Raku and Results

I had some newbies, so I did a little blah-blah about what to expect

 

let's see what we've got!

Dousing

Tuckered out and feeling a little non-verbal today, but here are some images from yesterday's raku firing. All the ware is student work.

I've got two more raku firings scheduled this season, one with my Thursday night class in the upcoming session (beginning the 21st) and one Saturday workshop in September. Date to be determined, hopefully today! 'll update as soon as I know, or give Cooper a call at Portland Pottery, 207-772-4334.

So, This Happened

Yesterday

Fortunately I love my work, because almost everything I do is work-related! Not absolutely everything, though; yesterday I was in a lovely wedding on a perfect summer day, blessed by a brief downpour. That's me, second from the right, as we do our half-assed Charlie's-Angels pose in the hotel room in our wedding finery. The bride - this bride, there were two - is my best friend from high school. Back then we talked about what sort of wedding we would have. My actual wedding was small and casual, but she went the whole nine yards. There was a chocolate fountain, y'all!

Today it's back to the mud, and the dust. Grinding kiln shelves, whoo-hoo! Then loading the bisque,

Today

and then firing, probably overnight. Squashing it all into one day because when I play, I pay. I need inventory for a new store opening in Belfast, Maine: Quench! More later: time to get dirty.

Soap Reveal - Tahitian Beach

In many ways, the soaping process reminds me of clay work: the chemistry, the waiting, the big reveal. In one way, soaping reminds me of fiber art, which I spent some time in, in college. Back then I was always finding or making little bits of things - beads, buttons, dyed fabric - and saving them to use in some future project. I find that I do that with soap, too: each batch makes more soap than will fit in the mold, so I use the extra to pour into candy molds - like these little seashells - or tube molds for inserts, or just bricks of color. Then I get a design idea, and go through my saved-up materials to see what would make a nice grace note.

I find I always want a grace note, in this case the scattered shells, and the gold mica shimmer. That is what makes the bars special, sets them apart at a glance from a perfectly-serviceable bar you can get in the grocery store. (Most of those aren't actually soap; they are detergent, but for most people that's a big ol' whatever.) The chemistry is important, too - the soap needs to feel amazing, lather generously, smell delightful. Those are all function. People never get to experience that part, unless they look at the soap and think, want.

Like clay, a boring piece can serve the function just as well as a special one. The grace notes are what make using it a great experience.

These are on the curing rack, and will be available mid-September.

Two Things

Firstly, my first paid website is live! Check it out here: bevwainer.com

That was fun! Bev is more or less what I expected my clients to be: an artist who is not particularly techie, and doesn't particularly wish to be, but needs a web presence. I can see how web building will be a good compliment to clay work. They are so different. When I don't feel up to the one, the other seems inviting.

And then there's soap! I made a loaf of soap today. I usually think of soapmaking as a winter thing, but I had been getting requests, so pulled out all the ingredients and gear. I made one loaf that I feel confident will turn out well - Tahitian Beach:

Blue and green swirls, white and gold froth, and those are little soap-cast seashells gracing the top! Unmolding tomorrow to see what the bars look like.

I also made one smaller loaf as an experiment. We'll see that one tomorrow, too, but I am less optimistic there.

Some Vast Eternal Plan

It's probably a jinx to mention it, but it feels like there's been a bit of karmic rebalancing going on in my professional life lately. For as long as you've known me - for as long as I've known me - I've struggled, struggled, struggled financially. That hasn't changed, although some things are easier: my nephew has gotten his own apartment (and doing well! Two jobs, two cats, good friends) and of course there's no need for heating oil in summer.

It started slowly, this shift in the wind. My two biggest wholesale customers had been placing smaller and smaller orders. Then I lost two consignment accounts in the spring, accounts that I counted on for steady checks, if not large ones. I started hustling hard, emailing and phoning stores, and Handworks in Blue Hill took me on. A couple of web sales trickled in, for a little cash and a much needed morale boost. Then I got a couple of mid-sized orders from old accounts I hadn't heard from in a while, which was a nice surprise. Then before I could even finish the wetwork for those, three higher-end stores - stores I hadn't even called - contacted me about carrying my work. Then I had a handful of calls about building websites, and took on a few projects. (I'll show you those when they are ready!)

I haven't yet seen the money from these events, but the air is great with potential, like thunderheads promising relief from a heatwave.

When I lost those two accounts in a short span of weeks, I feared it might be the end of my days as a full-time potter; perhaps, I thought, my long run of staying improbably afloat had come to an end. Because I have more guts than brains, I clung on with my fingernails, trying to make something happen, and - lo! - things started happening, but not, mostly, because of anything I did. Just random event clusters...a series of unfortunate events, then a series of fortunate ones.

I'd like to believe somebody up there has a plan for me, but if so, could we tweak it just the teensiest bit? "I realize, of course, it's no shame to be poor. But it's no great honor either."

Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Yesterday was butterdishes! I had thrown and stretched these on Sunday but it was Friday before I got a chance to assemble them. They are some of my favorite things to make: enough elements to keeping things interesting, and a broad surface to decorate. It's hard for me to remember to leave something for the glaze to do! I expect these to be part of the August 15th firing.

I haven't forgotten that I am supposed to be doing a video of butterdishes. Maybe during the glaze firing. It's hard for me to make anything while the kiln is firing, for some reason.

