They Say The Apple Doesn't Fall Far.

I had my 20 th high school reunion this weekend. What a wild walk back in time it was for me to see old classmates. I really cant believe its been 20 years since we graduated. I had a great, GREAT time! I'm so glad a few fellow classmates went through all the trouble to put such a lovely event together for us.

Of course, before making the trip into PA I had to do a bit of shopping for the affair. I normally hate shopping. It takes away from creative time and I always seem to walk out of the dressing rooms far from relaxed. I'm not a clothing hound, nor do I die over want for a shoe, but shoe shopping is much less stressful than clothing and I actually feel inspired by the designs of shoes. The color and material combinations seem to find their way home into my studio. This time around I was smitten with a little Calvin Klein number with a big ol red buckle. One size left and it was, to my surprise, my size. It was totally meant to be! They will carry me through the holiday and my mind has been racing on the chunky square shape and hot red color ever since the purchase. How this will transpire into my studio this time around remains to be seen.

What I truly found odd and uncanny about the pull to buy this pump was that apparently my mother had the same urge months ago to purchase her "red buckle" shoe. I was so taken back by the sight of her pulling this shoe out to show me that yes, I had to photograph them together.

They say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Boy, they ain't kiddin.

Our "red buckle" shoes

The First Hedgie!

The First Clay Hedgie

About a week ago I placed my "Hedgie" mold in the laundry room to dry. It's very toasty warm in there and I was happy to discover that the plaster mold had dried already.

This morning I decided to pour the first mold. The first one always gets thrown away. That copy is normally filled with plaster chips and doesn't necessarily want to come out of the mold too easily. I usually paw the first ones out cause I know that until the mold is used a handful of times there is always a slight struggle with the clay. I don't like to waste time.

Today I really struggled. The problem I suspected with "Hedgie's" mold came to fruition. It was molded incorrectly. Good lesson learned here. It should have been cut horizontally not vertically. One half of "Hedgie" came apart from the plaster smoothly, the other didn't want to budge. It was literally suctioned in there. So, I took a hacksaw to the mold!

Even though the hacking damaged a small portion of the actual plaster, it worked. I can get "Hedgie" out more easily now. Unfortunately, I fear that a porcelain "Hedgie" may not be a reality. There is just too much pushing and pulling of the clay for me to use clay as finicky as porcelain. One move in the wrong direction and that clay apparently stays the way it was pushed. No worries though, I believe "Hedgie" will be really spectacular in earthenware. There will be quite a bit of clean up since the seams are pretty wonkin' on him. I also lost a bit of detail on his left hand side. Im not sure why. It looks as if the wax melted as the plaster was drying. That is very odd. I think for larger pieces that are full of detail Ill really need to take a silicone mold first. All of these factors are actually making "Hedgie's" run a very limited run now. Maybe Ill pour 10? I don't really know. Ill see if he can hold my interest that long.

Now You See Him....

Now you see him:

"Hedgie"Original sculpt of a hedgehog in wax.

Now you dont:

"Plastered Hedgie"Hedgie getting molded.


Hedgie, my little hedgehog sculpt was subject to the molding box this afternoon. Making the box was less stressful than normal. The mold box glued up in no time. Plaster mixed up perfectly. My only concern this time around? His little pudgie body gave me some trouble when I went to pull the original out of the plaster mold. I really had to struggle to get it out. Im hoping its not going to be a problem when it comes to pouring ceramic molds. I'm determined to get a few good castings from this mold. I'll band saw the sucker if I have to to get the right results! LOL

Its been pretty hectic in the studio. One hectic issue has been photography. I was assigned to another JAH cover and decided to hold the entire shoot outdoors. The set up is taking me a fairly long time to produce. There is a stream and lots of trees and an abundance of brush. All of that layering took time. Last night it rained and a good portion of my set up was destroyed. Hopefully resetting things up wont be much of a hassle.

Another busy issue within the studio has been the separation of my sculpture and ceramic art from the model horse site. I've decided it was not only time to tidy up this area of my site, but it would make more sense to take it all away from the model horse stuff. The easiest way to do it was to make a brand new website. The big unveiling will happen (hopefully) around Thanksgiving or so. Hopefully! I still have the galleries to design and those are the most involved of the pages.

Lastly, today was the very first day my son wanted to stay down in the studio with me. After taking care of all the animals on the property he wandered into the studio (we have to pass it to get outside through the basement) and he wanted to stay. Usually he wants to rush upstairs and play, but today he wanted to draw and I welcomed his company. Im scrambling trying to make more room so we can fit a little desk or something down here for him. The world of clay and finger painting awaits us! There is no time to loose! :)