(Almost Spring) Cleaning, Part Deux

As I mentioned yesterday, Sunday was a pretty productive day. The studio space got about as cleared out as it can get for the time being, and I got some throwing done. Since I'm re-learning how to throw from my new teacher, I feel like I'm going back to being almost as bad as I was when I first started throwing. Of course, that's my own "monkey mind" messing with me and undermining my confidence, muttering about how nothing I make is good enough.  (I'm not fishing for compliments, I'm just sharing how silly that monkey mind is, and how we should learn to ignore it!)

Of course, I have only to go back to the pictures I took of my very first season of making pumpkins to see how much of a liar that other mind is! (I swear, I saw these at the Davis's house and just cringed! Thanks, Chris, for supporting a beginning artist!) The other two are still too wet to carve, thanks to the cold, wet weather, but I hope to take another run at them today.

In all honesty, I'm very pleased that I'm going back to the beginning now, before I develop any more bad habits. We all know that the longer we do things incorrectly, the harder it is to change. My teacher is half Japanese and after he got his MFA, went back to Japan to train there for awhile. For those not in the know, Japanese pottery is pretty freaking amazing, and in certain areas is still taught the same way it was taught 1000 years ago.

I also took the time to break out my  plaster of Paris and pour up my life cast. Yes, those are the hairs that were yanked out in the process of pulling off the silicone mold.

I showed it to Mr. ShellHawk and got a similar reaction to that scene in Beetlejuice. While he complimented me on how well it turned out, he had some reservations.

"I'm fascinated and freaked out, all at the same time," he told me. He also told me to please keep it in the garage so he didn't have to see it. Oh, well.

So the question I have to throw out to you all is, how do I make a cast of this that will stand on its own, without having to invest in various latex chemicals, etcetera? I'd like to use it for a Madame Leota effect, like Mr. Chicken's, so that requires it to stand like a wig head, I assume. I actually got a little projector from Woot!, so I'm pretty sure I can get everything synced up once I get one of my friends to film me doing the Madame Leota spiel. I plan to take a Dremel tool and smooth down the eyelids, to give it that open-eye look, but maybe that's not the best idea. I don't know!

Thanks in advance for your feedback on this. This is the first cast I'll be working on, as well as my first projection effect.

Faces for Show

I've been playing with making some new faces and making a few of my pots more "pumpkin-y." I've also been trying out new glazes, and one client wanted a radically different, non-pumpkin glaze.

I have so much to get done before the Fine Arts Festival, it's crazy! But I think these guys are a good start.

Only 142 Shopping Days Left Until Hallows!

A few new guys in the shop, and I've created the "Hanging" section. You really, really, need one of these! And my Raku guys need new homes, too, so take a gander and fall in love!

Bell, Book and Candle

This time of year, we haunters are busy. Up early on weekends to beat the heat for awhile and to get in the maximum amount of build time. At the end of the day, we're tired, but the mind still craves Halloween. Through the DVD collection we pore, until we come up with a favorite we want to see right now. This is one of mine. Enjoy!

Here's a clip:

Kim Novak was so very elegant! Jimmy Stewart was his very best in this film, in my opinion.

If you haven't had a chance to pick up this movie, do. It's family-friendly, though nothing explodes in it and your kids may be bored as a result. Elsa Lanchester of Bride of Frankenstein fame has a fun part as the ditsy, witchy aunt with a fuzzy idea of personal property ownership. Jack Lemmon was fun to watch as the bongo-playing brother.