New Road

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

 

So… the road is a little bumpy so far for this year, getting adjusted to my new roommate and Energizer-bunny-like neighbors. It’s been a lot of fun, but I’m having difficulties balancing fun and still trying to stay on top of class and studio projects. I guess I just need to be more strict with myself… or something.

The photo is of a couple of my turquoise oribe mugs. They were the first of my experiments to turn this shape into a mug by adding a really simple handle. These were in that crazy juicy soda firing forever ago. It seems that way. The glaze ran right down over the black slip down to the foot.

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Tiny Trees

Posted on August 19, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

 

This is a coffee pot that I made last semester. I used my red stoneware Death Valley clay and painted white porcelain slip on it for decoration. I listed it on Etsy… https://www.etsy.com/listing/106183472/coffee-pot-with-cute-carved-trees

It’s a hazed-over day, and I don’t have the energy to pack. Yes, I am excited that they day is finally here that I could just pack up all of my things and be moved into my apartment by Tuesday, but there is so much to pack. I found out that I will have my very own WALK IN CLOSET! That makes me happy. Also, 3-4 cupboards to myself to store my personal pots, and I only have to share the entire fridge and freezer with one roommate instead of five. I have a good feeling about the place, even if it does turn out to be a dump. I will figure out how to make it nice… pictures on the wall, maybe an extra table, and I could maybe even figure out one of those wall frame things to hold mugs and spices 🙂 that would be nice to have all of my favorite mugs right in front of me and ready to grab. I do that here, but I just end up setting all of them on the counter in a crowded mess. I don’t know why they never make it into the cupboard again after I wash them– wait, I know. It’s because there’s no room for my stuff at all. Ha, my new place is gonna be an improvement.

I’m not promising myself anything I don’t have control over– I can’t say that my roommate will be totally awesome, and I can’t say that I will find some great guy by going to a cafe regularly, but I can hope for the best 🙂 The only thing I can know will be better for sure is that I can walk to the studio any time I feel like it, and I won’t have to work retail during the school year– save for the chili bowl sale (and there will be many other helping hands). I can’t wait to finally fire all of the pots I have been making this summer… I probably even have enough to fill a bisque all by myself right now. The last time I did that was the beginning of the semester in January, when I had to bisque 50 bowls because I was intent on firing them all in the same kiln a few days later and nobody else even had work to bisque yet. I filled it up just perfectly, so I didn’t put anyone else’s pots in it, and I didn’t have extras that wouldn’t fit.

Back to campus I go! 😀

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Insanity. Defined.

Posted on August 18, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

If life were easy, it would be bland.

Life’s a game of poker with a tough hand.

Choose your people, choose your place,

Change your surroundings, change your face.

You can’t escape the path you’re on,

Always changing, but never gone.

Repeat the motions, expect something new–

Insanity has found you, followed you, too.

Changed your words, your thoughts inside–

Insanity takes you out of your mind.

Stop– turn around. Go back from where you came.

Think ahead, think back to remember the same.

Why now, why here, why this day?

Not then, not there, so why the delay?

Running in circles, head cut off–

The voices stop, booming is soft.

Remember your name? The one you once used,

Gave it here, give it there, now confused.

Insanity can now be defined:

“Yes, you’re out of your mind.”

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Clayspiration.

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

 

Here it is. My newest inspiration in clay (“clayspiration”). I am drawing portraits on clay tablets by carving engraved lines and filling them in with black slip, and then shading with black slip and highlighting with white porcelain clay slip. I think I will try to design a grid of squares and do a single image, divided with missing space in between the squares. I will make each square about one foot by one foot, and there will be 9 to 16 of them. I want to do my tree carving inlay on a large scale, with dramatic backgrounds. I think I could use it in my Senior Exhibition… 🙂

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Sleeping Fox

Posted on July 28, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

 

A picture like this is perfect for today. A sleeping fox. That’s what I am. Sitting around, reading a book, shirking pressing responsibilities… I’m a lazy fox. I painted this with black acrylic paint (freehand) and then used bright-colored oil pastels in the blank white spots.

I think I may actually be coming down with something. I have been denying it all week, but there’s no other sound explanation for swollen lymph nodes, aching all over, constant congestion, loud sneezing without present allergens, headache, and total lack of motivation. I haven’t had a single clay idea that makes me want to work outside in the hot sun– nothing like when I had the figure sculpture idea, or my flask vases. I have had a few ideas, but no real energy to overcome the heat of the sun. I have felt strange since before the 4th of July, but I’ve been in denial. I guess I should just accept that my immune system is under attack and try to do something about it to combat whatever it is.

I got a new book to read today. I had to wait for the library to get it in. It’s Catching Fire, the new book that’s so popular in the Hunger Games trilogy. I didn’t think I would break down and read something that seems to be so mainstream, but it’s popular for good reason. Plus, I’ve got no other real distractions for the weekend. I went to the lake the other day, that was fun. I found out just how out of shape I am for swimming.

August 24th is getting ever closer… I can’t help but feel guilty for wishing the summer away, but I haven’t had an enjoyable low-drama summer since I was about 17. Every summer, something happens to ruin it. When I was 18, someone from my class died, and I had to deal with other social dramas. When I was 19, work started getting weird– my boss hired an annoying coworker and made it so I was totally bored, and we had to deal with another coworker who went completely bipolar. When I was 20, I tried a different job that ended up being well-paid slavery (long hours, mental abuse), had a breakdown, quit, went back to my old job, dated a couple of guys that didn’t really spark my interest, and got jipped out of one of my favorite paintings. This year, I kept the same job, had the best cliche summer romance I could imagine, a falling out, and work seems to be even more painfully boring this year than last year– I’ve trained to learn almost all of the lab work, but there isn’t nearly enough to keep me busy, and I end up sweeping the floor and washing dishes out of boredom. It’s shop-keeping work, the kind I can’t stand but I’m desperate just to stay busy for a few more weeks. Plus, it pays okay if I work enough hours. The point is that summers haven’t really been enjoyable since I was in high school. I don’t know what has changed so much to make it that way… maybe it’s me.

Back to being a lazy fox– going to continue reading until I can get up the motivation and inspiration to make a sculpture for my other job. There are too many financial land-mines this month…

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Ordinary + Rain =EXTRAORDINARY

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

Drinking hazelnut-flavored coffee.

Shopping for a new phone online.

Paying rent.

Doing yoga and pilates.

The day starts out so ordinary. It’s raining out the window. The air feels different today, the rain transforms it. Not only does it feel more humid, but somehow it feels magic. It gives me power, to think differently about circumstances, to chin up. Ironic, isn’t it? Most people associate rain with gloominess. I associate it with magic. Especially this summer, where it hasn’t rained hardly enough. It’s a crazy thing– last year it felt like June was a monsoon, and this year it has been sunny almost every single day. I remember longing for the sun last summer, lost in the raindrops. Rain takes an ordinary day and transforms it. I still have to go to work today, but I feel different.

I don’t have as many days left here as I thought I did. Paying rent for my new apartment reminded me of that. I guess I should use the magic of the rain to motivate me to get things done to prepare for the next chapter of my life.

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Stable– Nomad.

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

 

 

Stabilization. That’s all I need.

A place to stay, somethin’ to believe.

Somewhere fresh, new clean breeze.

 

Rocks in my shoes, walkin’ on air.

Nothin’ to stand on, no one there.

The trail gets dark, I feel them stare.

 

“It’s that nomad girl, the one who walks,

If you listen, you can hear her talk–

Too much time, no turning of this clock…”

 

It’s stable here, I’ve got something to rely on–

Boredom, it’s here all the time– never gone.

It chases me all my days, time to move on.

 

Silence. It’s here too. Count on that.

The trees don’t speak, never talk back.

I stay silent too. No reason to interact.

 

Soon, I’ll escape, leave this quiet place–

Make some noise, got time to erase.

