On Monday I practiced to print some of my Buddhas on my cylinders.  It was a decent attempt.  I think I will be able to tweak the process and make it work well.  My next go at it will include a less detailed image, and thickened under glazes.  If I went ahead and fired the few I tried it might be cool, but it is not exactly what I envisioned, so I will wash it off and try again.  I am pretty excited about it.

I loaded the gas kiln this week.  I couldn't be happier with the way my bedpan turned out.  I am so pleased with the prints on it.  It is an improvement over the similar-style vessels from last semester.  So, all in all it is a step forward, which is great.  I am not trying to sound big-headed or anything, but I really love it.  It turned out exactly like I wanted.  All the trouble to make it it was well worth it. 

I also got some mugs out of the kiln. None of them stuck to the patties, which is promising.  I am happy with the colors.  Only one of the pieces in this whole kiln ran, so I am wondering if maybe it didn't get as hot as before. 

Here are six lidded vessels I finished this week.  As stated previously, lidded vessels were a challenge for me.  I guess looking at them now, they aren't as bad as I thought before, but still not my best work.  I went out this week and bought a bunch of new ceramic tools, calipers included.  I am hoping to practice lidded vessels some more.

Here are some prints I have been working on.  I am planning on doing some screen printing this weekend.  Pako, Philip, and I went to One Stroke and bought some new screens today.  I'm excited.  I also have some images ready for printing on some ceramics.  I have been halted on that front though because the liquid glycerin I bought to thicken my under-glaze did not work, so I am waiting for the air to thicken them.  Hopefully that will work.  I have also been working on painting my new house this week.  I will hopefully finish that today.  Also, at my new job I have been getting some experience with kilns.  Granted, those kilns do not get as hot as ours, but damn they have some huge kilns! 

I got a lot of art supplies this week.  Today, I bought some baby dolls and doll heads.  I am going to make molds of doll heads and put them all over the next thing I build, like I have been with the buttons.  I haven't completely decided what I will put them on.  Maybe a gravy boat.  I don't know.

This week I glazed portions of my bedpan and loaded it into an electric kiln with low-fire glazes, underglazes, and high-fire glazes.  Yesterday that kiln was ready to be unloaded.  Last night I sprayed it with Steven Hill clear and wiped it off the highest areas of the buttons.  I put it back in the kiln room.   I'm excited to see how it turns out.  I hope it is similar to one of the pots I did last semester as far as colors go.  I tweaked a couple things to hopefully make it better.  I also glazed some of my mugs. 

 This is my pitcher and basin I finished this week.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  I am a little on the fence as to whether the buttons on the pitcher feel right just yet.  I might need to add more.  I can't decide if I want to glaze it like my bedpan or go for just white on this piece.  White feels right for it, but also white would have been appropriate for the bedpan and I chose colors for it.  I don't know.  I was considering doing white cone 6 and clear to give it a sheen.  Or I could do the same technique with it as the bed pan so it will match.  I did opt not to do the prints on this piece.  I am ready to try some new techniques of printing on ceramics.  I got my book and have researched a few techniques.  I need to go to the store and get some foam and glycerin.  Also, I need photo emulsion (for this and printmaking).  I just haven't had time to go shopping.  I wasted so much time last week searching for crackle spray paint for my print.  Which I never found. 

It seems that our blow-out kiln was a failure.  That is so disappointing.  I was really excited to see how it turned out.  I really hope we can try to fire some of my teddy bears again.

 Here are some of the lidded vessels I have been working on.  I am not too proud of them.  I don't know what it is, but lidded vessels just are not clicking in my brain.  I feel like I did a really nice job on my bowls, but now I have taken a step backwards.  The vessels themselves even are just mediocre.  I can make a lid, but then it is so hard for me to make the right container to go with it.  And I feel like I totally mess them up when I handle them to make sure they fit properly... and also when using a chuck to trim.  I guess I have not mastered that yet.  I still need to trim several of these forms.  I'm hoping once I trim and clean them up I will like them better.  Part of my problem might be that I want to throw bigger.  I am still throwing these little vessels, and I am just not impressed by them.  Every time I attempt to throw bigger it collapses.  I am getting frustrated (and overwhelmed with everything) and it is affecting my work.   

