Crafters of Khnum

Progress report...

2009-04-08T07:08:00.000-07:00

I don't have much to show yet, but I thought I would give a progress report. Our last bronze pour was April 1st, and it went very well. It was a pretty large pour relatively, as we needed 3 full crucibles (each holds ~100 lbs of bronze).

I have two pieces from this pour, which together set me back a little over $300 for the bronze and the shop supplies. I broke both pieces from them molds last Wednesday, and they both cast beautifully. This is great news, because I'm still using the short cut method of skipping the mother mold process. Usually you sculpt the form you would like to cast, then using silicone you make a rubber cast of the form. Then, you pour hot wax into the mother mold to make a replica of the original. You refine the wax mold, proceed with sprue and gates, then build the plaster mold. The plaster mold is then heated for a day to totally melt and evaporate out all the wax leaving the void where the bronze will pour into. By skipping the mother mold step, I sculpt directly in wax. This results in a faster turn around time, but I have no backup in case something goes wrong in the plaster casting, or bronze pour. If it goes wrong, I've lost that sculpture entirely.

The first sculpture I broke open is my dragon head. In the interest of minimizing the mold size, and therefore the cost, this piece was fairly tightly cramped. In order to pour this in one mold, I needed to cut the horns off the head, and gate them as a part of the cast. So, it took nearly 3 hours just to saw off the sprue and gates. I stopped with that, since I really want to finish my "secret" project first.

My second sculpture from that pour was good, but there was a void near where the gate attached which I needed to fill with some small scraps and a welder. I removed all the excess gates and sprues, then cleaned up the piece pretty much and did the welding (oxy/acetylene). Most of the weld went well, but there is one spot I need to go back and fill again. I think I will get set up on the MIG welder tonight and weld that one spot, and then also I can work on welding the horns back onto my dragon's head.

Tonight I will take some pictures.

Some thing fun for Friday.

2009-03-20T11:56:00.000-07:00

Help I'm steppin' into the Twilight Zone
Place is a madhouse
Feels like being cloned
My becaons been moved
Under moon and star
Where am I to go Now that I've gone too far...

The secret project

2009-03-19T05:52:00.000-07:00

This blog's craft related topics are sparse currently. I'm working on a secret sculpture project as a present (belated birthday) for Angel. I started it about 3 weeks ago, and I've been had to keep it and only work on it at the studio. Also, the number of bisqued and glazed pots has dropped due to the new session, so the studio manager skipped a firing cycle and my work sat on the shelf for an extra week.

Some rock favorites for small boys...

2009-03-12T18:53:00.000-07:00

... who dance around crazy in their PJ's.

Think of me, when you suffer...

2009-03-12T04:51:00.000-07:00

I'm a sap for these romantic vocals. I admit it.

If you have a deep sorrow
Think of me
If you want to cry
Think of me
You see that I worship
Your divine image
Your nubile lips
being so small
Taught me to sin.

Think about me
When you kiss
When you cry
Also, think about me
When you want to take away my life
I don’t want it, not at all
It serves to nothing, without you.

Think about me
When you kiss
When you cry
Also, think about me
When you want to take away my life
I don’t want it, not at all
It serves to nothing, without you.

Placebo.

2009-03-11T11:12:00.000-07:00

I have two questions; A) Why do they make this? B) Why did we buy this?

I'm feeling like a second pot today, so it makes sense for an "Afternoon Blend".

Another mask free'd from the kiln...

2009-03-05T19:21:00.000-08:00

This was the second mask I made from paper clay, this one was 15% paper before bisque firing. The final thickness of this stoneware mask (about 7" high x 4" wide) after firing is a mere 1/8", and it weighs only 6 ounces(175g). After the first bisque firing I decided to cover it with a thin layer of light blue porcelain slip, and then bisque fire it again. The lips are a lavender engove, eyebrows are delphinium stain, cheek designs are done with Rietz Blue/Green, and the chin dot was a glob of Pete's Red. I then covered it with a clear glaze.

The photo is a bit deceptive in showing more of the under body, and I'm not sure why. When I look at it, the light blue under the clear seems to lift up off the clay body like a translucent cloud. It looks more light blue, and less of the buff seems to show up to the naked eye.

Soda Kiln and Raku Pieces.

2009-02-27T12:54:00.000-08:00

Today I was able to retrieve my first two pieces that went through the soda firing process.

This first one is a tea bowl that I tried to cover with dark blue porcelain slip before it was bisque fired, but the slip cracked and was coming off. So I decided to scrub it really hard to get as much of the cracked slip off then put it through the soda kiln. The inside is light porcelain with a clear over it.

This next one was my first pitcher, with a CR yellow on the outside, and cushing black on the inside.

Now, on to the fun for today. I ran over to MCA at 9am and we got the Raku kiln going and set up all the pieces to fire. I had to leave at around 10am to get over to Rane and Christian's school conferences (which went well), and then I returned to MCA at 11:45 to help unload the hot pieces and smother them.

First, here is my first mask that I made using paper clay.

Then, a bowl I did with a wavey lip.

Here are a set of three small bottles with covers.

So, a big day for results. I have another mask going through the gas reduction kiln now, and it should be ready Thursday. I still have more than a dozen pieces in my locker at school ready to glaze, and a new batch of green pots in the basement ready to be bisque fired. I really can't wait to get my kilns set up here.

Some new treasures from the kiln...

2009-02-26T19:32:00.000-08:00

Thursdays are always fun, because that is the day that both kilns at MAC are unloaded. Here are some of my successes from the reduction gas kiln.

The teapot that I made so long ago, I painted some delphinium flowers on and glazed with Piepenburg white.

Here is a 4" diameter bowl, also about 4" high. I painted the inside with blue stain and glazed with a celadon, the outside has blue stain with beach blue over it.

Here is a 8" x 3" high bowl. It has CR yellow on the inside, dark celadon on the outside, and a dip of the rim in Cushing Black.

And, finally, here is a 10" diameter plate in celadon, with a streak of Pete's Red.

Tomorrow I will publish some things that came from the soda kiln.

Results of my 22 bowl test

2009-02-22T16:11:00.000-08:00

This will be a pretty sizable post and I'll try to present all the information I learned from my 22 bowls study. This was done on MB Clay from Minnesota Clay Company. I'm new to this clay, so I wanted to do some testing to see how well it performed with the glazes we have available. These bowls are small, about 3" diameter, and were punched from a slab and slumped on a plaster bowl shaped mold. I trimmed them up a bit, but not much time was spent in trying to make perfect forms.

I'll list the glazes/stains that I had available from the Minnetonka Center for the Arts.

