Category Archives: learning

staying cool in the studio

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studio 002

well my studio mates already poke fun at my apron of choice: an old towel wrapped around my waist and clipped in back with a mini clamp.  luckily no one was in the studio tonight when i had to utilize yet another after shower towel trick.  the head wrap.  as previously mentioned our studios have no air con and in the thick of florida june that means sometimes swimming in sweat.  i couldn’t take it anymore tonight, even with 2 fans pointing at me.  finally i took one of my studio towels and wrapped my hair up in it.  it really did the trick.  but i don’t know if i can rock the head towel when i have company in the studio.  haha.

anyway, it was a productive weekend.  i have been working on some more wall peieces.  j- and i were so excited about our firing that we decided to sign it out again asap and will fire again on the fourth of july.  i thought i could bang out multiple wall hangings in preparation for the kiln but i am so into making these toes that i ended up spending 2 days on 4 wall peices.  anyway, i am having a great time.  and j- needs space in the kiln with an upcoming show so i am happy to build up a collection of bisque work.  when j- leaves, i’ll have to fill the kiln up on my own won’t i?  unless one of our new a.i.r.s works in soda fired raw porcelain too?

here’s a sneak peak at this weekends work:

studio 006

studio 004

studio 003

studio 007

and a new chicken butt in the works:

studio 005

soda pop goodness.

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friday night after a long week of work we loaded up the soda kiln.  c- was having an opening for his show in the gallery, everyone was wearing cute opening clothes, c- was even wearing pants, not shorts, but we were all sweaty and disgusting, shuttling work, wadding, loading.  we finished around 10, turned on the pilots and hung around the kiln pad for a few hours drinking and chatting with other a.i.r.s.

somehow i dragged myself out of bed at 6, getting to the clay company and doing my first turn up at 6:20 am.  it was really interesting flying solo.  for the first few turn ups i was a little insecure.  is this enough sputter?  too much?  but eventually i got comfortable trusting my gut.  r- taught me well, whenever i wasn’t sure i’d stop looking and listen to the fire.  sputter-check.

even at 6:20 am, it was already hot.  i spent the 28 minutes between turn ups sitting in one of the cushiony barber chairs yawning and sweating.  oh and i heated up my leftover gyro in the peep.  yum.  when j- rolled up with iced coffee, it was a good thing.

almost everything in the kiln was porcelain with no glaze.  we did a long, full on body reduction, adding wood to the ports in hopes of getting a good amount of carbon trapping.  there weren’t any major stalls, the kiln was pretty even troughout.  at the end of the day we had 11 flat on top and about halfway down on the bottom.  sodaed using a mixture of soda ash and baking soda in “chalupas” and sprayed and then added a bit of wood at the end.

good times!kiln 001

kiln 004

kiln 006

kiln 009

kiln 011

here are some pics of j-‘s sweet work!kiln 012

kiln 013

studio day

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ok, i’ve been working full time for about a month now.  in theory it’s not many more hours but it’s really kicking my ass.  i feel the days passing, get up, go to work, take care of mundane tasks, get into bed, restart.  it’s not a nice feeling.  there is so little time to just “be around” the studio.  the salt and soda kiln have been fired in the last week and i wasn’t present for either.  it’s not the one job, of course, it’s just that between working in sarasota, with the commuting, and part time at creative clay, and one day the the clay co my days are packed and i’m starting to feel a little claustrophobic.  i love all the things i do but everyone needs a little spare time right?  ok, my pity party is over.  today i did have the day off and i got to work in the studio for the majority of it.  i finished up a third in the chicken butt series and started a fourth.  j- and i are going to fire the soda kiln this weekend and i’m hopeing to get all four of them in.  i’m always pushing it to the last minute with firings…

number 3

number 3

family

family

summer time in the studio.

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our a.i.r. studios are burning up about now.  st. pete clay is housed in a big red brick train station from the 1920’s.  up front where the member studios, retail galleries and highwater clay are housed is air conditioned but walking back through the building, once you hit the kiln room, it’s nothing but toasty. i spent most of the day at the studio today but after an hour or so i had to run out for beverages.  using my sweet rolling sculpture stands i moved everything up front.  when sabo left to go back to alaska his space transitioned into a small work area for classes or overheated a.i.r.s so that’s where i set up.  went and got some vitamin water and um, regular water and got back to work.