Maybe it will be different. Maybe it’s the same.

Either way, there’s only time to blame.

Moving on takes time, we all know it’s true–

It will be better with something else to do.

Dancing on frets, my fingers are content.

Plucking these strings, soon I’ll forget.

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Rise

Posted on July 21, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

 

The only way to move is on.

Keep going, don’t stop ’til you’re gone.

Leave behind the message, the words you don’t need.

Tell yourself the truth, cut deep ’til you bleed.

What can you do when the world gives you limes?

Make a margarita, replace lies with good times.

The sad will keep on crying, walk your own way.

The bastards keep on lying, got nothin’ good to say.

What’s that? You say– there’s a different option?

What’s that? Tell me– a new kind of adoption?

Adopt a new theory, new way of thinking–

Something tells me it will leave me sinking–

Self-doubt consumes, I fall to the depths.

Deep down, you know it. You’ve got nothing left.

I rise up on the back of my own fresh hope–

Got somethin’ to show, no end to my rope.

Keep on fighting, prove the world wrong–

The world tries to break me, I’m too strong.

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Cancer Ridden Skies

Posted on July 20, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

 

Things change. Sometimes for better, and sometimes for worse. In this case, I don’t like the change happening around me, but I have to accept it and move on with life. Maybe I am being a drama queen, but when people change so much that you don’t see why you were drawn to them in the first place and the change isn’t good, there isn’t much point in keeping those people around. Change is difficult. I guess you can’t keep holding onto something that you can’t reach out and touch. Friendship is an intangible idea, but distance does play a role in the duration of some friendships.

So what do I do next? Move on, make new friends. Spend time in the studio… create something new. Try to forget everything and find new people in life. I used to paint, but I haven’t for quite some time. This is a painting I did a couple of years ago (maybe 3) for my dad for Christmas. It was back in the day when I drew psychedelic shrooms and creepy crows and dark forests. Maybe that’s why this painting feels dark to me. I have been thinking about taking up painting again, just to see if I’ve still “got it”. Maybe I will paint another dark landscape or two, and then try a portrait like I used to paint. I only painted about 5 portraits in all, but all of them but one turned out decent… maybe painting will be a new direction to think in for the remainder of the summer.

34 days.

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Open Your Eyes and SEE

Posted on July 17, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

 

 

All these people, this big mess,

The world’s condemned us all to each other.

Watch the news, tune to a station,

Wait for it, you’ll hear another–

Destruction, distraction, desensitization.

We hear it all everywhere, every day.

The passion is gone, now sensualization

Replaces three words people used to say.

Love? What’s that? Divorce is a trend.

Antique is the message, dead is the day.

People “…just don’t have the time to spend.”

Radio waves, light on the screen,

Money in your pocket, life must be green.

Think about the last time you spoke the truth.

Three words to say, and everything to lose.

Keep a smile on your face, lie to the crowd.

In your Mercedes, the radio’s up too loud,

You don’t have time for what you need,

You can’t hear out the window, but you can see.

 

 

The picture is just a snapshot I took when leaving the studio just after the workshop– some of my inlaid tree designs on my most popular cup shape. It’s nice to take a casual group photo every once in a while 😉

The summer is almost over (in my mind) because classes start in 37 days. It’s not that I’m excited for school and assignments and responsibilities and working in the basement of the cafeteria… it’s because I’m excited to live close to my friends and the studio again… and civilization in general. Oh, and I am excited to get to know my new roommate… the first few months with a new roommate are always interesting… and better than the last few 😀 I have a good feeling about her. We just need to get things sorted out with parking and dividing up room in the apartment. Nobody is going to draw a line or anything like that. I just can’t wait to get out of the middle of nowhere.

Other news… I am getting back to my hippie self lately. I made a “witch’s brew” tea blend last night. I made it super concentrated too. I am hoping it will help with my allergy issues and maybe make me feel more energized but less anxious. It definitely makes me energized, if nothing else.

 

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