Jim's First Raku Firing

Jim did his first raku firing today. I love this piece; you can see the marks from the burning straw on this mask. 

Metal Head

I Have A Splitting Headache

Jim's raku masks. The first firing didn't work out, so he tried again. Got wild results. 

Installation

I installed one of the Anxiety Pockets in my office this morning. 

I used a cool piece of something or other that I'd normally use for fabric embellishment. I tied a square knot and then applied Fray Check. Alas, I forgot to turn down the ends before doing that. 

This piece is more amorphous than rectilinear. I'm not concerned that it doesn't hang perfectly straight. I think it looks better this way than if I had been very careful to make it hang perfectly straight. 

I'll be putting the latest anxiety pockets - which I think I'm going to rename Healing Pockets - on my etsy store after firing. I'm hoping to do a firing this Saturday. 

Jim's New Found Treasures

It's time for the changing of the plants at the university. So... groundskeepers dug out all the pansies, tossed them in a pile, and are getting ready to put different flowers in. What happens to the pile of pansies? Whoever comes along can give them a new home. 

Pansies are another flower that remind me of my grandmother. She was English on her father's side and grew up with a love of gardening. When we visited the Falkland Islands, I took one look at the gardens, and felt as if I were 7 years old again. It was like being with my grandmother again. 

Spring Time In The Desert

The iris bloomed. I could swear it wasn't there when I watered the peach trees the other day. Alas, it's the only iris we have and it's one of my favorite flowers. My grandmother always had a garden and one of the flowers was "blue flags." They were a blue iris. Each year, she'd dig out at least a bushel basket full of tubers and toss them in the field next door. Lots of blue flags grew in that field. 


I love the yuccas when they bloom. Even better, it looks like we've got rain blowing in (sure feels like it in my knuckles, too) and I love the contrast of the creamy white with the grey/blue/purple of the sky. 

Jim's Extrusions

Jim has been experimenting with glazes and glaze combinations. I love his work. All of these pieces came out of the recent ^6 reduction firing. 

Reduction Firing

This firing had a lot of surprises. I fired reduction to flat ^5 with no movement in ^6. Most of the clay was ^6 but Jim had made some pieces from Laguna's brown clay. That's a ^5 clay with no room for error. Fire that clay to ^6 and you get landfill. 

The results and surprises are below. 

Jim's Extrusion With Great Glaze

I love how this extrusion turned out - the glaze is so alive. It's made from Laguna's speckled buff and glazed with Coyote Clay Blue Oasis. 

Tea Time

One day, I came up with the brilliant idea of making tea pots out of extruded pieces. I found that I had to pare down my original idea, and this is what I came up with. 

When Jim was up at NM Clay last week, he got some samples of Mayco's new stoneware glazes. This one is called Green Tea. I used it over Laguna's speckled buff. One pot came out with character, the other came out a little flat. The pots are functional, but I'm not sure I'll make any more extruded pots. It was an interesting experiment. The lids of the pots are done with Coyote Clay Pistachio Shino, one of my all-time favorite glazes. 

Tea pots need a sugar and creamer. I learned the spout from a workshop I attended last fall. It's based on a kerosene container. It looks a tad odd, but it sure pours nice. I think these were done in Blue Oasis. The lids moved during firing. Although the lid was flat on the shelf, the one on the sugar pot turned into a sort of smile. 

Mezuzah Covers

What happens if you can't put screws into the wall? What about putting a mezuzah on a little quilt and then hanging the quilt by the door? And so little mezuzah covers were born. 

Next, I get to make the quilts that go under the mezuzah covers. 

Panama Red. 

Oasis Blue on the left, Jim's bronze glaze on the right. I love how the bronze came out very metallic looking. 

Anxiety Pockets

I wanted a place where my anxiety could stay so I didn't have to carry the anxiety around with me. I thought about that for a while, and came up with anxiety pockets. I wanted to make something lovely so the anxiety would be happy staying in the pocket. 

I used Panama Red on the back piece and Jim's bronze glaze on the pocket. 

This one is glazed with Coyote Clay Blue Oasis. In oxidation, this glaze sucks. It comes alive in reduction. 

I used commercial stamps to make the texture in both pieces. My first medium was fabric, and these have a fabric quality about them. 

Jim's Masks

Speckled buff - sans glaze. Now... every other time I did speckled buff in the gas kiln, the speckled buff came out toasty. So what happens in reduction? It comes out boring. 

Jim found a bronze ^6 glaze that does really cool things in reduction. He hammered on the clay with one of his old foundry tools so the mask would look like hammered metal. 

This is Laguna's Brown clay. It's a funny clay to fire. It's a ^5 clay and it's not kidding. Take it up to ^6 and you get landfill. This is the naked clay fired in reduction. I fired to ^5 down but ^6 not moving. I gotta get me a pryometer one of these days. Anyway, some of Jim's extrusions made with this clay shattered. The mask came out fine. 

Jim

Tiles Drying on Plasterboard

This is weird. The last time I fired to ^6 in reduction, this glaze, Logan's Translucent Aqua (courtesy of Logan Johnson) came out a beautiful aqua - precisely the color I wanted. This time, I did the same reduction, and I got.... maroon. Weird. Note to self: Logan's Aqua goes in the electric kiln for oxidation. What's also weird, some came out shiny, some came out matte. The matte and shiny were on the same shelf. I have no idea how that happened and I'd love to hear from glaze folks any ideas. I figure the copper in the glaze did a funky reduction thing, but the matte and shiny is a mystery. 

Great Trade

Jim traded with Fred Parker. Fred needed a die for his extruder, and so Jim made him one. In return, Fred sent us a pair of great mugs that match Jim's new clay shirt. Thanks Fred!

Biker Babe Babushka

Every time I've fired the kiln this semester, I've fried my bangs. So, I figured a babushka would help. I asked Jim how I looked, and he told me I looked like a biker babe. The special goggles are so I can look in the peep holes at the cones and not wreck my eyes. 

Jim and his extrusions

I did a reduction firing today - ^6. Meanwhile, Jim worked on his extrusions. 

Meeting Quiltart Friends

Me and Alison Schwabe

Jane Jensen

I love meeting other Quiltart folks. Alison Schwabe is in town visiting family, and so the three of us got to meet in real life. We had fancy coffee at International Delights - a coffee shop/Mediterranean restaurant in Las Cruces. We got to talk about what we were working on, do a little show and tell and marvel at how lovely the fabrics are in Uruguay. 

I keep telling myself that when I retire, I'll have time to do all the things I don't have time to do now. I learned from Jane that when I retire, I'll still have the time constraints. At least I know I won't be bored.

From Alison, I got a desire to work a little smaller - in the 12" square or so range. 

Now... all I need is a couple weeks to devote to art (and that won't happen for a few years) and see what I can do with my new inspiration. 

Why I Love My Ceramic Bread Pans

Super Sized Sourdough. That's Pete's Copper Red glaze on ^10 B-Mix.