A GIFT

Ten years ago former Ceramics student Bill Sevedge,

Class of 1984,

built this blog for me and taught me how to use it.

Before then I rarely used the computer.

I was scared of it,

not having grown up using it.

He dropped by for a visit recently and we talked about how much I've learned

since he gifted me this blog site,

and I wanted to give back to him in appreciation.

I asked him to pick one of my current demo. pieces.

He chose one of my favorites,

this black beauty.

It was thrown last school year for the Intermediate Ceramics students 

to show them an Altered Vase Form.

After completely turning back the lip of the pot on itself,

I stamped the shoulder with the head of a large acorn from the cabin.

To finish the piece I stained it with Red Iron Oxide 

and then poured our Black glaze into the inside

then partially dipped the piece for outside coverage.

I was really pleased with how it turned out,

and was so happy to gift it to Bill.

I frequently think of Bill and how grateful I am to him.

He was one of a handful of students to reach the Ceramics IV level back in the 80's.

He enabled me to connect to so many artists around the world thru my blog,

and to be able to share my students with them.

Thank you Bill. 

I hope you occasionally check my blog

and are proud of your student.

:)

OOPS, ONE MORE

COIL POT

CERAMICS I

clay, glaze & oxides

Here is one more beauty from last years beginning students.

Found it hiding in my pix.

The only bummer is I can't remember who made,

but I will try to find out.

A GIFT FOR LIZ

A huge bonus about being a blogger are the dear friends you make online.

I have made several who support my students & I, 

one in particular,

Liz Ackert from "I'm Going to Texas" blog fame,

who never misses a morning with her coffee checking out what's new on my blog.

She takes time out of her day to write the most thoughtful & beautiful comments

 for each child that is featured that day.

And in turn,

I have several students who also check the blog everyday 

to see if they've been featured and if Liz has sent them a comment.

It makes my heart so happy for them.

I am so very thankful for her daily support that I wanted to send her a special handmade gift.

This was my Pinch Pot demo. from this year for my Ceramics I class

and I managed to get it glazed in time before Winter break.

What I didn't manage to do was to get it in the mail before Xmas. 

But I was thrilled to see yesterday that she had received it and featured the pot on her blog.

I'm so glad you like it Liz,

I was really pleased with how the glazing turned out.

It showcased all the surface decoration I demoed for the kiddos;

pinching, paddling, stamping & applied decoration

plus scoring on a foot and handle.

For the glaze,

 I first stained the piece along the top 1/4 of the pot with Rutile oxide,

staining the other 3/4 with Cobalt Carbonate.

Then I dipped entire piece into our new Transparent Blue-Green glaze.

I hope you enjoy your coffee in your new mug Liz.

And Happy New Year.

xoxoox

STILL HERE

It's been awhile since I've made time for my blog.

Almost a month I believe.

Life just got busy with senior letters of recommendations,

progress reports,

decorating, shopping & wrapping Xmas presents,

sickness and still going to work (and probably containinating my students),

Xmas parties & hosting,

engagement party for my son,

and our newborn grandson Anthony in the hospital for 5 days.

But we all are better and rested and I'm back to work.

Thank you all for your concern and emails.

I'm starting this New Year with illustrator and textile artist Grace Forrest.

You can find her under Artists I Follow and she is a frequent contributor to this blog

with her insightful comments,

and a great supporter of Whitney High's art students.

I teach with several of her works I have purchased over the years 

when I do my Slow Stitch and Art Quilt Units.

She moved from New Mexico to Northern California this past year

and just went thru that horrible Paradise Fire that came within 3 miles of her home and animals.

She took the time to write to me during this time 

to let me know that one of the things she packed into her car to rescue during the fire

was the special little ceramics pot she bought from my student Sarah Oh.

That touched my heart in such a big way that I wrote to Sarah to let her know.

She was as moved as I was and probably dropped Grace an email.

Last Xmas Grace had commented on the tiny Porcelain Plates that I had made & featured 

for my school staff and how much she liked them.

So what you are seeing is one of the two plates I had saved for myself.

