Quick Update!

 It's just been busy around the nest and I haven't been able to post for a bit.

The leak in the archives is fixed, new lights have been put in, and everything is patched, sanded and painted. Now what? Put all of it back where it goes. All one hundred fifteen boxes of it! *sigh*

But on the pottery front, it's going alright!

 

I was happy to get this sugar skull jack-o'-lantern's decorating done, and I'm happy with it! The colors turned out really well and looking at him just makes me so happy!

The pumpkin people need a few touch-ups and clean-ups, but they're looking good, too!

The one above just charms the daylights out of me! I think that this year, more than any other, the jack-o'-lantern faces have revealed themselves to me, told me who they want to be, just like the song by Andrew Gold.

I feel like they're developing more personality, and as my mind frees up, I have more critters clamoring to get out and be sculpted!

Annual Jack-o'-Lantern Mug Shot

 I had to take the annual mug shots last night, since the idea is that these will be gone after tomorrow's venture to Halloween and Vine!

I only have a couple of minutes, as I have to finish packing and getting the house ready for the house sitter, so more of these next week, plus some H & V pics!

2013 Jack Season is Creeping In

Jennifer A. contacted me through my ShellHawk's Creations Facebook Page and asked if I could make a certain pumpkin royalty jack-o'-lantern for her. Of course, I said, "YES!"

It took me a while to get to him. I had a bunch of stuff to clear up before I could get him thrown on my wheel. I made him a few friends, too, so he wouldn't be lonely in the kiln.

I had to fire him twice, because I just wasn't satisfied with him the first time. The finished guy is in the above picture, on the far left. I got him wrapped up and shipped almost as soon as he cooled. 

Now, not only was Jennifer patient about waiting for jack, she was even kind enough to send me a picture of him all lit up!

That's definitely going into the "My Pumpkins in Their New Homes" photo album on Facebook! Looking at that album is definitely a "ShellHawk's Jacks Evolution Through the Years" kind of thing. Wow, has my style changed!

Next up, making some goodies for West Coast Haunters Convention. After the El Dorado Hills Art and Wine Affaire show next weekend, that is! (You know it's high class, because it's got that "e" hanging off the end!) You are coming out, right? :)

Grr!

Snake-eyes is small, but fierce!

And who doesn't love the Pumpkin King?

Available in ShellHawk's Creations Etsy Store.

Witch Hat Jack

My first high fire stoneware jack-o'-lantern. Now, in the ShellHawk's Creations Shop.

A Few New Jacks

 I did a Raku firing with the help of a friend yesterday, and got these two out of the firing. I just posted them to my Etsy store!

 This guy, below, I fired in my electric kiln. I'm having fun with the skull-ish faces!

ShellHawk's Creations Etsy store.

Raku Crop

I did several Raku kiln loads today, with the help of a very good clay buddy. I am officially tired! 

Official pics tonight. They'll go in the Etsy shop later this week.

Busy Little Bee

While I think up the giveaway contest, I've been slaving in my 104° studio. Here are a few of the things on which I was working over the weekend.

 Today I have a 15" serving platter to trim and a bunch of other stuff to do! 


Now, back to thinking up a contest... I'll let you know this week!

New Jacks Are Coming

Here's one of the guys I got out of the Raku firing a few weeks ago. He will soon have more friends!

Works in Progress

 It's been a busy week in the studio and out of it, too! I've been working on several projects at one time, because sometimes I'm able to complete more things that way; when one piece is drying, I can be glazing something else. When the glaze firing is going (making the studio unbearably hot in already overly-hot weather) I can be inside, working on a sculpture. It's a bit crazy-making, but it seems to work for me.


I decided to throw in a couple of bigger-ticket Hallowe'en items this year, the first being the above-pictured porcelain punch bowl and ten cups. Porcelain is an interesting clay. Aside from being exceedingly fussy and hard to throw because it has no grog in it, everything contaminates it and shows, even after firing. That includes oils from handling and all other residue from other clays. 


Which brings me to how I nearly murdered my older, idiot dog.


Because porcelain has no grog, it can actually be carved when it's bone-dry if you throw it thickly enough. (If you try to carve other, grogged clays, the grog actually shows up and can scratch the surface of the piece.) I threw the bowl above with the idea of carving a haunted house on it, and carving various appropriate themes on the coordinating cups.