First the glazes;

1. Robin's Clear
2. Rhodes White
3. MAC White
4. Piepenberg White
5. Dark Celadon
6. Light Celadon
7. Tenmoku
8. Denny's Blue/Brown
9. Cushing Black
10. Mamo Blue
11. *none*
12. Reitz Green
13. Dunham
14. Cushing Blue/Green
15. Red Shino
16. Wirts Shino
17. B/B Ash
18. Gold Shino
19. 3D Matte
20. Fake Ash
21. Pete's Copper Red
22. Frog Belly
23. Shanner's Green
24. Beach Blue
25. Pinell Bronze Green
26. Brokema Celadon
27. CR's Yellow

Then the extra stains, engoves, Terra Sigillata's

A. White Engove
B. Black Engove
C. Porcelain Slip
D. Porcelain Blue Slip
E. Dark Blue Slip
F. Iron Stain
G. Terra Sig. Mustard
H. Terra Sig. Newmans Red
I. Terra Sig Red Art
J. Terra Sig. Blue
K. Terra Sig. Black
L. Gerstley Rutile
M. Black Stain
N. Delphinium Blue Stain
O. Iron Wash
P. Ochre Wash
Q. Avacado Engove *new*
R. Lavender Engove *new*

Now, the bowls...

Bowl 1.

This bowl was layered with light blue porcelain slip, and dark blue slip before bisque firing. The lizard patern was painted with black stain. Then covered with Robin's Clear glaze. I liked the result of this test.

Bowl 2.

This bowl was engraved and inlaid with buff stoneware clay, then was glazed with a light coat of CR's yellow. The glaze obscured the inlays, so this is a bad glaze to use with this surface technique.

Bowl 3.

This bowl has 3D Matte around the edge, flowers painted with mustard terra sig. Then sprayed with a light layer of Red Shino. I think this has some potential for a nice yellowish dun type effect.

Bowl 4.

This bowl was sprayed with a layer of Pinell Bronze Green, then I painted the leaf with 2 more layers of the same glaze. I liked the green (where it was thick), but I need to do something else around the outside.

Bowl 5.
The center symbol had delphinium stain in the engraved parts. The larger dots around the exterior were painted with Cushing Black, and the rim was layered with a dip into Fake Ash. The overall effect was not too bad, but I would do something different to the middle in the future.

Bowl 6.

This bowl had a rubbing of ochre wash in the center figure, dipped in piepenburg white, then the rim was painted with Gerstley Rutile. The mixture of glazes obscured any surface details, so I know not to do this in the future if I want any surface details. The gerstley rutile did add some excitement to the Piepenburg though.

Bowl 7.

This bowl had a butterfly pattern set in light blue porcelain slip, then was dipped in Piepenburg White (top), MAC white (left), and Mamo Blue(right). Ok, so I was disappointed by much of this test. I like how the flower displayed through the glaze on the top. I liked the dark blue triangle at the bottom, so I'll do some further tests to see if I can reproduce that portion.

Bowl 8.

This bowl has Rietz Green in the center, with the rim dipped in Tenmoku. I really like how this bowl turned out. There are some really exciting things happening with the interactions of these two glazes. I'll try some further testing with more vertical surfaces.

Bowl 9.

This bowl has the center painted with 3D Matte, then dipped in Dark Celadon. I think the tan portion is a little dull, so I'll do something different there. I like how the center fluxed between the two glazes.

Bowl 10.

This bowl is a triple dip, with Rhodes White on the top, Denny's on the right side, and Dunham on the left side. The center triangle I painted with Gerstley Rutile. I like the overall effect of these three in complement to each other.

Bowl 11.

This bowl had a flower carving, then dipped in Light Celadon, with blobs of Pete's Copper red on the petals. I was thinking the Pete's Red might run more, but it stayed put pretty much. I like this bowl.

Bowl 12.

The bowl had carving deep around a moth figure. It was just dipped in Cushing Blue green. There was so much that happened to this for just one glaze. Overall, this was a pretty successful bowl which revealed how this glaze will act for different surface thicknesses.

Bowl 13.

This bowl had a slip trailing of white engove before it was bisqued, then I painted the petal with Pete's red, the center had a blob of 3D matte and then the whole thing was dipped in Brokema Celadon. It was interesting how the glazes reacted to the white engove. It was either the Pete's red, or the Brokema that made the white engove crystallize and black. Anyway, it was an interesting result.

Bowl 14.

This bowl had 3 deeply carved butterflies, which were then filled with dark blue porcelain slip before bisque. The entire surface had a light coating of Bleach Blue, then 1/2 was dipped in Robin's clear. You see the side with the clear over the Beach Blue faired better. The side with just the light Beach Blue went yellow.

Bowl 15.

This is my Shino test bowl. The pattern in the surface was rubbed with Iron Wash, then triple dipped into Red Shino(top right), Wirts Shino(bottom), and Gold Shino(top left).

Bowl 16.

The center of this bowl was painted with Delphinium stain, then it was triple dipped in Mamo Blue (top), Cushing's Blue/Green(left side), and Beach Blue(bottom). The most interesting effect happened at the nine o'clock position on this bowl. I also like what is happening in some of the center area's. I'll do some more tests on the interactions between these three glazes.

Bowl 17.

This bowl had some deeply carved butterflies in it. The whole thing had a dip in Fake Ash, then I painted the butterflies with CR Yellow. The mottling of the Fake ash tends to obscure the surface patterns.

Bowl 18.

This bowl has a butterfly sculpted and added to the surface. The butterfly was painted with Wirts Shino, and Gold Shino. The rest was painted with Shanners Green, and I added stripes of Frog Belly to try to give a grass effect. Then right by the butterflies head I added a dollop of Pete's Red to make a kind of a flower. This turned out pretty good.

Bowl 19.

This bowl was dipped in Moshiko, then I painted Cushing's Black on the stamped areas, and a Gerstley Rutile 4 leafed clover in the middle. I like how vivid this bowl turned out.

Bowl 20.

This surface has a carved scene. The butterfly was rubbed with Delphinum blue stain. The grass was lined with a green underglaze. The flowers petals were done with gerstley rutile, and the flower's center was painted with 3D matte. The whole was then sprayed with Robin's Clear. Mostly this worked. I would have liked the grass to turn more green that the brown.

Bowl 21.

This bowl has carving around the butterflies. The butterflies were painted with mustard Terra sig., the flower was painted with gerstley rutile, then I did a wax resist over them, and dipped the bowl in Dark Celadon. Then I painted the rim with Shanners Green. This one I quite like.

Bowl 22.

This bowl I first did a tape pattern and painted with black engove before bisque firing. After it was bisque fired, I made a similiar tape pattern perpendicular to the original and dipped it in MAC white. Then I removed the tape and sprayed the whole surface with Robin's Clear. This was a very successful test. This was the class favorite bowl.

Well, that the basic data. I'd be happy to answer any questions about any specific bowl.

Bowling for Dollars

2009-02-19T14:03:00.000-08:00

Here is a bowl I retrieved from the kiln today. I'm thinking of donating it to my son's school fundraiser "bowling for dollars". It's a silent auction where most of the staff in the school go use the pottery wheel, glaze their bowls, and then offer them at auction. I will need to check with Angel though first. She gets first dibs on my work for her private collection.

Dragon head... More progress...

2009-02-12T13:37:00.000-08:00

Here is my progress from yesterday...

Some progress on my 2nd sculpture.

2009-02-10T12:26:00.000-08:00

I've finished the first bronze sculpture, and the patina. I brought it home, but it is Rane's and so now it is at his school in their art room being shown to all the other elementary kids.

In the first photo, which is a little dark, you can get a feeling for the size. It's turning out to be about double the size I was thinking about when I started. But, hey, when I'm sculpting things I just trust my hands.

