Glaze inlay and up-coming workshop thoughts

Wow! I so appreciated the comments from yesterday's post giving feed-back on some of my new work!  I was recently reading this blog post about 'what's up with blogs' and feedback being so much quicker to receive on facebook or instagram, where as the process for blogs is taking a lot of time these days (passwords/security codes etc).  I did think about whether I had been commenting as much on blogs as I used to - probably no, I might like something or want to say how much a post connected with me, but don't always have the proper time to spend.  So when I get more then 2 comments here, it feels like a big deal- so thank you! It means a lot!

While we are on the new work front, I posted a couple of photos on instagram from my first firing of the year.  I thought I would try a glaze inlay method- which is kind of like a mishima method but using glaze instead of on the bare clay.  I was pretty happy with the results as one-offs, especially the first mug, which kind of has a water-colour/japanese floral design look to it.  At least that's what I thought when I saw it.  The first mug combines my sticker/stencils with then the glaze inlay lines for the stems and leaves. The second is just the glaze inlay idea with a super simple pattern.  If you want to try this method yourself, basically you glaze your piece and then apply a wax resist and let that dry a bit.  Using a sharp tool you draw/carve into the glaze and then sponge off the extra wax/glaze from inside the lines.  At that point you would fill in the lines with a different glaze.   Obviously this method probably works best for simple drawings- not super detailed drawings, but it's worth testing out.  I think the biggest drawback to this method would be that there is no going back, only going forward.  In other words if you make a mistake- I guess you could try to fill the line with the original glaze and hope it covers it up?  Something to think about. 

On another front, the Canadian Clay Symposium is coming up (as well as NCECA).  I generally really like going to workshops and conferences on ceramics as they can be inspiring.  My biggest complaint that I walk away with, however, is that all too often, the presenters spend most of their time just talking about how they construct their pieces and not enough time talking about decoration.   I realize that the time crunch of presenting work and limited materials often means that presenters aren't glazing their work during the demo, but that is what I would like to see in a demo. 

Tomorrow I am going to this event.  I'm curious to see what it's about.  Sometimes it's nice to connect with new people and to try new things, don't you think?  You never know where it will lead!

Now for something completely different

There are times when I kick myself for making work that's so much work to make.   When I started
the dahlhaus collection, I wanted the work to stand out, to be recognized without having to turn over the bottom to see the stamp.  Using a complex glaze method (that I thought no one would be crazy enough to copy), I developed patterns and a glaze style that was uniquely my own.  All that to say that on the 3rd-4th day of glazing a kiln-load of work, my hands are tired and I wish I hadn't made it so complicated and hard on myself.  And then I pull out a glaze full of lovely patterns and I'm back to seeing why my work has stood out and is in demand and I love what I do.  I truly believe that work that is hard to make is worth making and really forges new ground within the history of a craft. 

All this to say, however, that there are times when I long for 'simple' and when I wish that that mere form and colour could inform the work.  Also the busyness of all the patterns all together can get a little overwhelming for me, and there are times when I think it would be nice to have a hit of simple colour in the midst of the patterns when they are all grouped together. 

So here it is, my slowly evolving colour-fade line of ceramics.  It's a small collection of work that I've been mulling over, occasionally deciding to glaze one or 2 pieces in a kiln load, just to see what I think.  This year I decided to be a bit more deliberate with this work.  I am in the process of thinking about a Rothco-inspired vase series with some taller cylinder vases, just trying to sort out how the lines and edges will over-lap to best create this work. With the images above, the bottom bowls are the first 'dipped' edges that I worked on back in 2010, and then last year for the blue and white show, I made the mugs, then before my last photoshoot, I worked on the vases and large bowl.  There are slight variations to how the white glaze meets the colour glaze that I was testing out.  Please don't hesitate to let me know what you think!

*Thank you to all those who have purchased teapots from my shop over the past couple of weeks that the Bon Appetit article has been out! I am glazing more teapots this week (and making more) and I very much appreciate the support of my work!

Pretty in Pink

Pink isn't a colour I'm naturally drawn to- I always find it interesting that everyone's eyes are different and that some colours that are pleasing to some, aren't as pleasing to others.  If I was to get into pink in a bigger way, it would be the mostly pale shade of pink, bordering on blush pink, in geometric, minimal designs.  Perhaps a flowery poppy pink would be fun at times, but for this post, I stuck with the simple and sublime, just in time to shower you loved one in petals of pink for Valentines day.  Click on the images to click through to the Etsy shop listings!