Yesterday was also website work. I built my own, noticed that it was not that hard to do, and a few weeks ago, I started putting the word out that I was available to build websites. I had in artists in mind; lots of artists are not especially tech-y, but nevertheless need a website. People are always asking if you have one, for one thing! And if you want to show someone what you do at distance it really is still the best way. I've gotten a few responses already, and started building the first last night.I'll post links to the finished sites here, once I get the go-ahead from the artists involved.

And today? Raku Workshop!! I run a series of them in conjunction with Portland Pottery every summer; this is the second this year. The sky is looking a bit ominous...here's hoping it holds off. Maybe, like weddings, rain is good luck for the firing?

Tomorrow I am back in the studio, finishing some salt & pepper shakers and plates, and throwing for a new account: Craft Company No. 6! More on this later.

Soaping Shopping

Though I am notoriously cheap, I love when i have a legit reason to buy stuff. Not just any old stuff - tires are a drag. So is Windex, flea treatment, and heating oil. What's not a drag: soaping supplies!

Just ordered fragrances and sweet almond oil for my next batches. In the past soaping has been a winter thing for me, but I am getting requests, so am happy to make more. I got three fragrances:

Stormy Nights

Cucumber Splash

Mango Sage Tea

...all from Nature's Garden.

Two of these are new to me - the Stormy Nights fragrance I have used once before. It was one of my favorite soaps ever, a clean ozone-y scent with a hint of violets. I used a purple colorant and a thin gold mica line. The other two just sounded like the kinds of fresh-fresh scents that I enjoy.

Someday I may start buying essential oils and less-complex fragrances, so I can create my own scents. Right now I am more interested in the chemistry of saponification itself, and in making silky, moisturizing lather with big bubbles, and a hard, long-lasting bar of soap.

Soap takes a while to cure, so it may be September before the batches made from these scents are available.

Haven't forgotten clay! Working on butter dishes, cat urns, and plates right now. Next firing will probably be August 13th, unloading the 16th.

Tiny Potter in My Chair

A potter wasp constructed this tiny vessel in the weave of a wicker chair on my deck. (For scale, that's a pine needle beside it.) I don't know how long their incubation period is, and I don't have the heart to destroy the offspring this charming little pot was meant to hold, but if it survives to the end of the season, I'll dislodge and fire it. Pretty sure that's B-mix...

Thursday Inspiration: Jason Burnett

See lots more of Jason's appealing work here.

Date Night at Portland Pottery

Seriously, you guys need to come to Date Night at Portland Pottery. This was the spread Manda put on.

Oh, and there was a raku firing, too. I was holding the tongs, so not in a good spot to photograph that!

I'll keep you posted when the next one is happening.

That One Image Transfer Technique

 

Every once in a while I read something about a technique to print a slip or underglaze design from a laser print. You know the one, where the toner behaves like a resist? Sorta looks impossible. Every once in a while I try to figure it out. This time I think I succeeded! Even though the tutorial is available from lots of people who are better at this than I am, I wanted to post it to mention the tricky spots, and what to do about them.

Here's what you need:

1. A laser print. Not a photocopy, not an inkjet print. Make it stark black & white - no gray tones
2. Slightly thin underglaze or slip. The thinner it is, the better it will roll away from the toner as, but also the fainter the design will be. This will take some monkeying around with, to get it right.
3. A soft brush. Very soft. A stiffer brush seems to press the slip to the paper too hard.
4. An early-leatherhard piece. 
5. A rubber rib, the really bendy kind
6. A throwing sponge
7. A spritz bottle of water. Very important! Release will be blotchy without it.
   

Here's what you do:

1. Brush your slip or underglaze onto the printed side of teh paper. One coat only; once the paper is wet, the resist doesn't work as well. Watch the slip roll away from the black areas. If a few spots are recalcitrant, you can blow on them really hard to encourage the slip to move. If the resist doesn't happen, your slip may be too thick.
2. Let the slip get bone-dry.
3. Cut into the shape of the print you want to make.
4. Spritz the surface of the piece so there's a thin sheen of water. Place the paper facedown on the wet surface
5. Spritz the back of the paper. Press repeatedly with a wet sponge. You'll begin to see the image showing through the paper. If there are areas where the image doesn't show, press the we sponge in those spots until it does.
6. Using the rubber rib, smooth the paper to the clay to encourage the transfer. 
7. Peel up the paper. Voilet! or whatever. Image transferred. Mine is still a little blotchy - I'll clean it up with a sgraffito tool later. I think with some practice I can get a cleaner image. 

Photos below, for the visual learners (like me) among you.

I just realized my hand reads "Bmix!" When I absolutely must remember something, I'll often write it on the back of my hand. I like to think it's not that I have a terrible memory, only that I have so much to remember. Tonight is Portland Pottery's Date Night raku firing, so lots to remember for that (starting with going there in the first place.) I'm out of bmix, so wanted to be sure and get some while I am in Portland anyway. LOL.

Did you find this post valuable? Buy me a coffee!

Thursday Inspiration: David Bolton

I am enamored of patterns, as you may know, and especially partially-decomposed patterns, in which the flame has a say in the final outcome. I also appreciate the work on the bottoms of the pots - I am always telling student that "use" includes not just serving and eating, but washing up and putting away. I think it's nice to add a little something for the person who does those things.

If David has a website, I couldn't find it; but his work is available for sale at Schaller Gallery and at Crimson Laurel.