Straight from the Wood Kiln

I thought I'd share with you some of my biggest successes from a wood firing that I just got back yesterday. I am still new at pottery, but I really really enjoy it, and would love to make it a career some day!

The three in the back I used a Bone Ash glaze on the outside, and clear on the inside, and on the front two I used clear. Next time I want to use lots of different patterns to make them more interesting!

Mug in Bone Ash

Pitcher in Bone Ash

Creamer/Syrup Pitcher in Bone Ash

Bowl in clear

Ice Cream Dish in clear

New things to come!

I have been really busy this summer working on projects! Most importantly, I've been working on getting a new blog up and running that will have a new post every week! It's called Incidentally, Jack. I'm working on it with a good friend of mine, whose personal blog is Chocolates Full of Seawater. We will post DIY projects, big life updates, and inspiration for every day creativity.

Working on the second blog has inspired me to get this one up and running again. I may post sneak peeks of projects that will be featured on Incidentally, Jack in the future.

For now, I thought I'd update you on the cape project I've been working on so hard! It is currently very close to being done. I just need to buy some buttons, make the button holes, sew them on the cape, sew the buttons on the cape and I'm done! Just in time for the hot weather we are more than likely to be getting soon...

Sorry guys!.....

So it turns out it's really hard to blog while in a different country when you're traveling and whatnot... Do you all (all three of you..) still want to hear about my trip or should I just keep posting artsy/craftsy type things?

I should mention I have changed my major to Art Education, so now I'm studying to become an art teacher! I will become certified to teach art in public schools, but I would prefer to work at a private school, as long as the benefits are there. I will be delayed by a bit in order to get all the classes I need, but it'll be fine - not too much longer than it would have been anyways. In the meantime I'm taking some classes I won't need this semester.. such as Statistics :P and Human Growth and Development. Hopefully those won't pull down my GPA because I have almost no drive to study for them!

Here's a tiny taste of my trip:

 Stonehenge, near Salisbury

 Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh

Loch Ness, near Inverness

Made it!

We have arrived in Edinburgh, Scotland! We had 3 flights, two of which were pretty bumpy in places, but not too bad. Two of the flights had a ton of movies to watch! That might be part of the reason I am so tired now at 3 pm in Edinburgh.. 9 am in the past my time. I haven't downloaded any pictures to my computer yet, but I will try to do that soon. Edinburgh here we are!!

Just Kidding!

So yes, I lied in my last post when I said I would write something about what I've been making soon... I've had little time to knit and I've done no spinning or crochet, but I have gotten farther on that purple cape. I wish I was farther on it though so I could take it to SCOTLAND with me. Speaking of which, I will be leaving in 11 days! That is when this blog will turn into a travel blog, and hopefully I'll post at least once a week when we get there. We will be staying in Edinburgh and will take side trips to London for 4 days and Belfast for just one night. Other than that we'll take day trips to the Isle of Skye as well as Iona! Get excited for pictures of the beautiful United Kingdom!

BRB

Finals week is almost over and I've been starting to knit!! More to come hopefully within the week. Also I can share with you my final projects for Graphic Design and 3D Design :)

Art News..

Since there is absolutely no new knitting news... (I haven't knit one more stitch since my last post).... I thought I'd show some of the things I've been doing on my own and in class. First up are some more sketches I made on my own. Nothing special, just something to look at :)

This first one was basically just a study in pattern - thinking of new ones and trying new stuff in the guise of a cityscape! Although I have to admit, towards the end I sort of gave up thinking of new patterns and started doing what I knew..

















For the next one, I asked my sister to give me two requirements for me to stay within. They were, it has to be something alive and it has to be asymmetrical. Once I got that done I worked on the pattern of the fence behind it. I don't particularly like the bird in the foreground, but I think it works. I'm trying to realize I need to spend more time on my art if I actually want to make something worth having in the end!




This last one is just a little stippling work. I started with the body and finished with the penguin like head.. I don't think this one is done - it needs water or another bird or something.. any suggestions?

Next up, I'm going to take you through the making of a cool plaster sculpture for my 3D Design class! First, we had to do 100 sketches. Then, sew a bag for the plaster to go in. The sketching and pattern  making were the hardest parts for me. It's so hard for me to visualize something that's going to be 3-dimensional when all you have are a sewing machine, pins, and a piece of paper. However, I came up with a pretty good design, I thought. My teacher liked it too. :) Here's the sketch I ended up using. Sorry it's a little dark.

And I actually ended up taking out the 'limb' that wraps around the 'head.'

Next I sewed up a bag after a LOT of head scratching, trying to figure out how to sew a bag so when plaster is poured in there will be 'legs' in front of others etc. After I got it sewn, we poured plaster in it! Here's what that looked like.

The way gravity and the plaster went into the bag, it turned out quite a bit differently than I was intending, and I was really nervous and excited to see how it would turn out.











After it was poured and it dried for a few days, I took it down and slowly cut away the fabric. It was a little difficult because in the 'arm,' there was fabric bunching in the curve, keeping it from coming out. Although in the end I did get it out.




Here's the result of that:

I REALLY REALLY REALLY liked how it turned out! So different from my original sketch, but really cool in its own right!

That last photo is of one of the 'legs' that sits on the table. There must have been an air bubble in there or something.... remember this for later....

After that, the teacher suggested I paint it.. so I bought some blue spray paint and painted it! I picked blue because I was trying to think of a color that portrays movement. I thought of blue because it's the color of water which has a lot of movement - like a river or ocean.

Anywho, here's some pictures of that.

 Notice anything missing?

Yep, when I was sanding it down so it wouldn't be fuzzy, one of the legs broke. It was the one with the air bubble.. I was worried about it, but I had kind of forgotten about it :( I'm kind of angry about it, but at the same time, it's just a school project and IT STILL STANDS, so that's the important part. They're due on Thursday, so if I had more time I might try to get it glued on there, but I'm not gonna worry about it for now.

This is a good angle :) I think I'm going to name it "Movement."