Kid's Clay Class

I did a kid's clay session the week before Christmas, and we had a freakin' blast. What great kids! They were fun, sweet, geeky, weird, and crazy creative. I was amused all week by the bizzaro stuff that came out of their heads!

Clam with sombrero, mustache, and exploded cigar. Totally unprompted, he just came up with this on his own.

Megan's dinosaur, who is a GIRL, for your information.

The kids all got to do some throwing too. They impressed me with their skills.

I impressed me with my skills too.

Megan painting a heart shaped bead. With the latex gloves, she thought it looked like she was holding a bloody heart. I told you these kids were awesome.

Ryan's vampire mask, before the addition of blood.

Painting the blood on the vampire. No sparkles here, thank you.

I made another bunny jar while they were sculpting.

Megan's adorable elf mask.

Cash splatter painting his alien bug mask.

Carnage!

I am so proud of them, I really am. I can't wait to take pics of everything when it comes out of the kiln!

I had a lot of fun coming up with lesson plans for this class. I just gotta say, thank god for the internet, and especially for Pinterest!

Another photo mega post - raku, new doll jars, and Jeanette Zeis spoon trade

I've got too many pictures of ceramic related things not to do another blog post. That's pretty much my motivation anymore -  a lot of backlog of pics on my iphone and camera = time to blog. Maybe one day I'll commit to a more regular blog posting, but in the meantime, here are pretty things to look at.

We had our first raku firing at Beech Grove Clay Works today. It went really well, and we got some excellent results. I even mixed up a raku glaze recipe from Tracey Boone's pottery blog, which got a lot of reduction and did exactly as she said it would. I was pretty excited about that. Thanks for the recipe, Tracey!

Raku firing is so exciting! All the smoke and flames, and getting to see the pieces red hot like that. I can't wait for the next one, I'm hooked!

I made some cute mini doll jars that I'm going to fire at a friends house tomorrow. I'm pretty excited about them, and I'm dying to make more.

I'm also firing some new test tiles tomorrow with a base glaze and varying amounts of mason stains. I did some yellow, and some that are either blue or violet (the mason stains were old, and not all of them were well labeled.) I'll post more on those later if they come out looking halfway decent.

Remember those spoons I made? And the ones Jeanette Zeis made? Jeanette liked my spoons! And I adore hers! So we agreed to trade. I am so excited about getting to trade with her. I now have a ceramic spoon to add to my collection of lovely handmade ceramics from other artists. I admit, I got the better end of the deal, as her spoons are a lot nicer than mine. But I'm happy that she liked mine! She chose the green superhero girl spoon. I hope she enjoys it as much as I love mine!

Finally, here are some pics of Maddy, just because. She is adorable, and she's getting so big! I am dreaming of the day I get to bring her to the studio to throw with me.

Grandma took a huge tutu and added ribbons so she could wear it as a big fluffy dress. She likes to play peekaboo by pulling the tulle up over her face.

Her aunt Mariah made her a huge leaf pile to play in. She wasn't terribly impressed, though.

Bear baby.

Ceramic ambitions

I have class with Rachel at the clay studio this evening. After nearly a week of not touching mud, I'm looking forward to it. I have two unpainted doll jar forms, a tile, and 10 greenware mugs waiting to be attended to, and I might get a little throwing in if there's time. I'd like to finish the most recent doll jar, the one with two faces, so that I can submit it for Clay Fest 2011 at U of I. Deadline is less than 2 weeks away! Ideally, I'd like to finish one more jar, and submit 3 pieces if I can.

Tomorrow is the art show at the studio as well. I can't wait to see more of the instructor's work! I've seen sneak peaks of new work by Cathy Schlebecker, and a couple of finished sculptures by Andrew Perry Davis and Rachel Bleil, and it all looks fantastic! I'm not just saying that either - I really love all of their work. Plus, I'm always excited to see artwork from instructors or professors of mine. I love being able to see their process and studio practices in finished form. I'm also feeling pretty honored that my peep sculpture with be on display alongside Rachel and Andrews at the show. I hope you stop by on First Friday, have a little wine and food, and check out the show. I'll be demoing on the wheel all night again, too!

Andrew Perry Davis

Catherine Schlebecker

Rachel Bleil

I have not been in the habit of sketching much lately, or keeping any kind of journal, which is a bit unusual for me. I used to journal obsessively, but I haven't written a thing in ages. I actually intended to keep one throughout my pregnancy, but I started off in such a funk, I just couldn't seem to make myself. This week I worked on finishing designs for Kentuckiana Pug Rescue's 2011 fundraiser t-shirt, which I worked out in my giant black sketchbook, and I realized that I've only got a few pages left in it. I started it in December of 2009 with the intent of drawing in it daily (anyone remember that ambition? I think I made it 3 months...) I think today I will go out and buy a new sketchbook and try again. If not daily, then at least making it a point to work out ideas on paper so that I don't forget them. I miss drawing and writing a lot, and I think the surface design work I've been doing recently shows it. I also think I'd like to try planning out my ceramic forms more, so that I have some vague goals for what I'd like to make when I sit down at the wheel. I'm not great at throwing exact shapes and forms I have in mind, but it's something I'd like to work towards.