Finally...

I had my kiln reserved for Thursday through Monday, 1st for a bisque, then a cone 7.  So, I worked all day Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to make as many little animals as I could and to make a mold for a base.  I went with the mold because of my back situation (even though I do not think it was necessarily easier on my back) and I like the decorative aspects of the base I chose to mold.  It was quite a challenge making the mold because the base got stuck in the mold, and it is pretty heavy.  I broke my fruit tree in the process.  Poor Lucile.  But, I got my mold done on Wednesday and poured two bases on Thursday.  The mold was still fairly wet, so that presented it's own challenges.  I loaded them into my bisque on Thursday night, pretty much soaking wet.  I was skeptical if they would make it.  I used a 20 hour pre-heat, and they made it alright, although they do have some cracks in them unfortunately.  I am not really surprised.  I'm glad they are at least in one piece.  I really just needed to have it done so I could show an animal tree at my BFA critique.

I also got some babies in the bisque and used some clear glaze on them.  I plan on using a different color luster on each.  I know I will do one gold and one pink.  I found some nice colors that I am pretty excited about.  I got the gold and pink.  I am going to test those out before I order the other colors I want.  I am thinking turquoise, purple, and mother of pearl.  I spent some time this week looking at different lusters and researching on it.  If I get all the colors I want it is going to be pretty pricey!! But, I think it will be worth it.  My works needs a little luster.

I glazed an African lady for my spacelab show.  I am planning on putting her on a pedestal in front of my racial artifact monotype.  The main focus of my show is going to be prints with corresponding ceramic pieces with them.

Here is a shot of my animal tree before I placed it in the kiln.

Precarious!

Some finished pieces:

The colors on the lady do not look quite as nice in the photo, but I got some cool effects on her.

Finally! My animal tree worked (for the most part).  The larger one is a little lopsided.  It leaned in the kiln, but for the most part it is a success.  Also, a larger crack appeared in the base after this firing.  But, it was a technical win.  For my next one, I know to spend a little more time on the base, like let it dry slowly instead of forcing it.  Hopefully that will remedy some of the problems.

The baby tree is nice.  It has some really nice areas where the glazes ran together and mixed.

Here are the clear glazed babes.  I plan on loading a luster kiln tomorrow night.

My BFA crit is tomorrow.  I am feeling quite a bit better since I will have this work to show and talk about.  I am pleased with the other work I have, but these are more in the area I plan on working for this semester.  Hopefully tomorrow will go as good as my first critique.  I was really pissed and frightened on Saturday when I went in and my kiln that I reserved for my cone 7 had been taken.  I had a note on it and everything saying I would be in Saturday to unload, and I had it in my name until Monday.  But I went in and it was already unloaded and firing up.  I was seriously livid.  I was already pissed because my back hurt.... but I called Ashley and fortunately she was cool with me loading in the front kiln even though she had it reserved for one of the days.  I realize it probably was not malicious, but it was negligent and today when I approached the person about it they were pretty rude to me and did not seem at all apologetic about the mix up.  So, that was pretty rude.  It really wouldn't have rubbed me so wrong if I wasn't in such a pinch to have this done by tomorrow.  But, it worked out and my stuff came out pretty successfully. 

I also spent some time looking through my prints and picking out some I wish to show at my crit, and matting and framing some for my spacelab show next week.  After I finish with this blog I need to pack up my ceramics and put the prints in my portfolio.  I also need to go to the library tomorrow and borrow one of my pitchers back for the crit.  Did I mention I have three pieces in the library art show?  A baby face pitcher, a monotype, and my bed pan. I hope I will be able to set up tomorrow during class.  I need to hang and use a table or two for my ceramics.

I have also been experimenting with some acrylic mediums on ceramics as a way to better incorporate decoration.  It is going ok.  I am optimistic with the results.  Not overwhelmed, not underwhelmed.  Just whelmed, I suppose.