Soda Firing and Thunder

Posted on May 26, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

 

 

This was a bottle that I soda-fired earlier in the semester– not realizing just how much residual soda there was in the kiln, I figured that a couple more pounds couldn’t hurt… and this is just one of the extreme examples of the runny glazed pots that came out of that firing. I only applied glaze to the neck of this bottle, but it fell down like an aquamarine ice curtain. The black slip I use also reacts strangely with the soda atmosphere– making these caustic neon green dustings on top of the slip. I’m pretty sure it’s not a food-safe reaction, so I think I’ll stick to my salt firings instead 🙂

I plan on making some new pots today, but I’ve got to hurry to beat the rain. I can already see the clouds, and the forecast calls for lightning. We haven’t had decent weather since Monday. I have a friend coming to visit from out of town tomorrow, and I’m getting more excited the more I think about it. I haven’t seen him in person in over a year. I didn’t make many good friends in high school, but he was one worth keeping. If I finish my planned projects today, I will try harder to post a photo of them 🙂

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Saffron

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

Had a late night last night. The movie was alright (Dark Shadows) but not Tim Burton’s best. It feels like he was trying to conform with the current vampire/werewolf culture. Dinner was delicious, but Olive Garden doesn’t do less than best 🙂 I had the Venetian apricot chicken… very sweet, but it turns out that it was exactly what I was in the mood for (I didn’t know it until I tasted the chicken itself). The movie was memorable, and dinner was memorable, but I feel bad to say that that guy wasn’t so much…

On a different note, I really wish the weather would clear up and start being sunny again like it was before. I need to work on pots and other outdoor projects. Yes, yes, I know I should just sculpt some flowers already and be responsible, but it has to come to me. I can’t just force myself to sculpt or it usually turns out un-impressive. It seems like a crocus is appropriate for spring 🙂

After all, looking through blogs, most people just see the photos 😉

 

I tested my sake last night. It’s still too sweet and needs to ferment some more… I might start trying a different kind of yeast for it. I’m getting some better yeast on Monday, we’ll see how that goes. It turns out that I can order it really cheap through the place where I work. The sake does taste like sake 🙂 I guess that’s good news.

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Time, Lust, and Love

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

If the sun ever shined, you would reach inside my mind,

But nobody seemed to warn you of what you might find.

A dance, a song, a memory of lies,

Music, madness, you see love in my eyes.

Love? Not me, Lust is all I know.

Love? Not you, I’ve long since let you go.

Snow rushing in, the sun it never shows,

Time running out. Freedom, it still flows.

The chase is here to haunt me, discover all my lies.

If you think you want me, look straight through my eyes.

Lust? Not you, love is all you know,

Lust for me, love will let you go.

Time is that melody without a note to show,

Love is still alive where lust no longer flows.

Time, that tricky thing, it has us all in ties–

Strangling our freedom, taking light out of our eyes.

I just thought I would start with some poetry today. I haven’t written anything in a while, but it’s a good way to get honest feelings out of the deepest part of me. When I write poetry, I just sort of let thoughts and feelings come out, and then I try to make them rhyme. The photo is from last summer when I went up to Crystal Lake, the most beautiful place close to where I live. Every summer I have to wait until July before the snow is melted enough to drive up there, but I have to go directly after the snow leaves or the waterfalls won’t be running. It’s all about timing.

