Summer Show Schedule

Summer is here and it is time to step out, get some sun and visit your local art shows. I look forward to this time, meeting my previous customers and new ones. You will find me at these shows in May-June and July. I will send a reminder for shows after that. You can always keep in touch with my show schedule here. May 31st - June2nd: ArtFest Coeur d"Alene Park, Spokane, WA (Booth N33) Spokane folks check out the Inlander for my work featured for the show. Thrilled to get the CLAY MERIT AWARD at this show this year! June 14th - 16th: Edmonds Art Festival at Edmonds (Booth 20) www.edmondsartsfestival.com June 21st - 23rd: Lake Oswego Art Festival First time doing this show July 20th - 21st: Gig Harbor Art Festival July 26th - 28th: Bellevue Festival of Arts (Booth 195) New sculpture. First time making a bust and I am thrilled with the way it came out Casseroles in a different style. And of course my obsession with shoes continues..... Do drop by and say Hi! and share with your family and friends And if you can't make it to any of the shows my online shop is always open. With a typo in my last newsletter many couldn't open the video of my slip decoration in action. Here is the link again. Enjoy! Best wishes Charan Sachar Creative with Clay Federal Way, WA Tel: 253 241 2245 Email: creativewithclay@yahoo.com Website: http://www.creativewithclay.com Store: http://creativewithclay.etsy.com

Your favorite Bowls

I introduced these bowls last year and have gotten a great response from customers. Handbuilt and slip decorated with different washes and color accents, each lands up being distinctive and unique. A very similar process goes for my mugs too. On doing shows last year, I noticed that there were some people who liked the intricate patterns, some liked more negative spaces in the pattern, some liked the color accents, some just preferred the wash etc. I just got super curious to get all this data and see what I would find.

That is when I decoded to get this data from my fans on facebook. I posted the following picture and asked everyone to vote for their favorite in each row. So, there were three votes from everyone, a favorite from the honey gold glaze, a favorite from the Soft Green Glaze and a favorite from the Blue glaze.

I had an overwhelming response. Approx 180 votes. It was great to get this input and I thank you all for voting. And here are the results. Pretty much even across the board, except for one of the blue bowls that got significantly low votes. And looking closely you can see that the bowls with the color accents and the wash combination and negative spaces did get more votes in each case. (HG3, S2, B1) Thank you all for your input. This gives me a good idea to what to send to galleries that carry my workas well. Do you agree with the favorites? Do you have your own favorite? Do tell.

     

Making a bust for the first time

As several of you reading my blog know that my work is very influenced by fabrics. I do tend to make something functional and have done my sculptural dancing divas too. Also did some shoes last year. This time I thought why not make a torso or bust featuring some beautiful indian prints just as they are meant to be on fabric. This is a larger scale of sculpture that I am used to but thoroughly enjoyed the process.

Here it is handbuilt and slip decorated with buttons. Had to dry it really slowly and went a little crazy supporting the insides and keeping the form.

And here it is all decorated with layers of underglazes which really enhance the texture and pattern. It is approximately 18"x 18" and goes up on the wall. I will be taking it to the summer shows and hope to make more pieces in this series.

It was a great experience to get out of my comfort zone and try something new. What have you wanted to create pushing your limits? Do share.

     

The friends of Asian Art Association

Spring is in the air... Fresh blooms, new leaves on trees, sun shinning with color popping everywhere. This is always my favorite time of the year. And I am very glad that this year my parents were visiting and we could enjoy this colorful season together.

With my mom at the Tulip Festival in Washington State. A great way to celebrate a Pre-Mother's Day

Talking about mom, don't forget "Mother's Day" is right around the corner. Check out my new mugs and other Mom favorites in my Etsy shop Mother's Day Special Get a FREE sample of Jaipur Avenue Chai with every purchase till supplies last. If you have wondered of what true Indian Masala Chai Tea tastes like then you have got to try this.

Pictured here are some of my new variations in my mugs photographed and staged by a very talented photographer Archana Srinivas. She is passionate about interior design, travel, rustic food photography, her cups of 'chai' & capturing the beauty of everyday life... Check out her facebook page and you will be amazed.

Moravian Pottery and Tile works

When I went to Philadelphia for the Buyers Market Show in February I made it a point to have an additional day to visit the Moravian Pottery and Tile works in Doylestown, PA. It is a 1.5 hour train ride with 1/2 hour walk from the train station to the studio, but worth every minute and much more.

Seeing the video of the history of how these tiles acme about was great with so much great insight to some simple processes that still in use there.

Check out the number of tiles a worker had to produce in a day. That is a lot of freaking tiles!!!

It was great to get an in depth look into process with one of the artists there (Eric, don't recall his last name). He was grateful to answer all my questions and also gave me a ride back to the train station in the freezing rain. I was amazed to see that the tiles were all physically pressed by hand with simple tools till date and he mentioned that the tile press was used for mostly open faced tiles. A very basic tile press and plans of making one are in Frank Giorgini's book "Handmade Tiles"

This I think was one of the most genius things I saw there. Their boards for storing tiles during making, decorating and glazing was so simple. Just a board with small 1x2s attached at the end that just stack and make a cool inbuilt shelving system. They have been using this system for years and some of those boards are really old. Some of the simplest ideas are the greatest.

Of course going there has me inspired t do some tile work. I have had it at the back of my mind for years, but going to this place has really got me thinking again. I have already started working on some prototypes, so hopefully I will have new products during the summer shows. What places or workplaces have you visited that have inspired you?

     

Slip Decoration Madness Video

As many of you know, Slip decoration is big part of my work. And my work is highly influenced by Indian fabrics colors and embroidery. At first instance people assume I am imprinting a piece of fabric on my clay and then make my forms.
That is not the case and the pieces get slip decorated individually making each one unique. I try to keep adding new patterns and designs and since each piece gets its own unique touch, each one lands up being one of a kind.
Here is a short video clip (speeded up, of course) showing a typical day in my studio. I wish I could decorate at that speed. I enjoy this part of the process, but have heard comments that it is just madness.
So call me crazy, but I LOVE it!
To see other pieces of my work slip decorated visit my website

Do you think this is Madness?