Progress and Experimentation

The Pumpkin Person on the left is intended to go into the Raku kiln.

I was busy making Hallowe'en over the weekend. Big surprise, huh? ;) But since L.A. is still mostly closed down because of the virus (and I'm having one of those moments where I need to be away from people for a little, anyway), I might as well put my time to good use!

As you saw in my last post, I've been making some pumpkin people to add to the usual collection of jack-o'-lanterns. I made a couple this weekend with the intention of putting them through the Raku treatment, to see if they'll survive the thermal shock of the process. If they do and the results are acceptable, I'll make some more! 

I'd been thinking about how to make my jacks a little more fun and had an idea in my sleep the other day to make them sugar skulls. You can see I've etched some patterns into the jack below. I laid down the first layers of white underglaze on the one above and below, and I'm going to be inlaying some color into the carving. Again, it's an experiment to see how they turn out!

And I laid some color down on this little guy, who's ready to be fired once the studio opens up again. When that's done, I'm going to be putting clear glaze over the top so it has a nice gloss.

I have to say, I like his little bat buttons!

The next step after that is the one that I like least, as an artist, which is pricing my items. Since it's more expensive for me to fire at the studio and Etsy is taking a chunk out of my bottom line for shipping and their cut, I need to look at the cost of making my creations before I put them online. Clay, glazes, propane for the Raku kiln, shipping boxes and filler, not to mention my time! It all adds up!

I'm hoping to have an open house in mid-September, since pretty much all shows have cancelled due to Covid-19, but it remains to be seen. If it's not safe, I'll just be selling online this year. C'est la vie, right?