The Rick...

Jan at Poppytalk had a special request last month asking if anyone had any ideas about how to display/store a guitar collection. I just had to join the Guitar Home flickr group on this one! I don't quite have 12 guitars to find storage/display for, as she does, but we do have quite a growing collection of 2 guitars, one banjo, one massive music man amp, 3 violins, and a record collection that, in my opinion, is out of control. She is once again requesting photos and ideas on displaying guitars, so if you or anyone you know has a little music room that is full of instruments and is well displayed, take a photo and pass it on!

Breaking My Mold..

This past month I've embarked on a mold project with a 'master moldmaker' that has his studio down the street from me (I'd give you his website but he doesn't have one, contact me if you want details). Mold-making and slip casting is quite foreign to me- I am a potter at heart and have always loved making work on the wheel. Last year at this time I met Russell and thought about what it would mean to take some of my designs and make molds out of them so I could produce larger quantities without the same kind of physical labour that throwing involves. However, last year my ceramic studio was all of 190 square feet, and multiple molds take up space on cupboards. Furthermore the whole process of mixing up slip and pouring molds is really different than wheel-throwing and I really felt that my studio wasn't equiped for me to go down that road quite yet.
This year, I have a better idea of which designs I want to invest a mold into and I have the space to embark on this idea, so I took the plunge. Here's how it has looked over the past 2-3 weeks - step one being make a plaster mold 12% larger than the original (shrinkage rate), make lovely and perfectly sealed 2 part mold from plaster master model, part 3, the first pour. So we'll see how the rest turns out- with clay, the minute you change one core element, all the rest have to be considered. Here's hoping I can find a great slip recipe that goes with my current glazes!

Winter Images

I have always had a passion for circles and stripes of sorts. There is something that always draws me in, whether it be organic or geometric, I find something really beautiful about both elements, especially when seen in nature. These shapes or patterns have often emerged in my work and I couldn't help noticing that it was circles and stripes that I was once again drawn to when I was out shooting some photos during our time away this past week.
As for our time away, it was a much needed break from life at home; our kids loved the attention they got from us and we enjoyed the last bit of winter that we got to have up in Vernon with some out-door skating and sledding. Good times, good food, good friends, good kids- it can't get much better than that!

Turn Up (the art)

I'm always excited to get involved in shows when there are some really great people involved! This show coming up in March is just one of those! The Hermit drummer and song-writer, Hamish, lives down the street from us. We started getting to know his family a couple of years ago on our evening walks and bike rides as their oldest son is the same age as ours. Hamish recently quit his day-job to do music full-time and he is loving it. This CD release party and art show has been something he's planned for a little while now and I'm really excited to be involved. It's at the Chapel Arts another great venue in the city- an old funeral parlour that has been converted into an Art and Music Venue! I've been in a group show there before with the Eastside Culture Crawl so I'm looking forward to being back with a new bunch of artists- my good friend Sherri Koop included!
Art show will be March 8-29th, opening night CD release party will be March 14 8pm-1am. You can check out the Hermit's music on their myspace page.


drawing

So we are taking off for a few days to go to the Interior of BC to stay with close friends of ours: a yearly tradition for us. It's great to get away from the demands of the studio and just to draw on what is around me for inspiration. Last time we were there I did this drawing with these berries above- just a really quick sketch of the shapes and coloured them in with pencil crayon for colour reference.
It's the kind of thing that I need to do more often: drawing, that is. I wish I could say that I draw daily. Drawing has never really been my strong point- I'd sooner paint or sculpt something than sit down and draw it, but at the same time, I think it is really important. I took a few drawing classes during art school, and when I moved the studio I had to go through all my stuff again and sort and sift through the stacks of drawings: what to keep, what to throw away, what is relevent, what is really bad. I was pretty ruthless. When I'm good and famous it will be tough to say I threw stuff out- stuff that might have been worth more than the paper it was on. But by then I'll be dead so it won't make any difference for me:)

Midnight Lotus

I bought this 'aloe aristata' for my dear at christmas-time from Abby at kermodi living art . She is at Portobello West Market and there is something really special about how she chooses plants and pots together. Nature itself is so lovely and beautiful- Abby has a special way of finding these most amazing plants and then growing them in such a way that is truly an art in itself. What is also cool is that without a lot of care on my part, this little plant is now growing a little shoot from the centre and I think it's actually going to flower! I'll be sure to take a picture when it does as my blue thumb might be bursting with such pride that it might actually turn green.

Up-dates...

Well it takes a little while for me to get from here to here. But it's all up and the site looks all fresh and ready for a little while now, thanks to a few key people. Anyways, go and have a looksy at the new photos- you've probably seen a number of them here on the blog and on my selling site, but still- it's great to see them all together up on the website. (Something about checking this one off my list of things to do in the new year feels like I've really accomplished something, not that I did the photo editing and up-loads, mind you, I just co-ordinated and paid for that effort to get done...)

the big reveal...well, sort of...

Well, here it is, my new studio more or less set up as a very functional space! There's lots of storage and the best part is that I now have floor space. I'll try to 'decorate' soon, but I have all these paintings moving on out again (to a boutique on Main st. called Luscious), and pots to make. I'm not sure my work space will ever be featured in a design magazine, frankly. It is, after all, where I make a lot of stuff. And with that process in mind, I offer you the best photos I have so far of a place that will be well-used!

Some Newbies out of the Kiln!

