Glaze Fest- Spring 2012

I mixed up a batch of my glaze, Miri's Metallic Magic and also did a few more tests with it. 

      I glazed a few bowls in my gun metal silver glaze and dipped their rims in a couple of other glazes to see how it might react with other colors.
     I also mixed up my silver glaze and added colorants to three different cups for testing. I tried out Rutile, Alumina and Copper Carbonate to a third. It will be like Christmas when I crack open the kiln to see the results!

The first bucket of my glaze.

I thought that lidded vessels had gotten the best of me but I tried again. I like this pot a lot better than my previous attempts. I still need to practice at making my lids fit better and getting the lids lighter. I have been experimenting with throwing my lids on a hump and trimming the knob out of it.

     Yay for a new job at a framing store! It made for a tough weekend while I worked both jobs until my two weeks notice is up. It is also the reason I put in twelve hours at the studio today.
     I am excited that I finished a lot of experiments today. My painting project is coming together and I plan to take some photos of it tomorrow to post on here.

The Dirt Bags Open House

      Most of my weekend was spent at the Dirt Bags Open House at IUS. I spent the morning, afternoon preparing and early evening at school checking out the work. There were others who put in two days effort into the preparations. Stephanie decorated our class sheep "You" above so she was presentable for visitors.

 We continued doodle fest on the lockers outside of ceramics. Connie snapped this photo of me, on the left, doodling away.

The ceramics class was unrecognizable and almost dust free. One of Jays awesome vessels is in the middle front and Kirstin's tiny little ceramic tree full of little details is to the right.

The 3d studio was a little disco room full of 3d art. There was a suit made out of coffee bags, a cardboard water fountain and another sheep!

     The foundations drawing class was decked out with tons of art and was fun to browse through.

     It was a fun weekend but it is time to get back to making art. I started throwing on the wheel tonight, the second to last day before wet work cut-off. It is time to get busy in painting and it is passed time that I get some photos of this semester's work up. I'll have to do that next week.

Train Kiln

 

     The train kiln ready for its inaugural firing! It was hard work but fun to build. I'm really excited that I was a part of its construction. 

     Jay and I had the overnight shift which looked a lot like this. It was pretty slow going at first because we would just throw in a few pieces ever so often as we built up the coal bed. I was bummed when I had to go to work and missed out on some of the stages of the firing.

 This is all the work laying out on the table before we loaded it in the kiln.

     I learned how to tumble stack. This is what the loaded work looked like inside the kiln. To achieve nice fire patterns we put the work down so that it would let the fire flow between the pieces. The ash blows through the kiln and melts on the pottery creating patterns and shine.
     The kiln has cooled down enough that we will be unloading it tomorrow. I am really excited to see how everything turns out.

Space Lab Show Preparations

 Time as Perceptual is the name of my show at IUS in the Space Lab this Tuesday. I have been reading several theories about time and have chosen ceramic to explore them. Most people who have been in an accident agree that time seemed to have slowed down during the traumatic event. Some theories say that our brain is capable of controlling time because it is perceptual. Others that a rich memory from that event is full of details and when we reflect on it, it may seem to last much longer. Some theories insist that time is universal and that time slowing down is just an illusion.

These are broken pottery pieces embedded in clear plastic resin.

These are spills sculpted out of clay.

These two are hung from fishing line to simulate a frozen moment of an accident.

Filming and Glazing

 

     We filmed the video of my pots breaking today. I am trying to create a video of isolated mundane accidents. Filming the accidents didn't happen without real accidents. I sat a glass of almond milk on top of my husbands car on the way to film. I was going to film the milk splashing but the glass slid down the roof and splashed all over the windows. The top photo is a picture of the aftermath. 

    

 Underneath is a photo of my sliced finger after picking up the broken pottery. I cleaned it up and kept going. 

     
     I'm excited to put the video to music. I have mugs, cups, a bowl, a vase and eggs breaking on film.

 This cup, and two others like it, will accompany the video. I glazed them today and they will be fired this weekend.

Intentional and Accidental Accidents

      These are two of the little vessels I made to depict frozen moments. I chose liquid spilling out of cups and pitchers because they are common or mundane accidents that happen all the time. I like the irony of using small unimportant accidents, that are a minor irritation, to convey my ideas of what our minds go through in major tradgedies or accidents.

 I finally ordered my casting resin to encase my broken pottery. First, it is time to experiment with it. I am excited.

      Here are all of my glazed pieces that just came out of the kiln. I've brought them home to take some photos of them before they are pulverized on Wednesday. Above are two of my mugs chosen for demolition. I want to make this harder on myself by chosing my favorite pieces. It is too easy to let go of the ugly ones and no turning back now.

It's Time for Glaze and Assemblage!

     Splashing cup number one is on its way! I hope to get a little thinner and more realistic rather than stylized with the splashes as I continue to practice. I am happy with this one as a beginner piece.
     I want to make three cups all the same size that will eventually simulate the stages of an accident taking place. This cup above is a practice for phase one. Now that I realize that I can work more thinly than this I'm excited to throw a few cups over the next couple of days and give it a go.
     I walked back into the kiln room today and realized how many cups and bowls I have huddled on the shelves. I believe it is time for some glaze! Which means it is time for a cup and bowl demolition. I may make a small party of it if anyone is interested in attending the event.
     I've been trying to think of some disturbing/ uneasy music for the background of my smashing video. The first thing that came to mind is Carmina Burana. I played it with my middle school marching band (we were cool) and it did nothing for calming my nerves while being in front of a crowd even though I was part of the music.