Stingy Jack

Stingy Jack. Too evil for Heaven, and Hell refused him entry, casting him into the darkness with only an ember from the fires of Hell to light his way...

Remember: never blow out a jack-o'-lantern!

 

Artist Open House Today!

This here baby is already in his new home, scaring the spooks away from his new owner's front door!

Yesterday... Well... It was a long day, and I was on my feet for almost all of it.

 It's my yearly "deep-clean-before-people-come-tomorrow" day, and that took a couple of hours. I do wash the patio down from time to time to keep the clay dust to a minimum, after sweeping up the larger chunks while wearing a KN-97 mask (inhaling clay dust can lead to silicosis, which, um, no thank you), but a deep cleaning requires moving the furniture and the lion's share of my ceramics equipment off the patio area and the trash cans from their nook. 

Dead wasps? Washed away. Cobwebs? Gone. Literal, garden-variety dirt? Swept up and dumped back into the garden beds. I even take the pressure nozzle and knock the dead leaves off of our old wisteria vine so there aren't many to deal with the next day.

So today is setup and I have to get rolling. Keep an eye out for my shop to reopen in the next day or two so you can grab a Halloween thing for yourself!

Next up in my making cycle: Krampuslauf!

New Spooks...

 

AWOL!

Good grief, it's been busy! But here's a new Pumpkin Person in progress until I can get back with y'all!

Click on the pic for the video!

OMG, They're SOOO CUTE!

I did a low-fire glaze firing the other day and have been too busy here to post these guys but aren't they the most creepy/adorable things you've ever seen?! 

I had such fun with their gestures and expressions, and I really can't wait to make more!

I've been puttering with different kinds of goody bags for the little pumpkin people, as well. Below are the before and after pics of this little charmer as a completely creepy-cute trick-or-treater!

Remember, if you're buying tickets for Midsummer Scream so you can acquire one of these beauties, use code SHEMSS22 for a little discount!

WIPS and Other Needful News

Gawd, I love making jacks!

It's a terrible addiction, really. I'm sure there are folks out there who have been following my blog for a while and are wondering when, exactly, I'll move on to something different. While that's a valid question, my answer is, at this time, "Yeah. No. Probably not going to happen."

I do love sculpture. I have roughly a million ideas for different fine art sculptures and various forms of functional pottery and oh! SO MANY, MANY THINGS! But those jacks, with their smiles and their snarls and grimaces and frowns and most of all, the knowledge that a candle put in their hollow bodies will make those faces come alive... They entrance me. They captivate me. They call to me and beg to be made, to be given life. To be given to others who see their faces and are instantly hooked. 

I don't know what it is about the addition of that live flame makes me so happy, so engaged, while I'm carving the faces they tell me they want to wear. I look at each jack-o'-lantern as I would a fall pumpkin, turning it round and round to find the right spot for the face. A place where the stem I made sits just so and becomes an extension of his visage, adds a kind of animation and expression to the face, itself. 

Maybe it makes our jack look wistful, or comical. But I think ahead to the finished little guy, all glazed and fired and sanded and ready to go to his new home, and I take that one extra moment to think of the light he'll have inside and how he'll look when he's all lit up. I have to imagine how that light will look coming out of mismatched eyes and a huge mouth. Or the flickering from a tiny mouth with enormous and watchful eyes.

And the ones I've included here, fresh from being carved, but still with their original clay color, will be fired and then I'll Raku fire them for their glaze firing, because I love what the crackle does to their surfaces, carbon lightning stabbing through white or aqua or red glazes. They're even more special!

In other news, the Etsy strike has come and gone without any kind of acknowledgement from the company, which is what I anticipated. A friend of mine commented that Etsy has become "Wish" for hipsters, and I have to say, I can see their point.

That and the numbers have made me decide to leave the platform after twelve years. It's just not sustainable for me, and it's time for me to have my own website. So I'm building it through Square, since Square is already my point of sale and they have basic website-building tools. It's been an expensive year for me, si unfortunately, I can't afford to pay someone to do it for me, but I feel like I can cobble something functional together and pay someone at a later date to upgrade or overhaul as necessary.

