Pottery

I've been taking another ceramics class over the last 4 weeks. My work seems to be progressing in small increments.  It has helped having a wheel at home but it still seems awkward at times. I've been trying to make things for Christmas gifts. This too has been an aggravation. Not having a kiln at home and having to rely on someone else (who isn't always careful with your stuff) is truly irritating. The above pots have been bisque fired and were glazed today.

Glazing in a bizaar thing. You paint on these matte shades of red, green or some ash variation. Once they are fired they have these lustrious colors and can really change something you had doubts about into something gift worthy.

Blue rutile with a chowder glaze.

Oddly, I can't remember how this color was described on the bottle.

Midnight blue over blue rutile.

Bamboo Art

 

A few months ago I spent the afternoon altering a bamboo pole. I used paints, papers, fabric, yarn and ribbon to embellish the bamboo for the purpose of making a decorative piece of  wall art. Andrew loved it so much he thought the most appropriate place for it was his room. I think he was right on this one.

The process was a little time consuming because there were so many different designs and alterations to the pole but I love the randomness. It's always so therapeutic to immerse yourself in something that requires nothing more than your creativity. Next time you desire to be creative but don't have a plan make a trip outside, you never know what can spark inspiration. Happy crafting!

Unassuming Beauty

More Mud

I was able to spend a little time throwing (attempting to throw) some pots this morning. I woke up at 5:30 so I thought this was an excellent time for pottery. 

 I continue to have some difficulty with making functional items. Things are either warped, to small, or for lack of better terms, just plain ugly.

 However, today I was able to make a few things that have the potential to be useful items. I don't own a kiln so I take my pottery to a town 20-30 minutes away for firing. Currently that isn't a problem for me, I think trying to be a skilled potter and worrying about the firing process would be a bit much. I'm hoping I can drop these pots off and glaze the ones I recently had bisque fired. :) I think a constant stream of firing and glazing will continue to keep me interested.

Even at 5:30 in the morning a critic lurks.

Random Beauty

I probably own 100 craft books. Yes it's my addiction, don't judge. In one of my books was an idea for making art when you are having a mental block. Basically, you close your eyes and make marks/lines until you decide to stop. Once you open your eyes it's up to you to determine what will develop from those random marks. When I look at this picture I see a couple of things. First, I see how it may look if the creature was in the process of developing an identity or learning to overcome the adversities of life and finally is able to stand tall. Or I see how many bow to one in the midst of chaos.

Mud Slingin Part 2

Last month I finished my first pottery class and since then I have went through about 75lbs of clay. I have produced a lot of mistakes and many things that have fallen apart in the process. I'm actually fine with that. I secretly told myself I could screw up 4 boxes (I have now purchased my 4th box) of clay before I expected to produce quality items. I finally had a few pieces that I felt were worthy to make it to the next step, bisque firing. I had forgotten about the other pieces I glazed the last night of my class and this was a nice surprise! It gave me  renewed hope to see some items I made and to be half way pleased with them.

I actually have 6 pieces but I wasn't crazy about two of them so they may need to be turned into mosaics (hint hint Jil) by the end of summer. A medium size bowl, a tiny cup, small plate and a something or other. I really don't have any idea what the clover shaped dish is but I like its uniqueness. I guess it could be an earring holder or useless ditty.

I've learned a few things, and I'm not talking about how to do pottery, clearly that still needs some work. Give yourself a learning curve when trying something new, messing up is part of the learning process. Don't be afraid to let the medium guide you instead of the other way around and accept the tiny victories as well as the colossal failures.

A Convenient Farce

It's been a balmy 90+ degrees here today so I thought it would be a good day to stay inside. Yesterday we went to Mr.Ks used book store and I found treasures!!! I have a little known addiction (that's my denial, I think it's rather widely known) to craft books. I L-O-V-E- them!!! I love their ideas, the colors inside, the way they make me feel when I read them....I digress. So I purchased 3 books at 4$ a piece about painting rocks.

I know I recently posted pictures of a few rocks I painted for our vegetable garden BUT the ideas in these books seem so easy and effortless. I thought I should try something simple for my first attempt so I chose my rock and thought I would try to paint it to resemble a squirrel.

Now here's another tidbit of information. I can get overwhelmed if I can't settle on an idea. As much as I thought it would be the squirrel I hadn't taken into consideration all the other cool options. After all, I had 3 books!! Finally I determined I needed to start with something I knew I could do without becoming frustrated.

So, yet again, a penguin would come to life. I followed the directions without fail and I was rather pleased with how easy the process actually was. Firs,t there was a little sketching on the rock to outline the basic shape of the flightless bird and then it was a matter of inserting the appropriate colors.

I used basic acrylic craft paints and various paint brushes. However, I can recommend a good liner brush for applying detail items such as eyes.

Since the ice caps are melting I can see a plausible scenario where penguins are in Tennessee. SO I put this one in my flower garden where are the other birds bathe and feast. It could happen.