I wanted Grace to have it,

 and I was able to get it into the mail before Xmas was here.

Included in the mailing box was a wonderful illustrated card I had gotten at Taproot.

It's how I think about Grace as she moves thru the forest with her animals.

I also wrapped the tiny box which held the plate with a bit of handspun yarn from Mohair goats

which I know are near and dear to Grace.

This particular piece was made with several of the cut off porcelain pieces from the other plates 

that I didn't have a heart to throw away. 

So I just kept stacking and overlapping them on top of themselves,

gave them a couple of rolls with a rolling pin,

and used my mom's antique pattern sewing wheel to decorate the surface with,

plus a tiny stamp I had made with a seed pod.

I love that Grace now has it among her treasures.

I'm guessing it measured all of 1 3/4" by 3 1/2 ".

Very tiny with a bit of ceramics watercolor and Transparent glaze over top.

Enjoy  Grace!

Happy New Year All! 

TACKLING AN EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TECHNIQUE

STACKED CLAY/NERIKOMI/CLAY VENEER

CERAMICS II

porcelain clay, oxides, & glaze

We've only been doing this assignment for about the past 2 years but we've learned a lot

in the process.

This is a Japanese technique that is beautiful and complex.

You begin with a white Porcelain base clay and wedge into it an oxide colorant.

My kiddos have to make at least 2 contrasting colors.

Then they need to pick a design to slice and alternately stack these slabs together

and inlay them into a white porcelain foundation.

We are still trying to iron out the wrinkles in the inlay as I will point out.

And the other wrinkle is what form to then build with these slabs so they won't crack.

Again you will see.

But I think we got closer last year.

My newbie Intermediate clay gals are just starting on this project today and we've talked it out,

researched the heck out of it on the Internet,

and we might just conquer it this year.

So go seniors Olivia Kruger, Lina Kim and Dustiney Ansiboy.

This gorgeous bowl was built last year by senior Ylia Madayag.

She was able to do a seamless inlay,

but sadly her clay stressed and cracked over the mold she used to form her bowl.

But at least the cracks were consistent all the way around the rim.

We all loved her stacked design.

This next one was made by junior Chloe Chang.

No cracks but she did struggle with the inlay separating as it dried and was fired.

And here are two views of junior Eugene Ho's cup.

Wonderful inlays and just the barest of cracking.

If you have never worked in Porcelain,

it is so yummy but so stubborn to get to know.

It dries out very quickly, 

but can be rolled oh so thinly so that very delicate creations can be made,

if you work fast enough that is.

ha ha

This lovely vase is the work of junior Julia Ruiz.

She managed no separations and no cracking.

Way to go Julia!!!

And senior Sarah Oh made two really fun canes,

a chicken and a heart.

We do see separations and cracks here,

but it's still quite a feat!

And last but not least Eugene got real playful with all his left over clay colors and cane.

He had a couple of jelly roll slices left and the rest he partially wedged together

which created a marbled look.

And then he loosely formed it over a mold

and applied some cool appendages.

I believe it sold this piece at Open House.

We all loved it.

And no separations or cracks,

how about that??

Thanks you 5 for being such great sports and hard workers 

to try to pull off this very difficult art form.

We literally stretched you guys to new horizons.

A NEW ASSIGNMENT

PORCELAIN WATERCOLORED PLATES

CERAMICS I

porcelain clay, ceramic watercolors, transparent glaze

On September 16th I put up a post of my own work

that was an example of a new assignment I had tried last year.

I personally loved doing the demo so much that after the kids left that day 

I made about 20 more for Xmas presents for my staff here at Whitney.

But before I even did that I had a favorite Ceramics student from 2 years ago,

Eunice Shim,

try out the idea.

The piece above was her trial,

and it turned out so well,

I knew the next years kids would like it.

And they did.

The results were lovely.

Let's take a look see.

This first one was made by junior Sara Ryave.

I loved the interior design she embossed with her own stamps 

that she and the others made in their 3rd assignment just for this project.

And then the way she used the ceramic watercolors was brilliant.

So pretty Sara.

Here it is again but at a different angle.

