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yappystudent

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Posts posted by yappystudent

  1. 5 hours ago, Gabby said:

    I don't know if you offered this speculation is jest.

    No I offered it in complete sincerity. 

    5 hours ago, Gabby said:

    Those interested in an area often ask those already competent in an area what are the best or viable possible routes to gaining competency.

    Clearly my personal experiences with teachers has been pretty lousy (although MS. Kim at CR was a rare exception <3) -as I've often described in my posts my usual experience when I asked a question in class was to be ignored or worse yet, quickly understood that I already knew more than the teacher thanks to self-study. My current teacher is now on vacation for two weeks AFTER class has started...rather than fill the page with useless, unwanted observations let's just say the trend continues. When do I get my money's worth?  What's the point of asking them anything? Like before I'm working on my own stuff, marking time because I have to take the beginner's class and can't afford the 'real' classes. Also, it's a prerequisite so we don't 'damage' the studio. That said, someone just put the large very much still wet vase I was working on in the kiln and fired it up. They had to dig it out from behind all my other work where I tried to hide it. Is this the level of competency I'm aspiring to? They must know something I don't....also somebody stole the silly little teacup pinchpots we were forced to spend the first class making, just to put the cherry on the cake. Fortunately tea is gross, I'm just wondering what else of my work will go missing or get blown up. 

    5 hours ago, Gabby said:

    I have heard actually quite heated discussion of this outside of the arts, with the most strident, typically, those whose education in a subject was not classroom-based.  I have heard this question discussed in the most heated way among those interested in advanced sciences (say, quantum physics)  whose knowledge of those subjects comes from the internet and are disappointed that their theories are not more seriously examined by those in academia or invited to the TED stage.

    Gabby, I get your implications, you think I'm an upstart who doesn't know any better and is insecure about it, shouting to the empty air and just, well, embarrassing myself.  What you define as strident I'd call not being a sheep. I have no interest in being whipped into line to serve the machine. Surrendering creativity, free will, self-fulfillment, If that's what you enjoy dig in, there's plenty to go around if you want to waste a ton of cash and years of your life. Luckily, school is no longer necessary and is getting less so over time. I think this is awesome! 

    A quote that expresses what I'm trying to say better than I can, from "A Language Older than Words" by Derrick Jensen: Through the process of schooling, each fresh child is attenuated, muted, molded, made- like aluminum -malleable yet durable, and so prepared to compete in society, and ultimately to lead this society where it so obviously is headed. (the entire book is about the collapse of the environment and what we've lost as human beings thanks to societal psychosis) -schooling as it presently exists, like science before it and religion before that is necessary to the continuation of our culture and to the spawning of a new species of human, ever more submissive to authority, every more pliant, prepared, by thirteen years of sitting and receiving, sitting and regurgitating, sitting and waiting for the end, prepared for the rest of their lives to toil, to propagate, to never make waves, and to live each day with never an original thought nor even a shred of hope. 

     

     

  2. Some points, although I think I've ground my views on this topic into the ground already. ..I feel quite salty ATM, so:

    Suggesting studying or doing ceramics is "Hard Work" is funny. Anyone who thinks that has never done any actual hard work.

    If college were available to everyone who deserves to go, we wouldn't be having this discussion. Of course all artists want to learn and take advantage of available resources, but they're priced out. Even sucky college classes would probably be worth it just for the connections you'd make with the art community and other benefits. Poor is rarely a temporary choice with options. Those who've got their piece of paper justify their good luck by assuming those who don't have one are lazy or misguided or stupid. No, they're just poor, and it's a lot more crippling than you think. Thank the Universe for Youtube and the interwebs, also the CAD site has a few helpful tips now and again but this argument is getting old. 

    I'm starting to wonder if this topic keeps resurfacing because those who have a piece of paper want to reassure themselves they're safely in the elite and everyone else is not. It must be a very warm, secure place to be. I wonder what that's like? 

