The Last Wips

Getting the last of the crew together before my Annual Artist Open House!

 What can I say? It was a busy, busy summer with renovations taking all my time...

Haunting Driftwood

Driftwood sculpture by Nagato Iwasaki.

Incredible use of found things, paired with an amazing eye for form and anatomy.

Find more here.

Monsterpappa

The wonderful work of Monsterpappa!

More here.

Nightmares

Sculptures by Matthew J. Levin. More of his art here.

Nighty-Night

Art by RandyHand on Deviant Art.

I guess there really are monsters under the bed!

Wicked-Wicked Cool, That Is!

The hauntingly beautiful work of Dustin Poché.

More of his Halloween work here.

One With Nature

More beautiful sculpture by Giuseppe Agnello here.

New in the Shop--Mostly Gone!

Sold!

Before I went in for surgery, I took some time to take some pics of the things that had just come out of the last firing (the ones that survived, anyway!), because I knew I'd be stuck on the couch and have plenty of time to post them to the ShellHawk's Creations Etsy store. I even re-took some pics of a few things from late last year, as the pics I had weren't up to par.

I've been playing with new handle shapes and designs.
I kind of like this one, because it has a natural thumb rest.

Apparently, it's tough to find one-fingered mugs, for those who like them...

Manly mug, in a manly color, to drink coffee in a manly way.

I like how the red and ice blue flowed on this mug...

I'm starting to freehand designs, too.

So for the past couple of days, I've been posting the new pics to Etsy. I also sent out one of my rare newsletters (rare, because I hate to bombard people's email with yet another piece of senseless mail for them to open--I like to have something new to say and show before I send one!) to let folks on my mailing list know there were new things to be found in the shop.

I like how the black and the blues flowed and overlapped on this serving dish. I hope to make some more of these as time goes by.

Also playing around with new "Pint-ish" glasses. This one sold right
away, so maybe I'm going in the right direction? :)

I was happy I sent it out, as one particular person got excited and bought a mess of things from me, including the "pint-ish glass" pictured above, and the bowl at the very top of this post! Hooray! I'll be putting those funds into building a new portable Raku kiln, as mine is on its last legs!

I truly love how well this plate turned out! The colors were exactly what
I was hoping for!

"Conundrum." I'm thinking of doing a series with this theme.

Of course, now I'm out of good pics to post in the shop, so I'm back to watching my teaching videos and wishing I could get out into the studio and get my hands muddy, again! (I'm also binge-watching "Breaking Bad," which I never saw while it was on, but we'll let that go, for now...)

If you're part of Etsy, please take some time to head over to my Etsy store and "Favorite" my shop. (To favorite, got to the left sidebar, scroll down, and click on the little heart and phrase "Add to Favorites.") You can also "like" my Facebook page and follow me on Twitter. I've got a few fun Hallowe'en and ceramics boards on Pinterest, and of course one of "My Stuff."

O.K.! Time to get back to seeing how Heisenberg is doing... ;)

Taking Some Pics

I bought the requisite "graduated background" for photographing my non-Hallowe'en pieces, so things look more professional. Still fiddling with my camera, but so far, they look pretty good!

 More to come, soon!

Liking Mistakes

Click on the pic for a thoughtful video by Chris Staley, Penn State Laureate.

It's a neat view of the joys of handmade things...

Wax Harryhausen

Wax sculpture by the talented Mike Hill. Photo by Don Waller.

Thanks, Don, for this great picture! What a wonderful piece!

The Most Interesting Jackalope in the World

Latest from the kiln! I entered it into America's Clay Fest, so with any luck, he'll be chosen to be part of the 85 finalists!

 Wish me luck!

Mourners

Image via Squidoo

Via The Cemetery Traveler Blog

Image by bricunin

Image by Xavier de Jaureguiberry

Really gives me some great ideas for the coming Season. I need to go back to my Chicago Graveyard post, part 1 and Chicago Graveyard part 2 for more. We're heading to Chicago in June, so look for more cool shots then!

Raven

At last, the sculpt on my latest creation, Raven, is done. That nasty virus really set me back, time-wise, and I am now officially sweating the deadline to submit for Feats of Clay, which is February 2nd. (Did you know that's next week, already? I didn't! Eek!)


The sculpture has to finish drying, get fired, cool down, survive the firing without cracking or exploding, get the color put on, survive the second firing and cool-down, get pics taken and sent off, then (fingers crossed) get chosen for the show. I'm honestly not even confident it will survive the firing process. (And in looking at him, there are already flaws I perceive that I'd do differently next time...)


I found out when I came home from Christmas vacation that my sculpture is too wide to fit my kiln. Stupid oversight on my part. Fortunately, my boss at work said I could use that kiln, so there's a ray of sunshine. But, I have to get the sculpture there in one piece, and then it has to be loaded into the kiln without breaking or dinging it in any way. The kiln is a top-loader, not a front loader, and the sculpture is heavy. I was up half the night thinking of how it can be safely loaded, assuming it survives the car ride and the short trip from the car to the kiln room.

If I were firing it here at home, I would fire it Saturday, add the colors on Sunday and fire it Sunday night, but Parks and Rec is closed on the weekend, and we have a policy of not firing the kilns when no one is there, which is only basic fire safety. Still, that cuts my time down. I also hate to put it somewhere where some random person may look at it and start touching it and potentially break something. You'd be shocked at how many adults still can't keep their hands off of breakable things, so really, I'm not being needlessly paranoid! I promise! :o)

I've literally been having nightmares about this piece, just because of all the logistics involved in getting it finished in time to submit it for the show. I'm totally having Gnorman flashbacks. (All that's left of Gnorman is his head, which migrates from rose bush to rose bush, depending on the volume of Mr. ShellHawk's complaints at having a skull in the roses, year-round.)


On a philosophical level, this really is an exercise in learning how to let go. (Clearly, I need to work on the concept!) There are truly so few things in life that are under our control, aren't there? We have a neighbor up the street who is roughly our age (mid-40's maybe) who just had a major stroke. I'm sure she had no idea that's what would be on her schedule that day, but it happened and her life will never be the same, and it certainly was not under her control! I can't help but be forcibly reminded that control is an illusion.


The Kiln Gods will either smile on me, or they won't. At this stage, most of the process is out of my hands.


But why is it so damn hard?


Alright, ShellHawk. Put on your big girl panties and change the attitude!


The sculpture will be fine. The sculpture will be fine. The sculpture will be fine!


*whimper*


UPDATE: Raven made it into the kiln at Parks and Rec nearly without incident. Someone there helped me lower him in. He'll dry there peacefully for the next couple of days before I start the candling cycle. I figured it would be best if he just went straight in so nothing else could happen to him!

Today's the Day!

We're ambling into Sacramento to Capitol Garage for a champagne brunch, and then we're heading over to the Crocker Museum of Art to see my sculpture, in situ, as it were. My awesome dad is even flying up from L.A. for the day to come with us! How great is that?

Here's a re-run of the pic of my piece, for those who haven't seen it, yet.

I have to thank those amazing men, Brian Froud and Charles DeLint for giving me the inspiration to do this piece with their art and writing, respectively.

But, just to show that even after an accident, the piece can still turn out fine (even if you're personally convinced that it's completely ruined), I'm including a couple of pics of "Manitou," pre-firing. I.e., before I knocked his left arm off after he had mostly dried and had to pray that I could attach a new one without the area cracking.

I still like the position of this arm and hand better, but looking at it, it needed a little more work... But then, I always think that of my sculptures!



Have a great Sunday, boils and ghouls! I'm after a mimosa, now!