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    one step forward…

    Since all of California seems to be on fire including many of our favorite camping hiking spots, we’ve been spending A LOT more time in the studio these days. And I’m so grateful to have this space to work in when everything else is closed up.

    I’ve been focused on two (sort of three) separate projects. One is building my Rock Candy Series really big. If you’ve been following along on my posts, you already know that this has been a challenge. I’ve been getting a ton of cracks along the seams and haven’t been able to figure out why. But, the good news is that I’m making progress and getting one step closer to figuring these out.

    Below is a photo of three pieces hanging on the wall of my studio. The two larger ones are about 2 feet across to give a sense of scale. The dark blue one is the only one that is actually successful with only one small crack in the bottom. The other two are covered in cracks, but I’ve realized the difference between how I built each of them and I’m understanding where the problems lie.

    Of course the latest one to come out of the kiln had no cracks, but apparently had an air bubble in one wall, so that wall exploded during the bisque firing. That was disappointing to say the least but, I’m committed to seeing these challenges through to be able to make these pieces in mass. So stay tuned on this…

    The other project I’ve been working on is creating my Bone Series | Medusa pieces. It’s quite the dichotomy to go from making these huge heavy stoneware rock forms to super thin and fragile porcelain pieces. It feels good to have success in making these and is a good reminder that it took me a few years and a few residencies of focused time to be able to make them. I love how delicate and whimsical they are, especially when they bounce slightly as they balance on the wire tips. I’m hoping to make a large amount of these pieces and have them up in my online shop soon.

    The third project I technically haven’t started yet is embedding my flat porcelain pieces in resin. I consulted resin artists, I bought all my materials and was ready to start and then the ash started falling from the sky. We had so much debris in the air here that it didn’t seem like a good idea to start pouring resin and risk getting little bits stuck in it. But now we’re on our second day of blue skies and I’m hoping to start a pour in the next few days. Very excited about the potential with these pieces.

    Video: How to make your own kiln stilts

    I’ve shared how I make my own kiln stilts before but I decided to put together a little step-by-step video for the Ceramic Arts Networks Clayflicks series and also share it with you here. If you make ceramic art and you glaze your pieces entirely, making your own stilts is an easy and cheap way to support them in the kiln. I purchase my stilt pins and all the nichrome wire I use from National Art Craft (direct links are below)

    Remember! Be sure to test your clay first and don’t use any other type of wire to make these!

    Direct link to purchase nichrome wire stilt pins:
    https://www.nationalartcraft.com/subcategory.asp?gid=10&cid=172&scid=1539

    To view videos from the Ceramic Arts Network visit:
    https://ceramicartsnetwork.org/magazines-subscriptions/clayflicks/

    Enjoy and comment below if you still have questions!

    life in the studio these days…

    As if a global pandemic wasn’t enough, wildfires have been raging just miles from my studio space and even closer to friends, fellow artists and families homes here in Santa Cruz. Ash and burnt leaves have fallen from the smoke darkened sky for days, while we cross our fingers and send positive vibes into the universe that this ends without anymore destruction.

    So, time in the studio these days has been split between packing up our just-in-case boxes, incessantly refreshing the fire map, making a plan if we need to evacuate and also bouncing between a few different clay project experiments because you can’t just stare at the fire map all day.

    Since my last post about being challenged with building big rock candy pieces, I took what I learned and rebuilt three large rock candy forms that are slowly drying and ~thus far~ not showing any signs of hairline cracks. Only time (and a kiln firing) will tell if they’re meant to survive, but it will be awhile before they are dry enough to be bisque fired. In the meantime, I’ve been working in the completely opposite direction on some small porcelain pieces.

    Last October when I started my residency in Taiwan, I really got a handle on making extremely thin porcelain pieces from my Bone Series. I also experimented with embedding them in resin. This process was visually successful but I still struggled with the learning curve of what this medium would and wouldn’t do. I shipped home these experiments from Taiwan and they’ve been sitting on my studio table for months staring at me. I reached out to resin artist Sasha Sykes in Ireland for some advice and was so grateful for her willingness to answer all my questions about resin. She gave the confidence to proceed, so I finally bit the bullet and ordered up some resin, casting materials and started making some porcelain parts to embed. The tedious layering process will begin soon.

