Caribbean Blue

Posted on June 7, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

Have you ever had something turn out better than you planned on? Haha, maybe if you’re lucky 🙂 well in ceramics it doesn’t happen all that often, so when I pulled these out of one of my salt firings, I was grinning like an idiot (a crazy firing where the top three shelves toppled over after cone 10 fell and I had already introduced the salt). This is exactly how I wish the glaze would look every time I fired it. I guess I need to learn how to control the atmosphere better so it doesn’t reduce so much on top and on the right side. These were in the bottom left, along with a few other equally pleasing pots.

In other news, it was a great workshop day. I had a few ideas last night, and the first thing I did this morning was start making my bulbous cup forms, and some more little bowls like the one above. I have decided that I want to try and duplicate the glaze on the bowl as many times as I can, so maybe I can part with a few (I can’t possibly sell this one 🙂 ). My other idea with my cups is to do more inlay designs on them. Today I tried drawing things besides trees and simple abstract birds on my pots… I did draw a couple of trees, and a very detailed hummingbird, and a detailed lily flower, and a grazing deer, and a quail in the grass. As I finished the hummingbird and picked up the next cup to work on it, the visiting artist came back to look at what I was working on because he saw one of my trees from far away. He turned my cups so he could see each illustration, and he said: “Wow! I didn’t know you could draw like this! Did you know she could draw like this?” he said in amazement  to the guy standing next to him. He was talking about the hummingbird. I was flattered by how complimentary he was. Usually, I am used to people who walk over to look at my work telling me what’s wrong with it and how to change it. It was definitely unexpected. “These are beautiful!” that’s what he said when he was talking about the tree cup 🙂 He said my best pieces were the ones where I only illustrated one thing at a time, like the lily or the bird. He said that the tree cup didn’t need the imagery on the back side (I drew a sun and two cranes on the back). He also complimented my forms, and said that their simplicity was the perfect thing not to distract from the images. I was really surprised that he didn’t have any other criticisms besides keeping it simple.

For lunch, we repeated Monday’s theme: go to the bar, have a pint of beer and a big ‘ol sandwich. It was really good. I didn’t know that they served chocolate stout, or I probably would have ordered it on Monday. I didn’t know it until someone else in the group was served a nice tall glass of something dark without ice… so I knew that it couldn’t be soda 🙂 Anyway, I couldn’t believe how hungry I was. I ate a giant chicken sandwich (it was actually a grilled chicken burger on a wheat bun) and didn’t feel stuffed afterwards. I guess one of my professors at the other table wasn’t able to finish his… so I must have been starving. I felt just as hungry yesterday, even after I ate. Maybe my daily hike burns more calories than I thought it did. Anyway, we are supposedly loading a salt kiln tomorrow morning. I hope we do, because I want some results! 😛

Posted in Art, Ceramics, Daydreaming, Photography, Science | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tree cup, cup, cup

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

Folk wine… a nice past time, isn’t it? I am enjoying a nice glass of apple raspberry wine right now, and it is delicious! I think I like it better than some grape wines. Anyway, it’s been a fun week so far. I kept busy trimming and decorating a bunch of pots today, and I think I will head back to the studio in a little while to throw some new things to work on for tomorrow 🙂 I was thinking about making a few two-piece bottles like the one that went all crazy in the soda kiln, but with much different surfaces. I will try to control the glaze better… maybe in a salt firing instead. The workshop is going well though. We have a nice little crowd, like a good class size. It feels weird not to be working this week. I have been meaning to log a couple of hours in at the herbarium, but haven’t gotten around to it. There is always something exciting going on in the studio. At least I can park on campus tonight 🙂 I’m definitely not making the hike in the dark.

Posted in Art, Ceramics, Daydreaming, Folk Wine, Photography | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Cup: Kira Call- Logan, UT

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

Statement:

Strong form is important to me– but my forms are usually free of beads, joints, throwing lines, and other complications. I like my forms to have their own resolute presence, but I like the idea of a smooth landscape. I guess my subconscious sees figural forms, with soft curves, subtle shadows, and quiet seductive voices.

As a kid, I was always drawing. It’s just what I did when I got bored… and eventually it brought me to study art in college. Starting out at the university, I worked in two-dimensional mediums like ink and acrylic paint. When registering for my second year of college on campus, I decided to take an intro ceramics class on a whim. I got hooked on the wheel and decided to go on to the intermediate class. It took me a couple of semesters before I started decorating my surfaces with more than just a layer of “shop glaze”. I wanted to bring my two-dimensional background back into play by using stained slips on my work. Recently, I have been atmospheric firing in salt and incorporating sgraffito lines into the painted slips. With my salt-fired work, I use a reactive clay body that flashes warm tones of peach and orange when bare and fired in oxidation, and only recently have I combined glaze, salt-fired bare clay, slip, and sgraffito into my work. For me, the idea of holding a cup in my hand is as nearly as intimate as getting to know the lips of a loved one. It takes time to grow into a cup. How it feels in my hand, how the rim invites me to drink, and whether the rim drips when I pull it away are all things that change with every cup.

