My dogs have begun eating dried clay off the floor. Probably not good for them and they don't listen to me when I yell at them to knock it off while I'm trying to throw a pot, and then end up completely wrecking it because the little jerks broke my concentration. I guess it's a sign I need to vacuum the damn floor...
Fallon the adorable morkie who will forever have a place in my heart goes home with her adopter tonight. I am seriously going to lose it, she's going to be missed big time at our house. Not just by me, she's really grown on Maybe and Buddy too. Even Taylor took a little extra time to say goodbye to her this morning because she will probably be gone when he gets home from work. I am going to take a break after this one, for real this time.
In other news, I get to display my work at Harmony Park's Shangri La music festival next weekend (my shameless begging paid off). Here is a site you can visit to check it out, should be an awesome time and I think there are still tickets available if anyone's interested. www.wookiefoot.com/festivals/shangri-la/home
In order to get a ton of crap done in a short amount of time I've been glazing like a boss all week. I am going to do one more small bisque fire tomorrow I think. I made all of these cool little cork pots that I really want to bring with. I know they'll sell, the hippies in the park will find "something" or other to store in them. So, I'm going to try firing just 2 shelves instead of 3-4 and then will have to fit in probably 2 glaze firings before next Wed. Pray for me. Next post SHOULD have pictures.
This weekend, heading to Shell Lake with Jen, meeting up with Jos and hopefully Beck. Going to the "Town and Country Days" street dance on Saturday and probably having a bonfire at my parents' house Sunday. Thank God I have Monday off to reinvigorate and probably regurgitate. Hope everyone has a great Labor Day.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
DROG (drunk blog - you heard it here first, people.)
So the bisque firing didn't go so hot. Things I learned:
1. Don't stack bowls upside down on top of sun sculptures because if there are air bubbles in the sun and it explodes, guess what happens to the bowl.
2. All of the big pots I threw hate my guts. Also, they hate life and not exploding.
3. I shouldn't drink and try to throw pots.
That's pretty much it. Also, I'm better at dealing with shit like this now than I was ten years ago when I was first starting out and Mr. Snakeman's ass blew up in the bisque fire (there tends to be an underlying theme here). I don't cry over it anymore because I can detach from my work in a way that I used to not be able to. Not 100%, I still get pretty pissed off, I'm not gonna lie. But it's actually kind of good for me as a designer to learn how to separate myself from the stuff I create. How'm I supposed to learn that if I never have anything blow up on me?
Example: spending 40+ hours on a project that the client ends up hating and makes me start over on from scratch. It gets even better when they give me creative direction that ultimately makes the entire project look like complete shit. And then, when re-presented with said shit, they love it more than anything they've ever seen before, in the history of their eyes. It evokes a very similar emotion to that of when stuff in my kiln blows up - I want to bust out in a Footloose style punch-kick dance around the office that I share with my boss and administrative assistant, knocking over the paper samples and snacks that we keep on a table in the middle of the room. Maybe even a chair or two. As socially acceptable as you think this may sound, it is actually considered "unprofessional" in the business. So instead I bite my tongue, clench my butt cheeks and thank the client for being so amazing and dropping such useful knowledge on me, so as to make the piece of sh.. I mean masterpiece project a winner. But I digress...
On the tastier side of my poo sangwich, I did get about 500+ different shaped beads and pendants out of the firing, a bunch of smaller bowls, cups and vases which I started glazing last night. Luckily, I am super good at glazing while I drink. And drinking while I glaze. Win win.
1. Don't stack bowls upside down on top of sun sculptures because if there are air bubbles in the sun and it explodes, guess what happens to the bowl.
2. All of the big pots I threw hate my guts. Also, they hate life and not exploding.
3. I shouldn't drink and try to throw pots.
That's pretty much it. Also, I'm better at dealing with shit like this now than I was ten years ago when I was first starting out and Mr. Snakeman's ass blew up in the bisque fire (there tends to be an underlying theme here). I don't cry over it anymore because I can detach from my work in a way that I used to not be able to. Not 100%, I still get pretty pissed off, I'm not gonna lie. But it's actually kind of good for me as a designer to learn how to separate myself from the stuff I create. How'm I supposed to learn that if I never have anything blow up on me?