I have been distracted from clay for the last few days. I think my mind has turned inward to focus more on self-awareness rather than actually sit down and worry about herbarium sculpture or making money or clay work. It is snowing today, which puts a halt to clay work anyway since I need a decent temperature to work outside in. Hopefully it will be back to summer in a couple of days. The snow isn’t sticking yet, but it’s only 9:30 am. Anyway, I do have a few ideas I would like to work on outside but the weather doesn’t permit. That means that I have to find things indoors to keep me happily busy. I tested my second batch of beer yesterday– one made with rice starch and toasted wheat starch (it was supposed to be wheat malt, but the wheat refused to sprout). I added sugar to the batch out of necessity, but I would really like to try doing it the right way when I can. It did turn out successful all the same… it tastes alright (it will be better with aging) and gives a light buzz after a bottle. Of course, I am a tiny person 😉 I am still brainstorming about how to set up a good photo, maybe like a cool Captain Morgan stance– a foot on top of a brewing bucket or big pan, one hand grabbing a big amber gallon jug, and a stein or clear bottle of beer in the other hand 🙂 Oh, and I will be wearing a red bandana and cut-off shorts… and maybe a roughed up wife-beater tank top… 😀 I have it all planned out, but I don’t want to do it until I successfully make it the right way using only malt as the malt with no sugar or molasses added. Then I will have to come up with a name for my brewery 🙂 I am full of ideas when I’m bored and stuck inside…

I haven’t made anything artistic since Monday when I finished a couple of clay projects. I did take some random photos outside that seemed like they would turn out nice, but I’ve been too lazy to upload and process them. Our crabapple tree is in full blossom (so of course, by default, it must snow.) so I wanted to capture it before the petals fell. I do want to get back to creating cool stuff, but the cold weather is highly unmotivational for me. I didn’t even exercise this morning… :/

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Day of Reflection

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

Hmm… chocolate chip cookies, french-pressed peaberry coffee, and rain out the window… I don’t know what to think about the rain. I was wishing for it a few days ago, but now all I can think about is when the rain will stop so I can go work on my new ideas. Besides, I’m pretty sure it will turn into snow today. I had yesterday off, but it’s back to the grindstone today. Most days I don’t mind, but I liked working there better when I was out in the greenhouse.

I am looking forward to the arnica harvest, but it might come at the same time when I need to leave for the workshop (it’s in 11 days 🙂 ). For now, I am stuck inside sweeping floors, but maybe I can make muffins today if my boss hasn’t already.

Last night I was thinking about something. I was opening myself up to psychological possibilities, and I decided that I watch too much TV. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but this is what I was thinking about: I watch TV, my little brother plays video games for about 16 hours a day, and my dad is always running around doing projects or fussing about my projects being too spread out and he has the den all wrecked to pieces and covered in plastic– because it comes down to the fact that people can’t just sit and be content thinking. I know I’m not. I have a compulsive need to feel productive and feel like I am making good use of my time. It makes it hard to relax or sit around much without feeling guilty. People feel the need to be constantly entertained or busy, because the thought of sitting alone without distraction and just thinking is absurd in the modern world. Self-awareness becomes lost in the everyday distractions, so nobody has to think deeper than the surface. I feel like I need to disconnect myself from those distractions and just go to the woods to sit and think without being interrupted. Also, at home I have been trying to change my physical surroundings to see what happens when I do. I moved my bed back to the upstairs bedroom, turned my downstairs room into more of a sound studio (keyboard, clarinet, 2 amps, and various guitars). I also moved another bookshelf into the room for my pots to give them breathing room, and I decided to donate/throw away at least 10 garbage bags worth of junk that was taking up space. I decided that there are things that I haven’t even touched in years that hold no more sentimental value, and getting rid of useless material things is a great feeling. I even donated a big bean bag chair. I think freeing up space is a move in the right direction toward moving forward and eliminating distraction. It was a little overwhelming, and it took me at least 4 hours to get all of that done. Now I can think about other things, like making new clay work and perfecting my home brew. It’s coming along nicely– the first small batch is almost gone, but I have another one brewing and I bought a bag of barley the other day of which a small portion is busy sprouting as I type. It’s a nice project to keep me busy (because I’m not as advanced as philosophers who could eliminate all distractions to be more aware of themselves) during the summer. I guess I may as well keep posting herbarium sculpture photos… it might help to motivate my thinking towards making a few more of them.

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Clouds in the sky, but no shells on the seashore.