This week I loaded the gas kiln with the burn-out pieces from the installation that was in the gallery.  I re-dipped my teddy bears in the slip we have in our studio.  I am excited to see how they turn out.  They look pretty cool.  I also loaded an electric kiln with a bisque, which contains my bowls.

 I am working on my basin and pitcher set for my hand-built project.  I have the basic shape for the washbasin.  I also have a beginning for the roundest part of the pitcher.  I am coil building these, and I will embellish with buttons.  I am playing around with the idea of printing as well.  We'll see.  I am so in love with my buttons right now that printing has taken a back seat.  I am still very interested in discovering and playing with better ways to print on clay.  That is what I want to dive into for independent study.  I just don't know if I should incorporate it into all my pieces.  I ordered a book on print and clay.  It should be here tomorrow.  I am feeling so overwhelmed right now with school and life.  I hate tension, and deadlines, and not feeling adequate.  I really need to take out more me time than I have in the past.  I only have one life to live, and I am so tired of being so stressed all the damn time.  I want to make good art.  I want to be happy.  I want this tension to go away.

Here is the inspiration for this piece I am working on.  This is my grandmother's old pitcher and basin.

 This week I also started Playing with throwing off the hump.  I made a couple practice lids and vessels.  I need to watch that video of the demo again.  I started out trying to throw my pitcher, which was harder than anticipated.  I may have over-estimated my throwing abilities.  I can not throw that big yet.  I reallllllly want to throw big though.  I also had a few frustrations in the printshop this week.  I feel like I wasted a lot of time this week messing things up.  However, I did do two prints today that I am happy with.  And I guess I have a decent start on basin.  We'll see how the pitcher goes.  I want to glaze my bedpan so bad, but I have to many other things to do it is hard to find time to glaze.  I need to do that this week.  I am going to practice a new method of screen-printing on clay I found on some of my cylinders I think.  It looks cool.  I need to find out the best kind of foam to use.

This week I also spent some time putting together a portfolio for the Torp Scholarship.  It doesn't look like many people applied for it, so I'm thinking I have a decent shot.  I am happy with my portfolio and my growth as an artist.  Brian Jones talked to me about the Torp as well as the Jennings scholarships today.  He seemed pretty positive, which made me feel good.  I'm not sure how selection for the Jennings is going to work.  Brian said the nominations will take place in a couple weeks.  Anne said it will picked tomorrow along with the Torp.  Brian said I would be nominated for the Jennings either way.  I'm excited.  I really hope I get one and I hope Wende gets one.  Man, I hate getting my hopes up for things like this, then not getting it.  But, either way, I am proud of my portfolio.

And another thing... I am so confused by two of the BFA critiques I went to this week.  So, do people just not have anything negative to say about graphic design work?  I feel that some of the other critiques I have been to of painters and ceramic artists have been pretty rough, whereas these graphic designers put up some unfinished work and say, "This is what I'm doing," then it is just a walk in the park.  I am not a graphic designer and I have a lot of respect for the technical skill required to do this work, but come on.  I do not think it would go over so well if I cut some shapes out of construction paper and pasted it to a piece of paper and showed it at a critique.  Yes, I get that there are typography elements involved, but......  and when I had a discussion today with Pako and raised this point, he said, "We are not fine artists."  YOU ARE GETTING A BACHELOR OF FINE ARTS!!!!!  What the hell?  And to put something up and say, "I did these because I like fantasy and I have always liked fantasy."  I have always loved cats, but I could never do a bunch of paintings of cats and simply say, "I paint cats because I have always loved cats."  Not to disrespect the digital illustrations, because I a sure they took a lot of time and skill, but I just feel like only a graphic designer would get away with this.  Or maybe the crits aren't as hard this semester as last?  Or maybe it is because Brian Jones wasn't there?  Haha.  I just feel like something should have been said.  And it wasn't.  And I'm confused.  I have seriously been trying so hard to make work with more meaning and more thought, and I have been trying so hard to have more of a common thread to my work.  To make it a "Miranda."  I don't know it I should be less nervous or more nervous about my critique, considering this week, the thought I have been putting in, and the fact that I am not a graphic designer.  I'm just saying.  And you may ask why I didn't say anything during the critiques.  Well, that's a good question.  I guess I don't want them to think I'm a bitch.  Because they don't know me.  And I don't feel very comfortable dissing on someone else's work.  Especially people I don't know.  And I don't know much about graphic design.  But, I know a little about art, and they should be held to the same standards as the rest of us.