it was great to spend the whole day working in the studio.  right now is kind of a transitional time.  during this residency i have worked really hard to “be around” as much as possible and not take this time or space for granted.  i had a really good job situation, working part time with benefits at my main job and part time at creative clay but recently, due to the crazy economy, i had to go full time to keep my benifits.  not that i’m complaining.  i am definitely thankful that there was a position for me to transition into.  now i have the task ahead of me to continue to be around and continue learning with less time.  i know this summer will be tough, and i’ll struggle to keep my nose to the grindstone.  so far though, being at work more has made me feel more motivated to get into the studio in the time i do have.

i’m preparing for my end of residency show.  it’s not officially scheduled yet but will be in early fall, september or so.  hard to believe i’ve been at this 9 monthes.  i have learned so much, made a lot of work and done a few shows.  by the time i put that solo show up, fill up a whole gallery with shit i made, i think i will be pretty satisfied with my experience.

i’m also putting together some little guys for the annual flower and garden sale next next weekend.  my  parents are obsessed with gardening so they separated out some baby succulent plants for me to make some pots for.  i’m not much of a vessel maker but hopefully they’ll be sweet.

drawing for new sculptures

drawing for new sculptures

first one

first one

succulent planters-before:

085

stay tuned for the after….

blog wish list

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things i wish i had some spare minutes for/coming up on pickled eggplant:

post pics of the egg plate i made my mom for her birthday/easter.

post about salting the  kiln the egg plate was in.

make the “opportunistic bacteria” plates for a third time and have them work.

post pics of the soda fired microbes.

post official pics of the showtel 7  “microcosmic exploration” installation by sue stevens and me.

crazy days

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i’ve had lots to post about but nothing but technological difficulties.  i bought a camera a month or so ago and it seems to be malfuctioning, actually it won’t even turn on.  am i cursed with all things electronic?  and in addition my laptop seems to be on it’s last breath.  i’m going to have to give in and get a new one soon.

but anyway, lots of stuff has been going on.  preparation for showtel 7 has been underway.  all my little microbes got finished up.  i ended up soda firing them and was pleased with the results.

working with the kiln tech to check my work i sorta kinda “solo” fired the minnasota flattop and the soda kiln sunday.  rudy, the flattop was done in a sweet 12 hours but our new soda takes a little longer.  we had it done in 16 which is about average.  hopefully as it gets fired more and we get to know it better  the average time will decrease a little bit.

our kiln tech is a really great teacher and i’ve learned a buttload from him over the course of my residency.  the soda kiln is a nice size to fill a load of my work and and fire solo, or to split with another resident.  after finishing up sunday evening, i was already amped to start making work for the next one.

i’m getting really interested in the soda finish i’ve been getting on raw porcelain.  i love the gray color and peach blushing that is typical of a soda fire, but for my work, the clean orange peel sheen is the best.  especially when you get the little gray squiggles.  i have so much detail in the form that putting glaze over it always seems like a bummer, but the soda sheen just coats it nicely, finishing it off.  we’ve been firing to about cone 10 each firing, but next time, when i can fill the kiln or split it with j who also uses porcelain i’d like to push it to cone 11 or 12 and really max on the soda.

anyway, tuesday we were able to unload.  everything came out great and is headed down to west palm with me today.  showtel 7 is saturday.  if you happen to be in the area, come on out!

microbes pre-fire.  will post fired pictures and installation shots asap.

monster pile

monster pile

monster egg sac

monster egg sac

top of monster

top of monster

monster detail

monster detail

worm

worm

opportunistic bacteria plates

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below is an image of the bacteria plates i was working on for a doctor i work with.  i had scavenged some underglazes that were getting trashed at the studio to use for the color. i covered them with underglaze while leather hard and sgraffito’ed the image.   i once fired them, putting clear glaze on top of the underglaze while everything was still bone dry.  unfortunately when they came out of the kiln chunks of underglaze were flaking off.  i thought it might be because i had once fired them?? so i remade them, but this time bisqued the underglaze on, THEN clear glazed and glaze fired.  same problem.  any idea what the problem could be?  i’m stumped.  i decided to get rid of these underglazes and go with something new.  news to follow.

virus plates

virus plates

firing kilns

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our new soda kiln

our new soda kiln

wednesday turned out to be my day of firing kilns.

last week on my day off i went over to the studio to help c.p. with some tasks re: the new soda kiln.  v and i kiln-washed the inside, all the door brick, the bricks for the bagwell and the target bricks.  c.p. turned on the burners so we could see the direction the flame would take upon hitting the target bricks. the anticipation was building to fire the brand new soda kiln.   saturday i heard through the grapevine that c.p. would be ready to load tuesday.  j and i would help and the kiln would be fired wednesday.  perfect for me.