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

I always have these dreams that I am walking down a beach looking for seashells, but I never find any. The most I ever find are tiny fragments and crumbs of freshwater shells, even if in my dream I am standing on the seashore. Last night my dream took place by a large lagoon. It was seawater, but the shore was muddy and grassy. The sand was dirty, speckled with organic matter and half made out of mud. It seemed more like a lake than the ocean. I think people were coming after me, but I don’t remember why. It wasn’t a chase. They were just looking for me. I didn’t even find shell fragments in the dream. I don’t know what it means, but I’ve decided that it is my recurring dream that I didn’t think I had.

 

I have the day off from work today, but she didn’t give me enough notice to plan anything (she just told me yesterday) and the weather isn’t quite what I hoped it would be. If it wasn’t so cold outside, I planned on working on some big soft slab projects. I guess I could take a collective photo of what I’ve been making so far since those bottles… but I don’t really know what to do today. I wish it was sunnier… but maybe I will just have to go for a bike ride or a hike in the rain. I have an idea of a good hiking spot where I’ve been meaning to go, but I’m trying to decide whether it would be the best idea or if it might turn wicked out there. When it rains here, we usually get thunder and lightning (fun to watch out the window, not so fun to be in the middle of while standing on a mountain top).

I made chocolate chip cookies last night 🙂 My dad gobbled up half a plate in about 5 minutes… but luckily I have a few left. Maybe I could do some more baking today. I bought a big bag of whole barley yesterday– a lot bigger than I planned on. It’s one hundred pounds, and I decided the best way to get it out of my trunk to store it is to scoop it into smaller containers straight from my trunk 🙂 I soaked some of it yesterday so I can start a new batch of malt once it’s sprouted. I’m thinking of a nice porter ale this time… full flavored 🙂

It’s days like these where I miss my old studio, because then the weather wouldn’t matter so much. I could just burn some incense and lay some slabs out right on the smooth concrete floor. I tried having a studio last summer with a wheel and a home-made wedging table (I didn’t even think about using the floor back then, but I was new at basically everything) and a million shelves, but since my wheel wasn’t very functional and I wasn’t inclined toward hand-building then, I didn’t have much motivation to keep working in clay.

 

I think what I miss most about the building is the gallery space I had up front 🙂 It was kind of shabby, but nice enough to just set a few things out on display.

Anyway, I do like working outside just hand-building stuff when the sun is out. I just don’t know how often I will get that chance in the next few days. I mean, last summer I had to pack things up and drive down to my building and I would constantly forget things. Also, it’s nice having all of the comforts of home at my fingertips, not to mention I save some gas money.

The sky looks so ominous right now, I don’t know what to expect. Maybe it will have to be a cleaning-catch-up day. — Ah HAH! Just got my check in the mail from the spring ceramic sale 🙂 It took about a month to get here… but I’m grateful all the same.

Here is another sculpture that I did for the herbarium 🙂 a peach:

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Branching Out

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

It’s May 21st. That means that there are only 13 days until I go back to campus for the workshop… yay! Yeah, I’m a little stoked. I made yesterday a full studio day. I stayed outside and worked on new projects until my hands were numb from the cold after the sun set. I want to be able to be that motivated and dedicated every day. The thing about going to work is that it usually wears me out enough to make me lazy by the time I get home. It’s definitely no desk job. I don’t know if I already mentioned it, but I got my apartment! I’m so glad I don’t have to worry about it until August (when I move in 🙂 ). Anyway, I’ve had some great ideas ceramics wise. I decided that I should really expand my horizons and try completely new forms than I’ve ever made before since I’m hand-building and I know how to decorate my work successfully now. I didn’t notice the eclipse yesterday, even though I was sitting outside when it happened.

