Hooray test tiles!

I got my test tiles out of the kiln this week, and I am really pleased with the results so far. This is the first time I've ever mixed a chrome tin glaze. How cool that such a vibrant green powder can make such a lovely wine color after firing! I definitely want to do more research on chrome tin glazes, since I understand they can be difficult to get right. I feel a bit like I cheated by skipping all the testing and using the tried and true recipe provided in my book. I did learn that you only need a tiny amount of chrome to get the best color - .1% provided the richest raspberry color.

Raspberry glaze from Mastering Cone 6 Glaze.

 I just found a very helpful article about trying to get a pink glaze using mason stains, and it breaks down the different elements that are needed to get color, and which ones will bleach out the desired pink or red (magnesia apparently is not compatible with getting pink to work, apparently). I assume that the same guidelines provided in this article are true for mixing glazes from oxides rather than stains, but I guess I'll have to test to find out.

Two mixes of Floating Blue Woo

A blue green copper glaze. We call it Maggie Moo, because our instructor Cathy's daughter, Maggie, mixed up the original recipe for a science fair project. How cool is that?

I hope I can learn from these base recipes and eventually be able to formulate my own glazes based on the results I desire. There certainly is a lot to learn! 

Work in progress

I'm juggling so many different things in the studio, I'm just chomping at the bit to get them all finished!

My paper clay vase came out of the kiln yesterday. I'm really pleased with the thinness and translucency of it. It was made with Laguna's Frost cone 6 porcelain and toilet paper. I should have a picture for you tomorrow with it all lit up. It glows:)

Hoping I can make a better form next time, but at least now I know that this stuff works.

Empty headed

I've had a lot on my mind lately, but I don't seem to have the confidence or ability to articulate it all. Teaching and working at the studio has been constantly humbling for me, as I learn and relearn my limitations, and try to find a balance between feeling confident in my abilities, and staying open to growth and change. I'm not sure how much of that makes sense - it feels awkwardly worded. What I'm trying to say, is that I've been waffling between being proud of the progress I've made, and my abilities as a teacher, and feeling inadequate and terribly unsure of myself. I know that as long as I keep working at learning, and sharing that knowledge with others as well as I can, I can only improve as a teacher and a maker. But I'm impatient, and I want to be good at everything RIGHT NOW. And I worry that my students aren't getting everything they want or need from my classes. Sometimes I think that someone with a lot more experience should be doing my job, but I'd never want to give it up. I get so much out of it, and it pushes me constantly. I just hope I'm doing ok. Every time a student loses a piece due to cracking or glazing because I failed to articulate an important step in the process, I feel terrible. I try to keep in mind all the things I learned from my teachers, and the things they said and did that stuck with me and were the most helpful, but I space out sometimes. It's not always easy to explain what I'm doing step by step so others will understand. Teaching is certainly not easy. Articulation. Communication. How can I be better at these skills?

I've been thinking about Maddy a lot, and how big she's getting, and how I sometimes take it for granted. All I can think about is my work, and how to get to where I can make a living at it. In a round about way, I worry about this because I want to make a good life for my child. But I also know that my desire to do my work uninterrupted is a little selfish - I miss the copious amounts of free time I used to have and waste, and it will be years before I have that kind of time again. I haven't yet really embraced my new role as a mother. I'm still immature, and having trouble letting go of the image of the person I used to be, or wanted to be. Meanwhile, this gorgeous little person is toddling around in front of me, learning to talk and clap and stand on her own, and she watches me all the time. I need to be aware of what she learns from me. What am I teaching her with this selfish obsession with being successful, being recognized? With my subconscious disdain for day to day tasks because I could be doing more lofty, important things like art-making? Shouldn't caring for her, for my family, be just as important, if not more so? I feel so guilty for having these feelings, and for not fully embracing this new role in my life. 

This is a pretty heavy blog post, and I apologize. I just needed to clear my muddled brain a bit.

Currently reading a book by bell hooks called Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. It's incredibly eye opening. As I said on Facebook earlier today, it makes me realize how spoiled and privileged I am, and how much I take for granted. I only wish I'd discovered her work sooner. I've been reading a lot of feminist theory, but so much of it is written from a white woman's perspective, and other experiences are completely ignored. It's giving me a lot to think about.  

