Finished Kiln

Finished view of the kiln

Saturday already? I tell ya, these weeks of summer are just flying by!

I finally snapped a shot of the kiln finished and looking pretty. Everyone has been in or around the garden and no one has said anything. Hubby didn't even notice the change and neither did my nieces. I have to assume that no one else noticed either. I had to physically take my one niece in and open the kiln before she realized what she was looking at. I guess I was successful in making it look "garden pretty". I planted some ivy around and in a year or two the area surrounding the slate stones will look lush and green. Id like to get some little white ground flowers or those things I used to see in the woods and called "Jumping Jacks". Small blue flowers that grow in clumps. I have no idea what their real names are but I loved seeing them just jutting out here and there in the woods.

Hay you...outta my kiln!

Of course our Brooklyn waterbugs totally found and took residence in my new kiln. I nearly had a heart attack when I pried open the lid yesterday and found a buddy waitin' for me. It's just par for the course living in the city. Thankfully they stay out of the house. I guess I'll let this intruder slide. I'd rather have him creepin' near my kiln than creepin' in the house.

So, off we ride upstate today to help a friend's son celebrate his engagement. I pulled out pen and watercolor brush and had a bit of fun illustrating a card. I haven't made a card like this in years. It felt good to stretch those wings again. Of course, my head is spinning in illustrative ways now.

Engagement card

Enjoy your Saturday.

Letters About Set Up

Creating the fantasy

Thank you all for such a warm reception to this little unicorn! Such lovely letters coming in about him. Thank you! I really appreciate all the kind words.

In a few of the letters many people have asked how I created such a pretty set up. It's really rather easy. I took a quick snapshot of the photo shoot. Just a photo cube with lights and some other things mixed in like footing on a simple wooden base, a tree I made with stuff found in my garden and rocks, lots of rocks. I also added some modeling turf and grasses and layered it all nicely and walla....pretty photo shoot.

On The Horse Side

Breyer sm to unicorn

On the horse side of things here in the studio....there are a few that were finished this past weekend. A pretty little Mindy resin in chestnut tobiano (who may need a bit more mapping now that I look at her shots) and a unicorn from a SM Breyer. I had fun with both but it was nice to just play and do anything to the unicorn. You'll probably see the unicorn in the next issue of JAH.

Well, off again to maybe get this house in order....hopefully.

Mindy resin strikin a pose

Like That The Week Was Gone....

Weighed, wedged and waiting

That was one quick week! Wow! It flew.

All I can say is we celebrated a birthday (hubby) had some good times around a pit fire with friends, finished a few horses, finished making the outdoor kiln and completed some new vessels which will be fired soon in the new kiln.

During the day the new kiln is all I can seem to think about. Firing it up for the first time is going to be so exciting. For now though, I'm making pieces so I can fill the kiln and trying to think of a good name for the new addition. I think I've found one. I'm letting it sit a bit in my head a bit before I say anything.

Birth

Birth of a kiln:



...shovel by shovel...



...brick by brick...



...with sweat and excitement mixed in.



...more to come!

My Raku Adventure

Getting a little fresh air

We've had gloriously sunny weather. It's been a rejuvenating change from a month's worth of rain. Sun as far as the eye can see on the weather report meant I was trying out this "raku" stuff at some point. That point was this weekend. I lugged my little kiln out (can you see how very little it is now?) and proceeded to fire up a small porcelain tea light (which wasn't very well made anyway, but he made the perfect test vessel) in the raku method.

Brave little vessel

Fire on high for an hour or so. Check! Then rip the piece out and submerge in paper. Check! But, not letting it stay in the reduction chamber long enough was a mistake. I believe I would have gotten better results if I left this vessel in longer. I will say though that I love the whole smokey look and the burning that appeared near the bottom. That captivated me. It is haphazard and beautiful at the same time. Of course, I had to try it again:

KABLOWIE!

...and had little success AND a huge mess to clean up in my kiln. I'm rather glad this vessel shattered though. It didn't just "pop" it exploded everywhere and in bits so small it made for a lengthy clean up job and it prompted more research.

I had been searching and buying books for a while on raku and had always hoped to use my little kiln to do it in and not one article or book had mentioned any ill about using the electric kiln. Of course, last night I did finally find some ill reports and the main issue is that my elements could go bad and go downhill rather quickly if I keep this raku stuff up. I certainly don't want that because "Starbuck" here, although small, still needs to work for me on bisques and glazing and work for a long time doing this, even if a new kiln arrives one day.

So, I cleaned her up and had faith that this one shot raku try didn't harm her, after all, the only way I can even look at a witness cone is to open the lid and expose the elements to a few seconds of air. The use of the electric kiln was easy. Cart it out, pop it on high for an hour and you are doing raku! So, I looked online for more info and maybe a kiln that could handle such an operation and I happened upon this:



I am SO into this!

SOOOO, into this and the darned thing even LOOKS amazing in their garden!!! HOT DOG! So up my alley and DOUBLE DOG....I have a garden! :) It looks like they are putting glaze on the greenware. I know some methods out there require such techniques. My head is whirling. What fun! What an adventure! What a huge amount of wares they got into that kiln! So, I'm off on another adventure for certain!!! And TRIPLE DOG.... I am so glad I have been doing this work out since the middle of April: Chalean Extreme, cause I am truly now ready to dig a hole. (BTW, this circuit training workout is amazing! I can't sing it's praises enough and I have lost a ton of inches and am building muscle. Strong folks...you get strong with this one.)

Alone Time- 4:30 AM

Small decorative bowl

Opps. Been a while since I updated here.

For two weeks I have been struggling to get work done both around the house and in the studio. My son is home now from school and is enjoying his summer break and although I do love lounging by the pool and playing in the yard, work does need to get done, and after two weeks of the loungin' life, I started to get itchy, uncomfy and overall annoyed that I wasn't working and couldn't during my normal hours so I just started getting up before everyone else and getting in three solid hours of quiet, uninterrupted studio time. This new time frame offers very little internet time though and although I've missed blogging this week I have tons of photos to share.

Look at that ooze. So reminds me of raku

Commissions have been first and foremost in my mind during the morning hours. The work has been soothing and relaxing and totally what I needed. Without this work I literally go insane. No one wants to be around me when I haven't been in my studio. Although rising at 4:30 AM sounds nutty it is really a beautiful time of the day to be up. The birds sound so loud here in NYC during that time. It's so pleasant and full of good energy.

The second issue on my mind has been pottery making; raku in general. With this little tiny weeny regularly glazed stoneware vessel came the thought that I might like to really give this raku thing a go, but I don't have a raku kiln and firin up some propane isn't really legal here within city limits, at least not in the capacity I want to use it for my pottery. So, who wrote electric kilns can be used to do small raku pieces? I don't remember, but when I read that on another potter's site and found a link to his book online I bought it. Know what it said? It said that an electric kiln can be used to do raku.

Okay...

So today I will try to pull my little kiln outside next to hubby BBQing and see if I can fire it up on high and get my new raku glazed vessels to fire up and we will see what happens. This is the time for all those bum pieces of pottery to shine! If anything it will be fun to share my love of the kiln and pottery with my husband as he teaches me more about BBQing today. The two of us playing with fire.

NEW: Porcelain horse hair tea light

NEW: Porcelain horse hair vase


Well, the holiday festivities and other preparation await. To all of you out there I wish you a very safe and happy Fourth of July and to all those serving to protect this great country's freedoms who can't be home with their loved ones...thank you for your service.