Frustration overwhelming

I'm sorry, I had to.
Just a little bit overwhelmed with disgust right now.
And I know politics should stay out of most discussions since we don't all agree, but this is so tragically accurate.



Lord help us all...
Don't even get me started on the debate.

Snippets

* My latest attempt at the barnacles theme... I'm thinking of calling it 'Barnacles and Sea Snail'. I like that the snail is just a little surprise and not too overstated, but still gives it some sense of reality that is different than the previous ones. I'm actually kinda geeked about it.

Can you see it??

There!

And close up...

* I was watching 'Stranger than Fiction' while I worked on the new piece Saturday night, and again I was struck by the genius and humanity of that movie. Seriously, how great.


And my favorite line of all: "Harold Crick lived his life."

* Spent time with Jess, Justin, Benjamin, and Philip Saturday afternoon... Philip slept on my shoulder for a while and he was too cute. All warm and snuggly... and after his bath smelled like wonderful baby.

* Sunday went to a friends in the afternoon to watch the Bronco's pull one out (somehow!) over the Chargers. Seriously, super game.

*For some reason, I've been having some bad headaches over the last few days. Methinks the weather has been a changing quite a bit.

* I'm debating setting up a website (or having someone do it for me) so that I can have a place where people can look to buy my work... I've had about 10 questions about that in the last week. My only issue is business issues about which I have no idea. Hmmm, things to consider.

* Favorite CD of the moment: Coldplay's 'Viva la Vida' some people can't stand it (overplayed) but I think the title song is amazing. And as a whole it's a great collection of new songs...

Sunday 'relaxing'

So part of my Sunday afternoon consisted of working in my makeshift studio at the kitchen table. Why the kitchen you ask? Well there's no tv in the basement, and while there is radio, when I'm planning on working for many hours at home, it's nice to pop in a movie and have some background noise going on. Yes, that's an upside down crate being used to elevate the pot so I can work on it at almost eye level. I find that if I work above the pot, it always ends up being top heavy (in other words, lots of additions at the top, and none near the bottom!)



This is it about halfway finished... the largest and middle size barnacles have been added, the smaller and tiny ones need to be attached.











These are my water cup, my pretzel bowl, and my tea mug... essentials in studio work. Though the pretzels may be interchanged for other snacky treats... but cheese puffs or doritoes tend to leave cheesy residue on the clay... yes, it has happened.








Well, here it is 'finished'. And by that I mean I'm done with more green additions... I think. And while it may not look all that different from the halfway, it is... trust me, there are dozens more barnacles on here than there were.










And all wrapped up, ready to dry slowly and head back to the studio for firing.

Most likely, this will be another red iron oxide exterior, with some dark glaze on the interior. But I'm debating doing something different. Oh, and the rim is something new I've been doing. It's a rolled rim, though I alter it once I do the roll...






And that's my Sunday accomplishment... which took a nice 7 hours of additions to the already thrown and turned/trimmed vessel . Oh the difference between a 5 minute bowl, and an 8 hour barnacle pot.

Quartz inversion and other technicalities

I had the day off and after making breakfast for Beth, I spent most of my day reading, and really trying to retain a lot if fascinating information on glazing. I've had the book I'm re-reading for a while, but the fun thing is to really absorb the information that is presented. A lot of it can be fairly technical in that the chemistry and physics of glazes is pretty intense, and yet it is so fun to learn.

In the studio, I've been trying to find a difficult balance between the creation of functional ware, for sale and for demonstration purposes, and my own more sculptural work. Right now I have to really plan my time for adding the hand built additions that I really like onto my pots. As of today, I have two large pots in the works that I'm planning on adding barnacles to. I've gone back to the barnacles for two reasons: one, I really like them! and two, I don't think I've really explored the potential of the barnacle form.

So much to do, and time flies! Speaking of which, I'm hoping to make a trip later in October to visit a couple grad schools. Hopefully it will end with acceptance later in the year (or early next!) but for now I need to focus and apply myself to my work... and it helps that it is such a nice distraction from retail!