Next we have the lovely work of junior Dustine Ansiboy.

First note the delicate stamps she made,

then the way she applied the sensitive watercolor,

and lastly the tiny little bits of colored sparkles.

She got that by sprinkling tiny chards of colored glass
over top the piece before it went into final glaze firing.

Love it!!

I've got a couple others for you to see as well.

I really liked the edge treatment that senior Michelle Hwang put around the outside of her plate,

as well as the tiny square stamp she used to highlight interior.

And senior Augustine Lee used the back end of his bug pick (needle tool)

 to stamp around the outside edge of his main stamps,

and the needle point of his pck around the interior edge of stamps.

Cool!

Both senior Ashley Scott and senior Renee Kim did fun edge treatments as well.

And stamped text is always a great touch.

What I didn't do last year that I will this next is give the kids a watercolor lesson

 with real watercolor paints so they can practice applying them first on paper

 before they go to the clay's bisqueware surface.

I live and learn from one year to the next.

ONE MORE NEW ASSIGNMENT

I have often admired and collected other Ceramic artist's workss.

Last school year while visiting my son and his fiance',

they took me to a very special Native Plants garden in Sun Valley, 

called the Theodore Payne Foundation

where in their gift shop I found the most delicate nature inspired Porcelain plates.

Immediately I thought my students could make these.

Of course I had to buy one for myself  :)

They became a very popular new assignment for my Ceramics I students.

First I had them collect small dried leaves, twigs, bugs and flowers

 and press them into the bottom of clay stamps we made.

We weren't able to pull them out of the clay before I fired them 

because as the clay dried it shrink around them,

so I loaded the stamps into the kiln

 and the nature parts burnt away as the stamps went up to 1800 degrees,

bisque temperature.

In fact,

they were so much fun that I made a few myself for Xmas gifts for the staff in the office.

The largest one abovewas probably only 3" by 3".

The longest next to it 5" by 2".

A close up below.

I cranked these out one afternoon after school,

and needed about 20ish to account for breakage and chipping.

Plus I wanted to keep one for myself  (above right).

One of my custodians walked into my room when I was making them 

and put dibs on the center elongated one in the top photo.

The smallest,

 after shrinkage were these two end pieces above,

about 1 1/2" by 1 1/2".

I had so much fun working in the Porcelain,

 especially so small and with such thin slabs.

After they were bisqued fired I had the help of one of my talented T.A.'s last year,

Lynette Lee,

 who applied most of the ceramic watercolors in the center areas.

Then they were dipped into our Transparent glaze and fired to 2150 degrees.

Soon I will post the gorgeous pieces the students made,

so STAY TUNED!!

IT'S ALL ABOUT SURFACE DESIGN

MISHIMA & SGRAFFITO VASES

CERAMICS II

porcelain clay, oxides, glaze

In my clay classes I continually stress Surface Design.

Anyone can make a pot,

but it's what you do with the form and the surface design that sets it apart.

When I was in college, 

I really enjoyed learning these two very lovely Japanese techniques,

Mishima  (inlay) & Sgraffito (overlay).

Granted,

 it's time consuming and takes impeccable craftsmanship & patience,

but the results are so worth it.   

I felt this first one was quite remarkable in both form & surface design.

And sadly I can't remember who made it.

Once again the kids just came to the rescue!

Thanks Julia & Chloe.

This brilliant work belongs to junior Julia Ruiz.

On the first side above

 she put a lot of Cobalt Oxide into her slip mixture, 

that she used for her over & underlay work,

 resulting in a very dark blue.

On the back side below

 she added a bit of Red Iron Oxide to grey up that Cobalt mixture. 

Exquisite piece!

By the way,

the kids were required to only make two sides vase forms with asymmetrical sides.

Ok,

my guesses for these next 3 are from right to left

junior Chloe Chang, seniors Sarah Oh, & Ylia Madayag.

And I have absolutely no clue on this one,

but it was my favorite because the design turned out so wonderfully Non-Objective.

So I'm really taking a shot in the dark and guessing Sarah Oh again.

Each student was required to make two.

I appreciated that these kids were able to pull off this very difficult assignment.

