Shop Update!

If you've been itching to add to your Halloween folk art collection, tune in to my ShellHawk's Creations Etsy shop update, tomorrow at 4:00 PM PST!

If you purchase right away, I can get your new piece shipped to you in time for Hallowe'en!

See you there!

 

Out of the Firing!

 
And into the fire!

I have been pushing my Skutt kiln to live up to its workhorse reputation by firing day after day, nonstop, for the past four or five firings. As soon as it cools down enough to open, everything gets emptied and the next load goes in!

Case in point: these pieces were unloaded this morning and my large jack-o'-lantern and one of the jars are in their glaze firing right now. The jar is a second firing because the purple over the black wasn't very apparent, and while I don't really think slapping another coat of the lavender over the obsidian on a red clay body will make a huge difference for the good, I don't think it will hurt it any. We'll see! It's all mad scientist experimentation.

The two above are a good example of that experimentation. I wanted to see if the "Ice" celadon would give a contrast to the clay body and the glaze, or whether the translucency of the glaze would cause the color to wash out. Turns out it was the latter, but even so, these turned out well! I'm just going back to the drawing board to find a lighter, bluer, glaze to contrast with this chocolate clay body.

However, the celadons I used on light clay bodies were predictably wonderful! The True Celadon glaze never disappoints! (Long-time followers with amazing memories might remember I used it on this carved porcelain punch bowl set.) I used it on two of the carved tumblers and I never cease to love the way it pools in the low spots and accentuates the dimensionality of carved pieces!

 

The bat cup, while it didn't turn out quite how I expected, still maintained a spooky vibe. I plan to play with the next one and see if I can get better results.

I took the opportunity to play with stoneware glaze combinations on the new clay body, too. I love how you can combine Deep Firebrick with Indigo Float and get this gorgeous and vibrant combo!

On the Frog's Breath jar, that versatile True Celadon over a red clay body. It's a really nifty green!

And I *love* how these guys turned out! They remind me of the old, sepia-toned photos from way back when!

 Alright! Back to making!

Another Batch for Midsummer Scream

 And back out to my wheel I go. This time, I'm making some jars.

In-between, I'm decorating new, red jacks!

WIPs!

My studio assistant, ready to leap into action!

Making, making, making! That's going to be my mantra this year. Since I have Midsummer Scream to prepare for, I get to start a big, fat making cycle and I am stoked about it! I don't know what it is about making new things for a show, but man, oh, man, it gets my creative juices flowing!

I also have a super (not very, but somewhat) secret project going to upgrade my booth space so my work can be presented in a way that grabs the eye. Quite literally, the sky's the limit! I dragooned a professional set decorator *cough!* *Dave Lowe* *cough* into designing and building it, and after our meet-up yesterday, I'm really excited to see what the next sketches are going to look like!

Meanwhile, I'm playing with new items to add to the staple of my jack-o'-lanterns and pumpkin people.

I threw my first volcano bowl because Tiki culture down here is a big deal, and many Halloween folks are also in love with everything Tiki! I'm working my way up to that traditional 32 oz. bowl, but I think the one above is a good first attempt, especially since I threw it in one piece. I may have to throw it in two in the future just to cut down on labor, but we'll see how the process progresses. The learning curve wasn't too bad, that first time!

I'm starting on bottle stoppers, too! This here guy has an indentation on the bottom where the cork will be glued in once he's done. I plan to slip-cast a limited run of them and see how they do. I'm keeping in mind that many people want smaller things because their funds are limited but they still want to support your work if they can. I figure wine corks will be a nice thing to offer them!

Lastly, I'm making a few more items for the Supernatural fandom. The response to my cups and tankards was wonderful (I still have a couple left in the ShellHawk's Creations shop, but it looks like they're going soon), so I'm making a few more. This will be the last run for a while, since I have to focus on Midsummer Scream and there are only so many hours in the day! BTW, advance tickets are still 40% off for a little while longer!

Well, onward with my day! More updates, soon!

More WIPs

The weather continues to be strange around here, with an aborted attempt at rain (a tiny sprinkle for five minutes or so) and blistering heat. Since my Artist Open House is next Sunday, already, I'm taking advantage of the heat to get a few more jacks done before then. The heat will get them dry enough to fire and then get glazed and fired again for the event!

So much work, so little time!

WIPs

It's funny how things come to be, particularly these funny little Hallowe'en characters. Much of the time, I don't have their figures set in stone in my head, nor their gestures or facial expressions. The longer I do this, the more alright with that I am, because it gives them the opportunity to tell me who and what they are as my hands shape and carve the clay.

It's interesting to see them come into being, one little piece at a time. 

There's a potter whom I admire whose name is Gerit Grimm. (No relation to the more famous brothers Grimm). She teaches ceramics now over at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, but she continues to create her own body of work with a love for the craft I find inspiring. (Maybe one day I'll go out and see her.) It was from her I saw you could throw sculptural components and then alter them and attach them to make figurative sculpture. It seems like the easiest thing in the world when she does it, but then she's had years and years of practice, plus access to the kilns that only a University or college can afford to purchase, run, and keep running.

My goal is to one day to be practiced enough at these techniques to be able to make a larger variety of expressive critters, as well as larger critters, but meanwhile, I'm fairly content with my progress.

I remember a couple of guys I used to know who were sculptors here in L.A. for the studios. They told me that hands were the hardest things to pull off, but I'm not finding them terribly difficult. I don't have to make them anatomically perfect, true, but still, I'm not finding them to be the bane of my existence they seemed to have.

I'm changing things up a little this year by adding a witch or two to the mix. I don't know why I never make them, other than I love my jack-o'-lantern obsession and the fun of having fire inside their carved heads.

I haven't done a human face in a very long time, but I think this one is starting out well... 

I can't wait to see what kind of gossip this old gal has to tell me!