Glazes for Dummies

I fully intended to write a blog post yesterday, but I just never made it to the computer. It was a really good weekend, though. I got to hang out with my friend Erin (of eef-etc), drinking wine and eating pizza, and not really watching stuff on Netflix because we were too busy yapping. It was our intention to get together to geek out over marathon episodes of Doctor Who and some other UK tv shows, but we just never got past talking, which was fine. Drinks and conversation with Erin are always a good way to spend an evening. Plus, we got to discuss my new website that she's working on for me, which I'm super excited about!

I've been thinking for ages that I needed a real website for my work, to serve as a portfolio, business landing page, and sort of portal to all my social media and photos scattered across the web. I considered building one myself, but then I remembered my last foray into webpage design... sometime back in the 90's when people still had Geocities pages. (!!!) Page after page of sparkly animated gifs, crappy midi music, anime drawings, and bad poetry! I shudder at the memories. I never did learn more HTML than how to make text bold and italic (and now there's buttons for those things), and I knew if I waited until I had time to teach myself how to put a simple blogger or wordpress page together, it would just never happen. Good thing Erin does these things for a living! I love having talented friends:) So as soon as I write the copy for the site, and update my resume, I should have a real website!

I also managed to study up on glazing a bit more, reading the appendices and skimming back over the rest of Mastering Cone 6 Glazes again. Once I started playing with the Glaze Master software, it all finally started to click. The Digitalfire Material database was incredibly helpful for understanding all of the materials I was using, and I wish I'd remembered it sooner. I realized that my brain has just gotten very lazy, and looking at long lists of numbers and chemical formulas just wasn't making sense to me without a lot of effort. Being able to look up materials and have their chemical makeup broken down for me in plain English really helped. (I always joke that I'm an artist - I don't do math!) I tell my students that everything worth doing takes hard work, but apparently I'm a huge hypocrite. Glaze chemistry doesn't come easily to me, and I was getting frustrated because I was actually having to do work and research to understand what I was doing, instead of finding some easy fix for our unstable studio glazes.

I think I'm on the right track now, and I've got a new set of test tiles sitting on the shelf, ready for tonight's glaze firing. I'll post pics of the results, and then on to more testing! If I learn anything useful from all this, I'll be sure to share it with you. So stay tuned, maybe there'll be some new fancy glaze recipes to share.

Owl rattle

Hiya:)

The Science of Story

Got my sketchbook in the mail yesterday for the new Sketchbook Project: Limited Edition. My theme is "The science of story". For once, I decided to get crackin' on this right away, rather than procrastinate. 

I've been thinking about how to interpret this theme. The themes always hang me up a bit. I decided to start a pinterest board for sciency-type inspiration: vintage pop science magazine covers, scientific illustrations, medieval diagrams of plants and animals, etc. My idea so far is to think about story writing and telling as if there were a scientific method to it. Chemical elements to combine into a story reaction. Specimens of story archetypes to document. What would the scientific formula of creating a story look like, if there were such a thing?

I was just reading a note on Facebook about how too many people are trying to pass off "good enough" or "satisfactory" art these days to make a living, rather than really going for broke and making the best art they possibly can (which, according to some survey data he examined, is actually more lucrative and efficient). I don't know if I agree with that 100% (not sure whether artists today are any lazier than they've ever been; maybe we're all just more aware of each other), but I do think I personally settle a lot in my own work, rushing to finish before my idea is completely fleshed out where I want it. Seems like I'm always rushing last minute to fulfill a deadline, or to get my stuff into the next kiln firing, and I'll sacrifice some elements I wanted just to have a finished piece. I think maybe it's time to spend more time on fewer, better pieces, rather than making lots of little, less than satisfactory pieces.

Each one of my sketchbooks so far have been unfinished, and far less than I originally envisioned. I hope I can push this one closer to excellence. Just for personal pride. It would be nice to have a finished sketchbook that I actually felt proud enough of to put in my portfolio.

We'll see how it goes. I hope I'm not all talk this time around!

Good Morning

Last night I told myself I was going to start my day off today with a sketchbook and a cup of coffee. No computer, no distractions, just sketching some ideas out in peace and quiet.

I should know better than to make plans.

I've spend the last hour scrubbing every known surface in the kitchen because our male cat, Andre, decided to go on a spraying spree. He even left a puddle on the floor, which Maddy joyfully crawled over to and started sliding her hand around in.

I am sooooooo angry and grossed out right now. I couldn't get Maddy to the sink fast enough. I'm sure she wondered what all the fuss was about. I've got a headache from the smell of ammonia, and I'm going around the whole kitchen sniff testing everything to make sure I got it all.

So much for my peaceful morning.

I am never, EVER having more than 2 cats at one time ever again.

Ugh.