Kiln Shelves on the Edge of Forever

If I had a time machine - let's say it's a single-use, like those little plastic cameras they leave on the tables at wedding receptions - three possibilities would be in a tight competition for which single use I put my one chance at time travel:

• The obvious, of course: kill Hitler, or Pol Pot, or one of those other murderous bastards who really needed killing before they could commit their bloody acts; or
• Go back and tell my 1982 self, with my handful of graduation-gift money, to buy shares of Microsoft; or
• Go back to December 2013, and tell my last-December-self to just scrape and grind the kiln shelves then, because I am going to hate it ten times worse when I go to bisque at the leading edge of mud season, and find my shelves not ready. It's like have some really inconsiderate studiomate. Except it's me.

I'd probably go with option 3. I've watched enough Star Trek to know that messing with the timeline is dangerous business, so the one with the least far-reaching effect seems wisest. Also, it's doubtful I could pull off a murder, if I could even bring myself to kill someone who hadn't done anything yet; and getting my 18-yr-old self to listen about anything sounds even more improbable than the time machine premise of this whole exercise.

While I am waiting for time travel to be invented, however, I might as well be grinding these shelves.

I'm back. That is my least favorite job! I'm never excited to mix glazes, either, but once I get started I can kind of get into it. Shelf grinding is just, well, a grind.

I'm considering an investment: either some kind of power tool to make this go more easily, or replace all of my shelves with Advancers. The top half of my stack are Advancers already, and they are far far easier to clean, and don't need kiln-washing. Not to mention they are easier on my back.

Pottery Tour Already?

Well, it is March, however little it may feel like spring. Just back from a great meeting of the Central Maine Clay Artists. Usually I hate meetings - one of my downfalls in office environments - but these are fun, like hanging out with friends. I always come out of them energized. We elected a new president, too! Congratulations, Martha - that's what you get for missing a meeting!

Today we talked about two projects, Mug Season and the Maine Pottery Tour. Mug Season is an April fundraiser jointly put on by The Central Maine Clay Artists and local coffee shops: buy a handmade mug, get your coffee free. Half of the proceeds go to the artists, the other to local arts programs. We chose which shops to work with (there are always more wanting to participate than we can cover) and decided who would be contact person for each. I've got the Downtown Diner, here in Augusta.

Then we went on to discuss the Pottery Tour, happening hard on the heels. The tour is moved back this year to the first weekend in May, because I was hearing a lot of feedback that Mother's Day weekend was not working for a lot of people. I still kinda like Mother's Day Weekend, because it's easy to remember and it seems like a good activity to do with one's Mom, but hey, I'm not a little tin god; if most people prefer an earlier date, well, let's try it.(Here's the Facebook link for that one, also, if you're so inclined.) So many good ideas out of this meeting! Unified-look signage, postcards, joint promotion!

The last two years, I have invited guest artists, but will be skipping that this year. I find I can be sanguine about bad weather or low sales if it's just me - shit happens, right? - but I am a big ol' ball of angst if I feel like I am letting someone else down by allowing it to rain. That, and I expect to have a mega ton of stuff, much of it clearance. Seems wrong to ask someone to compete with clearance prices. Oh, and will likely be having household company that weekend too.

In other news, I sliced my Lemon Berry Soap loaf this morning! Here's what the big reveal revealed:

Six weeks to cure before it's ready to roll. (Or slide. Bubble. Whatever.)

Nothing Left To Do But...

...make soap! My greenware shelves are full and I am waiting on the last pots - some jars that will serve as cat urns, for an order - to dry enough for the bisque. I ain't going out into the glaze kitchen in the single digit weather, I promise you that, so any buckets that are low are just gonna have to wait.What better time to get some saponification going?

This loaf has a raspberry lemonade scent. The blue band will hopefully be a translucent star in the finished bars. There are also some pale blue cubes buried under the pink and lemon layers. Tomorrow morning is the big reveal!

Speaking of soap, I spent some time last night designing some labels from an Avery template. You know you can get a pre-made template for any shape of label Avery sells at Avery.com, right?  I've been using Avery 22808, a round, brown kraft label to identify my soaps. The names were hand written, which I'm sure is all very charmingly homemade, but I think people trust products more if they carry some of the polish of commercial goods. Slicker packaging seems to be a way to make people more comfortable with a handmade product, because it mimics the way commercial goods are presented. Oh, this person can't be a clown, or in any way half-assed! Just look at those tidy labels!

Or, as Mr. Business Guy used to say, "Presentation: it's HUGE." This is applicable to pottery as well.