This second photo is also too dark, but I liked how it sets the mood for this piece. :-)

So, I turned on the flash to give you more a sense of the details. I've been working on the left side primarily, then trying to reflect that on the right side. It is interesting how in this early phase there is little difference between a dragon and a goat or a sheep. But, when I get to implementing the suface details, the reptilian features will become more pronounced.

And, here is a little more close up. I'm technically still in the rough phase of determining the form, but I like to add a few details to help inspire me about where the form will go next.

I figure it will take me about 2 more hours of work to finish the form, 4 or 5 more hours to finish the detailing, and then the fun begins. Gating and spruing, then building the plaster form, then waiting for the next bronze pour. After that, many hours of surface work on the bronze, then adding the patina.

New underglaze technique

2009-01-28T10:45:00.000-08:00

I have acquired four little bottles (flux dispensers) used for putting just a small amount of liquid flux on teeny tiny circuitry. One of my clay teachers, Colleen Riley, showed hers at a recent class. I went to Minnesota Clay last Monday at noon with Angel and I picked up some black, green, and dark blue underglaze to try in these new dispenser bottles.

Here is a bowl onto which I just finished adding some tiny dots and also a thematic blue flower.

Fun with Fiber Clay

2009-01-28T08:28:00.001-08:00

So, I decided to plunge in and make some fiber clay. We've been saving up some egg carton type packaging from Christmas presents as well as actual egg cartons. I put 300 grams of this paper into a large bowl and added boiling water to help break down the structure. Soon the entire house had that scrumptious odor of wet card board. After it cooled enough for me to work, I started whipping it with an electric egg beater on high speed. Soon enough I had broken down the structure into a raw pulp. I used a sieve to separate the pulp from the water, although the pulp was still very moist. I weighed my paper mass again and it was up to 800g. I took 1600 grams of recycled clay I was keeping and added enough water to make it slippy, then worked the clay until it was consistent. Now, I mixed the paper pulp into the clay slip and again with my hands this time worked the two mixtures together until they were a uniform consistency. The mixture was a bit too wet to work with at this point, so I set it up in 2" thick 4" high walls on a bat to dry out. I have about 2000 grams of fiber clay with what I figure is about 30% paper mass which will burn out during bisque firing.

I started working on Christian's moon scape lamp shade. It needs to get a little firmer, but I have the basic shape I wanted. It is very easy to change the shape of fiber clay forms with a little water. I want to make this moon look a little more round by tucking in the bottom edge a bit.

Then I decided to make a form for making a plaster cast of a face. This is a thin later of paper clay over a blank plastic harlequin mask. After this dries, I will flip it over and use it to make a plaster cast of the inside. Then I can use the plaster mold to slump as many blank masks as I want.

These blanks can be used to make actually interesting and artistic masks from clay, as well as fun masks for the kids from paper, or paper mache'.

Sculpturally, I can also see that they will be a great starting place for sculpting faces on bronze forms.

First ever bronze sculpture.

2009-01-21T19:51:00.000-08:00

I went over to school at noon to be in on the pouring of the 10 molds that were ready to go. The forge had blasting away for four hours to get the 100 lb. of bronze in the crucible up to the ~2100 degrees Fahrenheit needed to get a smooth pour. They tested the temperature with a pyrometer and it needed to go up a few hundred degrees still so I went and glazed some pots for awhile. When I came back around 1pm it was getting very close, and the room was getting filled with eager sculptors. At 1:20 they opened the lid on the forge and swung the crucible out, and by 1:30 the pouring was done and the crucible cleaned and empty went back in the forge to cool down. By 1:50 I was able to help pull the molds from the sand pit, and by 2:00pm I was chopping my little dragon from the mold, still blistering hot I quickly brought him to the sink and quenched him in some colder water and worked for the next 45 minutes to remove the last vestiges of plaster from around the bronze. When you make a bronze sculpture, you need to add many extra channels for the bronze and air to flow smoothly to insure you get all your mold filled with no air pockets. This evening I spent 2 and 1/2 hours in the (noisy) cutting and grinding room to get the dragon to the state you see below. I still need to do a little more polishing, carve back in some details that I had to grind off due to imperfections in the mold, then I need to add a patina, and mount it to some kind of craggy rock.

From Crafters of Khnum

The camera was a bit funny trying to get good shots of this very shiny surface, but you cant get an idea of what it looks like. I'll try to add some better photos latter. I think Rane will like it. I'll show it to him in the morning.

For Gary... Ann may haunt your dreams...

2009-01-20T10:23:00.000-08:00

... or maybe I'm hungry and should eat some lunch. :)

Puppy from Marshall Pottery painted...

2009-01-20T08:12:00.000-08:00

When we stopped at Marshall Pottery on the way home from Houston, Christian wanted to get this earthenware puppy. He wanted it painted white with black spots like his puppy box. This is the result. I need to do some touch ups, but he likes it. The black circle around the puppies eye was all Christian's idea.

My mark revisited, and a petition to bring back Lördag.

2009-01-18T11:44:00.000-08:00

Awhile back I posted a drawing of my mark. Today I finally took a photo of it (above). It was made with (small and large) paper clip wire pieces super glued to the back of a stray clear cap I found. To the right is an impression I made in leather hard clay. The letters are younger futhark, which was the alphabet of the Scandinavian people from the 9th century until the 15th century when it evolved into a medieval proto-norse runic writing system. Eventually, as the influence of Christianity grew, the medieval runic alphabet came into competition with the Latin systems used by the clergy. It was and is still common to use runes for calendar's in Scandinavia. We still have remnants in our modern daily lives, such as Tuesday (Tyr's day), Wednesday (Woten's day),Thursday (Thor's day), and Friday (Freyja's day). Saturday in Scandinavian tradition was actually called Lördag (which means bath day -- good idea). And, then Sunday (sun) and Monday (moon) we seemed to share with the rest of Europe.

My new mug

2009-01-17T07:42:00.000-08:00


From New Mug

The inside was glazed with Piepenburg White, and I also painted extra around the top to get the drippy frosting effect breaking over the lip. The outside was sprayed with a thin coat of light green/blue Celadon, then I use a feather brush and whisked a light black glaze from the bottom of the cup upwards. The black over the Celadon must have fluxed some, but I ended up with an interesting effect.

Some projects in the works...

2009-01-10T18:34:00.000-08:00

It's been 3 weeks now since I posted, Christmas has come and gone. We drove to Houston to visit my older sister and her beau. We had an excellent time, and even though my sister's house was stuffed full of people and pets, things went very smoothly. Of note ceramics-wise during the Christmas break is that I received some great presents for my studio, including some great new tools, some slip molding forms, a hefty gift certificate to "Clay World", and some wonderful and very useful books.

So here are some new projects I'm diving into;

1) A 20" hemispherical moonscape made from fiber clay (craters, rough surface). After bisque firing it will become the form for casting a replica of it in bronze. The bronze version will eventually become my son Christian's bed side lamp shade (his room is done in a space theme). The ceramic version I will eventually glaze and fire as well, and use suspended from his ceiling or mounted on his wall (where it will be less likely to be broken).