Example: spending 40+ hours on a project that the client ends up hating and makes me start over on from scratch. It gets even better when they give me creative direction that ultimately makes the entire project look like complete shit. And then, when re-presented with said shit, they love it more than anything they've ever seen before, in the history of their eyes. It evokes a very similar emotion to that of when stuff in my kiln blows up - I want to bust out in a Footloose style punch-kick dance around the office that I share with my boss and administrative assistant, knocking over the paper samples and snacks that we keep on a table in the middle of the room. Maybe even a chair or two. As socially acceptable as you think this may sound, it is actually considered "unprofessional" in the business. So instead I bite my tongue, clench my butt cheeks and thank the client for being so amazing and dropping such useful knowledge on me, so as to make the piece of sh.. I mean masterpiece project a winner. But I digress...
On the tastier side of my poo sangwich, I did get about 500+ different shaped beads and pendants out of the firing, a bunch of smaller bowls, cups and vases which I started glazing last night. Luckily, I am super good at glazing while I drink. And drinking while I glaze. Win win.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Dog Crap
Growing up I was mostly a cat person. We had dogs, but they weren't something I wanted to deal with once I was on my own. In college I got a cat named Lucy who I regret adopting to this day. Not because she was a psycho cat (although some of my former roommates may beg to differ) but because I was not ready or equipped to take on the responsibility that comes along with having a pet.
Long story short, I moved into an apartment that didn't allow pets, got busted, fined and had to find somewhere else for Lucy to live. She went to stay with my parents and being that they live out in the country and I never paid to have my cat spayed - it was only a matter of time before the naughty little harlot found herself a barn cat and got knocked up.... and had ELEVEN kittens which were eventually brought to the local humane society, along with Lucy. Talk about being part of the problem rather then the solution.
Volunteering for rescue organizations and the fostering I've been doing is pretty much a direct result of the incredible guilt I have felt through the years for being pretty much the worst pet owner ever when I was young and stupid. One of the first things I wanted to do when we got the house was foster animals and hopefully find pets of our own through doing so. Taylor wanted a dog and I wanted a cat. Enter "Baby" the cockapoo:
Fostering this freaking dog was almost the death of me. Another long story short, I fell in love with her, converted to being a dog person, decided I wanted to adopt her, almost didn't get to, cried like a bitch, did get to, and changed her name to "Maybe". (note the rhyme factor/Arrested Development reference) She is the snuggliest, smartest, cutest, most awesome dog ever - and that is a cold hard fact, not just my opinion.
Then it was time to find Taylor a four-legged companion, enter Buddy the Brittany Spaniel:
Long story short, I moved into an apartment that didn't allow pets, got busted, fined and had to find somewhere else for Lucy to live. She went to stay with my parents and being that they live out in the country and I never paid to have my cat spayed - it was only a matter of time before the naughty little harlot found herself a barn cat and got knocked up.... and had ELEVEN kittens which were eventually brought to the local humane society, along with Lucy. Talk about being part of the problem rather then the solution.
Volunteering for rescue organizations and the fostering I've been doing is pretty much a direct result of the incredible guilt I have felt through the years for being pretty much the worst pet owner ever when I was young and stupid. One of the first things I wanted to do when we got the house was foster animals and hopefully find pets of our own through doing so. Taylor wanted a dog and I wanted a cat. Enter "Baby" the cockapoo:
Then it was time to find Taylor a four-legged companion, enter Buddy the Brittany Spaniel:
This poor guy came to us from another rescue and he was in pretty rough shape. He had just been neutered, had a double ear infection and had one of his upper canines pulled the day before we got him - and he's only 3 years old. We think he was kept in a cage most of his life and chewed on metal, wrecking his teeth. He was pretty skinny and mangy, I didn't really want to keep him but Taylor did and he has since become the second awesomest, cutest, (not smartest), snuggliest dog ever and he is now looking and feeling great.
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| Our happy puppies |
Because I am a complete maniac, I have decided to continue to foster dogs despite the fact that I completely sucked at fostering the first two. Not because I'm a bad foster, but if you look up the word fostering, it distinctly says that you provide a home for a living thing UNTIL they find a permanent home. I did not succeed in this. In the business we call this a "foster failure". Many of my dear ones have expressed their concern about the slippery slope to animal hoarding that I appeared to be on.
