spring

This was a particularly great NCECA for me. Finally got to meet Marcia and John B. Thanks so much for coming to my lecture. I was a nervous wreck!

Marcia thanks for the great advice. I never considered talking about my daily life there but now that you mention it, I can see how it would be interesting. When I say I lived there part time, I meant that I lived there for a month or two then I would come back to the US and work for another few months then go back to Egypt. I spent a fourth of the year in Egypt divided between two trips, always staying in the same area. I look forward to meeting you. Spring

I will be giving a lecture at NCECA as part of the student programming and I was hoping to get some feedback from you guys. I will be discussing my experience of living abroad part time for 2 years in Egypt and how it has effected my art practice. This occurred after I got my bachelor's and I'm currently getting ready to apply to grad school. I should just add that I wasn't a wide eyed, 22yr old looking for adventure, recent graduate. I was a 38 yr old, mom of 15 yr old, newly divorced, trying to create a new life and figure out what I wanted to make, recent graduate. My experiences both abroad and at home have completely changed the why I make and by extension the what. ( I call it my EAT, CLAY, LOVE experience, lol) I expect my audience to be students and those looking to travel abroad. There is a lot I could include but I want to make sure I'm providing value and I really don't want to make it feel like you're watching your grandma's vacation slides from 1985. So, my question is... What would you want to hear/learn about from a talk like this? What should I leave out? Thanks in advance, Spring

I've been testing out a clay body that the manufacturer states is cone 4-10 which is such a huge range. I've taken it to cone 6 which is what I fire to and it has 5% absorption, which is ofc way too much for functional ware. But I had a thought when you test for absorption, do you test the clay with or without glaze? I mean I figured it would be best to replicate what people would be using so I tested it glazed in a manner I would glaze the piece. What do you guys do? Thanks, Spring

Mark, thanks for the tip. I never check people's post history. I saw it was from 2014, but I know people always seem to come and go and then come back to this forum. Well, at least that's the case with me

Ummm, cuz I guess I never thought Tom Coleman was gonna answer some random question to see if his clay is gonna work for what I want. I'll try it!

Crackpot, Hi, I'm just wondering where you got the New Zealand China Clay? I noticed you live in Canada so I'm guessing you didn't get it in New Zealand. I live in California and was hoping to get it online. Thanks, Sprinf

Mug- I'm very sorry that happened to your son and hope he recovers 100%. It just broke my heart to read that. I only have one child, a son who is 16. He had to have minor surgery while we were on vacation in Africa. I was freaking out! I think it is great that you are exploring this to get him involved too. Best of Luck, Spring

This is a very interesting and informative thread, so glad I came across it. Nerd- please let us know what happens in your experiments Spring

Hello Everyone, I'm working on a large project in porcelain. My go to porcelain is usually southern ice but its expensive and costs a lot to ship. I need to buy about 300lbs, so I wanna choose wisely. I need a porcelain that will be very translucent, is plastic enough to work in very thin long slabs that will be manipulated, and stays white. I tried frost cone 6 porcelain and found it to be very short and ill suited for my needs. I've thrown with Babu and Coleman; had positive experiences with both but never handbulit with them. I'll be firing cone 10 because the midrange clays available to me in my area do not seem translucent enough nor white enough. I know there are people who have done lots of development in low/mid fire porcelains that are translucent but I don't really have a couple years for this project. Based off of personal experience, please let me know what you think. The types of clay I have to choose from are: Babu Coleman Frost cone 10 Laguna 550 thanks in advance, spring

Ok who's going to NCECA this year and what are you looking forward to most? Just an FYI, I'll be hosting one of the NCECA connections " Second Annual NCECA Cup Swap" in Room 552 A/B. Hope everyone can stop by, even if just to say "Hi". Spring

Yikes -20! I'm hoping for warm and 70 considering I'm from Cali and possess nothing that could keep me warm in 40 degree weather. Fingers crossed

Marcia, gonna try and make it to Texas Clay party . Hopefully we will be able to meet this time. I'm still bummed that I wasn't able to meet you last year at Houston. I hope to also meet other CAD peeps in Milwaukee!

Last year I did my first sculpture fair. I like to stand a little ways from my work to observe and listen to peoples responses. ( I didn't have my name tag on either) I stood behind these two guys and one guy looked at the price and said "how much .....for what?" and proceeded to make a face that said, this person is effing crazy! I started laughing. I thought it was hilarious. I put myself in his shoes, and I know he had absolutely no idea how much time and energy it takes for me to make it. But more important, I knew he didn't say it with malice, it was just a plain honest reaction. In the same show, I had a lady cry from seeing my work, and she gave me a long hug. I might be the rare artist that likes hearing the negative as much as the positive. I don't mind it when a person just doesn't like it. I figure different strokes different folks. Love it, fine. Hate it, fine. In the end, I know the comments are about my art work, not me.

Thanks TJR and Diana : )

Just wanted to let you guys know that I'm the featured member story for September on the NCECA blog. Super excited to be featured and kinda just surprised. Hope you can check it out. http://blog.nceca.net/member-story-spring-montes Thanks, Spring

Thanks everyone for the props @ Shirley, it took about 400 hours. or actually i sorta stopped counting after that. Yes, when the wind hits it, it does produce a wounderful twinkling sound, like a little waterfall. The sound is usually what people enjoy most @Mea, I ended up driving it there. All six panels fit in a car. I just proped them up in the back seat, on the floor, and in the trunk. I think I broke only about 100 pieces which is way better then I expected. It was 2000 miles of constant noise. But, I got it there and thats what counts! Bringing it home was a different story. I had about 5 hrs to take it apart and pack up all 6000 pieces in plastic food containers to take on the plane.

@ Trina, TJR, Pompots thanks for the positivety. @ Jim, thank you, I always appreciate your kind words and humor. Lol @ Marcia, I'm so glad you got to see it in person and enjoyed it. Hopefully we can finally meet in Milwakee

I hope everyone can check out the Sept issue. I'm featured in the article covering the NSJE at NCECA. So super excited and honored.

Hi Nicci, I live just across the bay from San Francisco in Oakland. There is a group on facebook called Bay Area Ceramics Bulletin Board. You should try posting something on there. If you can't I can for you. Just let me know. Good Luck, Spring

Ooooo, I'll check it out!

:(/> thanks anyways Marcia do you know of any Universities there that offer ceramics. I might try and contact them. I know of the American University Cairo, but I don't think there is a ceramics studio

I've been trying to find a short term residency in Egypt or even a workshop, that allows for independant studio time. But so far, haven't found anything! I've made some Egyptian ceramics friends on facebook and have asked them if they knew of any, but so far no such luck. Ohhh, forum friends, please help. I'm trying to find a place where i can work and eventually create some small site specific insitillations while I'm there. These would be pieces used to bulk up my porfolio for grad school. Thanks in Advance, Spring