Triangle Party

I'm getting back to a few images from the last photo shoot, which I'm still trying to get onto the website in the near future.  It feels like I'm opening my Christmas presents before Christmas here, showing you all the good photos before the website gets it's yearly over-haul, but that's the way it goes sometimes.  These things all take time (and money)!

Since last year, I have continued with my triangle themed work but was trying to simplify the pattern.  I love the quilted pattern, but felt totally bogged down in the re-creation of the design for shops or to sell on my own.  If you know anything about how my designs come about, you'll know that this pattern is still a ton of tape, but that the triangles are a little bigger.  I simplified the colours, limiting it to the lighter shades of glaze that I have available.  We all know that glaze in the kiln likes to run vertically, this being a pattern that needs to be more precise and less 'painterly'.   Where the white glaze meets the coloured glaze is still a little fuzzy (which I like because it looks less like underglaze or decals and more like glaze), but less obvious then with the darker shades of glaze. 

Anyways, I'm still having fun with this design and am making a bunch of it to send off to The Flock in New Zealand! I have a few wholesale orders I'm currently working on and a huge project that I was doing a cost estimate for this past week.  We'll see if I get it in the end, but if not, it was one of those crazy opportunities that came across my desk that blows me away with the possibilities. 

I hope you are having a great week!

On the home front

If you have been checking in with me on instagram (@dahlhausart) you've been seeing a lot more of my day-to-day then what I've been putting up on my blog these days.  Especially during the winter months when we don't get a lot of light during the days, it's just been easier to snap a photo with my phone and share it.  I've been totally loving the conversations and feedback that's happening over there- my blog seems much more of a one way conversation these days and that was feeling a little lonely. 

All the same, I did want to share a few things that have been going on on the home front- last week was a week of highs and lows and on the low end, our landlord informed us that our house is going to be put up for sale.  So we had a week of lots of workers in the yard, pulling out the oil tank and taking out a wack of trees and generally making me feel sad and overwhelmed about having to leave. 

 When I told some of our neighbours the news, they were begging us to try to buy the place.  As you might have heard on the news and internet, apparently Vancouver is the 2nd most unaffordable city to live in after Hong Kong.  This is one of those weird stats that makes me wonder what it is that makes it more unaffordable than NYC or Tokyo or San Fransisco or a whole wack of other major cities that I know are crazy expensive.  Apparently the lower level of income and the foreign purchase of property had an affect on the survey, so I guess it's with good reason that I'm quite concerned about how we are going to manage finding a place to rent, let alone ever be able to afford to buy.  Most of the people we know that purchased homes did so before they had kids and they bought with a sibling (so there were 3 or 4 full-time working adults with incomes). 

It's hard to think back to the 90's when I was in art school and we thought about buying a leaky condo for $180 000 that we would then have to put in another $60 000 to fix.  We should have bought what seemed to be a bad investment at the time, because it would have turned out to be a way into the housing market.  Now, with 2 boys that are growing and need space, and both of us with careers that are all about fulfilling our 'calling' in life rather then filling our bank account, buying a home won't be in our foreseeable future.  I'm ok with this, but it's hard to feel ok when someone else is making the decision that we have to move before we are ready to go.  We have really felt at home here for 7 years now with our kids playing in the yard, climbing trees and running to the neighbours to play.   I can only pray that the next place will feel the same way for us and that we will really find a place that has everything we need for a price we can afford.

Striped Teapot featured in Bon Appetit Magazine!

The February issue of Bon Appetit Magazine is out on the stands and includes my Yellow Striped teapot in a line up with brands like Merimekko, Ralph Lauren Home and Hermes.  Wow!
This past week I pulled out a few striped teapots from the kiln and have been busy trying to re-stock the shop, which now includes striped teapots that are Yellow, Orange and Turquoise (with Blue on the way soon!).  I'm in love with them all!

Herringbone Collection in colour!

The Herringbone Colour-way pattern was one of the designs that came out of the work I did for the Kindred in Blue show that Krystal Speck and I created for the Bookhou shop in Toronto last June.  I was working in shades of blue and came up with this design for a number of pieces that sold at the show.  It was one of my favourite designs, and I couldn't wait to try it with other colours! I launched the bottle vase design (with my own photos) in 5 colour-ways back in the fall, but for this photo-shoot I honed in on 3 that were my favourite, the yellow-green, the blues and the orange-red.  I also thought the design might look great on a couple of bowls in shades of blue, and I'm so glad I tried it. 