then, tuesday morning  i saw r pulling kaowool off rudy’s burners.  with surprise i asked, “did you fire?”.  he said, “no, i’m about to load, didn’t you say wednesday was the best day for you to help out?”.

how awesome!  day of multiple firings.  i would have to leave to teach at creative clay and to stop at an appointment but would be present for the majority of firing.  r and decided to meet at 4 am to start turning up the kilns.

ok, so the truth is, it’s all a bit of a blur.  we started doing turn ups at 4 am, actually r came in at 2 to get a head start on rudy since he couldn’t sleep.  around 5, i think, c joined us.  we started with one burner on the soda and eventually turned on the second.  it was all uncharted territory with the new soda, no old logs to reference.  the pyrometer seemed to be in a strange place, catching a bit of flame so it didn’t match the cones.  there were turn ups, logging, putting rudy into body reduction and taking him out.  then i went to creative clay.  my artlink partner m and i worked on books and decided to take our lunches to the clay co.  i think the soda was ready for body reduction while were there so we went outside to help.  i had her stand back, but with a good view of everything going on and she was able to peek in and see cone 012 falling.  when we walked back inside she asked, “could i learn how to do that?”  i told her that for sure she could do like i have been doing, observing when firings are happening and get to know the process better.

after i returned there was a bit of a lull, rudy was just about done.  i checked out the settings ron had used  for glaze reduction before we took it out.  c and i shut rudy down.  the soda kiln was still chugging along.  we were waiting on cone 8 and 9 to get soft.  it got dark while all this waiting was happening.  c.p. and i got hungry and ordered pizza.  he went to get it and when he got back it was totally time to soda.  the baking soda, soda ash and water were all prepped in the sprayer and mixed with saw dust so we scarfed down a slice of pizza each and started making “chalupas” out of newspaper.  shoving them in turned out to be pretty hysterical, and we had to improve our design or they would get stuck on the bricks and burst into flame.  after that there was spraying, a whole lotta spraying and reduction and finally we were done.  c.p. showed me how to shut down the kiln and we sat down to enjoy some more pizza before leaving.

what a good time!  i learned a lot, got to see a lot and of course got to soda the kiln.   friday i went over after work to see the work that was unloaded.  i was super pleased with my peices (2 wall peices and the garlic wall hanging i made for benny).  the were all highwater helios porcelain and were in the bottom of the kiln where cone 11 had started to fall.  they had a nice sheen and one of the wall pieces had just a little gray speckling from reduction.

firing rudy

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i don’t know how i got through school with out ever firing a gas kiln, but i did.  now, looking back, i think it’s too bad.  but a big goal for me this year is to increase my technical skill and build on the firings i did in japan.

atmospheric finishes and high firing may not come into play in my work naturally.   i’m a form girl.  i work hard on intricate surfaces, smooth or textured, small details repeated, layers built up.  i enjoy a plain finish that lets the form speak but i certainly don’t want what i do to be dictated by my lack of technical skill.

r told me how he became kiln tech.  he said he wanted to know how everything worked.  didn’t want to leave his pot’s surface up to chance so he asked tons of questions, followed people as they fired, read past logs and one day the kiln tech left and, having never fired a kiln solo, he was the new kiln tech.

tuesday r had rudy, our minnesota flat top, loaded and the salt kiln cranking. under r’s tutelage i lit the pilot’s and we agreed to meet at 10 pm to fire.  before i left i got to test my skill by putting the salt kiln into body reduction and taking out right before leaving for the day.  went home for 2 hours of sleep then back to the studio.

we started doing turn ups, me checking with r while he worked on a stalling salt kiln outside.  i glazed, filled an electric kiln and continued turning rudy up.  near dawn we put rudy into body reduction, and headed outside to finally salt the salt kiln.  i felt really lucky to do the salting since i hadn’t endured through the rest of the firing.  as the salt spilled into the kiln, crackling in the heat, violet, lavender and sunshine flames and white smoke poured from the ports.  it was freaking glorious.

finally around 6 am i left to get some sleep before glaze reduction and before having to start work at creative clay.  unfortunately rudy wasn’t ready in time so i had to miss the end of the firing, but next time.  i saw the work which came out of both kilns today and i felt kind of connected to it.