Mornings with the Ladies Of the Mud

Wednesdays are my "mornings with the ladies of the mud".

During 2007, I started my odyssey in the realm of pottery by walking into a local community studio and buying a bag of clay. Miss Amber was in charge of the studio at that point. She is a lovely person, a wonderfully patient teacher, and was a tremendous source of information as I began my adventure into clay.

Along with Miss Amber there were Mary, Mary, Mary, Barbara and Trixie, as well as many other interesting and talented hobby artists who came in and out of the studio.

The studio was a wonderful refuge for me and I continually looked forward to going and being with the "Ladies of the Mud".

Well times have moved on and several of the ladies have also gone on to other adventures including new babies, new travels, and new hobbies.

True to form, I was probably the most rambunctious of the crew and always pushed that envelop! But everyone was so patient with my eccentricities and my need for perfection.

The studio closed for renovations and due to budget problems remained closed for much longer than we thought. It finally reopened and I decided to give being "in charge" a try. So, I was hired and trained by the local jurisdiction and put on the payroll as a part time teacher/employee.

So, as I like to say "the monkey is now running this zoo!"

When the registration level for the independent study group fell and there weren't enough to go forward and pay my "salary", I jumped at the chance to do it for free. So here I am each Wednesday (family obligations permitting) in the basement of the old school gym chit chatting with the Ladies and enjoying sharing our journey in the mud.

Local community studios are a wonderful resource for the public to give the medium a try, and who knows you might even make a few new friends along the way!

Thanks to my Ladies for their patience with me, I really enjoy our Wednesdays. See you all next week!

A New School Year Begins!

The house is silent. #2 child is at her first day of Middle School, complete with Hello Kitty lunchbox and sandals (open toed shoes were never allowed in elementary school) but really it is all about the LOCKER. #1 child is sound asleep after completing his first run in a local community theater production. Incredibly supportive husband is tucked away in a conference room at work.

What's a potter to do?

I was contacted by our local kennel club and asked to join in a show that will take place on Main Street next Friday night. It was lovely to be thought of by the kennel club and I am looking forward to my inaugural show of the fall 2011 season. My summer "work" schedule has certainly lacked due to play practices, day camps, trips to the vet for our 2 new puppies, and trips to visit family. Unfortunately not too much was accomplished. But I am hoping to have a major growth spurt of my own and get back to it.

So, enough of this posting "stuff"...back to the mud!

Before and After...

As promised, I am sharing the before and after photos of a recent paisley textured vase. I must say I was a little disappointed with the final piece. It is very nice, and there is nothing wrong with it, at all, in fact technically, it is one of my best. But, all along the process, I thought the clay was lighter! I glazed it and expected one outcome, and low and behold the finished product was much darker than I had envisioned. The glazes that I chose were subtle, and therefore are not as dramatic as I had thought they would have been on a lighter clay.

It is all a part of the process. I just forgot that I had used this particular clay on this piece. All a part of the ongoing learning curve.

I think with pottery, the curve goes on....and on....and on.....

FACE

PHEW!! It is wicked HOT here. All these triple digits are squashing my creative spirit. I have taken a short recess from the studio while some pieces are drying and while I am waiting...I have started to go back through some old videos and books about pottery. These are things that I bought a little while back.

When I first looked at them, I didn't quite understand what they were saying to me. Now with a few years under my belt the "tips and tricks" are making more sense. I will be giving some of them a try in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, here is a sweet face to keep my place until I get back to blogging again!

In Process

We have been given a little break from the intense heat this summer. So, I took the opportunity to get back into the studio. This is a nice piece that is in process. It is structurally quite sturdy, and I am loving the paisley and daisy impressions. I will post a finished photo in a few weeks.

Storing Up for the Long Winter Ahead

It has been a busy couple of weeks in the studio. I am busy with overseeing a wonderful group of ladies at a local pottery studio one morning a week. I refer to myself as the "monkey who is now running the zoo". We enjoy each other and have been potting together for about 4 years now. So, it is a nice time to be with friends.

I have also been looking to the fall and winter schedule, signing up for shows, and making new and different pieces. My last kiln run was one of my best with only one piece needing to be re-done. It was a re-do to begin with, so seeing as it already had a bad glaze day to begin with, what I added to it didn't really count.

Here is a picture of a new leaf combination that I am quite pleased with how the finished pieces turned out.

Coming soon a special vase that I have been working on. It is at the leather hard stage now, so it is still a ways off from sharing here, but it may turn out to be something quite spectacular.

I will keep you posted!

Friday, June 24th National Take Your Dog to Work Day

There has been a lot of discussion in pottery circles about having a dog, or other pets in the studio with you. There is a great deal of concern about having our fluffy friends spending so much time on the floor of a potentially caustic environment. Although, I do not use leaded materials in my studio, I am sure that just based on the amount of dust and dirt, and general mess that accumulates in my studio in an average week, there is room for concern.

Now with two new puppies in my life, I am readdressing the issue. I spoke with a potter in North Carolina while in her studio, and I was struck by how CLEAN everything was! Now, I am not the cleanest potter in the world, but this was SUPER clean. I asked her how she did it, how did she keep the environment SO CLEAN.

Being that I was not asking about POTTERY secrets, but CLEANING secrets, she "came clean" with ALL the information (you potters out there know EXACTLY what I am talking about here).

She used a wet/dry vacuum and then a steam cleaner for the floors. So wanting to be just like her, I purchased a steam cleaner. I must say, it has done a great job of helping me to keep the studio floors cleaner.

I am not as anxious to have my wonderful pups in there with me now. I have great cross ventilation, an air purifier running 24/7, and I am not steam cleaning my floors in addition to regular vacuuming with a HEPA filter.

So, I feel confident to post, that on Friday, June 24th, my two wonderful puppies came to work with me. Of course they come everyday, but I thought I would be like everyone else, and have them come on the one day that they are socially expected to be there.

Do you bring pets to your studio? How do you prepare the area for them? Do you have concerns about materials in your studio? How do you clean your studio? All comments, suggestions, concerns are welcome!