This design really reminds me of the west coast.  I see the mountains in the blues, trees in the yellow-green and orange sunsets in the orange-red version of the design.  There is something really architectural about the pattern that fits in with my architectural paintings.  I couldn't help thinking about perspective and angles when I first started playing with it and I can really see myself pulling it into a painting... if I ever get time to do that again.

This is one of those patterns that I have to take my time in glazing.  Each zig-zagged area is hand-painted with glaze after I've mapped out the herringbone lines in tape.  Then a resist is applied so I can dip the white glaze onto the piece. A bit more resist and the herringbone tape gets removed with a lot of touching up as I go.  I quite like that those lines are a bit different then the white glaze, so in some cases a soft grey blue or with the orange, the clear glaze in those herringbone lines finishes it off nicely.  I'm looking forward to seeing this design evolve and move onto other pots- like a teapot would be pretty sweet too.  Next photoshoot- I promise!

Welcome to the studio and new work!

Oh, there will be lots to share over here in the next little bit, but for now, just a taste of the great photos that Curtis Hildebrand took of my new studio and my work late December!  Curtis has taken my website photos since I started dahlhaus in 2007 and it's been great to work with him all these years.  I can really only manage/afford one photo session a year, so the photos we take really decide the work I make for the next 8 months as I use them for my online shops and wholesale line sheet as examples of glazes and designs.

Speaking of which, I have just sent off my wholesale line sheet to a number of inquiring and existing shops, but if you have a b & m shop and would be interested in carrying my work, I am now taking orders for spring! I'm looking forward to creating work for some pretty great shops this year, so drop me a line at heather@dahlhausart.com and I'll be in touch with an email and link to view my line sheet. 

Here's the set up to create such lovely photos- all done in the comfort of my studio!

Around the house and our expanding view

Well the sun showed itself after much much rain and dark, so I finally had the urge to pick up a real camera (not just my handy phone) and take a few photos around the house after picking the boys up from school.  My sister and her little 3 year old collected all sorts of little mosses and twigs to make an airplant terrarium for me for Christmas.  So lovely, I'm enjoying it lots. And a few postcards from friends and artists I admire make an empty spot on the wall look fun.  I also love my new calender from Rifle Paper with sweet drawings of major cities and landmarks. 
And we have a room with a view (remember that movie?).   Anyways, there have been a few trees that were taken out giving us a bit more to look at over yonder.  One day that big California Redwood tree smack in the middle of our view may have to go.  As the neighbourhood story goes, there were a bunch of redwoods planted by a kindergarten class 50 years ago.  They are all so huge, so it's easy to see them and imagine little 5 year olds planting tiny trees in their back yards.  Little did they know that 50 years ago they would be the hugest trees on the block! 

Hope your year has started off well.  We are all looking forward to the weekend!

rhythm 'n blues

Well, here we are in January, fully back in the swing of things and I can't say I'm as happy about it as I should be.  I think with the 2 weeks of fever/cold thing I got the week before Christmas, I was not quite prepared to get back to the rhythm of work and school.  I have been meaning to blog, but every time I wrote something down it came out like a list of complaints.  Kind of like my boys who seem to have a whole host of complaints for me when I pick them up from school:  Why do they have to walk home instead of drive?  Why did I have to give them a sandwidge for lunch?  And why do they not get paid more money for setting the table at dinner like all their friends do?  And why can't they have everything they ever wanted for free????  I'm sure you get the idea.   So anyhow, today I resolved to put my own complaining behind and approach the year with a more positive attitude.  That doesn't mean I won't occasionally write about some of the challenges I face as a working ceramic artist, but I just wanted to be sure that I don't sound as annoying and entitled as my boys do when they forget all the great things they have and are doing in their lives. 
Here's to a rainbow kind of year.  They keep popping up everywhere so I'm sure it's a good sign!

