September Soda Firing @ Arrowmont

This was not a great firing but there were still pieces which I very much enjoyed out of it. I made some adjustments to the bag wall in a attempt to break up the flame and push it up higher in the ware chamber with this firing. The subsequent changes, and likely the fact that I’ve only fired this kiln once before, caused the top to get much hotter much more quickly than the bottom…which is the opposite problem I had in my previous firing. In trying to get the kiln evened out I had to reduce much more that I normally do so much of the work is considerably darker than I would optimally like. Also this is the first firing in which I have planned for decals after the firing so there are a few new decaled pieces in this as well…..Here is some of the work from this firing.

Enjoy!

HP

 

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September studio

I am loading and firing a soda kiln this weekend and have spent much of the week learning about decals. It was interesting watching Justin Rothshank work through his process and to see how he builds up his surfaces both before and after the firing. So now I ask myself “when is a pot done?” We talked about multiple decal firings and layering of glazes over decals or transfers to push the depth of surface even further.

I am considering luster decals now. These images are me exploring and having fun. I think that a few of them were under-fired in the decal firing and didn’t thus some of the decals take as well. Since I use so many glazes they all have differing temperatures where they will accept the decal…so I will just have to turn up the heat on them. These were fun I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them and remember these were explorations and one of them was me seeing what all i could get one to one piece and how much layering I could do. Guess which one.

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Contemporary and Historical Floral Themes

I was walking from the studio this morning thinking about where we get our source material from for our decorative surfaces. Everyone’s mind works in a different way. We latch onto specific items which resonate with us or what we want to do. Quite often we pull from source material to help us move forward. Some people call this “stealing like an artist.” I know that when we are all beginning it can be difficult to break out of what has been done and find your own voice. I’ve had many students who bring me a photo and say something along the lines of “I want to make this piece.” Is that plagiarism?  While there is much to be learned from that which has already happened it is more of a challenge to learn how to make those ideas into something new that gives new life to the idea and speaks in your voice.

What I really wanted to do with this post was to get two images next to each other for evaluation. Historical and contemporary, could the artist have pulled their material from such pieces and if so how do you think that they may have evolved each idea to build their own vocabulary and voice? While I have doubt any of the contemporary artists were actually using these images or bodies of work as source material it is fun to hunt down parallels in historic and contemporary work. Enjoy.

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Etsy Shop revamping

I havent really done much with my etsy shop in quite a while BUT the time has come to begin a revamping for a grand reopening! Look for new work to be up within the next few weeks. If you like you can start following my shop (etsy.com/people/bloomer4). More details will come as I get closer to reopening my page.Thanks for your support!

HP