New Stuff, An Invitation, and Thank You

There haven't been nearly enough beads on this blog lately. Well, really since we moved to North Carolina there haven't been enough beads. Settling in and all has distracted me.  I've been working away on some new things. Like the little bronze acorn and pine cone. The oak leaf is a re-work of an old design. It's modeled on the pin oak that line the street I live in. They are protected in my street because I live in a historic preservation neighborhood and these pin oaks were part of the original landscape design. Thank goodness! Pin oaks are one of the most beautiful of all the oaks, at least I've always thought so. I'm so happy you can't chop them down willy nilly.

I've been working on setting little gemstones into some of my bronze pieces. A bit fiddly, but I love the sparkle that these add to designs that feel so comfortable and familiar to me.

Since we moved here, I've changed the porcelain that I use. I'm using one by High Water Clay which is in Asheville. It's almost local. Well it's only a couple hours away and it's oh so nice to have an excuse to go to Asheville.  I'm quite smitten with the glaze on these pieces. It's a formerly poopy glaze on the old porcelain. Unfortuntely,  two really spectacular glazes on the old porcelain are now poopy. But I'm working on it.

Now for the invitation. I've thought about this for some time and am just now getting around to doing it. I've opened up a Facebook page to let you all know when I've got new things available. Because I recognize that I am frankly quite dreadful about letting anyone know when things become available. Some of you have even asked if I have an email list or some such thing so that you could know about shop updates. No email list (yet). So here's a link to my Facebook Page, Summers Studio Beads.

There are even some previews of work that's going to be available this week. I'll let you know when I list things in my shop. There's a bunch of stuff ready to go and I like being able to just list it all at once. Sometime this week, at an undisclosed time, I will be listing a bunch of stuff. Undisclosed because not even I know when that will be. I'm still working on getting things ready.

And thank you all for your very generous support regarding my mother's passing. It's been an emotional upheaval but we are all coping in our own ways. I haven't been able to get back to each of you. But please know that I feel deep gratitude to each of you for your warmth and oh, so generous caring.

Information Pots

Much of my studio practice entails heaps of testing of glazes, techniques, etc. I sometimes make what I call information pots. I can do little tiny samples on test tiles but in reality the pieces are usually just too small to get a feel for how a particular effect will work on a large surface.




This is an information pot. I've learned a lot from this oval bowl . BTW, it was going to be a throw away from the beginning, it will never appear publicly anywhere but here. Actually, these don't really get thrown away. I use them in the garden for succulents and things like that. It's an interesting place, my garden.


The good news from this pot is that the bits on the rim that I broke (twice) can be repaired! This is fab news as this technique is fragile. A bit of paper clay slip works like wizardry! Even just before glazing. Yeah!


The bad news from this pot is that the clay it is made of does indeed have a really poonack colour (technical term, there). To get the colour clarity I want is going to require another step. But at least I know now before I commit some really big pieces to the fire.

For this series of pieces, I wanted to get at the raw clay feel to acheive a 'fossil' feel. Almost there. But that poonack clay colour rears it's ugly head. Back to the testing. A few test tiles, information bowls, and I'm just about there to commiting to some larger pieces. Why use this clay? Well, it is just superb for scultptural pieces. And that is where this is headed.

The thing with working with clay that is so maddening is that there is just no going back once it's gone to the final firing. I can fix things up a wee bit with a second try at it but it's just not ever going to be quite right. But still I love working with clay. I love the feel of it, the smell of it.

But today, I worked with things that are familiar. That I've done before. That was satisfying. It left me open to thinking about other more distant work. That sort of balance between the familiar and the new keeps me creating new things.

I'm curious. What keeps you going?

Cheers, LeAnn

Into the Studio

Yesterday was one of those glorious spring days where the sun is bright, the temperature is perfect, birds are singing, the dogs are behaving, and all is right with the world. What that means for me is I get to spend time in my real studio. The one that is outside and looks a lot like a garage with kilns and big studio stuff.

I’ve had in mind a few things that I’ve wanted to do with my functional work for a while. And with a show coming up at the end of April, well it was just time to get moving. Nothing like a few deadlines to spark a bit of creativity.

I think that carpet of flowers in front of our cabin inspired me to create my own little version. Among other things I made a tray and little serving dishes that have got a flower pattern stamped into it. If you think it looks a little like the zinnia buttons you would be right. I made stamps a from the button molds and finally was inspired to use them. These are all ready to go into the kiln.

But what I am really excited about is this tile. It was bound to happen. The buttons would make their way onto the surface of something else. I see bright colours on this one!

This tile is made from lots of very thin, very moist, slabs of clay, a little less than 1/8” (3mm) thick. These are a bit tricky to work with. They are delicate coming off the slab roller and I did find out pretty early on that one does not pick up a large sheet of clay by the edge and try to carry it over to the work table. Harsh words were used when one particularly large slab of clay dropped onto the icky dirty floor.

But I’m pleased with the results. I like the plumpness of it and the sense of the inner void that it has. Making it was a lot like sewing. Each piece is cut, shaped, rolled up, and pinched together. Then I put on a back with a keyhole opening for hanging it. Now it is drying slowly. Too much drying too fast and it will crack apart into a zillion pieces. OK maybe that is an exaggeration.

Wishing you all a great spring day!

LeAnn

The Kiln is Firing

The kiln is firing and the kiln god sits watching the magik. Well maybe it is not magik, maybe it is just chemistry. And maybe it is not really a kiln god so much as a kiln gargoyle. He used to have 2 ears. In fact he still has 2 ears but one fell off on our move back to the United States from Australia. Someday the ear will be attached again. I did not make the kiln god/gargoyle. My son made him for me when he was about 15 years old. Sometimes, I think he should be the one doing ceramics. Clever boy!

The kiln god always sits on my kiln in gaurd of the works inside. Pure superstition.

So in this kiln is a whole lot of new things. New glazes, new combinations of glazes. Lots of blues, greens, and blue greens (I think). I never know what will come out. I sometimes wonder why I do all these new things on an entire kiln load. I've got new things in there. Not just buttons, some pendants and linky things in new designs.

So stay tuned...the kiln will open tomorrow...I'll post....But I may or may not post the failures. My ego you know.

Cheers, LeAnn