It's been a while

Oops, so it's been almost a year since I've posted...whoops. To sum up - firings were kind of a mess during the spring months (over-reduction, reaching cone 11...etc.) so I didn't have much that I ended up keeping as a result. Then over the summer while the school studio was closed I decided to use the semester off to just practice. No pressure to keep anything (because I couldn't fire anyway) and plenty of time to throw, cut pieces in half, work on my technique, and in general just try to get better with no pressure. Boy howdy was this summer great! In August I found a tiny kiln for sale on Craigslist and brought her home. It's been so nice to have a kiln at the home studio. Another semester is wrapping up this week, so I have a few weeks off from the school studio and gas firings, but I'm pretty excited to jump back in next semester.

Enjoy this pictorial tour of the year...hopefully I'll be more on top of things in 2018 :)

One of the few pieces that turned out okay in February

Practice form

Summer of practicing

Glaze failure from April

Half glaze failure - but ended up in the keep pile

Summer of practicing

Meet Pip! (short for Pipsqueak because she's tiny, but I love her)

Fall works

Oxidation firing glaze failures

Oxidation firing win!

Fall work

Horsehair raku vessel - fall

Fabian: RIP.

Another one from this fall

from a reduction firing this fall - same firing, same glaze, same clay body, just different locations in the kiln

Bad word mugs 😈

From a cone 6 load fired in Pip :) she does so good.

Another cone 6 win!

Back at it

After taking an unintentional two-month hiatus from the studio, I finally made it back in this week and OH BOY did it feel good! I’m trying out some new clay this semester, and I’m excited to see how it works out. I’ve worked in porcelain exclusively for the last…three years? And while I love how easy it is to work with on the wheel, it isn’t quite as great for handbuilding. So! I’m working with “Pendleton Red” now, and so far am loving it. It’s a nice, like, reddish earthy color with just a touch of grog. Things are going in for a bisque fire this week or next, I’m excited to see how they turn out!

Look at that color! 

more ocean forms 

I've been trying to work out my issues with bowls...

Mug makin'

Nothing too exciting to report here, but it's been a couple of weeks so I figured I'd  update. Things have been crazy busy with packing (again), Thanksgiving, dog sitting, moving (again), working with an anxiety-riddled dog (new), and unpacking (again), and working on getting Christmas gifts. Oy.

Luckily I've been able to steal a handful of hours away to the studio, which has been much needed. These babies came out of the kiln the day before Thanksgiving

These cone 10 glazes are perfection.

Three others also came out with them, but they're not as cool. I'm really liking the direction these coral/ocean mugs are taking me. It's been a really fun way to combine throwing with some handbuilding work. I think I'm going to stay on this path for a while and see where it takes me.

Look at all the new mug babies! 

These bad boys have been bisqued and glazed - should be out of the kiln by Tuesday evening. I can't wait to see how they turn out.

Hopefully will be getting back to tote sewing once I get some more flat surfaces in the new place...and my sewing machines unpacked...

Definitely a win

This weekend goes down in the books as a success. Went into the studio for about a half an hour before heading to Ellensburg for the day to get a few mugs ready for bisquing, and was pleasantly surprised to find my test batch turned out pretty well! Hands down, the ocean mug tester was far-and-away the winner, but I definitely learned a bit about some of the glazes different characteristics, which was definitely helpful. The brown mug would have been green and all kinds of drippy if I’d dunked it one more time, but now I know for next time!

Testers

New babies - all ready for firing!

In other news, the prototype has been waxed, and after fearing it was ruined followed by about an hour in the dryer, I’d say it was a modest success. I definitely need to work on applying the wax evenly, but I’m not totally sold on what I used…maybe I’ll try making my own. But for now, I’m calling it a win J

Now I just need to work on sewing straight...

Garbage

In my quest to be a real potter, I've been trying to work on shapes, handles, textures, etc. I've been trying to not get in a rut of making one made vessel shape, one style of handle, and risk end up feeling like a human machine pumping out the same s*it all the time. That being said, we should probably acknowledge that -despite my efforts to challenge myself with the actual form- I am garbage when it comes to glazing. I don't know what it is, but something about that final stage just loses me. And I know that just like a handle can make or break a mug, so can glazes! And yet I turn into an impatient four year-old every time it's time to glaze and just want it to be over. Let's take a minute to marvel at garbage glazing.

I'm hoping the texture makes up for the lack of creativity in my glazing. That's one thing I've found I really do enjoy: experimenting with textures. I love carving on pieces, making weird designs, adding with stuff that I think maybe looks like coral or an anemone. I guess I should just quite fighting it and realize that while glazing is a weak point for me, textures aren't.

Here we have some new babies just begging for handles, carving, and coral

And so it begins...

Well, after months and months (because that sounds better than 2 years) of talking about making hand-waxed, hand-sewn, and hand-stamped totes under the name MaGoats Totes, there is finally a prototype to show for it! It still needs to be waxed, but there is finally a tote. One glorious, rough looking tote. I learned a few things on this prototype adventure, with which I’ve decided to enlighten you. (Like how I didn’t end that sentence in a preposition and ended up sounding super pretentious? Don’t hate.)

1. Canvas frays. A lot. Trim disastrously frayed edges before sewing.

2. Broken needles only punch holes in the fabric. Buy heavy duty needles.

3. I can’t sew a straight seam to save my life. (sorry mom, you taught me better)

4. It’s difficult to print on fabric without ink. Should have checked on that before spending two hours carving a stamp…

5. French seams make anything look fancy

So there you have it. For the time being, a goat stamp will have to serve as the mascot, but I’m hoping for a real goat soon, now that there’s a prototype. There’s no way Justin can say no.

Cute little goat stamp

MaGoat Tote prototype!

In other news, Toby is still afraid of his own farts, one goldfish has departed the earth (2 to go!), and I think I may be getting tired of having pasta, broccoli, and italian sausage for dinner every night. So help me...