hippie art chick

new yumminess to spin...

2011-11-20T14:25:00.001-05:00

lamps for amber's wedding

2011-10-13T20:09:00.001-04:00

amber needs table decorations for her wedding reception. we can't have candles or open flame, so i'm playing around with different ideas for lighting.

i started with five of these, different treatments and different heights. here's the only one that survived the first round. i got some cracking and shivering at the seam, but it remained intact.

now available on apple ibooks

2011-10-05T18:59:00.004-04:00

i'm so proud of him!!!

head work

2011-10-02T19:16:00.002-04:00

apart from decorating (carving, underglazing, etc.), i finished the head today.

here's a view of the front, with a close up. mouth still needs a bit of work and i think i'm still a bit weak in the chin.

here's the side that i can't decide whether or not i like how i did the hair. the swoop is kinda interesting, but i don't know if it works with the loosey-goosey thing i have going on with the rest of the hair.

hair's not too bad. i had this medusa thing lodged in my brain while i was doing it. it kinda works. i think i'll get better with time/practice.

now available for the nook!

2011-10-02T16:24:00.001-04:00

Darby's Bar and Grill

head, part 2

2011-09-26T13:26:00.000-04:00

i started another head today. so far, i'm liking this one much better than the first. i've been able to keep the size manageable and am thinking much more about the expression. the other head is still under wraps while i decide if i am ready to do the first firing.

head work with debra fritts

2011-09-25T18:31:00.004-04:00

the Debra Fritts workshop at Mudworks this weekend was absolutely amazing!

the name of the workshop was Headwork and taught the process she uses to create her amazing pieces.

i bought a couple of her pieces. a wine glass for me:

and a shot glass for mike:

we did heads. mine, of course, got big and, in the end, i decided to go bald. the hair just kept getting in the way. i am very anxious to begin another one and see if i can get smaller and add some hair. my brain is packed with ideas that i can't wait to try out.

the front of the head still looks a bit boring. it's a work in progress. i figure i have a couple more treatments and firings to go.

view from the sides, with close up of the left.

view from the back

buy your copy today!

2011-09-11T16:43:00.001-04:00

my sweetie's book is now available in e-book format on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Darbys-Bar-Grill-ebook/dp/B005LE4J52/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1315773555&sr=8-2

too hot to raku

2011-09-03T18:01:00.000-04:00

so i dyed my batiks.

the first batch came out beautifully.

i didn't want to toss out dye, so i reused the blue. the second batch came out lighter, but still very nice.

here are some close ups:

It's good to have crafty friends :]

2011-05-01T17:43:00.004-04:00

Thanks to KTot at StarryRoadStudio for donating some fun new paper to me!
I'm going to be making cute tags like these for all my Etsy stuff!

Reduction Redux

2011-04-03T21:22:00.008-04:00

The weather finally cooperated yesterday and I was able to to another reduction fire. I was much happier with the results. I was able to get a good cone 6 on all the shelves.

We tried a couple of new glazes, Temmoku Gold and Raw Sienna. Both of the recipes are from Ceramic Arts Daily, Making the Switch from Cone 6 to Cone 10. I've listed the recipes below.

One of my cups with Raw Sienna.

One of my oil lamps with Temmoku Gold.

One of KTott's oil lamps with Raw Sienna.

The Raw Sienna came out dead on, but not the Temmoku Gold. We didn't fire any white clay bodies, so I'm going to test it on porcelain next.

RECIPES

Raw Sienna

Wollastonite - 28%

Frit 3195 - 23%

Nepheline Syenite - 4%

EPK Kaolin - 28%

Silica - 17%

Temmoku Gold

Cornish Stone - 67.41%

Dolomite - 7.86%

Gerstley Borate - 3.37%

Lithium Carbonate - 6.17%

Whiting - 8.98%

Silica - 6.17%

Add: Red Iron Oxide - 11.24%

And of course, there's the favs from Kentucky Mudworks.
One of my bowls.

Another KTott pot. I LOVE the inside of this one.

Reduction Results - The Good

2011-03-24T19:28:00.012-04:00

Results of the reduction fire are in! I had a little under half that I got good results from. Most of the glazes I used are Mudworks Glazes from Kentucky Mudworks.

Melted Butter (bottom) and Satin Black (liner & rimmed) on Red Rock.

Satin White on Red Rock.

Kentucky Bluegrass (bottom) and Stardust (liner & rimmed) on Red Rock.

Melted Butter (bottom) and Retro Brown (liner & rimmed) on Red Rock.

Kentucky Bluegrass (bottom) and Satin Black (liner & rimmed) on 200 Stoneware.

Melted Butter (bottom) and Satin Black (liner & rimmed) on 200 Stoneware. It got more reduction than the pitcher (below). This is one of my faves.

Melted Butter (bottom) and Satin Black (liner & rimmed) on 200 Stoneware.

Satin White and Apricot on 200 Stoneware. Kinda boring compared to the rest but not too bad.

