One Little, Two Little....

Tryin' out the china cabinet

"One little, two little, three little ratties..."

Actually, there are five ratties total that are finished right now. I'm currently waiting (very anxiously I might add) for shipping boxes and a couple of other COA items to arrive at the studio in order to present the public with these finished creations. Hopefully, my orders will arrive this week. I'm on the edge of my seat.

Of course, while waiting I've been creating and have had great fun trying to pick out colors for the little Sleepy Bunny run. I decided to produce the run in fine English porcelain. I know it shrinks them down considerably, but they are so much more durable in porcelain and there is that love affair I have with the porcelain.

Start of the bunny conga

It's so creamy and lovely especially on the bunnies who have white showing. What has truly happened to these guys (and gals) is that they have now sorta become like little worry stones. You can hold them nicely in the hand and you can carry them around without worrying they will be broken or destroyed. I have all four hangin' out on my laptop as I check in with you all today. They are totally chasin' those Monday blues away. Too sweet.

Sleepy morning

Quick sketch

You know, some days I just want to curl up with my little ratties in their little cozy huddle and snuggle. Whether you like rats as pets or not when you see them, or any other animal sleeping so soundly, you can't help but agree that would be nice to join in and relax with them. It looks so carefree, so rejuvinating, so perfect. Perhaps they have the answer?

Needless to say, catching my pets snoozin' like this was definitely great fodder for more sculpture ideas and I'm finding my mind is piecing these sculpture ideas together more and more like a mold maker.

On Your Mark.....

Today I'm tidying up the pieces currently in progress and getting on my "mark" by finishing up color ideas, ordering boxes and yes, even trying to come up with names. So far I love the PEW (pink. eye. white) best and he is even more special because he is a clinker. There is a little piece of porcelain moving freely inside him. It happened during clean up and it makes little clinky noises when you shake him. I'm already having fun trying to find the perfect name for him. So far it's a toss up between "Cha cha" and "Clinker". LOL

Three rats and four bunnies

Those Lost In The Fray

"Lil Pumpkin" a sm sized pony
She is in progress and not finished

Sometimes pieces get lost in the fray here. Days, weeks, months and sometimes even years go by before I finish some of these projects. The two pieces I'm showing off today are two examples of things getting lost in the fray. For whatever reason they both got pushed to the back, back, BACK burners.

Cone 10 porcelain vase
with cone 6 glaze

The little epoxy pony has yet to find closure. I'd venture to guess that for about two years she has been "in progress". I have added to her. I have taken away from her. I have never yet been satisfied with her. This year, however I am determined to finish her. If not for my NAN 09 donation, I'll finish her for myself because it IS important to bring closure to projects. If no one wants her once she is cast and fired and looking pretty in porcelain, it will be ok. She is about to teach me even more about casting and mold making and she will teach me new lessons in working with porcelain than any classroom situation can.
My fear however is that May is just too close for a deadline for such lessons. We'll see.

Happy Spring & Blog Sale!

"Maybell" the very first Listen sculpt

My weekend workload has been intricate and fast paced. I wanted to share everything created this weekend with you.

My rattie run "Listen" is on the verge of being released. I've decided to release three pieces at a time at a fixed price. A fourth will be released on eBay for those who missed the first three. Each one is going to be completely different than the next. The first three will consist of a black hooded, a blue russian and a PEW.

Tealight with experimental glaze

This one had nice feminine curves to it and the experimenting I conducted on the outside glaze actually WORKED this time! Yeah! I love that look.

Of course, how could I start the season of Spring without some mice? These four little critters popped out of the boxes. There is a ballerina doing some dance, a lonely little guy offering a flower, a dude just chillin and saying hi, and yes, that boy on the top is picking his toes. Don't ask. I just draw what I see in my head.

New Spring mice boxes! Approx. 1"
ALL HAVE SOLD OUT!
Thank you so much!

I'm opening up their sale to my blog readers first as a "thank you" for your continued dedication to reading my blog. Thank you for coming here every day and checkin' out what is happenin' in my studio. I enjoy your personal letters and comments so much. You can just email me at: studiodanza@optonline.net

Tomorrow I'll offer the ones that are left (if there are any) to my NEWS group. Oh, here is a picture of the bottom of the box:

Side of mice box

There is just a little bit of spring grass around the entire bottom. The inside of the box can be personalized too if you'd like. One word or name only though. There isn't much room but I can use my fine crow quill to get in there. ;)

And that was my weekend!
I hope you had a great weekend as well.
HAPPY SPRING!

Cookin!

In the kiln

The kiln was cookin' today! Two firin's and at almost 9:30PM it's still firin up some ratties. As you can see, the kiln can only hold 3 at at time. I have a few colors chosen already for this next batch. I'd like to paint up a Blue Russian, a solid and of course a PEW. (Those are the ones with the red eyes.) I am so excited to officially unveil this run. I've decided to release three at a time with a possible capping off at 15 on this run. The clean up on this guy is very time consuming and with limited space, a small run is probably best.

Clinky Madness

Chaney drafter getting china painted

It's china madness here right now. From porcelain ratties and bunnies being made to horses being china painted to little boxes being adorned with little mice, it's an explosion of clinky goodness. I'm just in that zone right now I guess. Oh, and for those who love resin I'm trying to complete my Lil Pumpkin sm pony sculpture for resin release. The release will be extremely limited with china pieces (hopefully) to follow.

More mice boxes being drawn out

Everything here with Pumpkin will be limited. After all this time I'm still not finished with the artist choice Opus resins. I'm rather disappointed with myself over that one, but have learned to keep things short and small since my mind and hands wander terribly on many projects.

Oh and ps I'll be opening my commission books again shortly (probably later this week). So, stay tuned! :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Another new piece from the studio

Wishin' you and yours a very Blessed and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A Toast from Ireland:
May you be poor in misfortune
Rich in blessings
Slow to make enemies
Quick to make friends
But rich or poor,
Quick or slow,
May you know nothing but happiness
From this day forward

Showin' Off Some Finishes

Custom glazed "Brownie"
with OOAK earthenware base

Today, I wanted to show off some finishes.

All three pieces had many inspirational moments attached to them, especially the "Brownie". I feel like my handle and understanding of the china painting process has furthered incredibly in the past few months. Working hard in December on some tight porcelain deadlines really made me get in and "get it right" right there. There was no pussyfooting around or whimpering. I had people waiting for boxes to be painted for the holiday and I had to deal with color firing off and images not getting dark enough in a short period of time. Reds and pinks were being lost like crazy and I finally figured out how to combat that issue. I'm so glad too cause this little Brownie was able to receive the cutest little pink muzzle. December was like a crash course and it seemed to really influence my custom glazing of the equines. I feel super confident to paint every bisque waiting in the storage room collecting dust. I have never felt that way till now. Next, I'm gonna tackle my bisque Otto.

Everything here is 100% painted by hand. No airbrush. Just me, my brushes and the figurine. I'm very pleased.

"Brownie" showing off his front side

"Taboo" resin in bay roan appy
commission for a very patient client

By the way, the Taboo was a commission and will be going home to his owner (who was a complete gem while she waited for him to be finished). The Brownie and unicorn will be sales items probably going up to auction this weekend. I'm very excited to officially unveil all their photographs.

More information about sales pieces coming soon at Danza Ceramics News Group. Please join if not already a member.

Porcelain unicorn custom glazed

Callin' In....

Mr. Blubberlove

Today, I'm callin' in sick. Feeling blah and gluttonous like my friend here. I won't dare touch any resins or chinas today for fear I'll screw them up or drop them. Blah!

Listen #2: Maybell

Porcelain rattie with pattern ideas

It's a perfect rainy day today. I found myself at my upper studio listening to the rain pitter and patter upon the siding while painting the second casting of "Listen". She will be a black hooded and so far she is coming along very well. The painting of these bisque porcelain pieces is fun. I took a couple more shots of the progress made this morning.

The first stroke

After the first layer

She is currently cooking in the kiln and I am most excited for tomorrow to come so I can be back at my china painting station again adding more color to her. So, tomorrow I'll be back...same place, same time.

Full Speed!

Ratties in the wet box

Today I blasted out of the starting gate at full speed. Packages being mailed and bills being paid. Ratties were also on the list of "to-dos" and I was able to cast 3 more today. I have found that the plaster molds can only handle 3 castings in porcelain during any given day. I was happy for that today cause I was tired of prying plaster pieces away from fragile porcelain by the afternoon.

I have thankfully found a very efficient way to clean the rats up. I also found that hand rolled tails DO crack once applied to the molded body. I found a way to fix the tail mold that wasn't really forming properly. I added a drainage ditch to the tail mold and that solved the tail problem. So I'm now full speed ahead casting rat sculptures and their tails.

For You...

Horse drawing

"For you mommy....a horse!"
I couldn't help but share it with you.

In Manhattan

Handsome Brooklyn boy with
a dirty water dog

Today was a day of hustle and bustle in the city with my son and his fellow classmates. First school field trip into Manhattan. Riding the train with an entire class of little kids was an experience. The Build a Bear Workshop was fun but wasn't without it's "well, that was an experience" moment. Best part was watching my son eat his first "dirty water dog" on the street with the Empire State Building behind him. He was cool. Just calm and collected and he ate that hot dog on the street like he had done it many times before. Ate it right up too. I took a bite. It was really, really good.

I've been to many places during my life so far and nothing excites and holds my interest as much as Manhattan has and always will I suspect. I love living in NYC.

Inspired by...

Imagery in this video is oddly inspiring me today. This song is one I've never heard before. I love getting swept away by music. I'm totally getting swept away by this piece. I need to find it (maybe on iTunes?), burn it and let it loop while I work. Yeah, I like to loop inspiring songs on my cd player. It's one odd thing that I love to do.

(You'll have to shut the ipod off at the right --->)

Loza Mold: 15, Jenn: 0...Again.

The Loza mold....waiting.

Today, I put on my best fighten' duds and put-em up to do battle with the imfamous "Loza" mold that has sat in my studio storage room for over a year now.

I was pouring "Listen" molds and decided to do battle with a Loza mold. This is the Quarter Horse mold that I have yet to get ONE good greenware casting from. Today was the day I did battle with this slip mold once again. Today I was armed with hard cold porcelain slip. Porcelain loves me. I love it. My confidence level was beyond a number 10.

Hay...wait...


Today, I used some tricks I picked up along the way after casting the Iberian medallion, the mustang mold, the pony medallion, Hedgie and the 6-part mold Listen. The rattie mold was actually shivering at my ability. Pashaw! How dare it think I couldn't handle it's six parts like a pro. But, today I did battle...

NOOoooooo!!!!! Say it isn't so!!!

That is just so unfair!

....and today I lost. Again.
:/

SNOW DAY!!!

Playing... playing...playing!

SNOW DAY!!

There is nothing finer than a good snow storm because:

* My son and I get to play in the snow together!
* I love to throw snowballs at at my in-laws across the street.
* All my neighbors come out to shovel and its fun to be clearing our sidewalks together.
* My niece sometimes comes over for tea after snowballs and shoveling.
* It makes the city so pretty....at least for a little while.