Denice

Nothing on my work table at the moment, I straighten out my studio and stuck the new self adhesive labels on my chemical containers back on with some Gorilla tape. I decided to try out my new pottery wheel stool and do a little throwing. It seems to be alright, I need to do some more throwing before I am positive. It is so cold here I can't work in my studio until after noon, it takes that long for my heater to warm it up. It is suppose to start warming up tomorrow, it is still suppose to be around 15 tonight. BRR Denice

Starting to load a glaze firing, suppose to have a decent day Tuesday. I like to open the window in the kiln room when I am firing. I have a exhaust fan in the ceiling and the Skutt vent system on the kiln but when I am firing my big Skutt I need a little more air. Denice

I see myself standing in my studio wearing worn, stained raggedy clothes anxious to load my kiln and contemplating my next direction in clay. Denice

Like Roberta I would sketch everything out on a new design and this helped me work through potential problems. I have been coiling the last few years and have been just going with the flow with them. I thing coiled work has a mind of it's own, I sketch designs on them in the bisque stage for my intricate glaze and stains patterns. Denice

My love of clay started when I was 12, I had a art teacher that thought I was artistic and was a big supporter. One day she gave every one a ball of clay and told us to make anything we wanted. Everyone else smashed out awful ashtrays, my folks didn't believe in smoking. I had been reading a book on Egypt and decided to make a Egyptian cat pendant for a necklace. When I touched the clay I fell in love with it and the pendant was so beautiful I knew clay was magic and I could make anything I wanted with it. A few years later I was in high school where I could take a pottery class. Great teacher, I did a lot of hand building over the next three years. Never got to throw on the wheel, we only had one wheel and the teacher would pick a boy to teach throwing to. He didn't consider girls strong enough to throw. I have tried many many different types of art but I always go back to clay. Denice

Min that is similar to dishes I made for a friend of mine's daughter who had partial use of one arm. My plate curved around more and eased into a rest for her hand, the family had asked for the built in rest. I sold sets for several years to other families in the same situation, I basically just covered cost. My plate was based on a antique child's dish from England. Denice

It sounds like the time I was starting to pack a dozen gourd shape vases with long thin necks to take to a gallery. I had just started wrapping one when a big gust of wind and pressure pushed through my studio. It sent my vases crashing into each other and on to the concrete floor. I wasn't aware that my husband was replacing the seals on the back door, he gave the door one big slam to see how the seals were working. I only had one vase that remained intact. I decide that this particular shape of vase wasn't good for gallery sales. Denice

Glazing a large coiled bowl with a intricate ancient Indian designs, I will probably finish it today. Denice

Adelaide Robineau, Gertrud Natzer and Edith Heath. Denice

Nothing on my work table still reworking my chemical storage. Bought a swivel bar stool on the Black Friday sale at Menards for $29.00 today. It looks a lot like the expensive throwing potter's stool I have seen on-line. It is a little bit too tall so I will shorten the legs and cut them so it will tilt forward. I am also going to add some padding to the seat so I can work longer at the wheel. It has good bones, I think it will be great after I do a few modifications, I have been using a old wooden stool that I cut the legs off. Denice

My shop is attached to my house so I get some heat from the house furnace it is just enough to keep it from freezing. I have been using a oil fill radiator for years. I turn it on early in the morning and it is usually warm enough to work in by the time a get out there. Denice

Unloaded a bisque Friday, mixed up some test glazes yesterday and firing them today but nothing on my work table. I am going to start putting my chemicals in new containers today, my old containers were from a deli and they had potato salad in them. The containers are still good but the lids are hard and brittle, I can't complain they lasted 40 years. Denice

Just a small coil pot waiting to be finished on my table, I am making some small pots to fill the nooks and crannies in my kiln. Denice

I did manage to graduate with some decent throwing skills, I was more interested in hand building. I throw something once in a while , I am still into hand building I will never be a master thrower or even a good one. Denice

I have a half finished coiled pot on my work table and a drying cabinet that is nearly full. I am surprised I am getting any work done at all. My 95 year old mother in-law has been in the hospital and my son and his wife are back from their European tour. Denice

I don't know if this is from a bad habit or frustration. I have been making coiled pots for several years now and would usually have to flatten the bottom when I finish the piece. This would leave me with a rough service to put my name on because of the sandy groggy clay. I tried stamps and and writing my name in stain and you couldn't read it. If i can't read a signature on a piece of pottery at a sale I won't purchase it so why would someone purchase my unreadable signature. I decided to scratch my name in block letters and come back and fill the lines with black stain. I have just started selling some of my work, the customer turns is over to make sure it is signed and usually says good I can read it! Denice

Soda firing is also my favorite glaze effect, I fell in love with it in college. I work in C6 oxidation now, I always have my long lost love from college to remember and lust over. Denice

Finished a nice moon shape pot yesterday which isn't easy when you coil. Put up new lights for my studio, better color and brighter lights, it made most of the studio look better. I had one corner of the room that had damaged sheetrock from a roof leak suddenly it stuck out like a sore thumb. I have it remudded and taped and will probably paint it today. Denice

We still use the dinnerware set that I threw twelve years ago, it its getting a little scratchy looking. I have been thinking about putting one of the plates in a glaze firing. It might cure the haze on the plates or make the puddle. I will give it a try in my next firing. Denice

I was rejected at a show because I didn't have a bachelors degree. It was a local show, I had gotten my work put on slides just like the instructions in the application. When I was paying the fee and they were looking over my application. I was told I shouldn't bother applying I didn't have a degree so I wouldn't be taken very seriously. I took my $25 and went home. I attended the show later and found very few local artist included in the show. Denice

Unloaded a glaze firing last Friday and finished a coiled bowl today. My sister left this morning she and her husband has been visiting for a week so I haven't spent much time in my studio. They are on another long RV trip planning to be back in Sacramento by Thanksgiving. Peace and quiet until my son and his wife get home from Europe at the end of the month. Denice

I did a little ceramics when I was young but really got hooked on it in high school. This was the late 60's so everything was pretty groovy. I went to college a couple of different times to finish my bachelors in Ceramics. Besides what I learned in the ceramics department the other classes I took help me develop as a potter and artist. Classes like Geology, Astronomy and History are the ones a pull from for design inspirations. I found out that I was a pretty good painter, I love life drawing, and art history brought out my inner researcher. The only thing I would change is I wish I had a more advanced materials class and that my professor was around. He was retiring my senior year and I was pretty much on my own. He spoke to me after my Senior Show and told me that my work was really good. He said it made him realize that he didn't even know what I was doing and he was sorry he wasn't around. Denice

My best handmade tool is also a extruder, I found the directions in a Ceramics Monthly probably 20 years ago. I built it originally according to the instructions and have changed a few components over the years to make it stronger. I make the dies for it from dies for cookie presses, I find cookie press sets at estate sales for a couple of dollars. I even have a really heavy duty cookie press that will extrude handles for cups that I paid a dollar for. Denice