Melted Butter (liner and rimmed) and Satin White (outside of bowl) on 200 Stoneware. Also one of my faves.

I may post "the bad" and "the ugly" later.

Another reduction fire is scheduled for this weekend, weather permitting.

Virgin Fire

2011-03-18T14:38:00.004-04:00

Fired up the new gas reduction kiln yesterday for the first time. I'm a total newbie to being in the driver's seat, so I'm starting out with a cone 6 until I feel like I really know what I'm doing.

I ended up adjusting the size of the top vent hole to 6". The 3-1/2" hole just did not look big enough, so I called Olympic (which is what I should have done from the beginning). The tech guy I spoke with said the top vent hole should be 6" and the burner port holes should be 3". I decided to leave the burner port holes at 2-1/2" and just enlarged the top vent. I also marked 1/4" increments on both sides of the vent hole, so I would be able to gauge the damper for reduction.

Here's the fire schedule I attempted to use:

200 degrees F / hour to 600 degrees
250 degrees F / hour to 1100 degrees
Start reduction at cone 012
300 degrees F / hour to 2232 degrees
Soak for 1 hour

Sounds simple enough. Here's what actually happened:

Fast rise to 1350 degrees in 2 hours until I could get the gas properly regulated.
300 degrees F / hour rise to cone 012
Start reduction. I put the damper at 3"
Continue to check every 30 minutes to tweak and maintain 300 degree rise.
At 1970 degrees F, I'm kiln sitting to monitor rise up to temp. The last 30 minutes there was only had a 60 degree rise in temp, so I cut back on the reduction and moved the damper to 2.5".
At 2030 degrees F, I hear the sickening sound of a shelf falling from w/in the kiln. Looking thru two of the peeps, all I can see is the side of a kiln shelf pressed against the wall.
At 2050 degrees F, I decided to stop the fire rather than risk the possibility of making things worse.

Before things went awry, here's a shot of the kiln while in reduction. There was some good flame starting to come out of the top vent. I tried to get a good shot, but it was too bright outside.

yumE goodness

2011-03-18T14:30:00.002-04:00

oreo cookie wrapped in chocolate chip cookie dough and baked in the oven.

OMG ... mouth orgasm!

2011-03-16T19:51:00.003-04:00

Check out the nice pad my sweetie built for my new kiln to live on. The next addition is a roof/awning to help keep it (and me) dry.

The gas tank was delivered today and HOLY COW it is HUGE! Not sure what I was expecting, but certainly nothing this big. Me and KTott are going to have to get busy.

Off to glaze the last of the pots and tomorrow we fire!

Necessary Evils

2011-03-13T16:09:00.004-04:00

Spent most of yesterday doing post-winter clean up in the back yard and scoping out the site for the kiln, and then.....

remembered I had shelf maintenance to do before I could load up and do my first test fire. So I hauled out all my kiln shelves and spent the remainder of the day grinding all the old kiln wash off and putting on new.

Whew!!!

Electric to Gas Reduction

2011-03-08T19:58:00.026-05:00

So I finally decided to make the plunge to gas reduction, but wanted a cheaper option than a pre-fab and an easier option than building one. Electric to gas conversion was the way to go.

I bought a 7.0 Cu Ft kiln carcass from my local pottery supply store, Kentucky Mudworks. My next big decision was which burner system to buy, Olympic Torchbearer or the Summit Kiln Conversion Kit. Cathi Newlin of The Square Peg was a wealth of information for how she set up her system using a Summit system. I finally settled on the 23" Olympic Torchbearer burner system with ignition ring and thermo-couple shutoff. It just looked studier and I figured since it would be living outside in the crazy Kentucky weather, it was a better way to go.

Gutting the kiln carcass took some time,

but was not terribly hard.

The next big step was to cut holes for the burner ports and top vent. There was surprisingly little information on the web for how big to make the holes. This is where the Summit Conversion Kit would be handy; it comes with templates and instructions. The Torchbearer burner system did not and there was no information on the Olympic site. I finally found some specs on the Ward Burner System site.

The burner port holes should be directly over the burner ports and cut 1" larger than the size of the burner port. The burner ports for my kiln are 1-1/2", so I cut 2-1/2" burner port holes.

The hole on top of the kiln should be center and needs to be at least the same size as the burner port hole, preferable 1" larger. For my kiln, this came out to 3-1/2", 2-1/2" for the burner port hole + 1".

Now all I have to do is prep the site in the backyard, hook up the gas and we're ready to go!

2011-01-22T14:31:00.010-05:00

i just got my order of handmade murrini from Lori & Kim and i can't wait to get upstairs and fire up the torch.

The Baldwin Thomas Union

2011-01-06T20:15:00.004-05:00

My one and only daughter is getting married!!!

totten sweat lodge & raku fire

2010-06-22T21:23:00.008-04:00

saturday's raku fire was much more successful. no question about getting up to temp; we fired in karen's kiln and pulled the pots out at 1800F.

this is my favorite from the latest batch.

little dogs and stained glass

2008-05-30T18:16:00.009-04:00

I finished the commissioned stained glass piece and delivered it today. My fiddle instructor, Ken, wanted a panel of their four cats for his wife. I'm happy with how it turned out.