2) A glaze study of the 30 glazes available at the Minnetonka Center for the Arts on MB clay (new clay for me). I will make a bunch of coffee cups all the same size and shape, then use each glaze as a primary on the exterior, develop a series of surface designs (carving, impressions, stamps, sprigs, etc) then choose a complementary glaze for decoration. I can throw most of these at home and bring them to the Art Center to glaze them. This is akin to doing a tile study, but more interesting than tiles.

3) I'm currently making a 12" tall bronze dragon, which is small enough in mass to not need an internal mold. I'm shaping it directly in wax, so again, I can skip some steps in the lost wax casting process. I'm building it as a part of a bronze casting class I'm taking from Heidi Hoy at the Minnetonka Center of the Arts. The dragon is almost completed from what I can tell, and when I asked Heidi if it was done she said, "We have a saying around here... We'll let you know when you're done." The photo above is one of Heidi's works.

4) We need to replace the tile in our bathroom. I sat down last week to develop a non-square repeating pattern using a computer graphic design tool. Angel wants the bathroom to have a butterfly motif, so some tiles will be butterfly shaped, and then others will form the shapes between the butterflies. There are about 500 tiles roughly 4" tiles needed for this project.

5) I want to make 12"x12" tiles for the floor in my studio. Again, I want to (lightly) carve and glaze each tile differently to make it look like one large ancient mosaic pattern. I figure the floor tiles will need to be 1/4" thick.

6) I still need to get my kiln's set up and finish the full set up in my basement studio.

It seems overwhelming I know, but I'm not the kind of person who gets discouraged with a mountain of work... I get busy.

Small Pitcher with Rooster

2008-12-19T07:07:00.000-08:00

I found this little pitcher at a local garage sale, and I keep it by my wheel for inspiration.

I'll have to try to duplicate this style at school this next quarter. I believe it is a Majolica style.

Some things finally done from class.

2008-12-18T20:38:00.001-08:00

	Two coffee cups Shaner's green glaze breaking brown on the outside, sea foam blue on the inside. Also, a 5" glossy blue bowl with a dip of something nice on the rim.
	A nice small 5" bowl.
	A 4" x 4" tea bowl with Shaner's Green, and a dip of Tenmoku on the lip
	A 6" bowl, also with Shaner's Green glaze.

I have more items (a few more coffee cups, a couple large plates, a pitcher, some big bowls, and a vase) that are still in process, but this is some of the stuff I threw in the first three weeks when I was getting a feel for the wheel again.

My First Teapot.

2008-12-08T23:03:00.001-08:00

I think it is a success for a first attempt.

>

	The front view. I need to fettle a bit to slim down the spout. It should taper better, so I've some work there to do.
	I like how the lid turned out. You can see the handle drying on the blue glass vase in the background. I'll attach it tomorrow after I finish fettling the bottom of the teapot.
	Here it is all assembled, just some dent and scratch removal and I'm ready to let it dry.

Female Front Person Bands. Your favorites? Here's mine.

2008-12-07T11:18:00.000-08:00

Over the years I've always been entranced by bands (rock, punk, metal et. al.) with female lead singers. Here are some of my favorites over the years in no particular order;

Garbage

Veruca Salt

Brandi Carlile

The Runaways

Joan Jett

Annie Lennox

The Pretenders

bond

Luz Casal

Pink covering 4 Non Blondes

So what are some of your favorites?

Aegishjálmr, the HELM of AWE! Or, a big metal snowflake.

2008-12-04T21:56:00.000-08:00

From Miscellaneous

Here is a site that sells the Aegishjálmr symbol on a t-shirt. I thought it would be a fun exercise in learning to use the cutting torch in class on this sheet of 3/8" steel. I just finished the cutting, and now I need to start working on the finishing work. Each of the spokes needs 4 slots cut, and then a bunch of wire brush work to make it all shiny again. Snow flakes should be white after all. So far, the class has been a potpourri of learning different welding techniques using acetylene, arc, and MIG welders. They also just acquired a TIG welder, so I might get a crack at it before the end of class if the teachers can get themselves trained in on it first.

A box painted like a puppy.

2008-12-04T13:40:00.001-08:00


From Miscellaneous

Christian asked me to make him a little treasure chest painted like a puppy. It made my brain jog a bit in thinking about how to paint a rounded and oval object onto rectangle. Here is the result. He likes it quite a bit, and took it to show and tell at school today. His older brother is now jealous and wants a treasure chest painted like a dragon... We shall see...

My wheel space, and some things in process.

2008-12-04T11:47:00.000-08:00

	Here is my wheel space. I have my wedged clay, and tools next to me on the right, with some green-ware drying above, then I move my freshly thrown pieces on the shelf to the left of me. The view outside is down the hill to the pond/wetlands in my backyard. I love the view, and deer actually walk past my window not more than 5 feet from me if I'm pretty still.
From Pottery

	This is my first attempt at a pitcher, and I have to make an appropriate handle for it now. It will hold just over 2 quarts, and I figure it would be a nice pitcher for cool drinks in the summer.
From Pottery

	This is a closer look at my existing stack of cone 10 green-ware drying before bisque firing.
From Pottery

This is my growing stack of cone 1 green-ware of things the boys and I have made with some extremly stiff experimental clay. I suspect it to have an overly high concentration of grog. The angular canister on the right there is hexagonal and made from slabbing that groggy clay. It slabs well. Making the canister and lid with slabs was much more involved than I thought. To finish the surface I decided to impress the slabs with oak leafs which you can sort of see. It is experimental after all.

From Pottery

Here are three new cone 10 pieces I'm working on, from left to right, a small creamer (its about a 3" glass shape pinched together at the top), a cup, and a small bottle that needs a cap. Oh, you also see the pots are sitting on parchment paper which I found works in pottery just like it does in cooking. It's great to put freshly thrown pots on and won't stick to the pots and keeps my shelves clean.

From Pottery

Anyway, I thought I should post some things so you can see what I'm working on. I have a ton of stuff still in post bisque stage at school. I have an open class tonight(meaning my teacher is off at a show in Chicago), so I will be adding 4 to 6 more items to my growing collection at school. When I get it back home, I'll post some photos of the best ones. I'm still trying to make space, repair, and install the 2 kilns I have so I can run through the entire process at home.

Why I love clay.

2008-12-04T08:53:00.000-08:00

In one of the facebook groups that I have joined, a grad student doing a thesis asked, "Why do you use clay as your main material?"

My response was, "There is something spiritual to working with clay. The fusion of earth, water, air and fire to create with human hands something from nothing. The life of the created work, like us, is fragile and eventually becomes shards which may be passed on to future generations. Some of our works are merely beautiful and serve to enrich us with their pure aesthetic, and other may not be so beautiful but serve us our dinner, our drink, or other menial tasks we assign to them. I choose to work in clay because it is a temporal medium that combines the subtle nuance of gesture in the making, with the creative expression of decoration and glazing all to be frozen as a success or failure within the kiln. Most other mediums can be manipulated until they are finished, but a pot is done once its fired."

I have to admit that my eyes have been reopened to the amazing depth of knowledge encompassed in the craft of ceramics.