  3. On 9/16/2018 at 8:02 PM, LeeU said:

    The NH Potters' Guild has a wood kiln located over an hour away from me, but so far they have been unwilling to accomodate my (physically invisible) disabilites and I can't physically participate in the required pre-during-post firing work...several 8 hr. shifts over a 2 week period.  I have suggested (requested) that they consider having  a policy like the NHIA  community education program that gets me into the anagama firings. I am allowed to pay (a premium!) for the shelf space and then am not required to work shifts.  So far the board has not added my request for discussion (& hopfully resolution) to any of the meeting agendas. I'm not interested in getting into the legalisms of a public non-profit not making a reasonable accomodation (i.e. in this case, pay to play) for someone with a disability, but I'm about ready to withdraw from the organization. I'll again bring up the issue of having a policy on disability accomodations at the next meeting, but that's probably the end of it for me. I don't care for the feeling of being discriminated against, in effect, even when I know that is the furthest thing from people's conscious minds when they just don't "get it" if they don't see a wheelchair! 

    It's amazing how fast the word "lawyer" gets ppl's attention. I'm not saying you'd actually do it, but it might make them talk a little longer and more earnestly about changing their policies at some point in future to be more fair. Complacency in regards to have and have-not's has gone on too long. That they won't even talk about your suggestion at their little meeting is outrageous. they're probably hoping you'll go away if they don't. IMHO it's perhaps not your duty to set them straight but it's certainly your right to. Sounds to me like you're giving some selfish jerks way to much credit about their motivations. 

  4. Have you ever inadvertently created something totally embarrassing , and you didn't see what was wrong with it until someone pointed it out? 

    When the tv show 'everybody loves raymond' had the episode where ray's mother sculpted a 'well known female body part' and took it to an art show without realizing what it looked like, I felt redeemed for my obviously twisted inner mind. I once did a large semi-abstract painting of a shape that seemed exciting and dynamic only to have it pointed out to me that it strongly resembled something I can't mention directly but it shares it's name with a kind of whale. Mortified, the painting and all it's hard work were never seen again. 

  5. 3 hours ago, Pres said:

    What kinds of organic materials have you added to your clay or glazing recently? Please specify if fired by electric, gas, wood or raku, in oxidation or reduction.

    Folks will recall the low-fire mermaid dish, images of which are in the "What's on Your Workbench" thread. It had sifted unwashed beach (dune) sand. Functionally it seemed to work pretty great and looked OK too. The dish survived being put from the freezer into a 400 f oven. There was an iron spot on it I didn't like, in retrospect I think that came flying off a pair of steel tongs I used to remove a small waster I'd left accidentally propping the lid open at around 1k f...oops...found iron bits scattered over other stuff too. Does the iron count as an added material? If so it was a fail. 

    In a recent low-fire (^O5 -f) I put a fresh petunia flower in the center of a top plate out of curiosity, to my surprise it left an unattractive brown smudge I felt obliged to sand off. I was just going to glaze it also at low temps and wasn't sure if the smudge would burn out. It took some effort. 

  6. stuff in progress or about to be. Trying to finish up the smaller bits, still have a lot. Vase needs glaze, as yet no clue what it wants. the thing stuffed w/ paper towels is my first attempt at a drawer sachet for personal use, but I'd like to make an optionally hanging version to sell and I'm planting some lavender, old roses and scented geraniums partly for this purpose. the rest are mainly impression makers. Note the one with cassius slip over it, stroke of inspiration, now I can see what my rollers are without picking them up and examining them. I'd like to sell some of those also as I enjoy the carving and inventing designs. 

    The results of the mermaid plate. She looks like she forgot to wear her waterproof mascara...also the rock was supposed to be mossy layers of green, turned to mud instead. Her tail came out beautifully, my drawing is quite nice if I do say so, and I love my idea of using king kelp as a border even though the underglaze colors didn't quite work. "...by sea-girls wreathed in seaweed red and brown..." -I like enough about this I might try it again using the same drawing. Low fire white clay w/ sifted unwashed sand from the dunes nearby. seemed to work well except for an unfortunate iron spot too close to her face, anywhere else it would have been fine. Half of this idea was to come up with some cooking safe serving ware, so I thought I'd photo it before I did a bake test. 