Bravo young ones.

And please comment or email me the right names.

AN ALL TIME FAVORITE

Retired Air Force Servicewoman,

1994 Whitney High graduate,

and Outstanding Ceramics student for me back in the day,

Wendy Hertel,

came to visit me in my classroom this past school year.

She wondered if she still possessed her throwing skills on the potter's wheel.

I told her to go for it while she was visiting.

What was so amazing 

was that after all those years she remembered where I kept the clay tools.

the batts, and the clay.

I loved how she made herself at home,

as if she had never left.

The current students were fascinated with her,

and her confidence.

What wasn't surprising to me was that she had retained all her throwing skills.

We all do who learned this global skill,

like riding a bike,

like learning how to draw, ski, walk.

She threw two pots.  

What she didn't have time to do was to come back the next day and trim the bowls.

So I told her I'd do it for her then mail one to her and keep the other.

This one was my favorite of the two,

thus the packing fuff around it.

It's flying off this week to Maryland where Wendy retired.

What Wendy doesn't know is that I blew it when I was trimming the piece.

I accidently went thru the bottom and made a hole in it.

Dang!!

That's what I should have said in my classroom in front of the kids,

hee hee.

I think I might have said something else.

Opps.

Anyways,

I believe I've told you all before that I love when something goes arye

because it forces me to come up with a more creative solution.

And I was bound and determined to save this piece.

So to her thrown pot, 

I handbuild a false bottom and allowed the seam to show.

Then I found a cool stamp and pressed it into the center.

I also took that stamp and pressed it around the outside top lip

and allowed the lip to stretch and buckle a bit so it would work visually with the organic seam

in center of piece.

To finish off the pot I first bisqued then glaze fired it to 2400 degrees.

Before it went into the glaze fire I stained the whole piece with Red Iron Oxide,

then dipped it into Transparent glaze.

I love how it turned out and I so hope Wendy will as well.

Farewell sweet pot,

godspeed as you make your way to her.

TUESDAY NITE OR BLUEBERRY?

Recently I've been trying to duplicate a glaze that is no longer being manufactured,

that all my students and myself loved to use.

It was a transparent blue-green.

Well, 

I pretty much failed what I was going for on this first attempt,

but the kids loved what I came up with,

so I stopped messing with it.

Have I given up?

Never,

it's way too much fun!

The students wanted to name it so we turned it into a contest.

It  was a close race between the name Blueberry that junior Sara Ryave submitted,

or

Moonlit Pond on a Tuesday Nite (December 27, 1932) by junior Eugene Ho. 

LOL

Here is the winner after the kids voted,

Sara holding the prize,

the pot I made and experimented on.

Congrats Sara!

AN IMPORTANT PIECE

 COIL POTS

CERAMICS I

clay, glaze, oxides

When I posted the coil pots in mid-August,
I was missing one of the most visually interesting ones done by sophomore Olivia Krueger.

Olivia is a highly complex thinker,

and always comes up with a new take on each assignment. 

She shared with me last year that she's interested in being an Art Teacher,

how about that!

I've been working with her since the 7th grade in the Art Wheel, 

8th grade Beginning 2-d Art, 

and then last year,

Ceramics I,

and noticed almost immediately that she loves to help others around her 

who didn't understand directions or who weren't paying attention during demos.

She is such a patient young one,

and I think teaching is in her blood.

Her mama is a teacher as well.

Thank you Olivia for always giving me everything you've got.

This coil pot is truly one of a kind!

WHAT'S IN YOUR STACK

STACKED CLAY

CERAMICS II

Porcelain clay, oxides, transparent glaze

We saw my demos. in the last post from yesterday,

now we see what senior Sarah Chang came up with for her assignment.

Sarah followed my lead and reused her excess pieces as well,

and came away with 3 lovely works of art.

Sarah made two colored mixtures,

Cobalt and Rutile.

She built the sweet slab footed bowl first,

then with leftovers created her mug.

Sarah enjoyed this process so much that she made two other Stacked designs,

and built the delicate glass form on the left with pinwheel and checkerboard stacks.