ShellHawk's Creations Shop is Open!

If you've been waiting for my shop to reopen after my annual Artist Open House, wait no more! It's open and expedited shipping is available!

I'll be adding more pieces over the next few days, so be sure to check back frequently to be sure you're not missing out!

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!

WIP - Pumpkin People!

I'm still chugging along on making fun stuff for Midsummer Scream. As I've mentioned before, the ideas for pieces are flowing so much faster than I have time to execute them, so I have to stop myself from exploring a bunch of different directions at once and make a decision to make blocks of them, instead.

This week is a return to my pumpkin people. 

I finished one yesterday, the rest await their hands and treat bags/sacks when I get to it this morning.

And yes, the above will ultimately be treat bags.

This little guy has just charmed the daylights out of me. I feel like he's saying, "Yes, I'm creepy, but it's just the way I was made! I'm actually very sweet!" Sort of like a creepy Jessica Rabbit.

I'll be making more of these guys coming soon! I'm already looking ahead to the glazing/decorating phase!

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!

Monsters Under Plastic

Right, the headless, armless pumpkin guy. Left, the guy who needs arms and hands!

It's been a little difficult to adjust to having such a full schedule. I work full time, have an occasional side job doing transcription, and I have monsters to make on the weekends! (So much for anyone who says I'm lazy!) Plus, there are the glamorous tasks of poop patrol and laundry! (I still wash my sheets on Sundays and the towels on Thursdays, as I always have.) And I take over cooking duties from time to time so my dad gets a break from cooking.

Because clay needs to dry to a certain point before I can assemble it into something, that often means I have to keep the incomplete pieces covered with plastic until I can get back to them. I check them every day even though they're covered, to make sure they're not drying out because I missed covering one spot or another. 

Today, I'll get to selecting a head for one of my pumpkin people. I threw three of them before work the other morning so I could see which one looked best. I threw a set of arms, too. I hope to get the whole thing put together today, as well as putting arms and hands on the other piece.

It's great seeing how many pieces I've made! All the smiles make me happy!

I'm toying with some other ideas, of course. I wish I had time for them all! I have other, unfinished, projects I need to get back to, as well. It's been a real blessing to only be listening to my interior prodding to make new things! Some ideas work out better than others, of course, but I keep moving forward and developing more!

New Jacks!

Although I no longer have my own space to make ceramics, I did manage to get a few (very few) jack-o'-lanterns made and fired in time for the season!

 You can still see the video of how I make them at my YouTube channel.

Click on each pic to be taken to the listing, or just head on over to ShellHawk's Creations Etsy store to see all the offerings, including 100% beeswax tea candles and votives!

You can also pick up my limited edition container candle, pictured above. 100% beeswax in an 8 oz. tin, from bees here in Los Angeles.

And thank you, as always, for the support!

New in the Shop: Halloween!

For a limited time, I have some nifty Hallowe'en offerings in my ShelHawk's Creations shop, and will be adding more in the coming week!

My more traditional orange jacks will have Raku-fired friends, and some jack-o'-lantern head ghosts, too! I'll be adding goblets, bowls, candy dishes and possibly some Halloween-themed Christmas ornaments, so keep an eye out in the coming week or so!

I'll leave them in the shop for a little bit before I tuck them away for my Halloween and Vine show, but I wanted to give you an opportunity to possess my wares!

Click here to go shopping!