We’re most of the way done with loading. Both the middle and the front fireboxes are a bit roomier than normal. We aren’t going to be using the far back firebox, since we think it doesn’t effect the kiln. We just used the space for pots instead. The kiln is packed very tightly.
So I have a link to my brother’s site on my “connections” page, but I don’t think I’ve had a chance to talk about him here yet. In short, he’s an awesome artist up in NYC. While I work away in my ceramics studio, he works away with a Macintosh. He makes beautiful, tight artwork, very influence by Victorian wallpapers. In fact, he has made wallpapers before, beautiful ones, that a place in Brooklyn hand silkscreens. One thing that always makes me smile about the possibility of getting a house of our own, is the fact that we could put up some of it. Anyway, I really recommend checking out all of his work. It’s amazing
Anyways, here’s what is causing me to make a post on Dan right now. He’s teamed up with Geekhouse Bike to make beautiful bicycle that was inspired by Obama’s 2004 “There are no red states and blue state, only the United States” speech. The bicycle, is beautiful done in tight paterns of red, blue, and white. It’s presently for sale on Ebay, with all proceeds going to the Obama caimpaign.
I’m quite excited about the firing coming up in late October. I’ve had some extra time to get pieces together for it, and I feel like it’s paying off. I think I’m on track to make enough work for my galleries, and have a holiday sale at my studio. I’ll post dates and stuff like that once I have them, but in the mean time, here’s more of a sneak peak at my drying shelves.
These are the ones that I finished most recently.
Also, in my studio, I have a big white board. I use it to make random notes to myself, sketch ideas, and just doodle stuff. I really like the idea I have on there now, but I’ll have to wait and see as to how it comes together. I’ve been big on antlers recently, but I don’t know how well they’ll survive the firing. They might just droop. To avoid that, I’ll have to make them very stocky. Also, do you you recognize the guy in pink?
In this last week, I decided to shuffle all of my work between my galleries. I just took most of the stuff from gallery A and gave it to gallery B and so forth. This just keep everything fresh for everyone. Part of the fun of this (besides trekking all over Seattle with a suitcase full of critters), is that most of the work I have for sale in my studio has been refreshed too! The new list of pieces for sale is up on flicker. Stop, browse, and have yourself some fun!
When I work on my regular sized beasts, I tend to make them in batches. I’ll start with about 3 to 6 balls of clay, and work on them in parallel over the course of a few weeks. Often each step in the process of making a beast will only take an hour to half hour, but I’ll need to let the parts rest and dry for a day between each step. This makes sure that seems don’t reopen or wet legs don’t get attached to dryer bodies. I’ll often spend a morning or a day doing nothing but making legs or sanding backs.
Before the last firing, I decided to track a whole group of critters as I made them. I started with a bag of clay and ended up with Beast with a Ball, Flatout Beast, Mournful beast with horns, the papaya beast, and the two stilt beasts having a conversation. This last week I finally got around to putting together most of the timelapse footage, and have four new videos for you.
I find it very amusing to watch the clues as to the progression of time: What I’m wearing, what color bandana I have, if I have a soda, and how messy my work area has gotten.