Tag: process

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

  It’s been a bit since I’ve written, so I thought I’d post a short hello and studio goings on, lest you think I’ve fallen into a bucket full of clay. Last weekend I was able to attend the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival in…

Freshies

Freshies

  One of the surprising benefits of my summer arm injury has been a refocusing of my creative process. It was initially immensely frustrating to cope with being unable to make and carve pots. I had to embrace other ways of creating the pattern and…

Miss Babs

Miss Babs

Knitter's mitten Hamsa
Knitter’s mitten Hamsa

I’ve been hard at work filling orders from this year’s shows and making a few special pieces for a collaboration with Miss Babs. She asked me to design a Hamsa “ornament” to coincide with a mitten pattern kit she was working on. It was fun researching and designing this talisman. I’m quite pleased with the finished design and really enjoyed the process of this project. The final kits look amazing, and are sure to sell quickly. All the Hamsa ornaments I made and the limited edition mugs are available through Miss Babs shop today at 12 Eastern.

Hamsa inspired mitten and mug
Hamsa inspired mitten and mug
Ornaments and Yarn pairings
Ornaments and Yarn pairings

Its been months in the making and today is finally the day the ceramics are available! Here’s a few pictures of the progress of this collaboration as I was working on them in the studio. Those of you who follow me on Instagram may have seen some of these pictures. It’s hard to be excited about something and unable to share it fully, so I may have been a bit obscure.

fresh stack
fresh stack
Hamsa Mug limited edition for Miss Babs ready for glazing
Hamsa Mug limited edition for Miss Babs ready for glazing
Hamsa lineup ready for glazing
Hamsa lineup ready for glazing
Glazed and ready to fire
Glazed and ready to fire

Psst . . . I’ll have a bunch of little gift items available in my etsy shop today at 11 Central too.

Getting Ready

Getting Ready

Just a few weeks and I’m headed into spring for the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.  I’ve been making lots of new pots. I often take pictures of my process and share them with my instagram and twitter followers.  I should share them here too!…

Coming soon

Coming soon

Here’s what I’m doing today in the studio. Having fun carving some sweater ornaments. A variety of colors and yoke designs will be available soon!

Process: carving obsessed

Process: carving obsessed

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I’ve been hand carving stamps to speed up my image transfer. It’s one more trick up my sleeve. I’ve always been a big fan of carving, duh look at my pottery, but these stamps are equally addictive to carve. It’s like carving into a rubber eraser. The lino cutting tools are slick and make me feel extra crafty. The end result is SO satisfying. I’m rather pleased with how quickly I can get an idea “to print”. My work is pretty labor intensive, and I really don’t cut corners in many areas of my making. This one I’m sold on. After carving I use a dye based ink to transfer to my leather hard pot. Now it’s ready for the three coats of color I apply, then MORE carving! Lord help me if I ever stumble into a woodblock printer…
Bonus? I also have awesome new stamps for paper stuff too!

Here Fishy Fishy

Here Fishy Fishy

When making my event specific pieces I try and use logical sources of inspiration. Typically I look to the environment, the Madrona Fiber Arts piece is no different. When I, a landlocked Midwesterner, think of the Pacific Northwest I think ocean, roaring rivers, soaring mountain…

I seem to have a problem

I seem to have a problem

I’m working on some new techniques to add to my artist’s quiver. I’m not entirely sure where, or how these are going to end up on my pots but I thought I would share a little of my studio obsession at the moment, speedball ez…

View from the studio

View from the studio

I’ve been playing with paper cut outs lately. Here’s a pile of them. I find it nice to play with paper and scissors to work out design ideas. I often tell my students to work out design conundrums with a media they’re familiar with, paper fits that bill nicely. Pots with these designs should be out of the kiln this week. Yippee!!