Everyday Crafty Goodness

I had an idea for a teapot on Sunday so I made a model out of a raisin bran cereal box so I wouldn’t forget the basic idea.  You can kind of see Mr. Sun with his 2 scoops of raisin through the handle although that part would be enclosed in the actual teapot.  I think this is about as minimalist as a teapot can go … no separate spout or handle attached to the body and the lid will be recessed on top so nothing sticks out.   This kind of looks like one of those Fiestaware pitchers.  Making this out of clay will be a little tricky but I think I know what to do.  I might give it a try this week. 

The ceramics class I’m in this semester is called “The Story Behind the Naked Clay” and we’re exploring visual narratives with clay.  We’ve been doing naked raku firings in class for the past few weeks and here’s my try at a narrative on a tile.

This is a drawing of the bedroom my sister and I shared with my grandmother when we were little and living with our grandparents in Taiwan.  My grandmother slept on the bed on the left, my sister slept in the middle, and I slept on the right.  My side of the bed actually butted up right against the wall but I’m not sure why I didn’t draw it that way.  The tile was dipped in slip and glaze and the drawing lines were scratched with a needle tool.  Smoke produced by saw dust at the end of the firing makes the lines black.  The finer crackle lines and dots were made by the crackle glaze.  You dunk the pieces into water after the firing and the slip and glaze are scraped off leaving just the bare clay piece with the smoked lines.  It’s a very cool process for those who like to play with fire (me!) and you get to see the results of the firing in just a few hours. 

This is what I did last night … 22 soap dishes glazed and ready to be fired this weekend!  I remember when I glazed for the very first time in college, I was confused to see that the celadon glaze (a pale green glaze after it’s been fired) is actually pink in liquid form (like the 2 pink ones toward the end of the table).  So these will look quite different when they come out of the kiln on Monday.

A woman at the studio was SHOCKED to see that I’ve been making my soap dishes because I normally don’t start making stuff until a month before the Show and Sale.   I told her that I will be selling these on Etsy so I’ve been going to the studio and making things on a regular basis.

So hopefully around the middle of April, I will have enough soaps and dishes to sell on Etsy.  Before then, I’ll try to list some of my vintage stuff on there for practice.

The Show and Sale at the studio runs from Thursday to Sunday.  The Weekend Special (where seconds, discontinued pieces, “experimental” pieces, or stuff that people just want to get rid of, etc.) always draws in a big crowd because of the terrific deals.  There’s a special group of HARDCORE shoppers who always wait in line well before the studio door opens at 10AM armed with their own bags and boxes (and sometimes lawn chairs) ready to get the bargains.   These are the same kind of folks who would wait in line at 2AM in front of Best Buy on the Friday after Thanksgiving. 

Anyway, this is what I saw this morning as I walked towards the studio at 9:30 (note that the windchill temperature was probably down in the single digits).

Hmmm, that’s weird … where’s the line of people waiting with their boxes and laundry baskets?  What’s that little red cooler doing on the ground?  Wait, there’s a note on it …

“HERE AT 9:15 - Staying warm in car (2 people)”

They have the right idea … numb frozen fingers and pottery do not mix well.   When I first read the note, I thought it said, “Staying warm in can“.   These people crack me up.

Here are some pieces I will be selling at the pottery show and sale this week.

soap dish in action (square soap dishes to go with my square soaps)

different soap dish designs (these are all handmade)

I really like these guys.  I think they’re good for sea salt or cinnamon sugar.  These are thrown on the wheel, altered, and then handbuilt.

And here’s a table full of pieces I have to price tonight.  I also have to set up my display shelf tonight.  I’ll post more pictures of that tomorrow.