SIGH!!!

I unloaded a lustre load on the weekend. I am not happy at all. My lustre is rubbing off! I thought that I would thin it down with some mineral spirits to make it flow a bit better and also to make it go just a little bit further (I had read somewhere that you can do that). I think that was my mistake. Everywhere that it was applied a little thin is rubbing off. I have 2 more 2gram bottles on order, but wouldn’t you know it, I need these fired by the weekend. So, I am hoping that they arrive sometime this week, allowing me to fire them Friday night and have them ready by Sunday.

Aside from my lack lustre lustre, I also have a sale this Sunday that I am NOT prepared for. Nothing is priced or packed. I will have to do it all on Saturday I think. I work that day, but I can pack and price at the studio when I get there in the afternoon.

I am starting to feel like my failed lustre, I am stretched a little thin, and I might start rubbing off soon.

What's coming up, or not...

Ok, so a while back I mentioned that I was heading off to Medalta in November for a soda/salt firing weekend. Well, as things usually do, this has changed. We are putting it off until January. The person I know that began all of this went to Italy for a couple of weeks, and when she got back, I think reality hit, and she realized that she wouldn’t have enough stuff to make it worthwhile for her and wanted to put it off. That was OK with me. I was awfully eager to go in November though, but I have coped, and am now eagerly awaiting January (not sure I will ever say that again, given that January involves frigid sub arctic temperatures and snow).

Now that I am not consumed with throwing stuff for that little adventure, I can focus on the more immediate concerns of getting ready for 3 sales/shows.

First:

Calgary Clay Arts Association Christmas Pottery Sale will run for 2 days (Nov 6-7). I will be there with all of my pots on the 7^th.




Second:

Fairview Studios Christmas Pottery Sale. This one runs one day from 9-12 on November 13th.

Third:

Turning the Table. This show focuses on dinner and table ware created by Calgary Clay Arts Association members, and will be at the Arts on Atlantic gallery in Inglewood. This show opens on Saturday November 13^th and I will be there, after the Fairview Sale, and after I work a couple hours at Ceramics Canada)

In preparation for these events, I will need to fire at least one more bisque load, at least a couple more glaze loads, and at the very least, one more load of lustre. Then I need to price it, create an inventory sheet for the CCAA Christmas Sale, wrap it and pack it. In order to get the wrapping and packing done, I will need to clean out my car – haul out the containers that are in there with unsold pottery, clean out my back bedroom and sort through any old pots that can either go to the dumpster, or back into the mix for these sales. Then wash the table coverings, or at least iron and hem them. I bought 13 meters of dark blue denim one year at a fabric store that went out of business, and it was a deal, 13 bucks for 13 meters. I never hemmed them though, so they are looking a bit frayed after a few washes. Me thinks I am going to be busy for the next little while.

PS, I apologize for the extreme run on sentences in my last post. I just re read it and there are way too many comma splices in there.

Me time?

Finally, I might get some me time in the studio tonight. I always go to the studio on Friday night, but sometimes there are other students there, and that kinda cramps my style. One, as I am a part time teacher there, I do get quite a lot of questions (I don’t mind, but it can eat up the time); Two, I like to spread out when working, and if there is more than just the 2 of us that are usually there on Friday nights, it can get quite crowded, and I am a space hog.

 I am going to continue exploring the canoe form that I saw on Mandy’s page. I was going to work in some high temp porcelain, but apparently I can’t read and when I was working at Ceramics Canada last Saturday, I put a box of Plainsman H550 Stoneware in my car instead of the P700 porcelain.

Oh well, I will correct that error tomorrow. So right now, I am working with the last of my Laguna cone 5 bmix and Dove Porcelain. The Dove is going to be my dinner ware set for the Table Ware show (assuming I am in). I was not having much success with it last week, and I think I was just over tired and not reading the clay very well. My issues were when I would cut it off the wheel, the rim would flop down. I was thinking about the WHY WHY WHY, and I came to the conclusion that this clay is very thixotropic, and as soon as I add any force to the finished piece (in this case it was the centripetal force of the wheel, and the opposing force of the cutting wire) the clay transformed from a “solid” to a “liquid” (like quicksand) and the rim would become unstable and flop. So, to correct this, I think throwing the rim a little less flat will help with the removal. My other option would be to throw on plaster bats, but I don’t have room to store them. I use ¼ inch thick hard plastic bats, and they are fantastic bats, they just don’t release the ware if you don’t cut it off right away. I need to make a few more dinner plates, side plates, mugs etc..

New Dinner set

This is the place setting I am submitting to the Turning the Tables show. I used a lustre for the first time on these pieces, and man, it sure is more difficult to use than I had anticipated. Perhaps my brush was not the propper type, as the flow was not very good, however, I did achieve the look I was after, and was very happy when I opened the kiln to have a peek.