In between glass work and gas lines, my little dog, Nina, had surgery. She's pretty pitiful, but they gave her some good puppy drugs ...

Quite a change from her normal state.

cooking with gas ... really

2008-05-30T11:40:00.009-04:00

Isn't it pretty!

So I figured if I was going back to the corporate 9 to 5, I'd buy the stove I've been lusting after - a Jen-Air duel fuel, 5 burner, double oven w/convection.

It arrived yesterday after two weeks and as many delivery reschedules. When the gas hook-up was checked we ended up having to have all the gas lines replaced. Gotta love these old houses! Nothing is ever simple and rarely easy.

ummm, pizza ...

to ply or not to ply...

2008-05-26T17:56:00.010-04:00

I spun up the superwash wool I bought from The Fiber Gourmet.

I don't know what I'm going to make out of this one, so can't decide if I want to ply it or not.

This yarn is going to be socks!

yummy!

2008-05-22T08:44:00.011-04:00

I did the Upper Valley Fiber Fest in Troy, Ohio, with my friend Nancy McKellar of Fuzzarelly Fibers. Not a bad show; only the second year. Nancy did good, but I didn't do very well. I can never resist Nancy's angora/wool/slilk blended spinning fibers. Sly boots that she is, Nancy slipped a couple extras in my bag, a lovely golden yellow silk and a greeny/blue angora/merino blend. I didn't get a pic of the fibers beforehand, but it spun up beautifully.

A vendor across the way from me, The Fiber Gourmet, had the most luscious hand dyed spinning fibers.

This one caught my eye right away.

But I couldn't resist buying two.

And it spins like warm butta' !!!

For Kitty...

2007-10-17T11:50:00.001-04:00

...new tapestry pics!

Pleasant Interruptions

2007-09-30T20:00:00.001-04:00

The tapestry is coming along nicely ...

... in the meantime I have a gallery opening Friday, Oct. 5. I'll be showing some of my new goddess images I've been working on.

First Milestone!

2007-09-26T14:41:00.000-04:00

1/4 complete and getting ready to advance the warp!

Tapestry - Week 3

2007-09-24T11:02:00.000-04:00

I decided on purple.

coffee ... food ... tapestry

2007-09-22T11:13:00.003-04:00

My tapestry bobbins arrived today! I ordered a couple of different types to try them out - all nice woodens ones from Louet.

There's a definite similarity between this type and the knitting yarn bobbins I've been using.

Here's a detail of an area that I'm not sure about. I like how it looks, but can't decide if it's the effect I want.

Tapestry Progress S...L...O...W...L...Y

2007-09-21T14:54:00.001-04:00

My optimism from the previous week proved to be unfounded.

When I got into the detail work, the project slowed down considerably.

Next week is the half-way point!

Tapestry - 1st weekend

2007-09-11T15:59:00.000-04:00

Well so much for updating every day - so here's my shot at once a week!
The tapestry is coming along nicely. It's going a little faster than I anticipated, but I'm much too nervous about my time limitation to think I may be 'ahead.'

Here's how far I got after the Holiday weekend and a close-up of the bottom left corner.

I didn't have any tapestry bobbins (and the ones I ordered won't be in for another week). I HATE working with yarn butterflies, so what to do.... Out of curiosity, I dug out my knitting yarn bobbins. They work beautifully, and they're CHEAP! When the tapestry bobbins finally come in, I'm curious to see if I like them as much.

New Yummy Yarns!!!
Trips to the yarn store are dangerous! Some of these are being worked into the tapestry.

Tapestry Unleashed!

2007-09-03T10:17:00.000-04:00

My first commissioned piece of art. My first stab at a big tapestry. And I've got 6 weeks from start to finish! The size is 30"x45". I don't have a 'name' for the piece yet, but the theme is mother earth goddess.

I've almost got the loom dressed. The goal for today is to finish tying on the warp and get the header woven.

clay pots and book readings

2006-09-07T16:36:00.000-04:00

My husband, Mike, is doing a book reading tonight at the Clark County Public Library. We're very excited! His first book, Darby's Bar and Grill, was published in January. If you're interested, you can order a copy of Darby's at Amazon or Virtual Bookworm.

So, I've gotten turned on to red clay pots and it's all I've been throwing lately. I got my inspiration from Siglinda Scarpa and her beautiful casserole dishes. The clay is so much more interesting than the white clays I've been working with.

Here are some pics of my latest creations.

anniversary fun

2006-08-04T16:09:00.000-04:00

Wednesday was my 3rd anniversary. My wonderful husband pampered me, as usual.
We went out to eat at Ramsey's and then went to visit our friends Jeff and Darryl at their new home.