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.

Things that are happening

So much going on! It's been a busy couple of months, and the fun doesn't stop! I'm just gonna dump a lot of happenings here, so my apologies if this post becomes bloated and tl;dr.

Last weekend I did the Bloomington Handmade Market Holiday Show, which is by far my favorite craft fair to participate in. It's well attended, profitable for me, and seems to draw a crowd that appreciates my work. Also, the volunteer staff is super helpful, and it's always well organized. The icing on the cupcake is that they provide coffee and noms for the vendors, which pretty much means I'm sold on the whole thing:)

There were some really rad vendors there this year. Here are a few of my faves:

http://pinkcheeksstudio.blogspot.com/

Handmade Promenade recap

I was going to do a blog post about the craft fair this past weekend, but my friend Erin at eef-ink went and did all the work for me (even recounting the amusing anecdote about the drunk guy who gave me money! Hah! Drunk guys.) So go check it out, so that I don't have to do any more work.

Eef ink - Handmade Promenade

A Spoon with a View

You may remember a while back (though probably not - who reads this thing, anyway) that I posted a link to Jeanette Zeis's spoon tutorial, and that I tried making some spoons of my own. Those spoons did not turn out well, but I made some more, and I just got them out of the kiln this past weekend. I must say, I'm pretty pleased with them.

 I did a little bowl, too. I did a couple, actually, but the other one cracked, unfortunately. Maybe I'll take a pic of it later, as the drawing is pretty awesome. At least I get to keep it now:)

Has anyone else tried making ceramic spoons? I'm dying to see more of them! I think this could become an obsession...

I have a new fan.

I did a mini craft fair on Friday. I didn't remember to bring a camera, so I don't have any pics of that. But I did get this video of Maddy flipping out over my pottery. She was on the floor getting some tummy time while I was packing up, and started rolling towards the brightly colored pots. Unfortunately, I couldn't get her to roll over on camera, but she does squeal rather adorably.

Think she'll grow up to be a potter?

So one day I swear I'll have better pics.

I just finished my second week of teaching for the new session at Beech Grove Clay Works. Woohoo, I'm the official artist in residence now!  I went to the library and Half Price Books and got a ton of ceramics books, including a huge glaze recipe book, and a book on handmade tiles. I've got plans to do a ton of glaze testing! I am determined to get the perfect pink glaze, as well as some nice copper blue glazes. I will be sure to share my results as I go!

My first week, I taught some basic slab building projects - footed and paddled cups with and without a handle, with white slip and sgraffito surface decoration (totally Ayumi Horie inspired - but I talk about her to the students so much, it was inevitable that I'd demo her technique. I ♥ her work!) This week, I did basic wheel throwing, focusing on wedging and centering techniques, and throwing a simple bowl. It's going pretty well so far, and the students all seem to be enjoying themselves. Also, my mother-in-law signed up for the class, and while she had absolutely no patience for the wheel, we are working on doing a tile project together for the kitchen. I'm pretty excited about it! It's also nice getting to make work for myself that I can also use as a demo. A friend of mine wants a large cookie jar, so that was my demo for the more advanced wheel throwing students. It feels so good to get so much work done!

I know you're probably tired of seeing crappy cell phone pics of everything. I know I am, especially since I have a fairly decent digital camera that I just never remember to bring to the studio. I fully intend to take some real slides of my work this week, because I am inspired by my twitter friend's blog post about photographing her ceramics. Check it out, her pics look great!

Kitchen stuff, and lookit this BABY!

Since I've had cooking on the brain lately, I've been making more and more functional items for use in the kitchen. Last week I decided to try my hand at making spoons, and a couple months ago I made some mortar and pestles, so I'm thinking of making more. I've also been invited to participate in a teapot show, so I've been trying my hand at teapots, with varying success. I tried to make two teapots, but the second one dried before I could attach a spout and handle. I decided it would make a nice garlic keeper instead, and since it was still leatherhard, it was perfect for doing some incised line drawing.

I really enjoyed making the spoons! I'm still deciding whether I want to try Jeanette Zeis's method of making bisque molds, or whether it's easier to just form them all by hand. They were fun to make, and I used various techniques to make them, finally settling on pinching a tiny bowl on one end of a fat carrot-shaped piece of clay, and then pulling a handle on the other end. I like the variety of spoon shapes I got out of trying different things. They also make great little surfaces for doodling! I don't know why, but drawing on tiny things is so much easier than on a larger piece. I guess there's less blank space to stress over, and you can work quickly while your ideas are still fresh. You also haven't invested a ton of time in making them, so if you don't like what you've done, you can quickly make new ones.

I think I'd like to do something different with the surfaces in the future, but these were fun to play around with. I'll definitely be making more of them. These are probably going in the kiln tonight, so I'll let you know how they turn out.

Btw, the baby girl is 4 months old now! Here is her impersonation of a nerd.

Nerd baby!

And here's her impersonation of a starfish.

Pretty dang cute, huh?