I should work on new herbarium sculptures, but I can’t get inspired without a real life specimen or a really good close-up photo of what I want to sculpt. It does have to be accurately realistic… so finding a decent reference is mandatory. Here is a vanilla orchid that I sculpted a while ago…

So I’ve been thinking lately, and I decided that I need to rely a lot less on movies and tv shows for my entertainment. I don’t watch programmed TV or listen to the radio much, so I am already pretty disconnected from societal distractions, but I do watch a lot of show series. I need to push myself to listen to more music and spend my free time at night playing guitar or doing something more productive. Clear out here in the middle of nowhere, there aren’t very many other young people for me to spend time with, so I need to find projects and things to keep me busy. It’s not that I’m a total recluse… it’s just that everything closes at 8:00pm or sooner around here and I don’t know other people my age around here. I’ve been considering painting, but I would need the perfect surface before I acted on it… oh, and the perfect idea. I like painting on wood. Last summer, I did a couple of small paintings on wooden shingles and framed them with tree branches. If I did something like that again, I would want to use a giant piece of wood and paint something magnificent. I’ve never done a giant painting before. Once, I painted a mural on a wall as a sort of assignment, but I was basically just laying down color inside lines that someone else drew. It wasn’t my idea, and honestly it was a little cheesy. I can imagine myself getting a giant sheet of plywood or particle board or something along those lines and just painting mountains with a sunset or and ocean scene with super-detailed palm trees. OR I could paint a giant detail of a flower– not like Georgia O’Keefe… it would be more realistic and scientific. I would try to paint every single hair and gland and water droplet. Anyway, here is an example of my branch-framed wooden paintings from last summer:

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Summer Pots

Posted on May 20, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

Hey there. I’m back…  I did hand build yesterday, just like I said I might. I also taste-tested my first successful batch of beer 🙂 aside from being slightly tangy, it was perfect. Full-bodied toasty dark flavor, a light buzz, and no bad aftertaste. It was just a taste test though, and I am still thinking about how I want to clarify my brew… so I didn’t take the photo yet. My hand built projects turned out rather successful yesterday…

So, I came up with some new ideas to work on today based on how the bottles turned out… I really like the front and center form, and I want to make more of those with more texture. Also, I sketched out a few little pouring vessels, like oil cans or soy sauce pourers… not my usual ideas like cream pitchers and teapots. I want to try a new direction this summer. I want to move away from being so strictly functional and try making my work more animated. I do love the idea of functionality, but I am going to try to make it less prevalent in my work. Yes, I like to make vessels that are capable of holding contents rather than moving towards strictly sculptural work, but I want to see how far I can push myself on that line. Who knows, maybe I won’t get far… 😀  Anyway, I am having issues with motivation and self-discipline when it comes to acting on my ideas and plans lately. I think it must have something to do with my current environment, because back on campus when I am living on my own and going to the studio daily I am a woman of action. Here, I just feel lazy and unmotivated and maybe a little irritated. Being irritated makes it harder to see the big picture. I shouldn’t feel so irritated because I have my freedom, but somehow it doesn’t feel that way.

I took photos of my pots before the end of the semester, but some of them didn’t turn out quite how I wanted them to… but I still love the photos enough that I want to share them somewhere 🙂

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Progress No Progress

Posted on May 19, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

It’s Saturday morning and the sun is shining and the birds are singing out the window… but I do still have to go to work today. It’s not all bad because I will only have to work until 2:00pm, but it still makes it hard to plan a fun day if I can’t start until then. I really want to go for a super long bike ride, but both of the bikes that I own aren’t really made for long distance. One of them is a giant “cruiser”, and it’s all about looks. If I had known that when I got it, I probably would have traded it in for a decent light-weight bike immediately. My other bike is a tiny bike with kick brakes and no gear shifts (which I love about it) but the circumference of the wheels makes it impossible to go very fast. I use it for riding relatively fast on forest trails with low hanging branches and sharp turns. I need a long distance bike so I can just take off for an entire day riding 30 miles to who knows where. I guess I could still try some sort of adventure today. My little bike is great for going uphill… maybe I will try riding up the canyon (it’s 7 miles, all uphill and rather steep). I used to do that at least twice every summer.