Posted in Art, Ceramics, Creative Writing, Deep Thought, Food and Drink, Nature, Photography, Science | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Getting my hands back in the mud

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

Oregon… hmm… sounds like a good idea to me. Is it? Or is it not? (happening)

A friend mentioned a planned trip to Oregon… but the details are still up in the air. We talked about it in person last week… but I didn’t know just how serious he was about it. It sounds like an awesome idea 🙂 I’ve always wanted to see the rain forests of Oregon. I love the northwest coast. Plus, going on a road trip with a very good friend of mine (very good 😉 ) sounds like the perfect way to go there. I’m in  not sure what his plan is for that, but right now I am back on campus working with clay in the studio like I should be 🙂 It’s a visiting artist workshop, and today was the first day.

I didn’t know the plan for this morning, so I woke up at 8:30, made coffee with the only thing I could find (I am staying at a friend’s house and I brought a french press but forgot coffee and she drinks instant…) which was pre-ground Irish creme coffee in a little packet she found in the freezer. I didn’t do my normal morning routine of exercise. Instead, I just drank my coffee and walked out the door. I hiked up the trail to campus (steeper than I predicted). I was completely worn out by the time I reached the top. I was still panting when I got to the studio. By the time I got there, everyone was gathered in the hand-building room waiting to start discussing the grand plan. I’m glad I was there in time… I had no idea when they were going to start. Anyway, the visiting artist seems really cool. His work definitely has character, and he seems like a nice guy. We talked about firing kilns already this week… and there are so many clay bodies to choose from that I feel overwhelmed. I want to try a gritty white stoneware and a porcelanneous body that are available– I paid for a bag of the porcelanneous kind but haven’t tried it yet. We will be firing a bisque tomorrow, loading starting in the morning (first come first serve). I didn’t feel like throwing pots today. The clay I have to work with right now is too soft to make big things with it– I keep trying and I keep getting reminded of why I can’t do it. It would take a lot of wedging on a really dry surface to get all of the extra moisture out of it. Instead of throwing, I still felt like hand-building like I have been at home 🙂 I didn’t realize how much I like it these days. I will post photos of work soon… maybe sooner if I remember to think of it.

Posted in Art, Ceramics, Daydreaming, Photography, Science | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

When the Lights hit me–

Posted on June 3, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

I’m still hiding in a few shadows, but if I didn’t have any shadows left, I’m afraid I would be scorched by the sun. Metaphorically speaking, of course. Secrets can be destructive or protective. It depends on who is keeping what from who. White lies are what keep things running smoothly– not to say that people should lie more often, or necessarily that people should intentionally lie at all… but maybe not giving the entire truth unless asked is the best way to keep a few shadows hanging around. I feel like I am mostly in the light– I can only think of two things that I haven’t told a couple of people in my life. They aren’t important things, so they can stay in the shadows for a while longer.

Another sense of coming into the light– spending time with my long-time friend on memorial day brought some feelings into the light. It feels good to have those out in the open. The world seems a little brighter now that we are honest and open with each other. I like the feeling 🙂 I guess the photo represents how my ceramic art has been brought into the light (so to speak). Recently, my classmates and I were featured online in the university art department website gallery. It was also a great feeling, and this is the first of my pieces that appear in the gallery. I like knowing that I am being recognized by my professors as having accomplished a certain level in the program, and I like that other people can know what I’ve accomplished without me telling them. Of course, the website gallery doesn’t get all that many viewers on a regular basis, but it’s just the concept that my art is publicly available to view on an official school website. It’s good 🙂

Speaking of all of this light, I should change into my bikini and go catch some sun in my outdoor studio 😉 It’s beautiful outside right now, and I’ve got to finish a couple of projects.

Posted in Art, Ceramics, Creative Writing, Deep Thought, Photography, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Folk Wines: What’s What?

Posted on June 1, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

White, red, and… green?

These are a few of the products from my latest project idea. Folk wine. I read up on it a while ago, and decided that it sounded like something worth trying. The “white” wine is actually an herbal wine made with a dry chamomile flower infusion and blackberry honey. It is a dessert wine, with a slight bitterness. I don’t actually have a hydrometer yet, so I’m not sure about the ABV percentage. The “red” wine is an apple-raspberry combination where I used organic unfiltered apple juice and added raspberries into the fermentation tank. In my opinion, it is perfect. I think I prefer it over some Zinfadels because it seems like it has a more refreshing fruitiness to it than do grapes. The “green” wine is a super sweet herbal wine made with whole fresh dandelion heads and chammomile blossoms. The sugar is raw demerara cane sugar. I think that I will use a lot less sugar next time and see how it tastes dry. The last mysterious concoction is “Licorice wort”, and I came up with the entire recipe myself. I used various herbs (about 6 or 7), 4 of which resemble the flavor of candy licorice, and then I used molasses for the sugar fermenter. It is really sweet as well– it tastes like drinking candy, but it also has a good kick to it, and both of those reasons are why I chose to put it in a shot glass instead. Over all, I think it is a great project to keep me going for the summer. This week I batched some more wines because of how amazing these turned out. I just need to balance my sugar levels better.

