Swept Away

The reduction bin

My mind has been far away on raku firing. The whole concept just grabbed me and intoxicated me badly. I must admit that if I lived in the country this whole process would be much easier. Set up the raku kiln, have the propane either delivered to the house or pick it up yourself at Walmart and walla....pretty raku things to share in no time.

But its not like that here and carting propane around in a car on a busy city street (with road rage lurking at every street light) just isn't my kind of fun thing to take my chances on. So...I decided to further pursue this "raku with an electric kiln" thing cause I can't make the urge stop and I'm determined to make it work. I don't care if my elements burn out, I must continue on this adventure. It's pulling me strongly for whatever reason. I have been swept away.

My favorite vessel today

Today was probably the most exciting day I've ever had glaze wise. I pulled this blue beauty of a vessel from the reduction bin and nearly fainted!! I've never had such pretty results, even when I plotted and planned carefully. Something always went haywire in the glaze stage.

As one vessel was coming out, another one was being prepped in my bigger kiln in the studio. Heating them slowly on low with the Caldera S eliminated the explosions. I figured out a cool and seamless system for myself and I can honestly say I am in love with my new Paragon Quickfire. It cools down fast and heats up even faster! Prop it open and let it cool. It's like it was made for this kind of work. No pings or pops or anything of the sort as I opened the "hut lid". It's happy to work and I raku fired all day long without any issues. Of course, "Spanky" as he has been named, is small, but I don't care! I'll take it!!

This blue is so metallic

An afternoon of raku firin
and swimming

So out came all the stoneware vessels I never got the urge to glaze. They, along with every badly glazed piece is waiting for a swashing of raku glaze. I was able to save two really crummy vessels today with this raku process and I'm excited! It's as if the fire is magic and everything just turns out cool in the end.

I could go on and on talking but I'll end with the sweetest photo of the day. My son and my dog Kiko relaxing in the dog days of summer. My dog is finally coming around and accepting my son. Up until about a month ago she just didn't want any part of him. I'm happy to see them playing now. So happy!

The dog days of summer

Listen, the first batch

Poster for LIsten

Today begins the official release of my rattie sculpture "Listen". I am very excited and hope to have things ready to move this evening.

Exciting!

Drying porcelain

I'm all excited today. The very first rat sculpture is together (only took 4 hours) and is drying. Despite the length of time it took to assemble her and clean her up I'm beaming and am really excited at the prospect of many little ratties waiting in line to be painted.

I fear my original plan of 25-30 pieces may have to be shortened considerably. That amount will be unrealistic with the overall length of time this piece is taking to put together. Perhaps once I clean a few more I'll get into a rhythm, but basically that long tail (which isn't tucked onto her or laying on a base) is causing issues. One swipe and it falls off. So, extra care is being taken with each seam line I remove. I'm going super slow. That tail will remain a problem even during the loading of the kiln, the painting of the piece, and it will continue to be an issue when shipping. Although it looks great I will reconsider tail positions in my next pieces.

C*R*U*N*C*H!

Porcelain egg box with grapes

The crunch is on before the big day. Baking, cooking, and making is the theme. Every year I try and plan for the event so everything is streamlined and non stressful and every year a wrench is thrown in. I've come to learn that these wrenches keep me on my toes and striving. Here are some of the artistic endeavors that I finished this week. All were gifts to people for Christmas.

Now...back to making those homemade periogi!

Porcelain box

Another view

China painted ornament

A Quick Peek In

A peek at the china painting desk

Today, a quick peek at my china painting desk. It's messy and filled with little button boxes and lidded boxes galore. I'm exploring mice, scrolls and roses. The kiln started cooking up the new mice very early this morning and I'm off to package up the last of the sold button box mice and hopefully get them to the PO today.

Slowly building color on lids

After this morning's kiln firing the new Halloween Button Boxes should be finished and ready to go to new homes. I've decided not to repeat the previous costumes so this next batch of mice are all unique. I'll give proper notice to their sale. So stay tuned. LIttle trick-or-treaters are coming!