Nonetheless, I have successfully fostered two dogs since adopting Buddy and a third that is with us right now will be going home with her adopter next week after she is spayed. Allow me to introduce them all to you. Say hello to our first successful foster, Allison the mutt:
This little nugget was with us for about two weeks, found her a great home. We still keep in touch. She was rescued from a flood in Missouri with her mom and 4 siblings. They were brought to a high kill shelter and Secondhand Hounds rescued them from there. Here is a picture of Allison and her mom at a Secondhand Hounds adoption event:
I'll use this as an opportunity to say that Secondhand Hounds is the best rescue org I have come across and I hope to volunteer with them for a very long time. Someday I will go into more detail about them.
Next came Mr Rusty the yorkie mix. What a character.
A lot of people ask me how I can let them go after bonding with them and having them at my house for so long. I tell them - having three dogs sucks. I don't know why but two is fine, throw that third one in there and it's a freaking mad house. Also, I cry every time I let one go. Some are easier than others.
Example: this is the dog I am fostering right now, Fallon the Morkie:
She is awesome. I love the shit right out of her and I know I'm probably going to be a mess for days after she leaves. Just look at that face!
Fallon came from a puppy mill along with 35 other little babies that would have been auctioned off, had we not taken them in, and probably ended up in other puppy mills to be bred until it killed them. She has been an absolute joy to and if I didn't have Maybe I'm pretty sure I'd have to keep her. I am seriously going to cry when I have to let her go.
It's going to be hard to watch someone drive off with her, but puppies are a lot of work and I really need a break from fostering after she's gone. I'm totally going to take one this time too (as long as SHH doesn't send me any more pictures of cute puppies that need to be rescued on Thursdays after I've been drinking with my neighbor).
Fostering has been an awesome adventure and I'm sure I'll have to rant about puppy mills and how you shouldn't adopt from pet stores at some point on here, but for now I'll just say that this experience has made me feel pretty damn good about myself and I will leave you with a website to share with anyone you know that may be thinking about adopting a pet.
http://secondhandhounds.org/adoptable-animals/
Clay Catch Up
I just did my second bisque firing yesterday, but before I can post pictures of my new stuff I need to play a little catch up. I'll start with a little history on how I got involved with this wonderfully muddy medium and, hopefully before putting myself or anyone else to sleep, I will conclude with the results from my first firing. Here we go!
My relationship with clay began over ten years ago when I was still in highschool. (Some of you will remember Mr. Snakeman...)
Clay and I got to know each other even better during my time as an art major at UW Stout. Jack Daniels and I got to know each other pretty well too, but I digress. While at Stout, I had a fair share of pottery/sculpture classes and got pretty good at both. Before I knew it, I had fallen head over heels in love with clay in general and couldn't keep my my hands off of it. It's been several long years since then and I have missed it dearly. I explored other, cheaper, creative outlets like watercolors and my career as a designer, but nothing else has quite compared to the three dimensional, glorious, endless opportunities that can be found in a block of clay.
Upon buying our house back in April, I found myself with a few extra Benjamins left over after withdrawing our downpayment from my 401K and I immediately began searching craigslist for used kilns and potters wheels. Clay is cheap as hell, the stuff you need to do anything with it - not so much. Thanks to an old friend - who's sister had a wheel she was looking to get rid of on the cheap, and thanks to my husband and his cousin - who did the heavy lifting, I acquired the first half of my new hobby pretty quickly. Not long after that I found a good deal on a used craigslist kiln and thanks to some friends with a truck, I had the two things I needed to start out.
I started sculpting before I even had a kiln. My first two sculptures turned out awesome... until I went to bisque fire them. Two things I learned:
• Make shit that actually fits inside my kiln
• Score better when adhering butt cheeks to human form sculptures as not to embed air bubbles and have a ceramic butt explosion
Here are pictures of them before said lessons so rudely presented themselves
I have since sculpted two smaller suns that I fired yesterday, many people have asked me about them after seeing the above picture, so hopefully they will be a big seller when they make it to the store.