Skating on the Pond

Hello! We are back from a lovely time in Vernon, where we played in the snow and lived in a winter wonderland over New Years.  Twice a year we make the 6 hour drive to visit our friends who live in Vernon- it's a trip we have been making for over 10 years now.   Our kids (they have 2 girls) are the same ages- born months a part so they are like cousins.  Friendships that span through the child-rearing age are often hard to keep up with so we really value the time we spend with them, once in the winter and once in the summer, with their family coming out our way a couple of times in between to visit too.
The boys went up to Silver Star Mountain to snowboard on our second day and then on NYE day we  went ice skating at the pond.  The sun was out- despite the fog down below and it was snowy and lovely (only about -3 so not too cold).  At one point my son lay on the ice and pointed to a 'rainbow' in the sky- kind of this upside down rainbow that was all sparkly and faint like it was made with sparkly snowflakes.  What a treat to see something this beautiful in the sky at the end of a great year, giving hope and promise to a new year dawning.  After lunch it fogged up again and the misty fog came out reminding me how quickly and constant change is in life. 

Views from the top

I hope you are having a great holiday! These are a few photos I took while snowshoeing at Mount Seymour (a local North Shore mountain) this morning.  These whiskey jack's kept coming by hoping for treats and attention! 

We still have a bit more family time to take part in and then will be heading up to Vernon to enjoy more snow and mountain top adventures!

Wishing you a Merry Season!

Hello and Happy Holidays! 

I've been hunkered down mostly getting over a nasty bit of flu/cold that hit me last weekend, while getting the last of the orders shipped off, cleaning the studio a bit, and then starting on my own Christmas shopping.  It's been a busy week that felt emotional as I thought about all the families and teachers affected by the recent tragedy.  Watching my own kids' Christmas concerts made me realize how precious and delicate life is, that we have to enjoy and cherish every moment we are here on this earth.

I had a lovely bit of holiday cheer with some studio mates yesterday.  I am so grateful for this community of friends and makers that I have met along this path of life and am so thankful for the ability to share here on my blog the little bits of news and thoughts I have with you.  Thank you for being part of this process and I wish you the very best of the season with family and friends.  Peace, hope, joy and love to you and yours!

Sincerely,
Heather

A little on my lately

Well 2012 is wrapping up nicely.  I spent the past few weeks socked in the studio, finishing up my last glaze firing for the year, cleaning and organizing (check out the new shelves!!) the studio for a photoshoot and then finishing off my last show of the season! It was so great to see everyone at Shiny Fuzzy Muddy this past weekend- what a stellar line up of other designers and makers to be part of.  It felt good this year to be part of small shows, not a really big convention center show.  Something about the intimacy of these shows feels right at this time in my life. 

I'm currently wrapping up with orders being shipped off and have a very little bit of work left.  You will notice that my online shops are pretty bare as shipping costs start sky-rocketing in time for the holidays.  I don't really like to stress about other people's packages arriving in time for Christmas so I would rather not feel that pressure. Usually at this time of year I take the remainder of what I have left to the Gallery of BC Ceramics- which I might still be doing towards the end of the week once the last few local people have stopped by. 

Once again I am so thankful to have local people who know about my work, continue to purchase it for themselves and others.  I know there are really very few people who need another mug in their cupboard or another vase or bowl in their already full houses.  While I sometimes almost shame myself for making more 'stuff' that this world really doesn't need more of, I still believe that objects that are made from the heart and hands have an authentic story and connection to share with those that bring them into their lives.  From the look on people's faces when they come up to my table at a craft show, to the stories of how people use my work over and over and enjoy it, to the phone call I got from someone in Dubai wanting me to send work to his home in Germany in time for Christmas, I continue to marvel where my story and work continues to take me.  These are the little moments I shake my head and wonder and feel really blessed and thankful.

Anyways, today is the 12th day of the 12th month of the 12th year so it seems like a good day to post.  Hope you are well and that you take a moment to pause at 12 just to think how amazing it is to be alive in this rapidly changing world we live in. 

Shiny Fuzzy Muddy Lucky 13 this weekend!

The Shiny Fuzzy Muddy Show is happening this coming weekend!  Please do come out and support artists and makers from BC and Alberta who have been hand-picked by the founding group of artists! The show is free to check out (always a bonus!) and there is an amazing contest going on right now in the Georgia Straight to be able to win a $250 shopping spree at SFM13!  Sign up online for that (don't forget to find out the skill testing question on the SFM Blog!) and while you're there, have a little look through the amazing artists and designers that will be at the show! Please do come by the show and say hello to me! I managed to get in a couple more kiln firings before this weekend, so there will be some new work ready for the show and I can't wait!