July Exhibits

I am very happy to let you know that I have been accepted to a couple of exhibits yayy!!!. The first one is title "Handmade in America" and it has been hosted by the The Singing Stone Gallery in Ybor City, Tampa. The opening reception will be on July 4th. I submitted 3 photos and they chose the white rabbits jumping around. I think I showed you the photo before, but just in case, here it is.

The second exhibit is the "5th Annual Nature & Wildlife Exhibit" hosted by the St. Augustine Art Association. The Exhibit will go from July 26 to August 31st. Again, so happy, specially because is a theme that I love and works perfectly with what I do. I sent 3 photos and they chose the "Running Hares"  yay!!!
Here is the photo of my plate with the running hares. 

I will let you know about the opening receptions and post some photos :)










 

Tazon de conejitos y tazon de pajaritos/ Bunnies and Birds Bowls

Yesterday I picked up the bowls, they look good. I have many ideas for improving and making more, I am happy with the result specially because these are the first ones that have more than one color. In the past I have made may with the slip trailing tool but I just either sprayed them or dipped them.

Here are the photos:

 

I have two more bowls, I carved them. One is in the kiln right now and the other is waiting to be painted. I thought I could finish it today, but between the photos, the laundry and cooking (yes it was my turn to cook) and oh yes, I finished the 3 book of the Hunger Games trilogy, I had not time to seat in my little room and find some peace to paint. I will do it tomorrow. 

Let me know what you think, every comment is well received! 

Pottery and Photos

I am trying new photos, since I had found an important fact. Photos of my pottery have more traffic on FB when the pottery is set as it will be used in a everyday house. Pottery portrayed in a white background appeal more to people who frequently buy pottery and/or art pieces or at least wanted to buy it.

I was also looking on big companies websites and FB pages, Pottery Barn for example, show their furniture and table ware in a very nice environment, nice houses, retreats with great food and sometimes good looking people, it is all super well produced. I wish my friends who work in advertisement were here to help me, but they are in Lima. However, since I myself had also studies advertisement and had work briefly for them I should have some clues. It is not really a fun thing to do, at least for me. I have to find a great location, get some props and take the photos.... to do that take some time, time that I rather use in making more pots, drawing or writing.

Anyway here is my first attempt. My mom made this delicious lemon tarts and I thought I better used them before I eat them. I don't have to much light in my dinning room, perhaps I should get some extra lamps or something. Any extra ideas?

The pieces were hand thrown as always and decorated with the slip trailing tool and later glazed with Magic Glow, fired c. 6

Henna Pots

I have been very busy lately, I haven't write in a while. Here is an update. I have been playing with the slip trailing a lot, I have made some tumblers, some vases and bowls.

This green glaze is called Ayumi and everything was fired at c.10. I also tried a red color, but it looked more pinkish. The design was inspired in Henna motives I found on the internet, I like the flowers and butterflies, that can be created with the slip. 

I took all this photos in my back garden and since we live in Florida there are all kinds of wild life everywhere . Here are some animals that were dying to have their Kodak moment, hahaha. In the first photo you can see Sssssinforosa, the snake. She is everywhere, luckily she is shy, when she is aware of my presence she hides very quickly, which is good because I don't like reptiles. My garden has many insects, I am not very fond of them, but I know they are good for my plants so I let them be, as long as they are not so close to me. However I love butterflies, everyday I see a new kind, we are having more and more everyday, I guess my flower selection is working. Now I hope someday to have hummingbirds to keep me company at the garden, just like the Blue jays and cardinals. I will post photos will all my garden visitors soon.

Black Racer Snake

Gulf Fritillar Butterfly

Octopus's garden...

This is a new bowl, I am trying new animals like octopus, sea rays and fish... what do you think?