Hmm 🙂 I just did a mini-wine-tasting, and they definitely affect me the same as commercial wine 🙂 I have a happy buzz right now. The new batches I made this week are: White grape, dry and dessert, hard-apple-cider (wine), a mix of the two (hopefully it’s not terrible), huckleberry, hibiscus, hard-iced-tea (peach with raspberry), and some purple sake that I made with some exotic black rice. Hopefully in a month I will post another digital wine-tasting 🙂

Posted in Folk Wine, Food and Drink, Home Brewing, Science | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mud Time!

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

As promised, I finally have a couple of pictures of my outdoor makeshift studio space… and me at work in it 🙂

I haven’t really had pictures of me at work in the mud before now… sometimes I take pictures of me sitting by my finished green work or tending/unloading a kiln, but these are action photos 😀

I also took a collective photo of what I have been working on for the last couple of weeks… the bone-dry finished works anyway…

I’ve been having a lot of new project ideas since taking a break from the wheel. Maybe it’s good for me to take a few steps out of my comfort zone. It feels like the more I work on clay outside, the more inspired I get to keep going. The feel of the sun is nice (when it’s out) and the birds and the breeze keep me company, along with my iHome 🙂

Off to reality… (work)

Posted in Art, Ceramics, Nature, Photography, Sculpture | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Magic

Posted on May 30, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

Some things do feel like magic, like the first time a friend grabs your hand trying to be more than a friend, or when the wind blows a shower of blossoms to swirl on the breeze. I found magic a few days ago, and now it almost feels like it never happened. I only have a few little marks of proof to show for it, and they will disappear soon too. It was one of the best weekends of my life, even though I didn’t  hardly leave the house or do anything spectacular. A long time friend came to visit, but things were different this time. It was like spending time with someone I never knew before– my world was almost turned upside down, so to speak. I told him that I didn’t want to be in a serious relationship right now, but that still didn’t ruin the mood. I guess guys can deal with that alright … but he did say that he wants to come visit again soon. He said that he is somehow more attracted to me now than he was before (I shared some new information with him, but I didn’t think it would make that kind of difference).

Now the magic escape is over and it’s back to work and life for me. The workshop is coming up so fast that I don’t feel ready for it. I didn’t get much claywork made, I have only almost finished one herbarium sculpture, and I have no idea what to expect of the place where I will be staying. I just got another email reminder about the workshop. It seems like it is jumping out to scare me– yes, I am excited for it, but now that it’s here I don’t feel quite ready.

Posted in Art, Daydreaming, Deep Thought, Nature, Photography | Leave a comment

Cookies for Breakfast

Posted on May 27, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

The best days start with having cookies and coffee for breakfast 🙂 Today will be one of those good days. Magic is definitely in the air… or at least the essence of it. Today will hopefully breath some life and energy back into me. A few days ago I felt nearly dead inside. I haven’t been able to make pots outside for about a week now, and I haven’t felt motivated to keep up with sculpting for the herbarium (I did finish a tulip last night, but I need some tough glue to put it together with. The petals are really fragile and they won’t stay connected to the stem– I had to “fire” them separately). The point is, the tulip seems mediocre as far as my other sculptures have been. My family was impressed with it, and my dad couldn’t tell the difference between the petals I made and the real thing, but if I can’t put it together successfully it will be a failure.

I made some dark porter malt the other day, and yesterday I decided to brew a batch of porter with a hint of orange flavor. It smelled delicious while I was making it, but hopefully it’s not too bitter. I might have to balance it with a lighter malt if it doesn’t work out. It smelled a lot like coffee, with toasty after-notes. The orange blended well with the toastiness of it. The first time I tried porter, I didn’t quite know what to think of it. It came across as a little bitter, but I liked it more and more as I kept drinking (and not because of the alcohol taking effect, because I only had one glass). It was dark and chocolaty and mysterious.

The weather is crazy here. It has been snowing on and off for the last 3 days. I am sick of it being so cold… we have been keeping heaters on all over in the house. The weather forecast changes every few hours… I looked at it on Friday and it told me that it would only be partly cloudy today and warming up, and yesterday it forecasted snow for today. Unfortunately, the weather doesn’t lie about snow. I did get a couple of nice pictures of the yard before the snow 🙂

This is the flowering crab apple tree 🙂 every time it’s in bloom, we expect drastic weather– rain, hail, snow, and lots of wind. It never fails.

Posted in Daydreaming, Food and Drink, Nature, Photography | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rainy Day Cocktail

Posted on May 26, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

Image

Here’s a nice cocktail I thought I should share that makes any rainy day brighter:

First, coat the rim of the glass with aromatic bitters, then dip the rim in evaporated cane juice sugar, then–

 1. 3 ice cubes

2. 3 oz sweet sake (some that I made, and it’s only slightly alcoholic)

3. 3 small slices of fresh or frozen mango

4. A dash of aromatic bitters

5. 3 more ice cubes

6. Cover ice cubes and mango slices with huckleberry juice (or blueberry) I added a little more sake to balance the sweetness of the huckleberry juice

7. Grapefruit peel and plum blossom for garnish

Enjoy!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment