yappystudent
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Everything posted by yappystudent
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Another long drive today to pick up firing cones and a few other things. The countdown begins.
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Spiky fish. Vessels with wavy rims. Anthropomorphic creatures. Ammonites. Anomalocarus. Rafflesia. Alien flora. I've always been interested in the idea of "weird" lifeforms: from likely-future bio-engineering, earth's deep time past, or just speculation. I've yet to work out exactly what I want to use, the message it would express, and how to carry off successful pieces. Figures of some kind as well as wall art of some kind definitely likely. -
Sorry I can't convince you, clearly we are not of the same tribe.
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The plug is installed.
Now to cut the cement board.
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Great- moving forward
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I think there are lots of clues that play on our brains in this regard. Our species is designed to pick up on cues that help us to conform to a social norm, it's been proven it's a major part of our survival technique. Figuring out what group we fit into and which we don't were and sometimes still are life and death decisions. I think you have to get pretty far into minimalism to stop giving cues and enter the area of "gender neutral" in regards to creating something. I definitely intentionally do work that I define as either female, male, or neutral. E.g: I'm working on some vivid glaze techniques for some of my 'ware' type work. I don't expect men to be buying the pastels and hot pinks, so I'm also making black, blue, red. A little story: I went into a semi-local gallery and stumbled upon knee-hi sculptures in driftwood with rough ceramic faces, shockingly close to an idea I thought I'd come up with myself. So much for that notion, but despite the heavy materials and primitive chunky claywork it seemed obvious it was done by a female artist. Despite their being displayed as sculpture there was an unapologetic vulnerability to the work that I have never seen in a man's work. Aside from the obvious, I'd say female artists -in general- have more tendency towards pure expression and creativity coming from their own selves. When men -and this is a generalization of course- get creative they seem to do it within a subconscious awareness of it being judged by other men, and want to succeed or surpass an existing accepted set of norms. Whether it will sell a lot of copies, honor an ancient tradition started by (male) potters, make them famous, or win shows isn't always foremost in the mind of a female artist, self expression or simple enjoyment of the artistic process is. Also, men seem to have a lot more interest with working with machinery, while women are more interested in hand building. This may have something to do with social-economic issues as well as inner desires (women artists can't afford as much fancy equipment), but at least in my case I've never given a fiddle dee dee about wheel work, I feel like I'm robbing my hands and head of what they really want to do.
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What’s on your workbench?
yappystudent replied to Pres's topic in Aesthetic Approaches and Philosophy
The recent greenware.
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I have a medium size collection of new age music that I'll usually play as background to get going, then I'll sometimes stream OPB.org until I can't stand the news anymore. After that it's reruns on my monthly Netflix. Since I hand build in my kitchen I can see the computer screen. Sci-fi when they have something new, endless star trek when they don't. Also lots and lots of British crime dramas, I like the scenery.
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I have chosen an electrician. ***confetti***
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Excellent!
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How's it going???
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Nice looking white glazes over dark. -
1. The forums here. For example I don't think I could survive the kiln buying and installing, let alone learning curve for using it, if I didn't have a resource like this. 2. Youtube: I really do find that a (moving) picture is worth a thousand words and stimulates my interest and creative flow. I especially enjoy pottery making current and past in other cultures. Mid century Fat Lava to pit fired South African, makes me feel like I'm part of something important and close to the Earth. 4. Etsy: partly because I would like to open and manage my own shop there, but cruising all the items and makers stimulates ideas of the "I could do that" type. 5. Georgie's catalog and other ceramic supply houses' websites: For example I like surfing through the glaze section wondering what I could do with this or that glaze, how it's used, can I use it? what is it made from, etc. 6. Two college classes: Because negative examples can also be useful if you recognize them as such.
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Making a mug for a neighbor...I sense a slippery slope here.
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Yeah, neighbours can be tricky, want to get along with them but not be taken advantage of.
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Just to show I actually use some of the things I make for myself. That is an apple pip sprouting on the right! The left is red oxide under satin clear, over a red clay body, all low fired. BTW I collect moss and lichens to grow.- 1 comment
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- bonsai pots
- black clay
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From the album: Kiln Photos
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Drumming my fingers, waiting to go pick up my kiln in Eugene. Weather and appointments in the way.
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Removed overgrown rose to make room for electrician to access the outside wall of metal shed. Still not enough room! Will have to change where the kiln goes.
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Ordered my first kiln, the KM818 from Skutt. 240v configuration. 4-6wks. Yay! (I hope). Thanks to all for their input on my choice.
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Congrats! Good choice!
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So I'm buying a kiln. Probably a Skutt from Georgie's. How do you like them bananas?
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Make sure you get a kiln that is in sections, they are easier to rewire. I have had a big Skutt for thirty years, the only thing that bothers me is that I have had to replace the lid three times. L &L kilns lists scratch and dent kilns on there web site, the government auctions is also a good place to look. I missed out on a good one near me, they were clearing out a ceramics studio at a air force base. They sold 3 computer control Skutt for a couple of hundred a piece. Good Luck. Denice
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A very worthwhile, and rewarding, purchase. Congrats!
I like Skutt, and they do their job. If I had money to spare, I'd probably go for a L&L. But then I'd also go for a Thomas Stuart wheel, a wall mounted clay extruder, a slab roller a...
My first classroom kiln was a Skutt, computer controlled. It worked well, but it seemed to burn through elements quickly, and that was at Cone 04 max. I was a that District for six years. The elements had went bad twice, in that time.
My second District, used two Skutts, with kiln sitters and a back up timer. They worked great.
My kiln at home is a Skutt, with just the sitter.
My current classroom kiln is a L&L, computer controlled, and I can't think of anything bad to say about it. It fires spot on every time. The computer controlled Skutt I used previously, I would occasionally have some glazes that didn't quite mature, leaving bubbles, that didn't have time to smooth out. I will say, the height of the kiln, with the stand, requires me to stand, on the stand, to reach the bottom. Obviously that means, that I have plenty of space for student projects, but it also means, that I have to hang over the edge to load some projects...
Regardless of what you get, I have no doubt you will be happy with your purchase.
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Make sure you think about what your end goal is for how large of things you want to fire. I have a little kiln and its brilliant and I love it, but I can't make big platters or tall vases. In retrospect, I wish I would have gotten either wider or taller, but not much bigger. That being said any kiln is 100% better than no kiln, or a kiln you don't have control over the firings.
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Worried my kiln for hire is going away. That would leave me to buy a kiln, -never had one- or drive a long way (4 hrs round trip) and pay a fee.
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Before you even start looking at kilns you have some research to do. Wiring and location to start with and if you have a location will you be living at that location that it would be worth the cost of setting up a kiln. Sometimes it is cheaper to take a pottery class where you can have work fired when your in limbo. I have bought two used kiln and one new test kiln in the last 45 years. My paragon has finally gotten too old to rebuild and I just rewired my Skutt. I use a dual digital Skutt thermocouple set up if I want to do any down firing. Like I said a lot of research to do. Denice
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I can't imagine the time and work involved in doing a 4 hr round trip every time I wanted to fire pots. The control to fire how you want to, the convenience, glazes not getting dinged in the transport etc would make your life so much easier if you had your own kiln.
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Agreed.
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From the album: WIPs
Not quite the first stage but the first stage in laying out the pieces. Clearly unglazed as yet.
Now to cut the cement board.
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