Workshop

Next week I am taking a ceramics workshop at Guldagergaard in Denmark, and I am so exited! The workshop is titled ‘Vitrified print’, and is held by Paul Scott. I bought his book 'Ceramics and Print' about a year ago, and it has been a constant source of inspiration and admiration ever since.

I could (should) of course have spend a lot more time preparing what I wanted to work on during the workshop, but there never seems to be enough hours in a day. But I am hoping to learn enough to continue working at it at home, in our cramped studio. Also looking forward just to have a week at the coast in Denmark! I will try and update the blog with pictures while I am there.

In the mean time, here is a picture showing the reflection of yours truly, in a vintage shop full of Danish/Mid Century delights.

Good days

Early morning in the studio. There is jewellery to be glazed and oranges to be eaten.

New things from an old plaster cast

We emptied a new kiln at my studio today, which is always a little bit like Christmas! These tea light holders were a bit of an experiment - they are cast from a plaster cast I made a while back. It was originally made to make small espresso cups, but they did not shrink as much as I hoped for, so they are a little bit too big for that. I also had a bit of an accident while making the plaster cast, which made the top edge very uneven. So then what to make from it? Apparently tea light holders could work!

The porcelain is a bit translucent, so if I make them thin enough, they give off a beautiful orange glow. You can kind of see it in this picture, although my camera really does not do them justice...

...also notice the view from my window on the first picture: All snow and fog. Absolutely no sign of spring here yet... *Sigh*

'Ah, all things come to those who wait,'

(I say these words to make me glad),

But something answers soft and sad,

'They come, but often come too late.'

:)

My first Etsy front page and sales!

Yesterday was quite a day on Etsy! I checked in before going to bed, and did not quite recognize it at first. It turns out one of the beautiful treasuries I have been featured in lately landed on the front page! Huzzah!! This lead to a stampede of visitors to my little shop - over 3000 (!!!!!) whereas I usually have about 10! Lots and lots of emails, hearts and a general flurry of activity. And, I also made my first two sales!! All very exiting, and a little bit overwhelming almost.

So this weekend will be spent making more inventory, taking pictures of what I have already, looking into getting business cards made...basically all the stuff I should have done weeks ago. But how fun!

Little horned ducklings

Some more antler-ducks fresh out of the kiln (...although the one to the back left looks more like he has grown mittens :) ). They are a bit naff, I know, but I do love making them.

Treasuries

In the last couple of days I have suddenly been featured in multiple treasuries on Etsy, which has been great! I have not done anything in particular lately to suddenly be noticed by so many, so I suspected something else might be going on there. And it turns out I have been swept up by the whirlwind of the very busy European Street Team (EST) on Etsy, who is organizing ‘Europe Week’ this week, doing a lot of promotional work for European shops. And some of the team members were kind enough to include my little shop to their treasuries, even if I was not an EST member yet (I am now! :) ).

When I first opened shop on Etsy, I created a treasury just to see how it was done. It took me all evening!! Not because it was technically difficult, but because there is so much great stuff to search through! I was pining over it for hours to get it ‘just right’. So I am truly grateful to the curators who took the time to find me, and decided to use my picks out of the ocean of other great stuff out there. Thank you!

Nice things

This ball of rubber bands makes me happy. A simple, everyday object  that is aesthetically pleasing, where form follows function without  feeling the need to be flashy, complicated or overly ‘designed’.

Oh how we long for spring...

...and yes, that is real frost on the window.

Etsy

*drumroll*: I have decided to open up a little shop on Etsy!

After years of being a fan and a buyer, I decided I might try and join the ranks as a seller too. I thought it might be nice to have some of my stuff out there for others to see also.

And of course, should this turn out to be the start-off point for an international empire, I would just have to try and cope I guess...

The making of a porcelain ring

During the last year I have been making quite a few porcelain rings with imprinted text, and I thougth someone might find it interresting to see some of the process behind them. And I do appologize for the poor quality of the pictures - the light in our studio is not great. In fact it is pretty awful. But here goes.... 

"m" for manicure.....which is what you need after working with clay all day :) Handstamping the text with lead type.

A tray of freshly formed and imprinted rings, clay still wet. I'm not too bothered about neatness at this stage, as there is still a lot of work to be done on them. They are also pretty fragile at this point. The important thing is that the printing looks ok. They will now be wrapped in plastic and left to dry for up to a week. I like to let them dry slowly; I seem to get less dry cracking that way. (In the middle right back there you can see one that is whiter in colour than the others; it dried too quickly and later broke)

The rings are now completely dry, and I have filled in the imprinted letters with underglaze, using a thin brush to push the colour into every nook and cranny. They are now ready to be bisque fired to 950 degrees C.

After bisque firing the rings are a lot sturdier (think terracotta pots) and can cope with a lot more handling. This is where the most labor-intensive part starts, with lots of sanding and elbow grease. But it is also the most rewarding, as it is the first time I really get to see what the finished result might look like. I sand down the outside to remove the excess color - this is where a bad print job will reveal itself. I also remove all sharp edges and sand down the inside to get the ring to the thickness I want. (This would have been a lot easier to do before bisque firing, but I ended up breaking so many rings that way that I now go for the slower but more successful option)

....eight hours later.....

....after a good wash and another day of drying, they are ready for a dip in a bowl of clear glaze, before going into the oven a second time - this time to 1255 degrees C.

....and Voila! A batch of freshly baked porcelain rings!

Guerrilla knitting

Occasionally I see examples of guerrilla knitting popping up around town. Always makes me smile! Here is the last one I happened upon - a city tree got a fancy sweater on before Christmas. (Appologies for the poor picture quality, as it was taken with my mobile camera)

It is getting closer to Christmas, and some of my ducks have mysteriously started sprouting antlers!

Shaping up

When I first started making these porcelain bowls they would consistently come out warped and deformed. Great fun sometimes, but mostly very frustrating, and most of them ended their life in the bin. But lately they have been holding their shape a lot better, so now I can start consentrating on how to decorate them. This should be great fun!!



Small things

I have been making mostly smaller items lately, mainly buttons and pieces for jewellery. Perfect fits for a kiln already overloaded with large Christmassy stuff. 5 of my studio mates are attending the Christmas market at DOGA this year, which is pretty exiting. Others have other markets and exhibitions coming up, so the whole studio is in the middle of the usual pre-Christmas frenzy.

My buttons are hand shaped and are pretty wonky and rustic looking. I used a clay with iron speckles, and glazed them with a matt cream glaze, giving them an oatmeal kind of colour.

I have also been experimenting with my plaster cast, to see what other uses I might find for them. Still don't have any finished products to show you, but above are parts of my 'deconstructed duck', which might end up as jewelry.

Cool new ideas

While I have been laying rather low lately, other people have been really busy. A couple of crafty designers have caught my eye this past year, and last month they were both amongst the designers presented in the '100% Norway' section of the 100% Design Exhibition in London.

Kristine Bjaadal has designed a table cloth with a hidden pattern in the mesh, which only appears when wet. So what could have been an ugly spill, will now bring out a pretty pattern. Clever, eh?

Siren Wilhelmsen has created a clock that knits the passing of time. In her own words: "It is knitting the hours and the days and shows the time as something that is constantly moving, changing and developing. Every passing of a half hour is marked by the knitting of a mesh, a full day is registered as one round around the clock and a year results in a 2-m-long scarf. After one year the yarn has to be replaced  with a new one and a new year can be knitted. The year that has past is this year's scarf. And the coming year is the thread still unknitted."