My first firing of the new year wasn't a complete disaster. As you may have read from previous posts, I am a part of a clay co-operative at the Mergatroid Building . One of the perks about this studio is that I haven't yet had to buy a kiln. We all share 2 kilns that the land-lord bought for the co-op. So one is a smaller, but very reliable Skutt computer kiln- ie you plug in your firing schedule, and walk away, come back and everything is as it should be when you open it the next day. It fires off evenly and quickly. The other is an old Gare kiln with a pernikity computer that seems to have a mind of it's own. I've only been using this kiln for bisques lately because I didn't want to risk a huge kiln load of work to the kiln gods, so to speak. It is larger- basically fitting in twice as much as the other kiln.
So, this year, with 3 new people adding to the roster of firings, the small kiln is in much demand. I am determined to figure out this big kiln and thought that January would be a good month to risk it. So, risk it I did. I loaded it full of 3 orders that I had, plus extra work I needed to get out for my own stuff and turned it on. Probably should have come back around 1 am to see what the temp was, but my life is just not made for that kind of committment. It took over a day to cool down and it was fired quite a bit hotter than it should have. Thank goodness my clay and glazes can, for the most part, withstand it. There were definately some droopy, fuzzy poppies among the bunch. A few of my bottle vases didn't make the cut, and 1 large bowl had a teeny, tiny blister on the inside that is quite annoying.
However, I do think I have the kiln slightly figured out. My settings will be much lower than the cone I'm firing to next time, and I am making a mental not as to where I load stuff as the bottom is way cooler than the top.
So lessons learned, not a complete disaster, and thank goodness everything for my orders turned out well!

Blog-worthy!

Oh it is fun to be blog-worthy! Design for Mankind picked 16 (out of like 1000) items off the Paper 'n Stitch site as their fav's and my Poppy Teapot was one of them! How exciting!
And if you haven't done so already, click on over here, sign in up in the corner, and click on my heart! It's much like a high school popularity contest, but whoever wins for the month gets $150! I could really use a new pair of shoes...

Lego crazy!

Life at home includes lego and lots of it. We are in much anticipation of the lego exhibition at Science World and have made lego creations to win prizes for the 'ages 1-6' category. I was a little curious about the one year old competitor. Quite an inclusive competition, if you ask me!

A little hand-made lovin' for Valentines Day!

I've worked hard for the past 3 weeks renewing my 'stock' and am in the midst of firing my first glaze load of the New Year! So one of the things I've worked on again are these bottle vases, which would make a really great Valentines gift, by the way!
Here is a little demonstration on how bottle vases get made: first I throw these bottle forms without a bottom on the wheel, and then, after they have dried over night and after making the bottom part oval, I attach a new base onto the bottom. I use this super-high-tech tool that I made myself out of a yogurt container, with a little cut for the shape of the base (see photo above! Nifty- hey? Works like a charm, and pretty cheap!) So the big question here would be: Why go through that much work to oval it off? Well, because I really like glazing, and I have more room to glaze the vases if there are some flatter sides!
So once the forms have been finished, dried out- slowly, fired in the kiln for their first firing, I get to glazing them!
Heather's Glaze Demo 101:
Day 1: pour glaze inside bottle forms and wax the bottom of the pot (so it doesn't stick to the kiln shelf), let dry over night.
Day 2: hand-cut my resist design, place on pot, paint glaze on parts, wax, let dry, dip one side into one glaze, dip other side into other glaze, paint stems, wax around resist, let dry over night.
Day 3: peel off resist, wipe with sponge and touch up funny spots, paint 2 different glazes on design (ie paint the poppies red or peach!), clean up bottom again, load into kiln.
Day 4: fire in kiln for 10-12 hours.
Day 5: let cool. Open lid and see what turned out!
So think about it.. wouldn't the love of your life deserve a little hand-made love at Valentines Day this year!

Paper'n Stitch Exhibition Opens Today!

click HERE to see my shop!
Check out the great work on Paper'nStitch, including my friend Amy's work at downhomeamy! Don't we make a great pair! Match up one of her great tea cozies with one of my teapots- how cute is that! Or the little cocktail napkins with some teabowls for serving guests! Really sweet!
Don't forget to login so you can leave comments and click on 'hearts' of the shops you like. Sellers that get the most heart clicks in a month get prizes. Speaking of which, there is a contest you may want to put your name in for that closes tonight! Happy browsing!

This weekend we went to Vancouver Island to visit my sister and her husband. We went for a frosty walk along a frozen lake. It was so beautiful with the sun shining in spots and the frost in the shade that sometimes it took my breath away...

Shopping Around...

One of my new 'resolutions' for working smarter, not harder in 2009 inclues upping my on-line sales this year. I've been more deliberate about my etsy site since September and it has started to pay off. However, I'm not getting the kind of traffic on etsy that I really need. I have a few itemes that have over 200 hits, but it seems that not a lot of people are finding my store. Finding stores on etsy is like finding a needle in a haystack sometimes, there is so much stuff to be seen. So this past week I went shop-shopping.

Now, if you will notice on the side of my blog, I have a link to my new online shop! It will be my 'staple' shop and contain the most popular items I make. What I like about the layout is that it really looks like an extension of my website. I invite you to stop by and have a look!
(I have to put this clause in here... if you do shop, which I always encourage people to do, there will be a little bit of a 'wait time' on your order for some things which are 'in process' still, but which will be ready to ship by the end of the month!)

Furthermore, starting January 19th through February 20th my work is going to be featured on a great site called Paper 'n Stitch! I'm quite excited about the promotion- it's a beautiful site that features up to 50 designers, makers, and artists from all over the world, for one month. The site links the work up to my new shop where people can actually make a purchase!

I will still have my etsy site up and running, but it will be for the extras, sales, samples and seconds too. It's always worth checking out- I often have sweet deals there!