Mary Richmond Design

Making, Not Breaking, the Mold....

For those of you who know me, remember the ornament debacle of last year? The local business that called me at the last moment and needed 300 custom ceramic ornaments.....like that day?! They're back! At least I knew they were coming this year but once again we are down to the wire....(refer back to the post about people not answering phones and emails...)

Anyway, I did learn a lot from last year and this year have made more than one mold and better molds as well.

They are still drying but should be ready to fire today and I should be ready to go into production tomorrow!

A Wonderful Raku Day

I've been fiddling around making some ceramic pendants and beads and today I finally got a chance to Raku fire them with my friend, Diane Heart. I love the way they came out!

Here they are with the glaze brushed on them.

Here's the first group that came out of the kiln. They've just had the soot washed off them.

I made some buttons, too, which you can see here.

This picture doesn't do anywhere near justice to the incredible beads that came out of these firings today. I will be selling these as supplies on Etsy very soon.

Just a few of Diane Heart's wonderful pots.

The weather was perfect, the company was fabulous and it was just a great day.

Dan Finnegan Workshop on Cape Cod

 

Every year the Cape Cod Potters hosts several workshops, bringing in well known and respected potters from around the country, and sometimes from around the world, to give workshops. I have been a member of this group for almost 30 years and can't say enough positive things about it. It's a loosely organized cooperative of people working in clay, mostly potters, who order supplies together, put out a yearly map and guide to studios and galleries, offer workshops and raise money for various causes through an annual Soup Bowls for Hunger event and an annual seconds sale.

 

As a tile maker and artist I am not a potter. I don't throw on the wheel or make my own clay or glaze. I use few of the techniques workshops concentrate on. And I still learn a whole lot of good stuff. Mostly I am intrigued by the lives these artists and potters have made for themselves. I find myself following the threads of their story to see how and why they have developed the way they have. If I have learned any one thing from all the workshops I've attended it is that successful artists remain true to themselves and persist in doing what they love, no matter what the obstacles.

 

This weekend Dan Finnegan gave a 2 day workshop here on the Cape and about 40 people attended. Dan began his professional life as an apprentice at Winchcombe Pottery in England and he shared many of his stories of his time there with Ray Finch and others with great respect and appreciation. He described his own studio and his own way of working and while at the workshop he demonstrated his techniques and methods of throwing and altering wheel thrown pieces.

One of the things that fascinates me about people who have been working at a craft or art technique for a long time is the way they develop little quirks and fascinations that begin to inform their work with a very specific and recognizable personality.

You can learn more about Dan Finnegan and his work and read his blog here.

Tomorrow I'll write more about what I took home from this. Do you get inspiration from workshops?

Clay Stamps for Marking Pottery, Tiles, Etc.

Here are my finished stamps. I bisque fired them last night. I'm hoping to test them before sending them off so will post some more pictures when I have them.

Perfect Raku Day

For the last few weeks I have marked a day on my calendar to go do a Raku firing with my friend, Diane Heart of Diane Heart Pottery in Brewster. One day we even got so far as to get everything glazed and ready to go into the kiln but when we went out to the kiln enclosure it was just too windy. If you are wondering why wind would matter just think fire and how quickly wind can move it along....

Today dawned bright and sunny and the forecast was for a mild day with little wind until afternoon so we decided to go for it.

Diane and I discovered a few years ago that we are very compatible doing raku firings for my tiles don't take up a lot of shelf space and her vessels fill out the firing for my tiles. We get an amazing number of pieces out of each firing. This shot is of the kiln loaded up with glazed pieces just before the cover was put on.

Raku is an ancient form of firing pottery and is very dynamic. It is somewhat predictable but the real fun is in the unpredictable results that sometimes conspire and mingle and create a truly memorable piece.

We got our share of wonderful pieces today. We got a few duds, too, but for the most part it was an incredibly productive and fun day. Not only did we get some great work out of the day but had a chance to catch up with each other and hang out in the sun on the first really nice day we've been able to get outside and enjoy.

This is one of my favorite pieces from today. I posted a lot of photos from the day over on my Flickr site, including pictures of work we made and pictures documenting the process. You can see the photos by clicking here.

Sometimes Things Just Happen

Sometimes things just happen....or Mercury goes retrograde...or....whatever....

If you've been reading here the last few days you know I've been working almost around the clock getting these little sculptures done. Because of the rush I dried them in an open kiln for about 15 hours and they felt totally dry and ready to go.

Last night I painted them with underglaze and put several coats of clear glaze on them before putting them back in the kiln. I brought the kiln up to temperature really, really slowly. I left the lid open until the last switch was thrown.

I held my breath, crossed my fingers, hoped and said a little ditty for the kiln goddess...

and when I got up this morning I opened the kiln and found....

these....

Two of the sculptures came through the firing fine but these two....well, not so much.