    On the worktable Aug 7, 2018.jpg

    Mermaid finished image.jpg

  7. 8 hours ago, Nataniajoy24 said:

    pyrometric cone/bar things to turn off the kiln when it reached the right temp (clearly I'm a newbie). In the manual I have for my kiln, it says I need 'ASD' cones.

    basically what you do is buy cones for different temps you might be firing to, and see which ones are melting while looking through the vent holes of your kiln. You'll need something to look through like welding glass or special glasses or you'll burn your retinas. If your kiln says cone 8 (mine does) it probably means it will technically fire around cone 8 but you'll get a lot more life out of the elements if you keep it around cone 6. Mine says cone 8-10 but since there are a ton of beautiful glazes and clays for 5-6 that's what I'm going with, and I'll save some money in the long run. Don't prop your kiln open just leave a kiln plug out through the whole firing like Neil said. 

    8 hours ago, Nataniajoy24 said:

    Where do I place these ^ cones when I have them? Is there a hole in the bars that slides onto the knob on the inside of the kiln wall?

    just to be clear the cone does not shut off the mechanism, you'll just be checking it through a kiln plug hole and when the one that's the temp you want has melted, then the kiln has reached the temp you want it to get to. Place the cones where they can be seen thusly. To be honest I'm new to kilns and I don't know what your kiln means by "Automatic" since it looks like a manual kiln from the images. This means you have to watch the temperature and turn it off yourself. There is a thing called a "setter" involved in the process but someone else will have to pick up the thread because I don't know from manual kilns. I wouldn't fire it until you figure out how to shut it off. 

  8. For some reason my day/night cycle has flipped completely and whereas I spent most of my life being up in the day like normal people, now I'm up at night. I'm guessing this is mainly psychological, I enjoy having the whole world (never mind the other hemispheres) to myself while everyone is sleeping.  I don't have a schedule, I just work on some clay at some time, usually starting around midnight and off and on until around 4 AM, in addition to other tasks and types of artwork. Right now I have a goal of working on one small clay project a night, because I'm stalled out on bigger ones and about to start the glaze mixing project. I've found trying to schedule making art is like trying to organize freedom or herd cats, it kills the muse. I miss out on some gardening, my neighbors think I'm a witch because I water my plants at night. I go to bed around 5AM and get up around noon-3 pm thereabouts, which gives me just enough time to do appointments and get out of the house into town, which I also enjoy.  I'm really disappointed I don't get to the beach and woods as much as I had planned, I used to do that in the early morning and I just can't seem to keep my eyes open anymore at those times of day. 

  9. Update: So I've been pretty upset the past two weeks waiting to hear back about a test for a mutation in my blood cells that renders the known forms of drug treatment useless. They did the wrong test twice...anyway apparently third time is the charm and the test came back negative, I'm just responding slower than most, which is very very good news. Thanks for all the nice comments and getting to hear folk's sharing. I wish everyone else a bit of good news in their struggles also. 

  10. On 7/25/2018 at 8:29 PM, LeeU said:

     I am amazed at the array of difficulties others have shared. Amazed at people being so forthcoming (and glad there was a place to put it on the Forum--thx Pres). There is so much distress that periodically accompanies my own physical and/or mental challenges, that I must take strength from the resiliency of others, and try to take caution from the actions of some who lost their battle, such as Anthony Bourdain--that one hit me hard. I don't know if it is factual that--as some suggest--creative people have more than their share of deep suffering and bedevilments, but it does seem to me that artistic beings bring an especially tenacious spirit to the game, and seem to express a heightened tenacity to overcome, and to do so with grace. 

    I'm an Anthony Bourdain fan too, he shared my zodiac sign (cancer, no coincidence with my affliction) and though I'm a lot more type B personality I'm pretty sure politically and artistically we had the same zeitgeist going on in our heads. 

     

  11. As I mentioned before somewhere I have leukemia. When I was diagnosed I promised myself a few things. One, I would do what I wanted the way I wanted as much as possible from then on with the time I have left. Working with clay to some extent gives me a focus and relieves my depression to a large extent, helps me to handle my fear, and though I don't really believe in 'legacies' it's sort of nice to know that a few things I made will be around a long time after I'm gone. Right now I actually feel physically pretty good and thought I was doing well in remission. A visit about a week ago with my oncologist cleared my hopes up when he said it's time for me to get in line for a bone marrow transplant. Hm, yes, well.