Which brings me to another fun fact, I am lucky enough to have amazing friends that own a gallery/artist co-op in Eau Claire called Tangled up in Hue. These lovely ladies have invited me to display my work at their store. Because of this, my frivolous spending has not only been in support of a hobby, but it's also an investment that might make me a little extra coin every month. I also had the opportunity to work with them and bring stuff from my first firing to a music festival at Harmony Park that they were vending at back in June. Maybe I will get another opportunity to do that again soon! And this is me shamelessly hoping they read this and ask me. (COUGHShangriLaAHEM!) Oh, excuse me ;)
Here are pictures from that weekend:
After the festival they took everything that didn't sell back to the store with them. I have since been making flower pots, small cork topped jars, magnets, more pendants, beads, more suns, glasses and bigger bowls. I have ideas for shadow lanterns, coasters, Christmas ornaments, wedding cake toppers, cork topped flasks, flower vases, mugs... the opportunities are endless.
I bought a website, muddymissy.com - and made a logo:
but I haven't done anything with either yet, just trying to get a bunch of stuff made up for TUIH and then I will start building my own personal selling outlets. My goal is to have it up and running in time for Christmas but I may just resort to etsy.
So there you have it! I'll be glazing all week and will hopefully do another firing by next weekend. Will update pictures when I do.
My relationship with clay began over ten years ago when I was still in highschool. (Some of you will remember Mr. Snakeman...)
 |
| I still have his head... |
Upon buying our house back in April, I found myself with a few extra Benjamins left over after withdrawing our downpayment from my 401K and I immediately began searching craigslist for used kilns and potters wheels. Clay is cheap as hell, the stuff you need to do anything with it - not so much. Thanks to an old friend - who's sister had a wheel she was looking to get rid of on the cheap, and thanks to my husband and his cousin - who did the heavy lifting, I acquired the first half of my new hobby pretty quickly. Not long after that I found a good deal on a used craigslist kiln and thanks to some friends with a truck, I had the two things I needed to start out.
I started sculpting before I even had a kiln. My first two sculptures turned out awesome... until I went to bisque fire them. Two things I learned:
• Make shit that actually fits inside my kiln
• Score better when adhering butt cheeks to human form sculptures as not to embed air bubbles and have a ceramic butt explosion
Here are pictures of them before said lessons so rudely presented themselves
I have since sculpted two smaller suns that I fired yesterday, many people have asked me about them after seeing the above picture, so hopefully they will be a big seller when they make it to the store.
Which brings me to another fun fact, I am lucky enough to have amazing friends that own a gallery/artist co-op in Eau Claire called Tangled up in Hue. These lovely ladies have invited me to display my work at their store. Because of this, my frivolous spending has not only been in support of a hobby, but it's also an investment that might make me a little extra coin every month. I also had the opportunity to work with them and bring stuff from my first firing to a music festival at Harmony Park that they were vending at back in June. Maybe I will get another opportunity to do that again soon! And this is me shamelessly hoping they read this and ask me. (COUGHShangriLaAHEM!) Oh, excuse me ;)
Here are pictures from that weekend:
 | ||
| Part of the extensive Tangled Up In Hue vendors booth |
 | ||
| Some of the pendants I made, on hemp twine |
 |
| My little display area. I only had jewelry and a few bowls from the first firing, but I sold some of both! |
After the festival they took everything that didn't sell back to the store with them. I have since been making flower pots, small cork topped jars, magnets, more pendants, beads, more suns, glasses and bigger bowls. I have ideas for shadow lanterns, coasters, Christmas ornaments, wedding cake toppers, cork topped flasks, flower vases, mugs... the opportunities are endless.
I bought a website, muddymissy.com - and made a logo:
but I haven't done anything with either yet, just trying to get a bunch of stuff made up for TUIH and then I will start building my own personal selling outlets. My goal is to have it up and running in time for Christmas but I may just resort to etsy.
So there you have it! I'll be glazing all week and will hopefully do another firing by next weekend. Will update pictures when I do.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
I'm conforming...
...to blog society. Mostly because I've started doing two things I really enjoy: claywork and dog fostering. I want to document these adventures so that I can look back for reference and nostalgic purposes, as I hopefully grow in both. In deciding to do so I thought, "Why not subject the general public to these ramblings as well?" I couldn't think of more than 5 good reasons not to, and being one to never end on an odd number - here it is! ...The first entry to my series of rants, pictures and whatnots that deal with, but are not limited to, the crap I make out of clay and the furry friends who's crap I have to pick up. Enjoy!
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