Yikes!!

I was just thinking about everything that I have coming up deadline wise. I might be making a mountain out of this molehill, but given that I cannot dedicate every waking moment to the kiln and clay gods, I think I might be biting off more than I can stuff into my mouth and chew.

First – Must get all the dinnerware fired for the “Turning the Tables” show. Think this is now complete, as I just fired it last night...Now I must fire the lustre. I need to have it completed this weekend coming up (Thank goodness it is a long weekend) so that I can take some good pics and get my submission in for the show/sale. The deadline for this is looming...September 13^th me thinks. I should probably check, just in case I have it wrong, wouldn’t it suck if I missed the deadline by a day.

Second – I really need to get the tea set that was ordered done. The teapot has been glaze fired, but the cups, saucers, creamer and sugar are all in various stages of incompleteness (either just thrown, green and untrimmed, or trimmed and handled but not dry yet.) I am crossing my fingers for the teapot, I am worried about the spout, as lately I have had nothing but glaze crawls just inside my spout openings (glaze too thick?, spout too thin?) This set needs to be completed by the middle of September, as I need to get it shipped out in time for a Sept 25^th wedding.

Third – I have 3, count ‘em Three, winter sales this year, and not a whole lot of anything really nice. The first show is November 7^th, and I don’t know what to expect. It is at Mount Royal Station (??) and is being put on by the CCAA.

The next 2 shows are on the same date, November 13^th. The Fairview Studios Pottery sale is in the morning from 9-12, and then the Turning the Tables show (if I get selected via the jury) will be opening that day as well. I have most of everything needed for this, except for most of the dinner plates and cups. I have enough for the photo shoot, but not enough for sale if I actually get selected.

The studio sale is a bit different, I will probably put most of my “seconds” in, and by second, I mean the stuff I don’t especially like that much, not stuff with defects. The defects go in the circular file.

Fourthly – I need to get cracking on my cone 10 stuff so that I can have a nice selection to take down to Medicine Hat for the salt firing on November 18, just a few short days after the Studio Sale. I think that by the time Christmas hits, I will be exhausted, and looking forward to a little break.

On top of all this, I will probably be teaching for 2 weeks straight sometime in the next month, as Dave is driving down to Kansas to take care of some family stuff (He just hasn’t said when). I will surely be dragging my butt by the time he gets back.

Tonight

Tonight I will be glazing and loading the kiln. I need to clear the glazing backlog so that I can start filling the shelves for a bisque. I am running out of time for the dinner ware show, and I need to make enough for a bisque firing so that I can begin testing the lustre that I want to use (if it ever arrives from Ceramics Canada that is). Firing my own bisque is new to me, I usually just stick it in with the students work. Now I am going to have to be more prolific in order to fill the kilns in a timely manner.

random

Ok, so I have not finished the teapots with infusers yet, or the chicken cooker, or the cups, or the mugs etc.... They are sitting waiting to be glazed. I will be teaching a lot this week with not much hope of getting them done during those classes either. I taught on Tuesday night, and it was a busy night, very full of questions and "can you show me?", not that I mind, I am not there to work on my own stuff anyway. I will be teaching again on Thursday night and It might be busy, but it is full of long time students, so they usually don't require as much hands on attention, just the demo. It looks like I will also be teaching on Saturday night. This is not normal, as the studio is usually only open until 5:30 on Saturday nights and then it is only open studio time. This will be a bachelorette party for somewhere between 6-8 people. Not sure if they have ever done this before, or if this will be their first kick at the can. They will not be taking anything home, and nothing will be fired, so I guess it is just a night to get muddy for them. I have not been to many bachelorette parties, but I thought it always involved making idiots of yourselves at a dance club, or bar. Anyway, I will be the one teaching, and Dave will be there to "help".
On another note, I asked Dave if it would be alright if I started firing lustres. I was actually prepared for him to come up with every reason why I couldn't, and would then just take the work over to Ceramics Canada to fire there. But, he said, along with the suggestion that I should probably start firing my own kiln loads. So, I am going to get a section of shelving that will house my work that is waiting to fire, and then I will fire it myself. I imagine it will be loading Fridays, firing over night, and unloading on Sundays.I am looking forward to the lustres. I don't want a gold, lustre, I am looking for a silver or palladium lustre to just run around the rims of some of the white and blue bowls and cups to enhance the undulations. In order to not screw them up, I will be buying a book on how to use them as well. Just to make my life a little more frustrating though, I thought I would try a lithography method in order to transfer prints onto clay. I saw the technique on Ceramic Arts Daily, and it looks very simple (ya right, I am sure it just looks that way). I read up a bit on true lithography to better understand why the process works, and we will see what happens. I might even try to incorporate the lithography AND the lustres....sooo many ideas, not enough time...