earth day: a day with no pictures

yesterday we celebrated many things - earth day, a one year old's birthday, the warmth of the spring sun (finally!), being with good friends and meeting new ones, our children, and the joy of community.

we spent the day at twisted vine farm, helping, along with many others, to get the walls of there earthern home! and the day was such a busy, engaging day, we didn't manage to pull out the camera (but i'm sure gen will pos some photos on her site soon).

they are building mainly with light clay (clay slip and wood shavings) and cob.... a clay persons dream home! we are blessed with being able to be apart of such things as building friends home!

and while i have gotten dirty during other work-parties at twisted vine in the past, this i day i got to hang out with my girl! A spent the day filling walls, and he looked so happy and contented to be doing so, that i left him to it. N and I ran around with the other wild kids, spent a lot of time taking turns on the swing (only one swing, many children! lots of patience and communicating about turns...), went for a walk along the trans-canada trail looking for turtles and frogs & finding lots of nettles (yum!), eating cake, snuggling for some quite reading time, sitting by the fire roasting veggie dogs (N's first one!) and just taking it all in. fun day. tiring day. lots of pictures in my head, brief sketches drawn here for you

Hump day!

Well I've been back in the studio for a few weeks now & it feels good!
you know as much as i needed a break, i do get pretty antsy when away from the studio for too long....maybe that would be different if my hiatus was spent somewhere slow & tropical...instead of here waiting for the pipes to defrost...
in any case i'm making making making with deliveries scheduled in april and some new things up my sleeve (photos as soon as they are out of the kiln!)

here's my studio shelves today as they fill up with work (and a full load in the kiln to boot!)



















today was making what i call dipper bowls, and i generally throw them "off the hump" - meaning i don't measure each ball of clay out individually like i do for most things, but simply toss a large lump of clay onto the wheel (usually between 6-8 lbs) and throw each bowl off the top of it until i run out of clay. it takes some practice to get each piece the same size, but once you get it & are in the flow its a great way to make small things, or pieces of things (spouts, lids, etc...). you don't have to centre the entire lump of clay, just the top part that you are using. it's not a radical new way of doing things but i sure like it when it's time to throw dipper bowls

here's the hump looking down from the top












here's the hump from the side, i've already thrown about half of it, glistening in the sunlight (yes it was sunny today and still i stayed in my studio!)











here's the bowls that have already come off this hump

spare time? part two

well spare time seems like a thing of the past all of the sudden, now that i am back in the studio with many pots to make & orders to fill. but i do have another long time project that i am picking away at.

this fall is was gifted four bags of raw wool. i was so excited. i had no idea what kind of work (whew it's a lot!) would be involved in getting the wool to the stage where i could use it for felting or spin it for knitting... so i did get it all washed over about two months and am starting to card it. knotty by nature is that super fabulous store in town that rents time on their drum carder! it took me two hours to make my first 15 batts...but feels like progress. in the meantime between the next session (who knows when that will be!) i am hand picking it (basically fluffing it before carding it.) and experimenting with dying.












some picked wool, some dyed some au naturel

i have been loaned a variety of drop spindles, but have yet to get the hang of it, so that i can hopefully spin it into something that resembles what one would knit with, i.e. yarn.















drop spindles


N has already requested a hat...so maybe i will have the wool (or at least some of the wool) spun up for the end of summer and get working on some winter hats...


And being back my studio does feel good, i just getting back into the old juggling act. i am working on some new fun stuff, lots of layers of colour, images, and polka dots! will show some photos when they come out of the kiln.
also working on some portrait pieces, something i've been wanting to do for awhile...also give you a peek when they get out of the kiln...stay posted!

spare time?

well yes time for other things does exist! as i have reminded myself this past month or so, on hiatus from my chilly, damp studio...
finally finished the quilt i started for N's birthday (which was in, well, november...). i like to quilt, or i like the idea of quilting, but don't do it often. was fraught with sewing machine woes, the snapping of many needles, and the extra time it takes to try and make it work with what material is at hand rather than head to fabricland for that final 2 metres... many old pajamas and shirts and scrip scraps went into this quilt... really freed up some storage space!
here's the finished product! snuggly! and really cozies up N's room.

oh the simple stencil

ever held a fabulous piece of pottery & thought how the heck did they do that?
well my approach for my regular work is fairly simple: slip & stencil.
slip being a liquid coloured clay that i mix up from a top secret recipe.
stencil being a basic mylar shape that i cut out. why mylar? so i can wash it off & use it again. a HUGE step up from when i first started using stencils & cut each one out from newspaper. paper works great but isn't reusable & thus very inefficient for any kind of "production"...
so i thought i'd share a bit of my basic process with some photos in case anyone is interested.











start with a leather hard piece, here a dipper bowl
























wet the stencil & adhere to the surface.
sometimes the stencil will lift in places & slip with go underneath, ruining your nice clear lines & making some work to clean the lines up.












poor slip over stencil (or dip piece into slip).
let it set up until it's no longer shiny












pull the stencil off & voila!

giveaway on mayamade

tomorrow, nov. 28th, the lovely Maya of maya*made is hosting a giveaway of one of my new knitting vases & a couple of dipper bowls. I've really been enjoying getting to know Maya, and her site is great, so check it out!
here's a sneak peek of the vase that will be on her site tomorrow:

studio tour

well everyone likes to have a little peek around in someone's studio, that's why studio tours are so much fun! so here's a little look inside & out of the studio space i spend so much time in....










this is the front of the quanset hut that the studio is built into. my sweetie's studio is also in there, as well as large open workspace and storage above. and home to a few mice and haven for evilina, our resident feral cat...











here is some of the inside space, with my studio door.










it's not very large or very glamorus, my well used studio. home built with shipping pallets, and scavenged wood...it serves the purpose, but i do dream of a more spacious, insulated, airy light space....
this is looking staright ahead from the door.










and this is looking to the left. and that's it! (remember how i said it's not very big? about 10 x 15 ft)











work in progress....












here's a quick look inside my sweetie's studio/jam space, where he was painting with our wee one. and she was jumping on bubble wrap, giggling.












this is another angle of the inside space as you are walking out.










here is the sign just outside the gallery garden, a sweetly welded piece from a woman in parksville. i traded her some bowls. great deal!











my sorely neglected gallery garden. the pathway is quickly being overcome by wild strawberries and plantain. seems when i have time to garden it's usually frantic digging/planting/weeding/watering/harvesting in the veggie garden. really must give this space some more love.











here's the little gallery space. this little building was my dad's darkroom for years, and housed in the quanset hut, where my studio is now. some friends helped PUSH it outside (it was on caster wheels) and get it onto the skids i built outside. then we (a and myself) slapped a roof on it & punched in a window & voila.










and here's a view in the gallery.











and lastly the building that houses my artistic benefactors, my parents. without the cheap rent they grant me (not to mention childcare, cookies, cups of tea, and watering the garden) i would be making pinch pots on a corner somewhere. yes, the house is round, made of metal, & it turns!

thanks for taking a look & feel welcome to come by the real studio!