moon, gardens & clay

Lantern house for candles that I made in my class.

Ezra likes it and the girls keep stealing it for little creature games.

It's a full moon, I can feel it, there is weirdness all around. Also it's as bright as daylight at night, that was another hint. It's been pretty up & down around here. Mostly down as we've done the sick routine over the last two weeks. School expectations got ignored by all of us and it's been a slog getting back into it. Same old dilemma of books vs. stuff we want to do. Yesterday we did bookwork and today we had some fun. Ivy & Jeremy are playing simple but beautiful duets on their violins, a lovely milestone in their learning as far as I'm concerned.

Ella recently finished the Magic Treehouse book "Dawn of the Red Dragon" (#37) and it was beautifully illustrated. We all loved the pictures so we used it for our "art inspiration" this week. We drew & painted interpretations of gardens and traditional looking Japanese houses. When we finished with that we attempted some rudimentary Haiku and short poems. It was sunny, fun and relaxing. We might even have learned something, who knows?

I've been spending a few hours, several times a week down at the guild. I'll find any opportunity to announce that I belong to a guild. I think it used to be more meaningful in that you actually had to be trained in the particular trade before you could join. It's taken more focus than I'm used to to go there and practise, rather than create. It's a very different mindset with different rewards and frustrations. Several times I have thrown and recycled my clay all evening. I don't always have the willpower to destroy it all though and will keep my favorite item to turn into something.

A work in progress

Still on an artsy note, I volunteered to be part of the committee putting together the kids summer art programs this year. I didn't contribute a whole lot (yet?) but it has been fun to be in on the process and be able to provide some feedback about my children's experiences in the courses.

trails

So far in the last quiet half hour I have followed google trails leading to both funeral urns (pottery) to UFO's (Falcon Lake, ON). So much extraneous information, so little time.

swear word

"MOM, Ezra smells like a swear word. Like rotten broccoli."
- Ella

first samples

I couldn't wait until next week to see samples from my first pottery firing so I stopped by the guild today. I hardly recognized my own pieces. The glaze changes them dramatically and you wouldn't believe the flaws it can hide.

My absolute first bowl. It is hard to see but I put a freehand design on the bottom and was very happy with the result. I have to come clean, I copied the idea & glaze from someone else.




This is one appie plate in a set of 4. There is also a serving size plate that I'm going to glaze to match. I winged it with the green/brown combo and it turned out a lot like I intended it to.



With all the excitement I decided to sign up for the guild. For a very modest fee I have my own keys and can go and use the equipment any time I want. In return, I agree to participate in all of their fundraisers by contributing pieces (once they're classified as acceptable anyway). Starting in March they have set aside one night a week where more experienced potters are willing to casually mentor beginners. It sounds like a good setup so we'll see if I take advantage of it.

I've decided that my first solo mission will be a coffee mug. Unless it turns into something else, I'm flexible.

Do try this at home

Ivy is enjoying some freedom from curriculum science, having ground her way through the required elements of her unit on "Matter". We found a fun science book at the library on the weekend and she has read a lot of it already. I love seeing her engaged in learning and watching what she gravitates towards. Often it's a matter of having information easily available in the right format and making it optional. Of coures we all love optional. She came to me this morning with recipes for gluep & ooblek. It was a smashing success and we had a lot of fun doing it. The gluep was really fun and the ooblek was just...odd.

Gluep
Dissolve 1 tsp borax in 6 tbsp water. In separate bowl mix 1 tbsp white glue with 1 tbsp water. If you want it coloured, add one or two drops of food colouring to the glue mixture. Add 2 scant tsp of the borax solution to the glue. Mix until it turns into gelatinous goo and then play with it.

Ooblek
This was was a little trickier as the instructions were vague. Fill a small bowl half full of cornstarch and add water. There's a magic sweet spot where it's in limbo between solid and liquid. If you try to stir quickly it chunks up like a solid, but when you put it back down it oozes together. Ivy's assessment was that it was like it was "...on a timer for solids. It's solid for a few seconds and when time runs out it turns into a liquid".


From the book: Science Smart: Cool projects for exploring the marvels of the planet earth, Gwen Diehn, Terry Krautwurst, Alan Anderson, Joe Rhatigan, & Heather Smith

glaze

I was initiated into the art of pottery glazing this evening. It's a dark art, I swear. Here, dip it into this pink and it will come out blue! Really! That may or may not actually be true, but suffice it to say that the colour of the liquid glaze does not resemble what will come out of the kiln. I have no idea what I've done to my pieces. The good news is that I only did half of them so I can check these out before I do the next batch. I took a picture of one of them pre-glaze but may not bother posting it until I get them back.

The blue/brown combo on these mugs is something I'd like to replicate but the local guild doesn't have a blue anywere near that. The glazing experience has awoken a faint spark of excitement about all those chemistry classes I took sometime in the early '90's. They may come in handy!

The style of this artist is wonderful. I love the colours and the movement of some of the vases. I've got a long way to go...

In my hunt for glaze information I somehow stumbled across these painted houses and found them lovely. What is it with our culture and pink stucco and plastic siding?

brush

I've spent the occasional evening moments trying out my tube watercolours on rice paper. I post this up here to have a marker for progress, not primarily to embarrass the reader or elicit encouraging comments. I need a placeholder.