On The Road Again

We're on the road again minus quite a few dollars for a new tire, new wheel, new studs, new axles, and new U bolts. We were pushing a major head wind today and our mileage was for naught, but the further east we go, the lower the fuel prices are getting. Of course, I couldn't help but think of Willie Nelson and his song, On The Road Again.



We planned on stopping in Kerrville before San Antonio because I really wanted to see Gay of Sister Creek Pottery. For the life of us, we couldn't find an RV Park that wasn't full, or was long enough for our 58 feet of length, or had a pull through, etc. etc. I plan on writing the Texas Tourism to let them know they need better signage for RV parks along the highway.


Meanwhile, the other day I thought I should make some slip from the Navajo Wheel clay in case I needed some. Luckily I had a plastic mayonnaise jar I just emptied and thought it would be perfect for storing slip. I slaked some dry clay in a paper bowl, stirred the mixture up a few hours later, and poured it into the jar. The next day I took the jar out of the cabinet and saw it had separated into perfect layers. Hey, I made terra sig and didn't even intend or try to make it. So I decided to syphon off the top layer of mostly water with a small syringe I had in my tool box.


A few weeks ago I read that Tracey Broome had used some terra sig on one of her beautiful large smoke fired pots. Then recently I read that Judy Shreve has been using terra sig on her earthen ware with wonderful results. I didn't measure anything, I just thought it looked good and thought to myself, why not give it a try. I rolled out a couple of slabs of clay and thought I'd make a few tiles. The slabs ended up round so I thought I'd make small bowls from the slabs.


I had collected some artifacts lying about at the trailer repair business (see the rock lying on the table) while we were there and decided to use one of those for texture along the rim of the slab. Then I dipped my favorite inexpensive goat hair chip brush into the top of the mayonnaise jar. Oh, excuse me, I dipped my brush into my perfectly prepared terra sigilatta and brushed the center of the slab with the terra sig. I let it dry to the touch. I noticed it was really smooth and shiny when I applied it. I should have been making terra sig all along it's much better than the lumpy slip I have been making. The terra sig took a while to dry and I didn't want the cats to step on it so I had to proceed sooner than I liked.


I might put a black edge on the rim of the bowl or dab some black slip onto the textured surface of the rim. What do you think? I think the white edge is too light for the center of the bowl. I may have to refresh my black lines, they seem to have been blotted by the paper hump mold I used. In the photo above the indentation of the paper hump mold I used can be seen in the bottom of the bowl. Dang, they looked so good before I put them in the mold, but they were a bit wet. Next time I need to let the terra sig dry before putting them on the molds. But what can I do working in an RV with three cats ready to walk on anything left about.


It's kind of like the bird house I saw at a Texas rest stop, the sign said, "Don't Mess With Texas"; next time I don't need to mess with my terra sig till the proper time.

Random Layers

Blue Heron by Linda Starr

Above is my favorite of the tiles I completed in the workshop I took with Diana Fayt a while ago. It's not unusual I chose to depict a Blue Heron on one of the tiles. They fly overhead quite often and every year they nest in my neighbors tree and I get to observe the young birds growing and finally flying from the nest. I see the parents flying to and fro bringing food to their young and think how hard they work just to stay alive and feed their family. I guess we're all in a struggle for survival.

Dragonfly by Linda Starr

As I go about my daily chores each day I've become much more observant of my surroundings. I feel lucky because I find the greatest joy in seeing even the smallest creatures such as a Dragonfly. I was thinking about the various animals, birds, and insects which manifest themselves to me and have been wondering about their significance. I'll have to give this more thought; for now I'll be content to know that nature has a strong influence in my art.

Orange Slice by Linda Starr

As I was reviewing the tiles I was thinking about choices and how I came to decide what to depict on the tiles and even what colors to choose. Of course Orange Slice had to be orange, but maybe not. I could have used a different color, but would it be recognizable as an orange then? Diana had quite a wide color range for us to choose from but for most of these I chose to use the same colors. I also noticed I used both yellow and orange and those aren't colors I normally would choose. I was trying to achieve a stark contrast, particularly in Yellow Tree.

Pinwheel by Linda Starr

You may not be able to see in the photograph, but the Pinwheel in the tile is raised above the rest of the tile. I used the shellac technique to wash away the clay surrounding the pinwheel. I painted on the shellac and when it dried I took a sponge and gently wiped the clay removing a little at a time till I got the effect I wanted.

Yellow Tree by Linda Starr

Generally I like things very orderly with crisp lines, but Diana encouraged us to let the underglazes flow beyond the lines, and to overlap the illustrations we used. I was trying to obtain a layered look. It's not that easy to achieve random layers. I think the Balance tile was the most successful for random layers. In the Blue Heron tile I was trying to achieve a watercolor painting look with the background color. This is a technique I want to use more because I like that look a lot. It reminds me of the surfaces Judy Shreve is achieving on her new work.

Balance by Linda Starr

I plan on making more tiles and practicing these techniques and others I'd like to try. Knowing when to stop adding embellishments to the tiles is something I want to improve upon. A certain amount of negative space or just a muted background color on the tile is more effective than filling up the whole tile with images. I'd also like my tiles to be more asymmetrical and I'd like to explore using different color combinations. The more I learn, the more I realize the more I need (and like) to learn. Thanks for a great workshop, Diana.