Some things change

This is the black and white box shown earlier before finishing, but after bisque firing, I decided it needed a little more color. It is finished and in place at the shop.

Forgot to show you the new teapot

I showed the "Petals" teapot I made and my DH broke, but forgot to show you the replacement, which I liked better anyway, and it sold rather quickly. Guess I will have to try to make another one.

boxes

Playing around with boxes, everyone seems to like and have some use for them.

A couple of new things

Not yet finished, used silkscreen for butterfly:

Artist of the Month--June

Hi all, here are some new things making their debut this month as Artist of the Month for June at the Port City Pottery and Fine Crafts. I am so pleased and had such fun making these items. The large planter is a second attempt at one I made last year, it is similar, but different in that the saucer is attached and the face is aligned higher. Just wanted to see if I could make this again, I never know!

Lessons, lessons, lessons

As every potter/ceramic artist has experienced----things get broken. DH bumped into the table holding some of the items I had just finished grinding bottoms, etc. (my fault in that spout was hanging over the table a bit) and "crash." As I had said, I have a whole bunch of things I have been making in this series. In fact, just finished glazing most of them yesterday---to go with this teapot! Since this accident happened a few weeks ago, I have since made another (different though) teapot. All this potential risk at each stage of the process kind of adds excitement and makes a finished product all the more wonderful I think. My innate sense of re purposing won't pitch this mess thinking I might just be able to do something with it. Mosaic?? who knows, ----

On Mother's Day and how to expand the joy!

My daughter and her new family (got married in April to a wonderful man with two wonderful children----voila, I am an instant grandmother!). Anyway, they sent me a beautiful bouquet of tulips. I grow so many flowers in my garden, I often think I do not need florist flowers, BUT---surprise to me, this bouquet has pleased me so much. I moved them into my Master Bath, of all places and realized with the mirrors I quadrupled the display from one bouquet to FOUR! Beau, our oldest cat seems to enjoy them too. I put them in the bathroom since our youngest (and most mischievous cat) likes to push things over in the Bedroom to wake us up. Little did I know that the bathroom with its mirrors was the perfect place for them. I probably visit that room more often than I would like to admit and while there, get to enjoy these flowers all the more.

Petal Crazy

My newest teapot, plus lots and lots more using this technique/ and glaze combination. I have so many pieces lined up to be part of this collection. I originally made a plate to test glaze/technique and it sold so fast, I thought this might be an area I could expand upon. So made this teapot, also in the process I have a tray/plate, soapdish, sugar/creamer, vases and a spoon which I loved making. More on these as they make their way through drying, bisque firing/glazing! I will be "artist of the month" at the Port City Pottery and Fine Crafts for the month of June and I hope to have all of these items on display there.

New Music Themed items

Just put these and a few others in the two shops that sell my work. Wilmington is a very musical town and items I have made previously using my sheet music screenprinting have gone over very well. I enjoy making them too!

My poor "Piglet"

Piglet is my cat and she is an indoor cat, but she has gotten little sleep during the day watching this bird make a nest in one of those cheap wooden birdhouses bought at craft shop several years ago, and plunked in this bush outside my BR window. This video clip is from yesterday and she watched the activity all day:


Then again this morning, she is perched up on the back of the chair watching again:

More new stuff

I am busy making more "music-themed" items, as well as a few other things. Here's an assortment:

Answers to questions

Undaunted in the comments has asked: "Is the design produced with decals?" The answer is no, I have developed and refined the use of silkscreens on ceramic. It certainly has been done by others, but I think the specific methods I use work best for me. I teach a class here in Wilmington, NC on how to create silkscreens (very easy process actually), and I have over the year and a half that I have been into ceramics created about 50 screens. I also have learned a great deal about how to make them work with clay and the various tips. I silk screened underglazes onto the leatherhard (sometimes even dryer than that) items. I also have silkscreened onto bisque items, but find doing it earlier, before the bisque firing, makes it easier to correct
smudges, etc.

