Branching Out

It's that time of year again, sort of. The medieval faire has been moved to June this year so we aren't stuck dealing with snow and really cold temperatures.

However, I wasn't sure I even wanted to do it this year. I didn't work much on my ocarinas after Thanksgiving. Instead I delved into some Stoneware for the first time, making a bowl, mug, bird ocarina and bird water whistle for a friend of mine who lives in Australia.

So when January struck, I knew I only had 5 months before the faire, but my heart just wasn't into the clay. I had made a slight mistake with the stoneware pieces (let some colored porcelain dust settle into the pots right before the glaze firing), and my first-ever porcelain tests proved that the porcelain I bought and was so exited to use was only translucent at 1/16 in. thick, and with NO color in it.

On top of this, I think I had a case of SAD (seasonal affective disorder) and was in a major slump in general until about March when the sun came out a few times and I finally broke out my tools again.

I decided to try for round sound holes this time, and I switched glazes (from Spectrum, which shivered horribly, to Amaco which still works beautifully!) I also bought a high-fire blue-brown glaze that looks awesome.

In addition, I was commissioned by my midwife to make some vase-like containers for an event they were holding. So I made these:

I will definitely try making some more sculptural pieces relating to birth and pregnancy in my store, as many people made kind comments about them.

As I contemplated the direction I want my work to go, I realized two things.

ONE - that I want to experiment more. Ocarinas take so much time and I know in the end that they aren't perfect and won't sell on-line. For a medieval faire they are okay, but I don't want to spend all my time making them.

TWO - I want to work on two major themes in the near future. One being porcelain and translucency, the other being nature and parenting. I have an idea I'm developing that I hope pans out, as I would have a blast working on it.

And finally, after my disappointment with the current porcelain I have, I discovered Laguna's Frost porcelain. Apparently it's the same formula as Southern Ice for the most part, but pugged in California, so it's cheaper than the stuff imported from Australia. It is EXTREMELY translucent and white, and most of the pieces I see and like are made with Southern Ice. So I'm really hoping this porcelain will be all that I'm wanting in a translucent body - because I have also had an idea for a piece for YEARS but haven't found a way of making it.

So I am VERY excited!

Lastly, I made seven of my "faux leather" mugs, but decided to try using stoneware clay with a low-fire glaze. I heard the "pings" as soon as I started unloading them, and they haven't stopped since. So they are ruined. I now have nine more drying to re-fire with the high-fire glaze, and I'm really hoping they'll sell well at the faire, and hopefully even on Etsy.

So here's to trying new things, and to learning!

Pendant Ocs

Well, I decided to try for one weekend at the medeival faire that is less than half and hour from my house. It's a new faire, so there are not that many vendors. Of course, there may not be that many people attending, but I also won't have that much inventory!I settled on doing just one weekend, so I don't have to worry about not selling for 3 weekends in a row, and if I DO sell out, I'm not stuck for 2 weekends without anything to sell! So I'm going to try for the Celtic weekend, and I'm making some circular pendants for the occasion.

I'm trying something new by making a lot of the same sized ocs so I can quickly make the same rough shape several times over, and they'll be roughly the same size. Then I carved them all out at the same time, and then tuned them all. This went much quicker, and I was able to do 10 yesterday and the night before, though I threw one out due to a mistake I made.

But here's a pic of the ocs waiting to be cut - they are bigger than the ones I did cut:

And here are the smaller ones cut open:

Here are some leather stamps I got, which I like, but it's very hard to get them on the smaller ocs, so I'm having to improvise some...

Here are the some finished pendants:

I'm bringing some business cards I made up for the belly-rinas for my doula to try to hand out at the DONA convention, and we'll see how that goes. I'm really hoping for a good response from that.

I've also been tossing ideas around in my head regarding the designs on the ocs and the smoke firings. I think if I underglaze and then matt glaze the design, it will stand out just enough but not too much after being smoked. I hope it will look as good as I visualize....

I might also be making canle votives for a local hotel. I am hoping that by Christmas Jim can make me a home-made potter's wheel for little cost, and that would make that job easier. But it's another source of income if the owner likes what I come up with.

I'm really getting very excited that all this is happening. I hope I'm not putting my head too high into the clouds, but find I can't help myself. The closer I get to my dreams, however, the more terrifying it becomes. Failure is right there beside me, waiting, as well. The "what-ifs" crop up, too. But overwhelmingly the dreams and hopes rise up and take over and I find myself playing the ocarinas for the sheer joy of it...

I am also wondering if there are some books in the library that explain music composition theory...that is, I want to play some simple music on the ocs like the blues, or jazzy music, or celtic sounding tunes, or whatever, without having to have a song. And not necessarily making my own up, but just playing riffs that are familiar enough sounding that they sound good. That way I can demo the ocarina at fairs or festivals and play a variety of music without having specific songs to play.