{ non } SENSE

It was dark and the water was black

admin — Sat, 19 May 2012 02:38:45 +0000

This piece is built with coils. The typography is from an antique type specimen book. There are also hints of commercial decals. The surface is sgraffito and a little bit of gold luster accents.

a menagerie of pseudo needs

admin — Mon, 14 May 2012 13:47:29 +0000

The decals here are from an antique type specimen book and also from odile designed by sibylle hagmann.

plush life

admin — Fri, 11 May 2012 02:27:11 +0000

three degrees of a plush life: dreaming, more pleasure, plush life.

The pillow was slip cast and the cups hand built. In addition to the sgraffito, I have added some gold luster here. Just to make the whole thing plusher than real life.

bear jar

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 02:03:57 +0000

lately I have been experimenting with gold luster. It adds another element to the pieces without detracting from the contrast of the black and white. This bear tells us “eventually we gave up and went home”. It is quiet in the woods. The neck of the bear also has decals added.

nonsense

admin — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 22:58:47 +0000

This is an experiment using a commercial white porcelain tile which was etched with a laser cutter. The images are commercial decals that were applied later. I rubbed the etched area with black underglaze.

The decorative typography from “menagerie of pseudo needs” and “black tulip” comes primarily from antiquated printer typography specimen books. I scan the books and arrange the words from the books into nonsensical poetry.The text is printed on decal paper and then fired onto the piece. The ceramic tile text comes from mixing a statement from abraham lincoln with a menu. The typography for that one was generated on the computer. The rest of the piece is sgraffito. Here I have tried my hand at coil building vessels.

gold luster

admin — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 22:50:27 +0000

An odd assortment of my attempt at making functional pieces. These are primarily coil built vessels exploring the effects of gold luster. There is also a zombie kind of pie plate looking thing. It is difficult to see the effect in the photos, but it does work! I am also trying out a black engobe rather than the black underglaze I normally use. The engobe gives a warmer effect. These pieces also include some laser decals that I printed, and some commercial decals that I purchased from Ebay. The best source I go to for learning about decal application comes from justin rothshank.

my version of getting plastered

admin — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 22:39:53 +0000

I have been busy making plaster molds of various objects for future porcelain pieces. Here you see a stack of future pillows. To make the pillows, I filled zip lock bags with plaster and set weights on top to make impressions. Then plaster molds are made from the plaster objects and can be poured with slip and cast. Guess what the other mold comes from…

Hand Dyed Cord

admin — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 04:03:47 +0000

I took this photo while I was dying cord for the wishing ear necklace. I realize I am drawn to the “line”. It is making me think about dipping string into slip and laying it onto clay just to see what happens. I see some clay experiments with string/line happening soon…

Wishing Ears!

admin — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:24:17 +0000

The wishing ear idea is complete.

After watching an Igmar Bergman movie titled “The Magician” Dieter suggested we make porcelain ears similar to the one given to a young woman by an old witch in the movie. We came up with the wishing ear.

The wishing ear is made in a secret location for you to have and use for purposes of GOOD. Use the wishing ear to wish for things that will grow in LOVE and compassion. A number has been fired onto the porcelain indicating the number of wishes the ear will grant. Therefore, it is very important to consider carefully what you wish for. After you feel you have used most of your wishes, the wishing ear’s power can be re-established by GIVING it away to someone you LOVE.At that time the full number of wishes are restored. It is recommended that the wishing ear be worn for a period of time before the first wish is made, allowing it to become familiar with you. Each wishing ear is nurtured to develop its listening potential. After rigourous testing, none, but the finest tuned ears become available for you to have. The wishing ear might become overly stimulated by extraneous noise, so best to keep it in the felt pouch while it is not being worn.

The Wishing Ear looks great on everyone!

Wishing Ears are available on Etsy!

Oil Spill Commemorative Plates

admin — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 21:57:10 +0000

The is one in a series of four plates, a bird, human hand, fish, and leaf, which represent the fragility of nature in the face of an oil spill. The plates are hand built porcelain. The surfaces are a combination of sgraffito, decals, and linoleum cut printing on clay. The back of each plate is uniquely decorated with images and the date of the spill. These are sold through the Etsy shop and
25 percent of the profit from these plates is going to the American Bird Conservancy. Specifically going towards threats to birds in the environment.