    Anyway, on the bright side I got to quit my job (after not being able to finish a shift at work due to having pain from a swollen spleen, a health care provider with no health care, thanks to the heartless health care system in the US) three years ago when I finally walked into an ER and got diagnosed. I'd been managing and working through horrible symptoms undiagnosed for at least two years not knowing what I had. The ER doc suddenly got excited saying my white cell counts were off the scale and I was rushed over to another hospital in the middle of the night, put into all sorts of contraptions, IV's inserted, etc. The oncologist assured me I didn't have long if it was one type, about 25 yrs if another. My only thought was "Christ I can finally quit my job!" -that's how much I hated it. After recovering and getting social security and medicaid worked out, I sold my wee house in Idaho, (also hated Idaho, I'm from CA originally, seriously a fish out of water) and used the money to move to a place I love on the Oregon coast. Anyway I'm cramming as much of what I want, that I can afford on next to nothing, into what's left. Not everyone gets the news they better get their affairs in order and have such and such time left to do it. Most of the time, I'm grateful, not always. 

  12. About 4 plastic buckets that I rotate through the kitchen sink since I don't have a dedicated sink. They sit around for a day or so until I can pour the water off. Kitchen and "bar mop" towels from the dollar store. Big sponge for the table and a fan to dry the surface in between spongings, otherwise it would remain wet for too long. I tend to change clay colors a lot.

  13. Having to approach the question from a different angle as a relative (a little over 3 yrs now as a home potter, not counting the odd college clay class or two in the past) -newbie. My problem is I'm sick of trying this, that, and the other. I think I'm done testing and meditating on what I want to do most, and the most practical from a monetary standpoint. I've tried several things, and I've no shortage of ideas, some probably original, and many many  variations of derivative that all sound great when they first occur to me.

    I seem pretty good at making stuff out of clay, but I can't say I've enjoyed the process of making certain types of work. For example, my main focus was on ceramic jewelry focals and beads for almost half of the time I've been into clay. Why? because I've had an ebay business in the past and shipping is a pain. Also for the money VS the tiny amount of materials spent, it's pretty cost effective. Not to mention kiln space and other things related to diminutiveness. Unfortunately, this seemed such a great idea that I think I was in denial about the fact it gave me very little satisfaction. What I wanted to do was still hazy. 

    At some point recently I started losing interest in clay and realized, at last, that the jewelry wasn't working for me. I had to bite the bullet, load it all into plastic shoeboxes and stick it out of sight. Overnight I went from forcing myself to spend about 6 hrs a week fiddling with bead making, to a few hours most days making slab vessels. In the same amount of time and effort to form a half dozen artsy beads -probably less- I can form a single big *** bowl with attractive decoration. They are more satisfying both to make, look at, and hopefully sell. Instead of worrying about shipping costs I intend to take the opposite approach, make a fairly low number of big and bigger things and drive them around myself. This coincides with my move last year to the Oregon coast and the fact there are venues for this up and down the coastal highways. I'm no longer trapped in a small conservative city with only a couple galleries, 600 m away from everything artistic. I don't intend to do shows or fairs, just approach store owners like I used to do with my oil paintings and see if they're interested. 

    As far as sculpture goes, I'm still meditating on it. Even if I was working on any at this time I'm not ready to re-enter the fine art market. I get my fine art needs met through drawing and painting at the moment, it's a nice break whenever I'm feeling burnt out on clay, which has only been once in the past 3 years. 

  14. 2 hours ago, Callie Beller Diesel said:

    Well, my fingers have always been too short to be called graceful. My nails are soft and don’t really grow long anyways. So I am glad they are strong, skilled hands. 

     

    (Also, given the weird things I had to do to take this shot, how did everyone with both hands in the shot get theirs?)

     

    @ Callie Beller Diesel: Camera with a timer on it, balanced on the back of my work table. 

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