Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Sgraffito & Jazz

Happy Tuesday to all! I managed a few minutes in the studio last night for some trimming, decorating, and also recycling clay. Actually, the recycling was done on Sunday (light out on plaster, covered with plastic, and left to dry up a bit), but the wedging and kneading occurred last night. I think I got 15+ pounds of clay out of my bucket, which is always nice.

Fellow Guilder Dave Ellis was in the studio last night with me, which meant it was a jazzy evening all around. Dave's a fan of the local jazz stations (KUVO & KUNC) and I normally can't complain about the variety and quality of the music played. KUVO was the station of choice last night, and it was a really solid batch of music to accompany the trimming and decorating of pots. A full playlist of my hours in the studio can be seen here. Wynton Marsalis, Louis Armstrong, and James Bond jazz - what's not to love? Very good stuff. For more thoughts on the importance of radio in the studio, check out the latter half of this post.

But, back to the pottery. No throwing, sadly - especially sad as I have a couple of new creative ideas which need to be explored soon. But a night of trimming and decorating isn't all bad. Last week I threw a number of my "arizona" pieces - southwestern inspired forms that are particularly fun to throw, and are equally useful as functional or decorative works. I only made it through five of the six, and still have a vase and other bowl which need some work, but I'm not sure when that will happen. I just have to count on them being nicely sealed in plastic until I get to them. June is, apparently, turning out to be a pretty full month. But that's another issue entirely.

Two of the trimmed and decorated, upside down.

The rest of the trimmed - various sizes and shapes.

A couple right-side up. I think they're pretty.

To sum: trimmed and decorated five pots, and wedged/kneaded 15+ pounds of clay. Not to mention avoiding the thunderstorms... All in all a full evening. That's probably it for this week - like I said, June is turning into a full month. As is the beginning portion of July. All told, I think we're going to put 5,000+ miles on our car in the next two weeks.

So, take care, stay cool, and have a great week!

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