When I first encountered it in school it was a course which was difficult, that I muddled my way through. That was my experience with college that I attended when I was 18, and 19 years old. There is a clear schism in my memory of the past where before which I consider myself to be almost entirely insane. I was already employed full time as a programmer, so rather than struggle in that uphill battle of work and college I focused on work. I attribute some of this to my experiences with SPD myself, but somewhere in my mid 20's the fog lifted and I could actually concentrate on my school work and excel in it. My wife was beginning her Masters program that year, so it was the right time for me to go back. I finished my remaining two years of my computer science degree with all A level work.

Now, I find I have an insatiable curiosity regarding almost everything. I've developed the patience to learn at a pace that is also not frustrating, but I'm also excited to start digging into the materials science, the artistry, and the subtle skills needed to be proficient.

Here is a video of Simon Leach, who describes a similar sentiment.

I'm a Wii bit tired.

2008-12-01T22:33:00.000-08:00

My beautiful and talented Ice Dancing wife could not resist the Wii fit bundle offer any longer, so we unveiled it for the boys this past weekend. My conditions for this new thing was that the entire house be clean before another thing could be added, which also required that the suspense of the "special surprise" I hinted at on Friday be followed up Saturday with enough hints to reveal pretty clearly what "it" was. The number one (or pretty high up there) rule of parenting is always take advantage of awesome perks to offer as rewards for extraordinary behavior. This resulted in a flurry of excited cleaning on Sunday sufficient for me to relent and at a convenient point install the new game system in the rearranged family room. Rearranged, since the Wii requires about a ten foot diameter clear area where you won't smack anything or anyone. The original purpose for getting this device are that the Wii Fit balance games are great for motivating Rane through his OT, and it also came with the sports pack which has Tennis, Baseball, Golf, Bowling, and Boxing. Christian has decided that golf is his game, and frankly he is better at it now than I am. Rane is fixated on boxing to the point of being 1/2 way to professional standing after about an hour of play in the last two days. Angel and I are competing in the ski racing and ski jumping competitions, and also to see who can do the yoga poses better. The result is now that we are all spending about 30 to 60 minutes together a day exercising. Hence, I'm a Wii bit sore as well as tired.

Grits.

2008-12-01T10:59:00.000-08:00

I just had my first bowl of grits. It was ok, but I was weaned on oatmeal. I think its like drinking coffee. At first you think, yeeeecccchh! How could anyone stomach this foul concoction? But, then later you get past the whole visceral consistency of nasal discharge phase and begin to experience the subtle nuances of flavor. And then, once you season to taste, you actually begin to enjoy the rich flavors and textures. I like my grits with a little butter and a sprinkle of brown sugar. But, who knows? Being a damned Yankee, what do I know about grits anyway? How do you like your grits?

Wedging Table

2008-11-24T12:11:00.001-08:00

I scoured the web looking for some plans for a wedging table, and I did find Brad Sondahl's diagram which influenced heavily my design. Here is a .pdf of my plan with the materials lists (both cut and uncut). I notice that I neglected to put the rail kits for the sliding doors (upper and lower rails for a 48" and 24" long opening). The dimensions will be 50" x 25", with six 4x4 posts notched for the three 2x4 frames. The two lower 2x4 frames are 48" x 20 3/4" and the upper frame is 25 13/16" 20 3/4 ". The frames can be nailed, but I will be bolting with 3/8" x 4" bolts where I can, and then nailing where I can't bolt. There will be two plaster wedging surfaces at 26" high, and then at 36" high and covered with heavy canvas. The plaster may need to be secured to the plywood, which I haven't totally solved how to do yet. But if it is needed, I was thinking of trying some of those two sided sticky rubber sheets used for sealing roofs. There is a large space underneath for storage, then a small space accessible from the side as well. I will be adding a cutting wire on there somewhere as well. I will add some photo's once I build it to show the final product.

So who is Khnum anyway?

2008-11-18T16:34:00.000-08:00

According to Ancient Egypt Online, he makes babies (from Nile clay) on a potters wheel and places them into their mothers wombs. He can also bless them. He was the head honcho of Egyptian dieties before Ra came along and took over, and some sources say that Khnum crafted the sun and the other gods as well on his potting wheel.

I just thought it was awesome that there is a mythology with a God of pottery.

Pancakes

2008-11-18T10:31:00.001-08:00

Krusteaz Buttermilk Pancake Mix
Originally uploaded by Crafter Of Khnum

One little known fact about our household is that our sons eat either pancakes or waffles almost every morning. It has become a part of their daily routine. This 10lb bag will make about 220 pancakes, costs about $5.50 and it will make enough pancakes or waffles to last about 30 days. I cook up a quarter to half this bag at a time on the weekends when I have more time, wrap up serving sizes of six in waxed paper and freeze them so that the boys can just heat up their own breakfasts in the morning. When I'm cooking them up on Sunday morning, its just as easy to make a few extra dozen and the clean up is the same. My boys have mastered the art of heating up foods in the toaster oven without getting burned, which liberates them to do some of their own cooking as they feel the need. They get a sense of satisfaction in being self sufficient as well.

For comparison, Eggo Frozen Buttermilk Pancakes have 12 pancakes in a box and cost $3.89. Yeah, that's about $.33 a pancake, as opposed to my $.025 per pancake or 13 times more expensive (plus the cost of cooking and waxed paper).

It's time for a potters mark.

2008-11-16T14:02:00.000-08:00

I've been throwing about 6 to 10 items a day for about a month now, and I'm building up enough stock to need to start bisque firing some of it. But, I realized that none of my stuff even has my initials on it. I set out today to design a unique potters mark. I chose ægishjálmr, which is a symbol worn on helms for protection. The letters below are my first name in elder futhark.

Sensory Processing

2008-11-15T06:52:00.000-08:00

I never gave this subject much thought until my wife started pursuing what was different about our first son Rane. Soon after he could walk and talk, it became apparent in ECFE play groups that our son was a little different than the other children. During "Circle Time", when all the parents and kids sit in a circle to dance and sing, our son wanted to leave the circle to go sit off in a quiet corner to play with toys alone. In play groups, it was our son who would suddenly blow up emotionally and need to be separated to keep him from hitting (kicking, biting, etc.) the other children. We have some close friends who have a boy with Asberger's syndrome, which is a milder form of Autism. At first my wife was suspicious that our son had some other variant of Autism, but many of the indicators were just not apparent for Rane. Rane was very picky about everything including food, clothing, riding in the car, bath temperature, getting his head wet, bedding, toys, sounds and smells. At 2 years, it was also clear he was beginning to lag behind his peers in muscle coordination. Now, I attributed a part of that to the fact he has always been in the upper 90's percentiles for height, while being pretty normal for weight. This means he's been growing taller faster than his peers. At 3 years old, he was over 3 feet tall. Now, just turning age 8, he is 54 inches tall and weighs just over 52 lbs. which puts him in the 93rd percentile for height, and 26th percentile in weight. Due to the diligent research by my wife she determined that my son was exhibiting the symptoms of "Sensory Integration Dysfunction". It took me awhile and some extensive reading to come around to understanding that our son had some special challenges, but now that we understand it better we can do things to help his nervous system integrate normally.

