NCECA 2012: West Coast Teapot Show, Platter Tectonics and Pulse: Rhythm in Clay

March is going to be a busy month with NCECA and with it being held in locally in Seattle this year, I am extra excited.

As part of NCECA, I have previous mentioned about my pillow bowl being displayed in the Potters Council Show and my ceramic shoes and bag being displayed at the Nordstrom window "Feet of Clay" show.

In addition to this my teapots are part of The West Coast Teapot Show at the Columbia Art Gallery Hood River, OR. It is an honor being among such great potters with amazing teapots. Do check them out.

You can see two of platters at the Platter Tectonics/Specific Rims exhibit at the Kirkland Arts Center Store

And my Dacing Divas and a platter are going to be at the Pulse: Rhythm in Clay exhibit at the ArtEast Art Center in Issaquah, WA

And at the end of NCECA March 31st and April 1st, I am planning on having my first open studio tour. Stay tuned for more info on that!

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Happy New Year!

A very happy, properous and healthy New Year to all my blog readers!! Thanks for reading simce I haven't been writing many blog posts. I will try to keep up this year. Not a resolution, but will try to do it. :)
Got some great news yesterday, that my ceramic shoes and clutch bag were selected for Nordstrom's exhibition in Seattle downtown March 1st-31st 2012. So if you are at NCECA in Seattle, make sure to drop by the Nordstrom's display window. These are inspired by Indian footwear called "Mojari" or "Jutti". And I just had to make a clutch bag to match the pair. 

A BIG THANKS to my wife for letting me rip off her wedding shoes to figure out how to make these in clay.





The shoes were built from slabs and decorated with colored slips and underglazes. Check out the details below.

Potters Council Show NCECA 2012

I am thrilled to find out that my Pillow Bowl has been accepted for the Potters Council Show, "The Chormatic Edge" at NCECA 2012 which is in my hometown Seattle!!

If you have been following my blog, you must have read about the learning experience I had with these pillow bowls. I had titled the blog entry "Try Try Try till you succeed". Being accepted for this show does show a measure of success. So if you have an itch to try something new, keep at it and you will achieve it.

Busy getting ready for Summer Shows

I have been crazy busy getting work ready for Wholesale orders and for upcoming Summer shows (Edmonds Arts Festival, Gig Harbor Summer Art Festival). My studio has been going through cycles of making, decorating, bisque firing, glazing and then glaze firing. The pricing and packing is still left to do and should be done this weekend.
During this busy process, I have been enjoying every kiln load and wanted to share pictures of what is happening in my studio.

Bisque pieces ready to be wax resisted and glazed

Pieces glazed after dipping and spraying to get different shades
Some pieces right out from the kiln

Learning from Ginger Steele

I can't even begin to describe how generous potters are in sharing ideas, techniques, glaze recipes etc... Since making pottery is so entirely handmade, every artist will have something different in their piece even if they are making similar items.

I have met several potters online and in workshop and all have added so much to my skill set but Ginger Steele truely takes the cake. I have always been struggling with lids. I managed somewhat but was never entirely happy. I spent last weekend at Ginger's studio learning how to make thrown lids for small/big jars, teapots, casseroles. It was all hands on and I gained so much. We also exchanged some patterns and stamps and I am very excited to see how we incorporate it in our work. We made casseroles, jars, pitchers, bowls... etc.. Attached is a picture of some of the work I did and later carved. I did it in her clay so I can get then fired in her kiln. I really like the way the lidded pieces turned out and I have never had such good fitting lids.

One key thing I realized was that I was working with very soft clay, which wasn't letting me manipulate the clay enough for lids seats. The most important thing was to make the lid seat before pulling up the wall. It might be second nature to everyone, but I had not realized this.

One big take away was that I really need to let go and experiment more... not worry about wasted clay, or waste my time thinking about how to use my scraps of clay etc.. etc.. So I am very convinced to purchase a pugmill and I will getting one very soon. I think it will change the way I work, evolving my work in different ways.

I am looking forward to working with her again on her handbuilt work.

Snow in Seattle

Seems like every year we get more snow than the previous year. This year we just got a lot of snow and everyone is home sick stuck at home. The worse part I hear is we might be getting more.. It sure looks pretty, but that's all there is to it. Here are some pictures taken from our home of our backyard and cul-de-sac.