I got some cellophane bags, to replace the tissue and white paper as packaging. They aren't quite what I want, but I don't like those little sleeves (the soap shrinks, and then its pants fall down!), or the fancy papers that hide the soap. I am unwilling to add 50¢ or more to the price of each bar for those cunning boxes with the cut outs, so cello bags will do for now. I also got a label maker ($6 on Ebay!), so I can print up the name of each soap, and put it in the center of the circle. And also because I've always wanted a label maker.

It occurs to me that I really should make another label for the back with the ingredients. I haven't, in part because I make such small batches that I couldn't afford to wholesale them, so anyone who gets a soap is dealing directly with me. But again, it seems more professional, and people do have preferences about animal products or other materials.

Half-Assed and Homemade: The Screenprinting Edition

Ahh, Pinterest! What did we do before you? I found this technique there. It was really intended for screen printing t-shirts, but it seems to me it would work well for slip transfer also, especially because the resulting screen is fabric, which you could wrap around a three-dimensional form.

I used an old sheer curtain, which had already suffered from too much cat attention, stretched over a small embroidery hoop. The hoops are like a dollar and a half at AC Moore. While you are there, pick up some Mod Podge and a foam brush; then go next door to Staples and grab some shipping labels. I got 5163s, a little bit bigger than business cards, but they make larger ones, up to full sheets, if you have a bigger image in mind.

Draw, the cut your shape out of a shipping label. Peel off the back, and stick the shape to the sheer fabric, on the "up" side of the hoop. Press the edges down carefully; if they aren't thoroughly stuck down, your shape will have an irregular edge.

With a foam brush, paint the Mod Podge onto the screen, brushing outwards from the sticky label. I applied it pretty thickly. Note: Do not apply the Mod Podge all the way out to the frame, or onto the frame itself. Turns out Mod Podge is sorta just Elmer's Glue in a snazzier jar! It will stick the screen to the frame pretty securely. Yeah, now ask me how I know that...

Hold the frame up to the light before removing the sticky label to see any places that you missed.

While the Mod Podge is still wet, peel off the sticker. I found a needle tool helpful here. It will take a long while for the screen to dry; at least overnight. Store it horizontally! Bad things happen otherwise.

Once it's dry, remove it from the frame and cut it to a convenient size.


Use it by pressing the fabric to the clay surface. Press firmly to stick it to the damp surface. (Here I used a different stencil I had made earlier, as the first one was not quite ready yet. ) A pony roller helped to make sure it was well stuck.

With a brush, press your colored slip (or maybe glaze? Haven't tried that. Somebody try it and get back to me) through the screen to make your image.

The result is a sharper image than one would get with a cut sponge, but softer than a decal. It worked on vertical surfaces also.

A note: Mod Podge is not waterproof, though it is water resistant. Rinse your screen carefully between uses, and immediately when you are done with it, so you don't have to scrub.

A Kiln Sitting Poem

Waiting for the cones to fall
Gives me time to think
The world is big and I am small
And I could use a drink.

Inside the kiln the flames they roar.
The glazes flux and flow.
And I, outside, begin to snore
Before I even know

That I'm asleep. But I must be
Because when I'm awak-ed
People tend to notice me
If I'm in public, naked.

Or anyway, I think they would,
Not that I would know!
I guess that now I prob'ly should
Go check the peephole's glow.

Those bloody cones, like soldiers, they.
Standing straight and tall.
When, o when, I sit and pray
Will those fuckers fall?

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Yesterday was a day of note here at Fine Mess Pottery, because the first of the spring orders arrived. I received an order from the veterinarian for whom I make the cat cremation urns - which is not, strictly speaking, a seasonal order, but welcome nonetheless. Shortly thereafter, I got a message from Clare at Monkitree: Sugar bowls! Butterdishes, garlic keepers, mugs! Oh, and bring me anything wonderful that you think I ought to see!

I'm paraphrasing. But two orders in one day: good news indeed! Especially because yesterday morning I drove out the The Artisan's Barn to pick up my work for the last time; Barbara, the proprietor, has had enough. Bummer.

Yesterday was also the first day in ages that we had bright sunshine long enough to photograph pots, in my stone-knives-and-bearskins arrangement in my living room that requires actual sunshine as lighting. So I stopped everything to take some shots.

And, lastly, I taught a make up class for one that was cancelled due to snow. As with many make up classes, it was lightly attended - people often choose their class times because it's the only time during the week that works for them.  The folks who were there were a fun and dedicated group, and we got to spread out a little. I did a demo for them on making a homemade mini silk-screen for slip imagery, which I've written half a blog post about; just need to see the results to finish it.