    Simultaneously, I’m also working on a commission of custom Umbel Series flowers for a clients backyard. These have been super fun to play with new forms and a different color palette than my norm. Hopefully they will be finished up soon and installed sometime in the near future.

    While I keep myself distracted from the crazy status of the world with this menagerie of projects, I’m also mindful of how grateful I am for all that I have while some have lost so much this year. Thank you to the fire personnel who are out there battling these wildfires day after day. Stay safe.

    sometimes a teacher, always a student

    Whenever I take on a new challenge in clay, I’m always humbled by what I don’t know…

    After a month long trip through Baja, we returned to California and to two large pieces from my Rock Candy Series that were anxiously awaiting me in the studio. They’d been drying on the shelf the whole time we were gone, so I knew I could get them into a bisque kiln right away- which I did. It was great to just jump right back into the making process without hesitation.

    But then they came out of the bisque with the same hairline cracks on the seams that I’d been getting on some of the medium size pieces. I know that they will only get worse in the glaze firing, but I couldn’t help myself and decided to try it out anyways. So I glazed them up and reloaded the kiln with my fingers crossed that the kiln gods just might take pity on me.

    Well, the results were worse than I imagined or rather the worst I had ever seen come through my kiln. Ever. The pieces literally fell apart, collapsing, causing huge stress cracks and ultimately made me feel like a complete amateur in clay. How could these tiny hairline crack cause this much damage? And how is it possible that I’ve been working with clay nearly my whole life and I can’t get a few simple large shapes to survive?!?

    Maybe I shouldn’t build big, maybe I don’t know what I’m doing, and maybe I’m not good at this. Doubt sneaks in easily in a clay studio where the ongoing mantra is always “this is ceramics, there are no guarantees”. Luckily, my pity party of self doubt didn’t last and the problem solver in me won the mental gameplay. I started looking for solutions.

    I asked fellow artists and clay experts for help and now, with their help, I feel like I’ve got ideas of how to be successful at this new challenge. I’ve been a teacher of clay for over twenty years, but I will be a student of clay for a lifetime and I’m so lucky to have a community of experienced fellow clay peeps to keep learning from.

    So stay tuned with your fingers crossed for me on this journey because now I’m determined to make these babies come to fruition!

    fuego en el desierto

    While the paperwork on our property purchase is making it’s way through the system, we’ve been keeping busy at Taller de Terreno creating fires in the desert. The big multi-fuel kiln was fired up last weekend and it was fun to be a supporter during the 15+ hour process of firing it. It took a few days to cool and then we were able to unload it while ooohing and ahhhing at the results.

    I was lucky enough to get a few of my pieces into the kiln too. Three large-ish rocks from my Rock Candy Series and two Umbel Series flowers were included. Unfortunately, the rocks got some big stress cracks in them, but the surfaces came out really interesting because of the addition of salt and soda ash to the kiln towards the end of the firing. The Umbel flowers came out fine and it was interesting to see how some of my typical glazes changed in this type of firing. There were a ton of beautiful pots that came out and as always there are some that were destined for the shard pile too. Ceramics is always a lesson in experimentation but this type of kiln firing only adds to the level of chance.

    Once the kiln was unloaded, the three potters Christa Assad, Steve Jacobi and Fernanda Cov started to get all of their pots cleaned up, priced and organized for display for an art party sale at the studio. For us it was a great opportunity to meet (socially distanced of course!) a lot of the locals and learn a little more about the community here in Todos Santos. Everyone was really welcoming and it’s been fun to start to view this amazing little pueblo from the locals perspective instead of the tourists.

    While the summer is obviously not the ideal time to be camping out in the desert, we definitely can’t complain about the sunsets, long stretches of empty beaches and the night skies.