Calatrava Cups

I'm getting ready for tomorrow's Art of the Pot Workshop at Eye of the Dog Art Center so I'm playing around with some decals to demonstrate with tomorrow. I'll print out some of my Old York decals but I also wanted to try out some new ones. I found images of some Calatrava bridges on the intertubes and I'm working some things out with regular paper before I print it on the decal paper.

I thought I'd put up two images, a cup with a sample decal image and another cup (cappuccino cup from the other day) with a similar incised line deco. I like the play between the two styles of decoration.

So I think next up it's time to bitmap and print.

Bridgework

I'm playing around with some designs that sourced from bridges. I showed Javi a picture of some of them and he immediately said that they remind him of bridges...does that mean it's a successful endeavor?

I'm excited to try them out with some decals as well but this first round of work is all getting lines on them. Next week I'll be starting to make some decalware work for the next firing.

Bisque #1 of the fall was fired on Friday and I'll start glazing up today and hopefully be firing tomorrow.

It will be nice to have some new pots before I head to the Art of the Pot Workshop out in San Marcos. It's not too late to sign up...there are a few spots left. Check out the Eye of the Dog Website to signup. It's only $100 and it will be full of information by all 5 AOTP Hosts.

Bridges

Looking through some source material for designs on my new pots. I love the internets and I love all of these bridges.

Designing and Making

I've started to hit a nice little groove in the studio after struggling to find my skills my first week back. Last week was productive and I got about 50 small pots made. It had been a very long studio layoff while we played, and played, and played on Cape during the summer.

I'm getting ready for a few shows this fall and right now I'm focusing on the waxed/incised/slipped deco. I am planning on getting some decalware made for the shows but I'm really going to focus on 2 forms for that work. Most likely just mugs(or cups) and tumblers. The trouble I ran into in the spring with the decals was that each form required a new template in Photoshop or Illustrator for the decals. With two forms, I'll only need two templates and I'll be able to experiment more with each image while not worrying about how they'll fit on each piece. I think the long term solution is still slipcasting cups for the decalware...I actually can't wait to start that. But for now, it's time to keep throwing in the studio to take care of what I do know how to do.

Some basic basketweave patterning on the mugs.

I like this design and I think I'll keep playing around with it...perhaps there's some color in all of that open space?

I threw a dozen tall soup bowls this morning.

I thought I would try some larger porcelain bowls(9 pounds).

Some even larger ones may appear on the table tomorrow.

Hurricane Earl whimpered through the Cape last week but today we're feeling the effects of Tropical Storm Hermine and it's been absolutely pouring here today and is supposed to continue on through Thursday. Good thing....we need the rain down here.

New Plates

Here's some new plates with the cityscape designs. I'm happy with the results. I'm leaning towards the blue designs a little more...I like the old-school blueprint feel the blue stain is giving the smaller plates.

Slipcast Blog

For those who haven't checked out Slipcast: The Ceramics Blog yet, you're missing out. I'm loving these plates that were featured recently.

I haven't tried porcelain from Matt & Dave's Clay yet but once I get my studio up and running I intend to get a sample batch and see if it's as great as I keep hearing it is.

Pots?

I've been using the black version of these potter's pens from Axner for a little while.  I've liked the fine lines that I can get.  They make different gauge tips for each.  I thought that I would try the Blue and Red versions and see how well they hold up in a Cone 10 Reduction firing.

Perhaps things will get finished up here soon and I can stop hiding in shame or on Twitter and get back to blogging.  

Bowls and Plates....Bowls and Plates

I know that I've been a very, very bad potter/blogger recently.  I'm trying to make up for it by posting a bunch this morning as I hang out with Clarita.  Maybe that makes me a distracted father though.  Oh...the conflict.

Regardless, I'm just trying to catch up on posts that I've been meaning to make for a while.  I've been working solely in porcelain so far this year but I need to make a few things in stoneware this weekend.  Today will be spent throwing some more dinner plates in porcelain and probably a few mugs as well.  Then, it's off to the iron-bearing clay later today or tomorrow....I need to load a bisque or I won't have any room on shelves....or I can clean off that one set of shelves that is holding junk.  I think that loading a bisque will be easier.

It seems as though I've only been making bowls, cups and plates recently.  I usually gravitate to the more vertical forms so it's been an interesting change of pace.  Perhaps it's a fear of porcelain that has been bringing these forms out.

Below are a few pics.  

Serving Bowl with cut foot.

another serving bowl with cut foot

here are some square dinner plates

this is another dinner plate....I wanted to try some honduran pot deco on one.  I love it but I think it is meant for a serving platter.  Personally, I think it's a little much to look at every day with food on top.  Any thoughts?

No work...just thoughts.

I spent the day cleaning up the studio and gallery getting ready for the Holiday Stroll throughout town this Friday.  I'm eager to get back to work in the studio but I have another day of cleaning and organizing before I can.  After working like crazy, 2 firings and 2 shows my studio is a little bit of a disaster.  All should be close to okay tomorrow and if all goes well I may be throwing again by tomorrow afternoon....Thursday at the latest....I hope.

I only have a little clay left and I need to put in an order tomorrow.  We're off to Houston for the holidays on the 18th and my goal is to get everything together so that when we return right before New Year's I'll be able to start cruising again.  I'm doing wholesale/retail in Baltimore and when we get back I'll only have 6 weeks to get ready for the show....plenty of time but I want to be clear about what I'm doing leading up to it.  If I start planning now, perhaps I'll have a little less self-imposed stress before the show.  So, with a clean studio by tomorrow I'll still have a couple of weeks to get a head-start in getting ready for the next firing.

I've been thinking a lot about my new work and how it seems to be more "design" based recently....as if there is a difference between that and studio pottery.  There isn't, but I think that as my pots get more decoration, the design/throwing of them becomes more in the front of my mind before I approach the wheel.  It is definitely a change in the way I work and I think it has been a change that has led to being more productive.  I found myself re-reading this interview in American Craft with Ayumi Horie.  It got me thinking about where this new work came from.

American Craft:

What is your relationship to design, craft and the fine arts? How do you see your relationship to each? Or one in particular?

Ayumi Horie:

....I’m much more comfortable with the moniker of craftsman and designer than I am with artist. I’m a craftsman in the sense that I’ve largely committed myself to one material and am concerned with function, use, and accessibility. I’m a designer in the sense that I understand how my aesthetic translates into various materials and am happiest when I have various side projects in media other than ceramics. Spending three years renovating my house full time helped hone my aesthetic more than anything else. Making daily decisions about trim, shingles, gutters, mullions, and tread thickness made certain aesthetic patterns evident to me and even brought more clarity to my ceramic work......

Switching back to my reduction kiln after firing soda/salt and wood for so long definitely made me re-think the design, surfaces and so many other ideas regarding my pots.  But, those were process-based decisions within my work.  The layers of slip, incising, waxing and the Celadon glaze were about how I could continue motifs in my work that I had been using in my salt-fired wares.  

I find myself looking at amazing homes and wonderful green renovations in Austin on a variety of real estate websites.  I am drawn to contemporary homes as I think about our move(something Evangelina has always been drawn to)...It is so different from our gray-shingled neighborhood up here on the Cape.  So, I guess I'm making pots for my new home. Or....what I want my new home to look like.  

I guess this is yet another in a long line of rambling posts here but I figured I would try to put into words what was going on in my head.  

More design/making/pottery coming this week.  Now....if I can only design my studio to self-clean....I guess that's where my non-existent apprentice comes in.