This Year's Offerings

 

Many of you who have been following my blog for a while (did I really start this in 2008?!) will remember that I started studying ceramics not long after. Through the years, I've developed a Hallowe'en style, one definitely influenced by my Japanese-American teacher, Yoshio Taylor. 

I've tried to maintain a mix of whimsy and creepiness, probably a leftover of my memories of those Hallowe'ens of the 1970's, largely thought to be the "golden age" of Hallowe'en. We had had the Universal Monsters for years and years, we had those horrors of the 1950's and the Addams Family and the Munsters from the 1960's. In the 1970's and 1980's, we got our horror hosts, and waited eagerly for Zacherle or Elvira to stalk (or slink, in Elvira's case!) across the screen and show us our movie of the week.

Mixed in there was the artistic aesthetic of the 1920's and 30's Hallowe'en retailers who released The Bogie Book and other catalogues like it. Beistle was releasing wonderful die-cuts, which some people were smart enough to keep so future collectors could enjoy them.

I've been doing this for a while now, and while my intent was never to get rich, I've enjoyed a small measure of success. More so now that I'm officially back from an unwanted and forced five-year hiatus from the Hallowe'en folk art circuit.

While the location of what's come to be known as, "The Annual Mugshot" has changed, my love for making these critters has not! Someone suggested I'd get tired of carving jack-o'-lanterns at some point and move on to other things, but that hasn't happened, yet. I still love them, and the joy people have in the jacks they purchase from me keeps me making them. 

After all, jack-o'-lanterns are meant to ward off evil spirits, and we definitely want that protection when the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest!

Meanwhile, I've added functional ceramics into the mix, changing up the style a little here and there as new glazes get added to my palette and new ideas surface.

Some are pop-culture inspired, some are things I'd imagine in some witch's apothecary, holding spell components.

This jar is a little Zen. Curses on one side, Blessings on the other. They're always a mixed bag, aren't they?

And then there are those other parts of the spell's recipe...

Some things are just a fun way to get that all-important spell component - caffeine - into your system with a little style...

My annual Artist Open House is this Sunday, and the remainder of this year's Hallowe'en offerings will be available towards the end of next week in the ShellHawk's Creations Etsy store. (No, I haven't gotten my other shop up, yet. I have yet to find someone to do the work of figuring out the platform!) I'll do an announcement as to when the shop update will be so you all will have a crack at getting a piece of handmade, Hallowe'en bliss before it's too late!

The Anatomy of an "Oh, DAMMIT!"

Come on a creator's journey with me, today. Imagine you're a potter, and making a few jars for Midsummer Scream.

 

You get the body thrown, with enough clay at the top to create the gallery (the spot where the lid sits). You carefully measure and throw the inner part of the lid, then the outside rim, so it fits nicely.

You flip the lid over to trim the inside, so it doesn't feel like you're picking up a brick when you handle it.

You flatten out some clay by hand to make a "label." You carefully carve the letters of said label, then brush three layers of white over it to make it stand out.

You select your black underglaze and your favorite precision applicator with the thinnest needle you can squeeze the underglaze through. Your first application is gorgeous! It's textbook!

You will be inducted into the Potter's Hall of Fame for your precision in applying this underglaze!

Then comes the second coat of the black. And as you reach across your piece...

DAMMIT! You smear the fresh underglaze across that pristine, white surface. There are a few other choice word which follow, but "dammit" pretty much covers the feeling of the moment.

Fortunately, you know what you're doing and you can just wait for it to dry before gently scraping the smear off and reapplying both white and black.

It's a good thing it wasn't a full-on, heart-rending "dammit," but when time to make things for a show is growing short, any little thing can cause small setbacks to take on epic proportions! 

Now these guys get to dry in the sun for a day or two and then go through their first firing.

Stay tuned for more excitement!

Strange Apothecary

This jar is Oskar approved. Now in the ShellHawk's Creations Shop.