If you look at the slideshow in this blog entry, you will see numerous items where I have used the silkscreens. My musicsheet silkscreens have produced items that have been very popular and I have sold all that I have made. I did a huge sale in December on my silkscreened Christmas ornaments too and can produce the images in any color of the many available in underglazes. The Peek a Boo kitty ornament used a silkscreen also. I used the same silkscreen on the two vases in this slideshow which sold quickly at that sale. I actually began experimenting with silkscreen on clay in 2007 and you can see some of my early silkscreened items, pendants, etc. here. That should answer your questions. The silkscreens I make are from two companies PhotoEZ SilkScreen and EZ ScreenPrint They supply the 8 1/2 x 11" sheets already covered with emulsion --then I make transparencies with items I want to silkscreen printed in the blackest ink (opaque) as possible, then I expose the screens to sun for about one minute, then place in a waterbath for about 15 minutes, then scrub out the soft emulsion that did not harden by the sun because it was blocked with the black line images, text, etc. then the screen is ready to use. Each screen might cost about $15.00 counting the making of the transparency and cost of blank screens, but each screen can be used countless times! I made silkscreens for the kittybank project and used them over 50 times. These screens are flexible and don't have to be mounted in a wooden frame. You also can screenprint on newsprint then transfer that to the clay items, to include a thrown cylinder for example, that can then be manipulated into complex shape and the image expands nicely. Bonus is that the screens can be used on card stock, paper and on fabric as well with acrylic paint with textile medium. I love using them and create some unique items using them.
Hope this answers your questions, I will try to get some photos made of the screens and some parts of the process so you can see it.

OK, I'll have to fess up

"Undaunted" wants to see all around on this teapot. I did show the good side before.
But now I have to come clean. The other side got a little too much clear glaze on it, I didn't check the glaze bucket to discover someone at the studio had left the lid off overnight and the glaze got too thick, soooo, as you will see in this picture (the whole truth and nothing but the truth!), that heavy glaze shows. I have since ground down the thick bits and touched up glaze on the bad side and teapot is ready to be refired to smooth things out. Good news is that today I have gotten the matching sugar and creamer out of bisque and glazed ready for same kiln load as the reglazing of the teapot, so (fingers crossed), it all will be beeeutiful maybe next week or so. In the meantime, here is teapot from all angles:

My first Teapot

Here it is, I have since made a sugar and creamer to match, but they should be coming out of Bisque Kiln this morning at the studio. Will have to clear glaze and hope they come out OK. Most of the items I have put in the Gallery have sold I am happy to say. Some of my things are also in a shop in Wilmington, NC---Blue Moon Gift Shops
This is actually the booth of a friend of mine and the paintings on the wall are from another friend. At the moment, I am wondering if I am spread out too much. It takes such a long time to get items through all the processes. I still hope to do two shows a year and just hope I can produce enough items to do all of this. Yesterday, I made five more of my musicsheet screenprinted hanging cones. So far, I have sold all seven that I have made. I am also experimenting with some other items with music themes since they seem to be quite popular. The vases with falling squares sold after four days in the gallery and the "Lovers" sold a week ago.
I had a large order for Christmas Ornaments which I have completed and another commission that I have finished, so now I am ready to work on getting some inventory produced for the gallery and the gift shop any maybe a few items for the two shows I will be in later in the year (September and December).

Louis Armstrong - What A Wonderful World

For Diana Gabaldon fans

Can you believe this two posts in one day, and this one has nothing to do with pottery/ceramics. Some of you might have read previous posts about one of my most favorite book series/authors here and here.

This mornng, my DH called my attention to a Mallard Fillmore cartoon which cracked me up since I usually sound just like this when I explain the book series to friends!

My newest things popping out of kiln:

OK this time I will forgo making an animated gif, but I really love these very contemporary vases. I have such fun pushing the limits of ceramic to see exactly what I can get it to do. I love the look of these and the seemingly precarious bits flying out of each vessel:

Love

OK, I promise this is my last animated gif, but once I remembered how to do these again, I wanted to reinforce the learning by doing several. This is the first time I have made a figure of a couple. Inspired by something I saw in Greece last summer, I wanted to try to create a similar look in ceramic. I am very happy with how it turned out, now I need to put it up for sale. My DH has gotten me a grinder with a rubber wheel and proper sanding strips for it, so I can get my bottoms (of my ceramic creations) nice and smooth and clean. Well here is the lovely couple dancing of course:

Another Dancing Lady

I am trying to reinforce my animated gif skills and share another ceramic creation with you. The Dancing Lady I made and showed in this blog entry was sold and it was time to make another. I just love making them dance.
Isn't she cute?

New Figure, is she a Sister or a Nanny?