy and sweet. How could I have overlooked eating these root vegetables in the past. Even uncooked they had a great flavor. Sorry I didn't take a photo to show you. They look like a carrot only they are a pale tan color. I'm cooking all the vegetables with canned stewed tomatoes, tomato paste and lots of spices, like marjoram, crushed bay leaves, oregano, savory, thyme, and a liberal amount of red pepper flakes.


I took a walk in the yard while the soup was cooking in the crock pot and saw this lizard sunning himself by the garden shed. I clicked my tongue against the roof of my mouth and made a clicking sound, to mimic the sound lizards make. I was able to get real close with my camera and he didn't even move.


Here's the future vegetable garden we worked on yesterday. I learned the local landfill has compost so we'll get a pickup truck load tomorrow. Glad we didn't sell all our garden tools in the yard sale we had when we moved here.


Lichen and moss growing on the trunk of the palm tree.



The blossom of a native tree, not sure what type of tree it is.


A lone nest high in the liquid amber tree.


The tall obtrusive looking antenna gives us free TV, yes it's free. The antenna was here when we moved in. We had it adjusted and we get many channels for free. We don't have cable or satellite; it's great to be able to turn the old TV on occasionally.

Oh I almost forgot to tell you, I also cut up two small beets into the soup, and it turned out a rich red color, almost garnet. Boy the Garnet Soup was so delicious this evening. Comments are welcome.

Poppy

Spring is on it's way I can feel it in the air. We cleared out a little area to plant some spring vegetables in the back yard and lined it with some cinder blocks that were here. Now we need to find somewhere to get some good soil. The soil here is all sand and it doesn't have many nutrients at all.

Since it was so much warmer today than it has been, my mind wandered to thoughts of summer flowers. I remembered a blue poppy bowl I was inspired to make last year after seeing a blue Himalayan poppy on Cindy Shake's blog. The bowl had a crack on the edge before I even bisqued it. I decided to fire it anyway just before I left California to see how the slip color would work out. It fired nicely all except for that small crack at the rim.


I decided to make another poppy bowl this evening, this time in lavender and blue since I had just enough of those slip colors mixed up to make one large bowl. Hope this one doesn't get any cracks. I also made some rustic planters for window boxes, thinking those would be nice to plant herbs and put on a kitchen window sill. Tomorrow I'll mix up more slip and replenish all the colors I work with so I can make small bowls and other pieces.

In my last post, Benefactor Wanted, I mentioned my request for wanting a benefactor in a light hearted way, but I was actually serious about the request. I've often wondered what I would do if I won the lottery or some huge inheritance. When I was a landscaper I always said if I won the lottery, I'd build a botanical garden which was educational so folks who came to visit could learn and come to appreciate all the plant kingdom has to offer. I never won the lottery, but I accomplished my dream of a garden with the lavender farm I created at my last place, where the public came and enjoyed it. The garden ended up being a small scale botanical garden like the one I dreamed of.

Now that I have another love, that of clay, if I somehow came into a large sum of money I'd build a wonderful clay retreat with galleries, studio spaces, all different kinds of kilns, and I'd have lots of potters come to teach workshops. It would be a place where folks could come to learn and have fun with clay. And there would be stipends for folks who couldn't afford the cost of travel so they could avail themselves of all the clay retreat and workshops had to offer.

I figured if I would want to do that if I had the funds, then there might be someone who would want to be my benefactor. It doesn't hurt to ask or to dream. Sometimes dreams come true in one way or another. So I keep working towards my goals even if my steps are small, my steps all lead in the direction I dream of going. Comments are welcome.
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Benefactor Wanted

The two bamboo photos are from my visit to the North Carolina zoo when we visited there. I love bamboo, which is actually a very tall grass. I want to use these in my work. There's something meditative about seeing a grove of bamboo. Strong lines, but soft color.

I've been doing research about other online stores in addition to Etsy, no sense having all my eggs in one basket. Also looking into gallery and shop locations to show and sell my work.


I've been thinking about marketing; I read somewhere these ten words sell the most: you, money, healthy, guarantee, easy, free, yes, quickly, benefit, and 'insert your name here'. Apparently many people like to see their name in print. I have many ideas about how to use these words.

I had someone email me to ask permission to use one of my photographs on an invitation. Thanks for asking permission. Ask and you shall receive.

Benefactor Wanted: Anyone wishing to be my benefactor, please contact me. If you have money to give to me for free to pursue my art, Yes, I guarantee it's easy to do, and you and I both, will quickly benefit and will have a more healthy feeling stemming from your generosity. A big thanks to 'insert your name here' for your generous gift.

If you wish to remain anonymous I can honor that too. I can place your name on a piece of paper and put it in my kiln and fire it and your name will be gone like the wind. Unfortunately, I cannot accept checks over the amount you wish to give and send the overage back to you.

If you are indeed a legitimate, lawful, genuine benefactor, please consider this request as a legitimate, lawful, genuine one, all kidding aside. Immediately, there are a couple of workshops, a conference, and glaze training sessions I would like to go to and even funds for fuel would be welcome. Both short and long term, I have many projects waiting in the wings.

I have so many dreams and ideas. Comments and suggestions are welcome.