Unfortunately, Sensory Processing Dysfunction, while discovered and written about for 30 years, is just now becoming recognized by the professional cognitive professions (neurology, psychology) and so it is not listed in the DSM-IV (the bible of psychological issues). This means that to the school, government, and to the insurance companies this disorder is not recognized and so help (and often even understanding) is absent. My wife attributes the problem to the gender of those making the discoveries and publishing the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders).

I mention this here in this blog since I have come to realize in reflecting back to my childhood that my sons struggles mirror my own issues. It is clear to me now that other people in my family also probably had challenges with SPD, but without understanding it can be mistaken for behavioral issues. Traditionally, I believe often people feel that these "willful children" just need more discipline. Rane has trouble in school, but not because he doesn't understand what is being taught. For example, on some tests in math he scores in the 98th percentile, but when the same material is given orally he will score very low ( even zero at times) because he shuts down aural processing at times. In order to test a child with SPD accurately, some special accommodations would need to be given to insure that sensory issues do not interfere.

You can imagine then that the traditional learning model of the teacher giving a lecture and the class listening would be a hindrance to a child with aural processing issues. For example, I can say something simple like "Do you want pudding or jello with your lunch?" and my son will reply "What?". Then I will ask nicely, "Ok, what did I just ask you?" and he will repeat it back verbatim. The issue is not one of hearing, but of processing. It took extra time for his brain to process the sounds and make sense of them.

Handwriting and printing is a nightmare for my son, first because of the lag in his fine motor control and also because of processing issues in the corpus callosum (any activity which causes the brain to cross the mid-line left to right, or bilateral coordination in doing one thing with side of the body and something else with the other). The development of the corpus callosum is delayed in males anyway, and for my son it is especially delayed. My scientific hypothesis is that SPD is related to a very slow development of glial cells and myelination in pre- and post-natal neural development which causes incomplete neural development until later in childhood. I've read some studies that indicate pre-natal stress can affect glial development. This is a childhood neural processing issue which can be overcome with appropriate neural focused occupational therapy.

"Our skin is our largest sensory organ, followed closely by our muscles and skeleton, connected by our nervous system and governed by our brain. The sensory systems feed information from our environment, through sense receptors, and neural impulses via our nervous system, directly to the brain. The brain then organizes it, sends it back through the nervous system for use as understanding, adaptation, learning, and skill development.

When this system functions well, it allows a person to interact with their environment efficiently, developing necessary motor and language skills, and appropriate social/emotional behavior. When this system is unable to organize the information appropriately, a variety of symptoms can present; motor delays, tactile defensiveness, learning disorders, social or emotional difficulties, speech, and language deficits or attention disorders."

Thankfully, Patricia Wilbarger and her daughter Julia have developed therapies for successfully treating these neurodevelopmental disorders. It took me awhile to understand the holistic nature of how physical therapies, like brushing or joint compressions will make vast improvements to my childs brain development in other areas and make him less prone to melt down due to sensory overload. On the opposite side, my son also seeks sensory input which can sometimes be inappropriate such as pushing or in other ways bothering other children. Some of this is behavioral, but there is a core underlaying issue with sensory processing we are working to correct. The appropriate behavior would be easier for a child with a better developed vestibular system, and he wouldn't need to seek so much additional proprioceptive input to stimulate his nervous system.

The recent revelation of my struggle is because of my sons issues, and I realize that there is some genetic factor in this. Here is a check list of potential symptoms that an adult might experience, and running through the list I can identify with quite a number of them. I have lived with this same problem long enough to overcome much of it on my own, or I've developed coping mechanisms to deal with my issues. My experience with elementary school was not good as I recall, and I know my mother did all she could to help me keep up with my peers. I also realize how I was pretty horrible to my younger sister, using her as my main source for keeping my nervous system at "high alert", just as my son fights with his younger brother for proprioceptive stimulation.

No need for 3 phase power.

2008-11-07T09:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I stopped by the nearby distributor of Skutt kilns, Minnesota Clay, and spoke with one of the helpful staff there who also run around and repair kilns for people. He said that it would be pretty inexpensive to replace the 208V components with 240V components and run the kiln on single phase power. This is fortunate, but I had already found a place that describes how to build your own rotary phase converter. I was in the process of trying to find sources for all the components I would need. It will be cheaper to convert it to run on single phase power. The picture to the left is what my kiln would look like brand new.

I also picked up 150lbs of clay. 50lbs of White Eathenware, 50lbs of Rainy Lake, and 50lbs of miscellaneous pug mill left overs for practice and experimentation. When I got it home the boys wanted to make some little animals with clay, so I broke out some of the cheap pug mill left overs. Christian and I made a nice little dog, and Rane made some space marines and a tank.

The experimental clay is very hard to work with, but as I explained to the boys as I was trying to throw this last night, "Sometimes the clay tells you that it doesn't want to be a pretty pot." And, "In art, there are sometimes mistakes, but more often happy accidents." I liked how this pot wanted to be more organic, and it reminded me of something I would see in the woods so I left it this way.

I have some "pretty" ones too, which I will post once they are baked.

And the winner is...

2008-11-05T07:25:00.000-08:00

...a pair of Chippewa boots I bought slightly used on e-bay. They only have a few marks from weld spatters, a scrape here or there, and fit like a glove. Total cost with shipping was $25. They have full metatarsal protection, and the soles are rated to 400F.

It's an S100, not an S50.

2008-11-02T13:38:00.000-08:00

Saturday, after we had breakfast, the boys had gymnastics until about 11am. Then we went and picked up the rental truck and drove the 98 miles to Pine City and back to get the 2 kilns, and the pottery wheel. Rane was able to go over and spend the day with his friend Josh, but Christian's friends were busy so he had to ride along with us for the day. It was not much fun for him, but he colored pictures, did puzzles, and we read him some stories for fun. We didn't get back until about 5:30 and we were pretty tired from the ordeal, so we made dinner, popped some popcorn and watched a family movie (Night at the Museum).

This morning I pulled the truck around back, and unloaded it. It turns out the wheel was still packed in the original shipping box and is an S100, not an S50 as I first thought. I tested it and it works purr-fectly. I'm most jazzed about having the wheel, since I think the only way to really get good at something is to do it at least a few hours every day. This wheel new is $1206, so for the same price I essentially got the two kilns for free.

The kilns are in pretty rough shape, but the repairs (according to my inventory of damage) shouldn't be more than about $750. I intend to fix them one at a time though over the next three to six months. Until then, I can fire my stuff at school, or at a nearby shop. The newer kiln is a Skutt KS-1027-3; it is missing the slab, the stand, and has about a dozen damaged bricks, and needs the very top and very bottom elements replaced. The older one is a Skutt 235, and also needs about a dozen bricks replaced, a stand, and some cement patching on the slab and lid. Both need some TLC, cleaning and a good polish job. While I more deeply examined the specifications, I found that both kilns, if set up correctly, will fire up to cone 10. There is also an additional 4.5" section that can be added or removed from either kiln. They were stored in a pole barn so they are dusty and the hardware is getting corroded. I just hope the electronics are still sound.

I'm not sure I can wire this place to also handle two 3 phase 11000 watt devices running at the same time though. I have already placed a call into my local electric guru, but we traded voice mails on Friday. Pretty soon I'm afraid I will need to install my own power plant here. Someday I will have to discuss on this blog the pros and massive cons of having an entirely electric house. I know I'm already pulling up to 300 amps in here, and the previous owner was hugely into welding.