Today is different than most days. I chose to drink out of a white manufactured mug instead of one of my own creations. I think it’s a sign that I need to make some lighter-colored mugs or something… or maybe I just need a change. I did bring materials from the studio back with me the other day. Maybe I can go on a bike ride and then work on a few new ideas I had… or vice-versa. I thought of making some tall bottles with a lot of texture on the surface… maybe I will need to make some stamps or find a textured paddle. I thought about using different shoes as texture paddles 🙂 I might still try that idea out. I brought my slips back, so I can make red and white work and I can make my salt-clay work with black and white slips… I haven’t done much hand-building since last semester.

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As far as the home-brewing goes, I haven’t made much progress on the beer because my wheat refuses to sprout. I need to buy a different kind, and I was thinking of getting barley to try it the normal way (although I really do love wheat beer). Until my wheat decides to sprout or I buy barley, I was thinking of making an alternative kind of beer… using molasses (like a cane beer) for the malt and then using the cooking water steamed rice (concentrated with the rice starch) as the starch, and maybe hopping it with something like dandelion root or just the smallest amount of hops. Either that, or I could use something that isn’t necessarily bitter but will still offset the sweetness. Anyway, once I brew the perfect glass of beer, I will definitely post a beautiful photo of me drinking it 😉

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Flower Child

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

There are some days when I wonder what it would be like if I were raised in a booming city like New York or even San Fran. Maybe I would be a completely different person… but as I am now, I was born in the country and grew up on farms and in forests. Sure, I could decide to try to change or move myself to a big city, but I feel drawn to the shelter of the forest trees. The term “flower child” still seems to follow me around today. I don’t mind. I fit the nickname pretty well… and I’m not ashamed. I work at a health food store/ botanical lab, I am a ceramic art major at a university, I make my own everything, drink a lot of tea, and I am completely fascinated by the natural world. It’s funny that people feel the need to put a name to everything, but I guess sometimes the glove fits.

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This summer is going to be long, but I hope it will be better than last summer was. The odds are more in my favor this year… I’ve got a couple of friends to spend time with (although there is some driving involved) and I am working at the job I love. Plus, there is a workshop back on campus in a couple of weeks that I plan on going to. I feel like the summers are getting longer because I’m not enjoying them as much as I did when I was a kid. Now it’s all about making money for school and daydreaming of the day when I will be able to be a full-time studio potter. Oh, and it’s also about self-marketing. I need to get my pots into some shows and gift shops and things… I already have the perfect idea, but I haven’t had a day off to go and do it. I’ve already made a considerable amount of money by selling work this year, but I want to expand my customer base just a little further… to Jackson! Why not? I have the connections. Anyway, gotta go 😉

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Starting Fresh

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Kira Call Ceramics

The best way to begin anything is by starting fresh. I want to start this summer fresh– I arm trying to be open about who I am to my friends and family, and I don’t want to keep so many secrets anymore. My family is very religious, and I respect that. I respect my parents and I would never want to hurt their feelings, but when my dad asked me if I drink, I just told him the plain and honest truth. He freaked out and lectured at first, but he seems alright with it now… it was good to open up about it. I feel better now. I am starting fresh.

That’s not the only fresh thing in my life… I made some delicious fresh stir fry for dinner with all fresh vegetables. It feels good to have fresh food available. Also, I have fresh ideas to work on in clay. I think I want to make some bigger coil vases, and then I want to carve my trees deep into the surface. I still don’t have my white slip here, but I might get it and bring it here in the next couple of days. I think I am going to try to create a home studio to the best of my abilities this summer– minus a functional wheel. I could still go get my clunky old $40 kickwheel, but it causes more frustration than it helps. Anyway, I just had the thought “why not bring my slips and my salt firing clay here along with a few hand-building tools?” so I just might.

Anyway, enough for tonight. More tomorrow.

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