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. 

Want To Follow My Art On Facebook?

You can see more of my art on my facebook page: Deb Thuman's Art Page. If I did this right, the title of this post links to my Art Page. If that doesn't work.... here's the link: 

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Deb-Thumans-Art-Page/167529715986

If you want to be sure you don't miss any of my art photos, please become a fan and you'll automatically get updates when I post new photos. 

Jim Is Having So Much Fun With Masks

Ready for bisque and will eventually be raku fired. Jim made a plaster cast of a mask and he's having the time of his life making masks. 

Extruded Tea

I can see I need to work on my lids. I used a funky spout because it doesn't make the tea piddle or drip. The handle is an experiment and I'm not sure about it yet. I cut the one side out of two square extrusions and scored and slipped the two pieces together to make a rectangular tea pot. I used the sliced out part for the handle. 
This is the sugar bowl. 

The other tea pot. I made two of them. 

Much better lid on this one and the handle looks more stable. 

Here's the creamer. Both the sugar and creamer are made of one extruded square. The teapots are two extruded squares. 

Struder Man

Want to know how to make rigatoni? Not only did Jim make a special die, but he made a special jig so he could be sure to cut each end on a 45 degree angle. 

Jim's Sculptures

These are some of Jim's extrusions. He loves playing with glazes. 

What is a Mezuzah?

I've been asked to explain what a mezuzah is. A mezuzah is a scroll, printed by hand on parchment and written in Hebrew. The words are a passage from Deuteronomy and begin with: Hear O Israel! The Lord our God the Lord is one! 

We are commanded by God to affix these words to our door posts. To protect the scroll, there needs to be a mezuzah cover or holder. Many of the covers and holders are lovely works of art. 

More Anxiety Pockets

I used commercial texture pieces to add texture to these pieces. I think this is where my fiber art carries over into my clay art most successfully. I'm anxious to use some of the glazes I tested in the ^6 reduction firing I just did. I think the Panama Red is going to look great on some of these pieces. I also think the Oasis Blue will look nice as well. 

^6 Reduction Firing

I finally found a use for Coyote Clay Oasis Blue. It's impossible to get decent color in oxidation. I get spotty color no matter how thick I put on that glaze. But in reduction!!! I got blues and purples. 

Logan's Aqua. I like this color and I think I will be doing my tiles with this. I've got texture in the tiles and I think it's going to be an interesting glaze. Thanks, Logan for sharing. 

More with Oasis Blue. 

Some Photos from the ^6 Reduction Firing

Bronze glaze. These are jewelry pieces - 

Panama Red. I got red in spots on the pieces I used this glaze and a cool green in other places. I think this is one of those glazes that has to be applied thick. In any event, I like the cabachon and how the colors turned out.