Halloween Banditry

2008-11-01T09:20:00.000-07:00

One minor issue with jack-o-lanterns around here is the abundance of bandits. Racoons, squirrels, chipmunks, and some other miscellaneous foragers love this feast we set before them.

A wheel, and two kilns.

2008-10-31T08:49:00.000-07:00

I came across a deal too good to pass up. The bundle was a new Soldner S50 wheel still in the box, and two used Skutt Kiln's for $1200, and also includes tools, racks, books, etc. One of the Kilns is a complete KS-1027 and fires to cone 10, and the other is similar but only fires to cone 1, and is missing the bottom. Even if I bought them, and used them for a little while, I could probably resell them again for at least this price. I'm going to pick them up tomorrow.

Two of Four

2008-10-30T20:20:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday Christian was bothered that our house was not spooky enough for Halloween, so yesterday we set up the decorations that we had tucked away in the garage. In those boxes he also found templates and carving tools for making spooky jack-o-lanterns. Today while getting a few groceries I decided to go ahead and pick up a few pumpkins as well. The two in the background were stenciled (by me), and carved by the boys (with a litte help at times).

Tomorrow after school we will complete the other two, and I will bake the seeds!

My Connoisseur of Clay

2008-10-30T07:59:00.000-07:00

She sniffs the wet clay slip and begins to purr. Then she rubs her chin against the stone tile it is tenuously resting upon. Splat! Off dashes the cat as I exclaim, "That was not very bright!" To whom am I telling this? I realized then it was me who placed the stone tile in the tenuous position. It was only a little bit, so no point crying over spilt clay slip. Kiki, the cat, loves fresh clay. Note to self; Keep unattended clay out of reach of small kitties.

From whence I came.

2008-10-27T17:42:00.000-07:00

This is a photo of the town saying "Farewell", taken by my great grandpa(father's father's father) when he left Ragunda, Jamtlands län, Sweden. I've been back to Sweden, but I've never made it back up to Ragunda yet. Next time I go to Sweden, I will be certain to get up there. I'm related to the Amrén's from that area who are also descended from the Planting-Bergloo's. All of my grandparents came from different parts of Sweden. My father's mother is from Vänga, Älvsborgs län, my mothers father's family is from Onsala, Hallands län and my mothers mother's family is from Svanskog, Värmland and Okome, Hallands län. I still have some distant relatives all over Sweden.
I mention all this, because I'm finding the Norse themes find their way into all my works. I've also been researching the fuþark (pronounced futhark) alphabet, and I intend to decorate some of my things with them. Not because I'm into some neo-paganism, but just because they look cool and I can write interesting things on my stuff without it seeming like I'm writing on my stuff. My sons are both entirely entranced by dragons, so it seems like daily I need to draw, sculpt or construct dragons in some form. The latest was pom-poms. Yeah, I know. Try to imagine a pom-pom dragon, and what dragons would think of such a thing.

All Hustle Bustle for Chip and Friends

2008-10-24T23:54:00.000-07:00

Every day the scurry of busy fauna throughout the homestead is making me feel just a tad guilty that we are not also loading up the pantry for a long winter's nap. Someone came by selling cords of wood the other day, and I declined because we have plenty of dead fall cut up and just laying out back waiting to be split.

This little guy is so bold, that even though he clearly saw me out on the deck, he knows that this might be his last day to gather up his needed stores before winter briskly saunters in to maroon us in our cozy islands for the next five or six months.

The Road Where I Live

2008-10-24T18:59:00.001-07:00

The_Road_Where_I_Live
Originally uploaded by Crafter Of Khnum

Here is a view down the road to where I live. It was taken by me one morning after a particularly wet snow a few years back.

Rane's Sense of Snow

2008-10-24T16:11:00.000-07:00

This is a photo I took of Rane 4 years ago after the first snow fall of the season. He was fascinated by the difference that happened to his world overnight.

Kiki, War Cat of the North.

2008-10-24T14:47:00.000-07:00

This is Kiki. She is about 2 years old, and was a surprise present from my wife to the family. My wife is a cat person, and I am a dog person. This cat however, has the personality of a dog so I kind of enjoy her. "How?" you might ask. She will fetch pom-poms, and her play mice. She even drinks from the toilet if you don't close the lid. She has a soft mouth and doesn't use her claws when we play and she likes to play fight with me all the time.

Hot stuff coming through...

2008-10-23T10:03:00.000-07:00

... my laces unless I get some new leather work boots! The biggest disappointment in my shopping search last week was the missing leather shoe store. It will be hard to find good work boots without a low melting point rubber/plastic sole, and no laces. From what I've read, in the presence of molten metal which may be up to 3000 degrees Fahrenheit (1650 C), many materials will spontaneously combust due to the intense radiant heat. Or, an accidental spill of hot metal on cloth or plastic laces would result in a pretty bad accident.

In my search of the internet for a new e-store to replace my local *real* store I found some possible candidates. They are definitely not a fashion statement.

1. Herman Survivors - Men's Workhorse Steel-Toe Work Boot -- I like the "survivor" part of this boot.

2. Tatra Safety Boots & Shoes, Inc. -- Yup, the Canadians still work hard...

3. Forge Shield Boots: Met Guard Steel Toe Made In USA Boots 26866 -- I believe these also have a +3 to saving throws against magic spells.

4. Chippewa Boot Company -- A very good selection of quality boots and there are a couple dealers near me.

5. Carolina Foundry Hi Steel Toe -- These look very tough and this site seems like they have some good deals.

It's extremely funny to me that most of my searches (e.g. "Forge leggings" ) result in fantasy role playing game type results (such as "Forge-crafted Elven Leggings"). However, searching for "Foundry Spats" gets closer to what I need.

Hurrah to Clay King!

2008-10-23T09:46:00.000-07:00

I checked quite a few internet sites for a beginning set of Doo Woo tools. Many places were out of stock, but Clay King had them! The 12 piece set just arrived in the mail. They look beautiful, are well crafted, and were pretty inexpensive (about 28$ with shipping).

My refresher clay course starts next Thursday, so I thought having some tools would be a good head start. Yeah, I'm one of those over eager, over achievers who ask the teacher arcane questions and blows the curve out of the water.

Building some sifters for cleaning natural clay.

2008-10-19T16:32:00.000-07:00

Daddy R & C in Shades
Originally uploaded by Crafter Of Khnum

This afternoon my wife was not up for dealing with the two boys, so I elected to take them around with me. I wanted to make a couple of 1 foot square sifters for cleaning natural clay. The first batch I made with an undersized six inch round kitchen strainer, and it made the chore so much more tedious than needed. Christian's leg was still bothering him, so I still needed to carry him. I took the boys out for a trip to the hardware store and bought a small box of two and one half inch long deck screws, some quarter inch steel mesh, and some steel window screen material. Christian was able to ride around in the cart without being in pain, which helped in trying to look for the pieces I needed. I also picked up some cheap safety goggles for the boys so they could hang around while I used the power tools.