I emailed the man who ordered them, complete with the sad picture attached and he decided to come get them all anyway. We agreed I would redo the two...unfortunate ones but he wanted his wife to see them all. I glued as many pieces back on their little heads as I could but they were still very sad looking.

I'm not really sure why two blew their tops and the other two did not. The dog was done several days after the others and should have been the one to explode first, if any were going to do so. It was the top layer of clay that blew off so there must have been air in there....but I'm pretty sure there was air in the other one, too. I fire a lot of kids stuff made with this clay and can usually fire even the funniest, most suspect pieces without incident but well, this time I didn't get away with it.

Too bad, they came out pretty well after all that. This time, we'll allow plenty of drying time....and I worry that they'll lose some of the spontaneity that happened as I worked to meet the deadline. Time will tell!

Studio Projects, Kiln firing and Grammy's

Busy weekend in the studio. I had a few pet ornaments and tiles to do for people who wanted them as Valentine's gifts, such as these. I think my total contribution for the MSPCA through the sale of these is now at about $1400.

This little spaniel apparently always has this blue ball in its mouth and the owners wanted it painted this way. Dogs are so funny with the things they do. My dog likes to growl when she walks around with her treat ball in her mouth. It's a "I think you should play with me right now," sort of growl and she's pretty funny about it.

I finished the little portrait heads I've been working on. I am really not a portrait artist and don't think these look exactly like the kids but I think they each have enough of an essence to be ok. I did the family dog, too.

In order to have these ready to be glazed today I had to dry them out in a warm kiln last night, which was a bit stressful. We watched the Grammy Awards while I was going back and forth to the studio to check on their progress. The pieces are so uneven and undoubtedly full of air bubbles that I was nervous one or more might blow up, as ceramic pieces can do if they are fired too quickly.

I'm a Dixie Chick fan and bought this latest CD the day it came out so had a great time watching them win their awards. I'm not big on award shows but the Grammy's are always fun because of all the music performances. By the time the show was over, the pieces were pretty dry and I left them with the timer set for another 2 hours before I went to bed. This morning they are intact and dry and ready to be glazed and fired. Hopefully all will go well and they will be ready for delivery tomorrow. I am posting more pictures of the individual pieces over on Flickr.

Watercolors, Hand painted Glasses and Clay Portraits all in a Day's Work

Busy day in the studio today. I warmed up with this quick watercolor study in my new moleskine watercolor sketchbook. I am thinking I'll make it a book of bird heads or just birds. I'll see how it develops. I've always liked working in series and I love making and putting together books so we'll see how this goes.

I've been thinking of adding some hand painted glasses, dishes and mugs to my repertoire and today I bought and painted these flutes and wine glasses. I am also looking at some bisque ware to hand paint. There's a part of me that thinks I should make the pottery I paint but I am not a potter. I make tiles, it's true, but I'm really not interested in making plates, cups, bowls, etc. I love to paint and decorate and so why not paint and decorate some dishwares?

I am working on some small clay sculptures of a family. The work must be done quickly as they are to be gifts for Valentine's Day. (A man is having the sculptures done of his 3 kids for his wife for a gift--how sweet is that?) I told him I'd need front, side and back views of the kids so he posed them all for me. The pictures are great and they feel like wonderful kids. They are fun to be working on. I hope to finish them tomorrow and have them ready to be fired on Sunday. Then I'll paint and glaze them to be refired and ready for delivery on Tuesday. Nothing like a rush job to keep the juices flowing. Just so you don't think I'm a wicked procrastinator, I got the working photos yesterday afternoon....

This one came together quite quickly. I'm not working on the real likeness quite yet, just trying to get the bigger shapes right. I told him I am not really a sculptor or a portrait artist and he just wants them to be fun. I, of course, want them to be as good as I can get them.

I'll post more pictures as I go.

Little Whimsies

Little Whimsies are back in stock at my shop in Mashpee Commons.

Each is hand made of clay, bisque fired, glazed with underglazes and fired again. There are lots of little birds that aren't in this picture.

It's been a busy week and right now I am catching up on painting all the pet ornaments on order. Some are in the kiln tonight and those ordered from far away will be mailed out tomorrow morning.

I have at least another full day of painting ornaments and with all the orders coming in this afternoon I may have at least one more next week. This is great news for the MSPCA! I will post the final pictures and the amount of money raised in the next week.

I will continue to take orders but cannot promise delivery by Christmas as of tomorrow.

Latest Pet Ornaments to Benefit MSPCA

These are the latest pet ornaments painted, packaged and ready to go....I'm running a little behind but hope to catch up with the orders on hand by the weekend. I haven't got a definite count but I think I've raised over $500 so far for the MSPCA.

I glazed some of these white heart ornaments and packaged them for sale in my shop, too. I will post them on  my Etsy Shop tomorrow.

Remember the little clay owls, birds, mice and cats? These white ones were an experiment. Usually I paint them with naturalistic colors and leave them with a matte finish. I like the way these came out, though, and they are a little different. They will be for sale in my shop as well as my Etsy Shop tomorrow.