Today was webwork and trimming platters. Remember in college, when you felt like studying for one class, but you really should have been studying for another, because there was a test tomorrow? So you ended up not studying for either. (Oh wait. That wasn't you. That was me.) I learned from that experience! I really should have been preparing the kiln for the bisque, and finishing the cat urns, but I didn't feel like it. It's chilly in here, because we are trying to make the last few drops of oil stretch until the beginning of March, and I just didn't feel like getting my hands wet. I felt like staying in bed and  processing the shots I took yesterday, and posting them in the pottery shop. I've had a little flurry of web sales, so I needed to replace a few images anyway. So I did that. Here are the new links:

Salt and Pepper Shakers

Porcelain Buttons

Oribe/Bauer Casserole

Tenmoku Mug

I also trimmed the platters I threw the other day, compressed the hello out of them, and re-covered them to dry slowlyslowlyslowly.

And tomorrow? Tomorrow I am back in class with my Handbuilders in the morning and my Beginners in the evening. And in between, lunch with Mom and a trip to the gym!

Thursday Inspiration: Shana Salaff

See more of Shana's delightful work here.

A Good Day for Platters

I don't really make platters. I mean, I don't not make platters; I'm not morally opposed to platters. But they are messy to make, slinging a lot of slurry around, and they have a really high loss rate due to warping, cracking, and big bubbly blobs of soda glaze landing on them. (Anything wide is at greater risk of big bubbly blobs.)

But it's February, and these platters can dry for months if need be; and anyway I just felt like it. Truth be told I really just wanted large surfaces to decorate!

I started with the largest one. I was playing with different methods of slip application, trying to get different qualities of line. I used a standard metal-tip slip bottle, a ziplock bag with a corner snipped off, and a pastry tube with a small star tip. You can see the lines here:

L to R: Pastry Tube, Slip Bottle, Ziplock baggie

I had in my mind an image sort of like a Japanese cherry-blossom painting; like this

or this

or this

I wanted to capture something of that feeling, but not try to simply make a slip-duplicate. They have a loose/tight quality...a perfect imperfection...that was the feeling I was looking for.

I started with my new best friend, food coloring:

 Then I used the pastry tube, which made the thickest line.

On to the thinner lines:

And finally to the blossoms. Here I had a decision: I could go with the more literal slip-embroidery look, or just suggest blossoms with slip dots. I went with option B.

So....hmmm. Not sure if it reads in the photograph, but that is some really high relief. (Click the photo to see a larger version. The depth of the relief is evident) It's wonderful and gooey and very appealing, but now I am wondering if it will compromise the function of the platter.
 

Think, think, think, says Pooh.

Sometimes, as it dries, slip flattens out a bit.  Maybe that will happen in this case. If it doesn't, I can still try sponging the slip-relief. That will flatten it out, and also soften up the image...for good or ill.

Still have two platters to decorate!


PS. Here's the beginning of the next one, which will have sprigs and a scalloped border of slip dots.

Way Too Much is Just Right, Chapter a Million

I started slip-trailing and I couldn't stop.

This is my last wetwork week for a little while, and I am making the most of it. Next week I need to begin preparing to fire, a process that includes an additional task in the deep dark winter: I need to shovel out the kiln. This most recent snow - maybe 10 inches in Augusta - was very wet and heavy, and has now frozen into a solid mass. Maybe I should get my burnz-O-matic involved, to cut the snow into movable chunks. 

Though I haven't been out to the kiln in a while, I see someone else has....

"The fog comes on little cat feet..." writes Carl Sandberg. You know what else does? Little cats!

Thursday Inspiration: Natalie Tornatore

Here's a link to Natalie's website.

You can find Natalie's work for sale at Schaller Gallery. (Scroll down at the link. Lots of other yummy pots there, too!) Look here, at Crimson Laurel Gallery, also.

Meanwhile, Back in the Studio

I finally had time and...I dunno, bandwidth, I guess, to get back in the studio and work on this basket.  I had originally thought that it would be covered in a slip-trailed design, but I am having second thoughts about that. Despite my usual approach - "More is more" - in this case maybe not. Maybe the the pot is done, at this stage. This way leaves something for the glaze to do.

Or maybe just a leeeeeeetle more decoration...maybe on the handle? 

What do you think? Slip-trail? Or not?

Thursday Inspiration: Debra Fritts

 

See lots more of Debra's amazing work here and here.


Again I find myself thanking readers for their kindness. There has been more ruckus and dismay at our house this week- maybe that's why these angst-y, yearning faces are reaching me right now - but we are all in one piece and getting back on track.