I had a couple of scrap two by fours that were taken from the basement in a recent remodeling which worked well. After trimming out the bad parts and making them square in the power miter box there was enough for the eight box sides I needed. I also decided to mortise a simple interlocking joint for a little extra strength. Rane enjoyed helping make the mortise joints, while I held the wood chisel in the right place. Then it was a simple matter of three screws per joint, and checking it for square. I stretched the screen out the best I could, but being only a foot square there is not much stretching needed. For the under side covering the screen, I probably over did it, but I used some scrap half inch by 1 inch redwood bits that were from a broken outdoor table. I held the drill while Christian pulled the trigger on the variable speed drill to screw down the screen with one inch long screws every 1 inch to insure that the screen would not slip out.

All went as planned, and I had to go dig out a pickle pail full of clay to test it on. I did the heavy screening and decided to wait for the fine screening until tomorrow. As a bonus I decided to clean up the clay slip mess I made yesterday and found I could salvage about half of that batch. I mixed it with some of the drier stuff from today to make it easier to move around. It will need to be slaked and cleaned again however, so I'll add that to my list of things to do tomorrow.

There she was at the farmers market...

2008-10-18T19:39:00.000-07:00

... selling pottery. Oh, I so do not want that to be me. I will need to work up the courage to do something like this eventually, but the thought of dragging around a box of my work to try to sell to strangers leaves my stomach in my throat.

It was a frustrating day in other ways as well. I had spent a few hours last week gathering and purifying some clay from my back yard. There is a place that was recently excavated down well below the top soil, so the clay is pretty much as it was left by nature some gazillion years ago. It took an especially long time because I was using far too small a screen to filter out the debris, and stones. I had it under the deck drying out on a piece of drywall. Bright and early this morning I went to move it and it just rolled off >kersplat< right into a huge pile of leaves. I guess it was still wetter than I anticipated. Yes, I know they have it in better forms from a store. I was thinking I would like to make my pottery from here, where I live. That is... at least some of it, and if only a small fraction of the clay. I will try again tomorrow with a fresh dig. My classes start next week, so I wanted to have it available to add into some of my work if at all possible.

The boys have a gymnastics class on Saturday mornings, so I looked up an art store to visit for the hour that the boys are occupied. It turned out that the Google map link was entirely bogus, which we realized as we examined carefully how to get there. When we arrived back at the gym, Christian had fallen hard on his knee and so was in pain when he put weight on that leg. It did not appear to be too swollen, and by feeling around the muscles he did not indicate any pains. So we thought to give it some time to see if it would pass. So we went to Hopkins to do some shopping. Angel had a store she was interested in looking at, and I remembered there was a very nice shoe and boot store. I need to get some pull on leather boots, with steel toes if possible for welding and casting metal. I guess its a bad thing for hot metal to melt or burn through your laces and then into the top of your foot. Christian required carrying from place to place and was in a pretty pitiful state. The stores I remember are gone. In fact, the only establishments that seems to have survived that I remember are either bars or antique shops. Neither are of much interest to me. I guess this is partly due to all the renovation done on main street Hopkins, and partly due to the changing nature of shopping due to the internet.

I also recalled that there was a hobby store in the area, but it turns out it moved as well and has changed its entire focus to RC toys, and model building. The best they had for painting was children's by the numbers sets. So, for me the trip was a waste of time. We went home, and Angel took Christian to the doctor.

All in all, a frustrating day for each of us.

Getting Started as an Artisan

2008-10-17T22:09:00.000-07:00

This blog will be a journal of my journey as I transform myself from computer geek, and management consultant into an artisan. I'm not entirely certain which mediums this expression will take, but to start with I'm going to be pursuing expertise in sculpting wood, clay, and metals. I guess my thinking is that I'm pursuing the profession of craftsman, and artisan, rather than say artist. I'm most interested in making useful things that don't collect dust. For example, a tea pot that would actually get used, rather than just sit on a glass shelf and look beautiful. I might make some things that are purely artistic, but that is not very motivating for me really.

My latest management consulting gig ended July 31st, and this time though I'm going to attempt to be through with it. I'm not sure what happened, but in these last few years all the joy and fun I've derived from my work was just missing. The long commutes and being separated from my family most of the time has really worn me down, and put many stresses on my marriage. I never really planned to end up in the career I did, but it took me 25 years to get there, and now I'm pretty much walking away from it.

Financially, my wife and I both worked full time in good careers from about 1985 until our second son was born in 2002, when we decided that daycare didn't seem enough like raising your own children to us and so my wife decided to change jobs to be a full time mother. Our two boys are now just turned 6 and 8, so while still needing the nurturing of their mother -- they also need to have their father around more than a few hours at bedtime and weekends. My wife and I discussed our options, and since both our boys are now in school it would be a good time for me to become the stay at home dad who makes things, and she can return to the work world and bring home the paycheck for awhile.

My artistic journey started in my youth and has expressed itself in many different forms throughout my life. I'm a perfectionist, but I've gotten over it enough to know that imperfection is quintessential in personalizing artistic expression. You might like to know also that I was raised on a cattle ranch, and I trained horses as a hobby. Growing up on the farm I worked with my father and his friends on mechanical contraptions and repairing our farm equipment. I also became adept at taxidermy in high school due the tutelage of very skilled biology teacher. I left the farm for University, and never really found my way back to a rural lifestyle. I've always pined for it though. There was something comforting in walking out your back door and being "on the job" every day. Moving to the city I explored different forms of artistic expression, from classical ballet, to traditional studio arts. To my amazement, I discovered I was actually pretty good at those things that I had previously thought I had no talent in whatsoever. It stands to reason since my mother is artistic, and her mother was artistic that some of their talent would get passed down to me. Beyond that, I'm a technologist, which means that I geek out on everything technical, which there is actually quite a bit of in the arts.

I met my wife at the University, we married in her senior year, and she is a city girl. Her only requirement for our first house was that it be close to a major bus line. Yikes! But, we found a good compromise house next to a large park (cue music: "gimme land, lot's of land..."). We owned that house for 5 years, and were lucky to sell it for much more that what we paid for it. This let us get into our next house, where we still are situated. It is rustic, yet not rural. We are in a tight knit community with about 2 acres which I (and my neighbors) leave wild. So, while I still pine for a ranch, and livestock, I don't relish all the work it takes to run that kind of operation.

I'm not really sure what I'm doing yet, so if anyone reading this makes a living as an artisan, then I would love to discuss how that works for you. I'm beginning by making connections into the arts community in my locality, and finding out who teaches courses, makes, and exhibits what I plan to do. I've also signed up for some courses at the local arts institute to meet more people in the arts community here, bone up on some rusty skills, and learn some new ones. The first two that start at the end of the month are a welding refresher course, and an all level potting class. These are both skills I have done extensively, but it's been ten years since I've welded anything or tossed a pot. I also need to slowly build my workshop, so getting connected to local artisans is also important to finding the best deals on used equipment and tools.

One idea I've had would be to connect my love of gaming, fantasy, and things medieval into my craftsmanship. I thought I would begin by designing a medieval chess set with the pieces made from porcelain, and the board made with inlaid walnut and oak. I've also researched quite a few other public domain ancient games sets that could be made very artistically.