I think I would rather enjoy holding a penguin

Upcycle

I recently acquired this spool from my friend Tasha. She is beginning a new chapter in her life but before that could happen she needed to pack up and move to Alaska. It seems a spool isn't one of the items you need when traveling thousands of miles away, so it became mine. I'm sure many people have seen these things turned into several items thanks to Pinterest. I fell in love with the spool turned table/bookcase. It took about 2 hours to sand, attach casters, determine dowel rod spacing and cut the dowels to fit between the platforms. Personally, I think it was a great return on our investment. 

When we put many of our books in it I loved it even more!! Margarite was rather intrigued but Pedro couldn't be bothered during his afternoon siesta.

I think this was a great return on our investment today. I just can't seem to decide if I want to leave it plain or add a little color by staining. What do you think?

Random

I had this grand vision of how my afternoon would go. I wanted to come home and make fabric bowls using balloons as the mold. Then I thought I would sew some mixed media fabric hearts. Well THAT DID NOT HAPPEN! I started researching the bowls and thought this might take me the rest of the night to produce one. So, being someone who enjoys instant gratification I decided to forego the fabric bowls and work on this easy, less time consuming wine cork pendant project. I had a large container of random buttons. Couldn't find it. So after searching and searching I finally found something that would work. Not only do I need instant gratification, I have to KNOW where things are if I think I KNOW where things are and can't locate them. You following me?? Once I completed this project I decided to continue on and see what else I could get into.

I had some canvas pieces and decided to randomly paint a variety of colors onto the fabric. I always seem to enjoy this chaos of color. Once it dried I thought I would attempt some fabric beads.

Once the paint dried I decided to add a little touch of fun. Not entirely sure what to do with it at this point. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. From here I went on to painting something else.

Deciding to still employ the same painting method I turned my efforts to old cds. And this is where I stopped.  I don't have any concrete plans for these. Help me find a purpose for these things, I'm tired of having unfinished projects here. Pretty sure Lance would like me to finish a few things too.

A little birthday flair

It's probably been at least a year since Tracie gave me some really cool wooden dominoes. I thought enough time had passed and I should start doing something with them. I love fun colored papers so this seemed like the best choice for covering one side of the domino. I used modge podge as the fixative and began to add some butterfly shapes. "'Grace" was an appropriate word to place on an artful piece with butterflies, add the hardware and BAM!! Nice adornment! Happy birthday Jil, hope you like it!

Completely incomplete

I am notorious for beginning projects and then leaving them to pile up without allowing them to form a complete identity. I hate that. Maybe I will get some ideas (hint hint) about what to do with some of the things I've recently, or not so recently, started. The above item is the result of watercolor paints swirled in shaving cream (thanks Jil) and using fabric to lift the design off the shaving cream medium. I like the chaos of color that was left behind.

This is a mug/cup I threw last night. I actually have a plan for this I just wanted to include it in the post as a before picture. Hopefully I won't ruin it when I start adding texture and trimming the bottom.

These are foam pieces that were used as packing. I used watercolor chalks to add the colors and added random paper pieces using Modge Podge.

These are clay discs with stamped impressions. They are a bit large but will shrink around 12%  when they are fired. I should have photographed them beside a quarter so you could see their real size. Maybe after they are bisque fired.

Painted junk

My uncle has a junk yard turned metal recycling business. I love it! Where most see trash and junk I envision a multitude of creative possibilities. Someone brought tons (not literally) of rusty metal roofing shingles and I brought two of them home with me so I could try to paint them.

I primed the back of the shingles in black gesso but I think any black acrylic paint would have worked fine. The problem with this project is I didn't have a picture to go by. Yes, I lack the gene that allows great ideas to flow from your mind onto another surface. As I was painting these I thought of other creative ways to alter them. Sorry, you will have to see what I come up with, assuming my uncle hasn't sold them. Since I had my paints out I decided to do a little rock painting.

This is a simple face but I like how the lavender looks like an awesome head of hair.

A continuation of monochromatic simplicity.

Of course I had to paint something to put in our vegetable garden.

Of course there's the ever popular rock penguin. Who says rocks are boring?!

Mud Slingin

Last Christmas Lance gave me a pottery wheel. HOW AWESOME WAS THAT!!! So it's taken me until last month to find someone to teach ( I use that term loosely) me how to use it. I have went through at least 50lbs. of clay so far and I don't really have much to show for it. I finally feel like I have a few pieces that I don't mind to fire and glaze. Yes, there are imperfections and oddities to each piece but I'm comfortable with how these look. Who knew such a stressful activity could be so relaxing. I will post pictures when they are finally glazed and fired.

Yard Art!!

I L-O-V-E the Dollar Tree stores. This is a crafter's paradise. I highly recommend visiting these gems. I bought several bags of these glass discs because I knew they would come in handy on day. That's a common theme of mine. I buy things because I know one day I will need them. I like to think I'm some sort of craft psychic and so far I can't say that I've been wrong. Which leads me to the picture below...

Under the many glass discs is a rather colorful bowling ball. Once again, a purchase made at a yard sale because I knew I would one day need a bowling ball. I adhered the discs with an adhesive and once they were dry I decided to place it under my bird feeders for a little burst of color year round.