My super friend  Betsy Gordon, said my bowl remind her the song Octopus's garden by the Beatles, I don't know why I didn't think of that since I like the Beatles so much and I use to la-la-la (tararear) that song so much. Thank you Betsy, I will rename the bowls and the new plate that is right now in the kiln :)

Under the Sea Bowls

This is the first bowl with the "Under the Sea" theme, I am making more now but I am a very slow person, plus I took a week off and went to the Smokey Mountains, TN and Asheville, NC. I live in Tampa Florida, so I usually don't see the the colors of the fall, so we decided to go before the red and yellow leaves on the trees fell down. We were lucky the colors were so pretty but it was sooo cold. I will post some photos of the trip later. Now I am back at the studio making more "Under the Sea" bowls, my friends keep telling me that this may sell well for Christmas since it is Florida theme.

I will be part of "Made by Hand" show on November 17th, which is next Saturday..... and I don't have things ready yet!!!

I will keep you posted.

Pitchers

I am resting a little of making pitchers, like I said in the previous post, handles are really hard to make. I am now practicing with tumblers and I will post all the tumblers I have made in the next post (I need to take more photos). But I did some pitchers, actually I made four, here is one, I decorated it with the slip trailing tool, I used a purple glaze and fired cone 6.

This one is going to my mom's house, she said she like it :)

Under the Sea

I have been practicing vases, tumblers and pitchers lately. My teacher told me that I should practice more shapes besides bowls. Pitchers are hard to make; first of all, I have to  center on the potters' wheel 3 pounds of clay, more if possible. After that, make a cylinder, the walls should be thin because they will carry water and it should not be too heavy to manipulate.  Then, a shape should be formed and, depending on the shape, the spout should be molded.

After that, it should dry enough to trim the bottom and add the handle, and OMG! handles are so hard to do. Maybe that's why I am making tumblers now, no handles needed hahaha!!

Any way, the one here is a piece that refused to be a pitcher, so I made a vase :) and since I started to make the top in a scalloped shape, it kind of reminded me of waves, so I thought the best way to decorate it was to draw a marine theme with jelly fishes and marine plants.

I carved the design and also used some slip for the final touches. When in bisque I added some iron oxide wash before applying celadon green glaze. The piece was fired on cone 6.

Square plate!

A friend from the studio suggested me to try bigger bowls to have more space for  designs with the slip trailing  tool. Since, I still have a hard time making big bowls on the wheel, she said, why not try hand building instead. So I did, and I ended up making a square plate. Thank you Judy!

Moraditos/ Purple

I am tying new colors for my slip decorated bowls. I am also trying new designs to perhaps doing some sets. Here are four different designs in purple.
 

 

Celadon Green

I think I had finally accomplished the first step on my route to becoming a fine potter. I have thrown, decorated and glazed four bowls that are almost the same size, yehhhhh!! or should I say yay!!!

I like them so much, even though I shouldn't feel so very proud of myself :) Here they are:

Plates

Lately I have been playing a lot with the silp trailing tool, here is one of the latest plates. Making an OK photo took me more time than creating the plate (!)

This plate was throw on the wheel, and decorated with the slip trailing tool, then glazed with Celadon Blue and fired in cone 10. 

Henna Bowls

I have been having so much fun with the slip trailing tool. Here are two little bowls, I am not quite happy with the glazing but I think I finally know what is what I want. So far it was kind of walking in darkness but I can see the light now :)

Playing with the slip trailing tool. Part. 2

I find myself playing with the slip trailing tool again, this time I tried a more complicated design, henna/Hindi designs... I just love those patters of flowers and vines and also a sort of old hand made doily. Well, it is not exactly what I had in mind but its getting closer. I think I will need to go to Highwater Clay Company again and buy more tips!!!

Again, I made two little bowls and I will take them to the studio tomorrow. I get always nervous every time I put new things in the kiln. I should repite to myself, "it's just clay, it's just clay" like Kathy, my teacher always said.

 If you are interested you can see the first attempt to play with the slip trailing tool here:

Playing with the slip trailing tool. Part 1