I'll let you know when the launch will be!

And lastly, Midsummer Scream is on its way at the end of July in Long Beach, California! Remember to buy your tickets in advance and use my code at checkout for a discount!

Can't wait for you to see the jacks, all finished and ready for you! 

One Day Closer

The Open House is on Sunday. The kiln is firing off the last SPN mugs to smooth out the roughness from a too-thin clear glaze application, but there are a bunch which turned out great! The above Pumpkin Person needs some clear glaze to get him finished off. The witches I'm sculpting will have to wait until after!

The last of the jacks I can reasonably finish before the Open House came out yesterday evening and got the clay dust wiped off of them so I can start glazing today. I plan to keep making Hallowe'en through the winter, as I have a couple of shows to apply for and want to show the folks who choose the work some new creations! Plus I have stock to rebuild. I plan to make time to create some fine art, too! I have had a series in mind for a number of years, and I'm finally ready to start.

It's the usual, crazy, before-show push, but I love it! It feels fantastic to get back to doing what I do best!

More Jacks in the Shop!

I am beyond thrilled at the response to 2020's crop of handmade jack-o'-lanterns! The open house was a great start, and the continuing interest from collectors of my work - as well as new fans - has been humbling and thrilling, all at once! Because of you, I'm inching closer to my goal of purchasing my new kiln and all the things that have to go with it!

You can click on each picture to be taken to the listing in the ShellHawk's Creations Etsy Store.

Yes, it gives me a tremendous amount of satisfaction to see the body of work I created this year! Once I get my kiln, I can play around with my fine art again, too. Maybe I can add to the award I received from that international ceramics show I was juried into, Feats of Clay!

Wouldn't that be a triumph?
 

Rule #3

 

Rule #3: Never blow out a jack-o'-lantern!

New Jacks and Pumpkin Guys!

 Now available in my Etsy store!

Success!

 My first Artist Open House in three years went beautifully, in spite of the 'Rona! It was a real push to get everything done on time, especially with having a full-time job, too, but it got done!

Here's the part where I plug my awesome dad. He was incredibly supportive and helpful at every turn. Coming from the background of a VFX producer, he kept tabs on all the little tasks which needed doing and kept things moving along on his end. He made signs, suggested changes on the Craigslist ad and the personal invitations, and was an all-around good sport! He was a soothing presence to my artist's anxiety and pre-show jitters! 

A friend came by and helped with setup and hung around to help wrap and bag each piece sold, so they'd arrive in their new homes in one piece.

 

 

 We got lucky with a beautiful, clear day and light breezes.

 

Our patio is a mixture of wisteria-covered trellis and solid wood, so we set up in the comparatively cooler shade so people could shop in comfort. I didn't get pictures, but dad made up a "masks required" sign with that cute German Shepherd showing you how to wear a mask, so that people would be a little safer.

 

I wasn't able to get pics once people started showing up, but we had a busy time there, for a bit. Busy enough to make doing the Open House worth it. A number of my old high school friends showed up to support my little business and they were really surprised to see not only the volume of work I had made, but the quality and variety! Many of the cups and bowls I had on display had come from my old digs in Folsom, and I even brought out my Christmas ornaments.

As always, people were drawn to the Raku-fired jack-o'-lanterns I had made. As far as I know, you can't get them anywhere else.

Eventually, the day wound down and folks ambled off with their purchases, looking happy behind their masks. Their pleasure reminded me of why I make ceramics; my pieces make people smile! It gives me an enormous amount of satisfaction to know, for instance, how much joy a set of cups will give my friend for years to come!

We sold a respectable amount of pieces, but of course there were some left. Lucky you! If you keep an eye on my shop, you can have one in your home, too!

These guys are already in my Etsy Shop, ShellHawk's Creations!

 

I'll be adding more as the week progresses!