At the beginning of the week I loaded and fired one of the electric kilns.  I put my bedpan as well as all of my mugs in it.  That was a good experience and something I've wanted to learn how to do for a while. 

 Here are my pieces that I got out of the kiln.

 This week I've also been working on my bowls.  I wanted to get more done, but it seems I have come down with a cold or flu.  Also, this weekend Philip is getting his wisdom teeth out and I start my new job at Glassworks so I don't know when I'm gonna be able to come in the studio this weekend.  I definitely need to come in Sunday to trim the bowls that I threw.

 Here are some examples of bowls that I've already trimmed.  I really like trimming.  I think I got some good results, considering these are the first foot rims I have made.  I look foot rims. They have a nice look.

Sue and I took down the installation from the gallery.  I saved a few of the bears.  I am excited to fire them and see what happens.

 

 Next week I really need to get started on my hand built project.  I would like to make a mold of the bedpan and make multiples.  I can't wrap my brain around how I would make this mold though. 

Mean Muggin

Unfortunately, I am feeling a little down on myself because I don't feel I had a very accomplished week in the ceramics studio.  Last weekend I threw 23 mugs, which I am happy with the outcome.  I think I was putting off this project so long because I was a little intimidated by handles.  However, I made most of my handles a more round shape, which I find more aesthetically pleasing than the flat handles.  So, all in all, I am pretty satisfied with my mug experience.  I do agree with your (Brian) comment during the critique regarding my twisted handle.  That is something I would like to work on in the future.

I got 15 of my cylinders out of the kiln this week.  That was exciting.  Lesson learned: I use too much glaze.  That is something I need to work on.  Perhaps spraying my pieces could help in this area.  However, I am very happy with some of the surfaces I achieved.  I got some really nice texture and color on a few of the pieces.  I was very disappointed because I ended up breaking the bottoms off a few of the cylinders I really liked in the process of trying to remove the patty.  This seemed to happen only either on the Matt Long Porcelain or the equal parts.  I'm not really sure which it was.  This is quite upsetting because I really like throwing with the porcelain, however the stoneware is obviously stronger. 

 

I did spend a lot more time in the print shop this week.  Here are some images I have been working on.  They are running along the same vein as some of the ceramics I have been doing as far as the theme of nostalgia and sentiment goes.  The pictures of the baby dolls are actual dolls my mother and grandmother owned as children.  So, this is fun for me to bring that element into my prints as well.  None of these projects are finished yet, but I am pleased with the progress thus far. 

For this piece I am working with the same kitsch figurines as my first printmaking project.  It is a combination monotype and screen print.  I am currently working on getting the screen exposed with the key image, but it did not expose properly the first time I did it.  This is kind of an experiment because my screen is too big to fit in the light table so I am exposing it with lamps.  I can't decide if this key image will complete the work or if I want to add more layers.  So far it has more than 20 layers and I'm pretty pleased with the effect.  

This Week In Clay

I finished my hand built project this week.  I spent a lot of time piecing together the buttons.  I am very happy with the results.  Initially, I was going to completely cover the surface with buttons (except the front flat part, inside, and urinal) but I decided to go about halfway down the sides, which I think looks better.  I decided to go ahead and do the screen printed pattern.  I intentionally did the pattern with low fire glaze in order to get the same result as last semester.  I want to experiment with getting a bolder image, however with this project I think the ghost image that will be more suitable.  If I had used under glazes (which I had intended to do), I feel that it would have been overwhelming.  I want there to be a lot, but not too much.  

  

This past weekend, I also spent some time getting my work together for my SpaceLab review.  I'm hoping that went well. :)

 I worked on glazing on Wednesday.  I got 15 of my cylinders glazed.  I had a lot of fun planning and applying different glazes.  I took detailed notes on my application process.  I am excited to see how they come out.   

 This week I also got my studio!  I am very excited, and thank you for all your help, Brian.  It feels like I'm getting a new little apartment or something!