So, a couple of days ago, I'm out in my garage, wearing my respirator (hot) and wearing my latex surgical gloves (really freaking hot) so I don't contaminate the clay with the oils from my hands, and I have the bowl lying on a towel on my lap. I am sweating buckets, but I Am An Artist, and I am willing to Suffer For My Art. It is 108° in the studio. I am carving over a bucket of water to keep the dust to a minimum. I carve a little, then take a soft brush and brush away the powdered clay so I can see to carve more.


Idiot dog walks in. He normally doesn't want to be in the studio much, but that day, he made an exception. He lays down for a little bit, then notices the neighbors across the street messing with their car in their driveway.


Ooo! Something interesting is happening! The ears perk.


He gets up, somehow dipping his tail in the bucket I use for reclaiming my red clay.


He walks forward to the baby gate I keep across the door to keep the dogs from dashing outside, recognizes the people across the street, and begins to wag. His. Tail!


I have been completely, utterly focused on carving my bowl. I have not noticed that idiot dog has dipped his tail in the Red Death of Porcelain Clay (a bucket of water and red clay that I will reclaim later). 


I hear splattering noises as his tail wags oh-so-slightly faster. Small red splatters appear inside my porcelain bowl. Screaming and ranting ensues, and idiot dog is banished from the studio, looking baffled.


I set the bowl down and take a deep breath, muttering threats about dogs becoming rugs so they would actually be useful, for once. I take another breath and examine the bowl. I realize that there are, by some miracle, no huge chunks of Red Death of Porcelain clay in the bowl. The splatters are little more than red colored water. If I let it dry, I can gently sand it off. I won't actually have to throw the entire bowl away.


The idiot dog has no idea how lucky he is. He has, however, rubbed his tail in numerous places all over the house, to the dismay of our housekeeper, who had just cleaned all of those places. I dragged him outside and hosed off the offending tail while seriously considering bobbing it myself and saving myself a vet bill...

Meanwhile, work continues. I am glazing the chandelier and the matching globes, and if I get it finished this weekend, I may be able to open the kiln on Sunday morning. The pumpkins in the above shot (with the exception of the top middle one, which has already been fired) are drying and awaiting final touch-ups before their first firing. I have a small witch sculpture I'm working on, and work on Raven continues. (We can rebuild him! We have the technology!)


So, happy Friday the 13th, boils and ghouls. I'm off to glaze some jacks! I leave you with this track from Sinister 6, which will be on the upcoming Halloween at High Noon album coming out in October. I can hardly wait!

A Jack Lantern

Directions to make it here.

(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.

New Pumpkins on Etsy!

Hey, All! I just listed a bunch of new pumpkins on Etsy, so head over to ShellHawk's Creations and get yourself a Halloween treat!

Ghostly Pumpkin

Now available in the shop. ShellHawk's Creations on Etsy.

Bad News, Good News

So, the bad news (for me) is that The Folsom Fine Arts and Gourd Festival has been cancelled. I'm disappointed, as it was to be my first art show, but, as they say in the Old Country: shit happens.

The good news for you all is that all the stuff I have made and been making for the show will now be available in my Etsy store in the coming weeks. Keep in mind I am still messing around with my shipping profiles in the shop and will do my best to keep the costs down for you.

Happy shopping, kids!

Night Shots

I promised some night shots of the new guys, so here they are. The jacko below will be a hanger when he's finished.

Here's a quick shot of my photographic assistant, who is normally very camera-shy (upper right part of the frame). She's very helpful in keeping the lens clean with her tongue!

Since there seems to be a good response to these new additions, I'll make more to put in the store in the next couple of weeks. I also want to let you all know that prices in the shop will be going up in the middle of September, so if you like the ones already there, buy them soon!

Screamin' Scott asked if I would have some of these jack-o-lanterns available in the shop, so I guess I'll have to make some more like them, too!

Back to playing in the studio!

Fresh Out of the Kiln

I've been a bit remiss in my posting, because I've been pushing to get some pieces done for the show in September. The one that's taken the most time has been Pumpkin Head, who is pictured below, pre-bisque firing.

Here he is, just out of the kiln this morning. I layered a couple of different glazes on his head, and I really like the slightly mottled result.

Here he is with a couple of new friends. I've been playing with some new glaze colors, so all my pumpkins don't look exactly the same.

I've also thrown a couple of larger bowls. There's the bat and moon pictured below

and this guy is actually made with a slump mold. I wanted his edges a little raggedy, hopefully someone will like that, too. I'll make another with normal edges.

I'll get some better pictures later, after dark.

Alright! Back to writing my podcast!