Relaxing Night - Comfy Couch Time

Yesterday was a rest day for mom and myself.  Plus it was yucky out and I just wanted to go home and sit on my comfy couch and do nada!  Thank goodness mom was up for that, so I didn't have to go over to her house and work on anything!

I got home, fed the cats and gave them some catnip to play with.  They love it when I sprinkle the catnip on the floor and they can roll in it.  They look so happy.  My oldest cat, Koshka, could care less about the catnip, just make sure she has some food and she is happy.

Reville, Tiesha, Mishka, Chai

Koshka, the matriarch

Last night was Glee night.  I am now a Glee addict and I wish Fox would post all the shows on their website!  I have only seen episodes 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and the last two episodes.  I want to see them all!!!  I am not paying Netflix to see them, so I guess I will have to wait until they come out on DVD.  Rats!

This morning I went on a shopping spree at Thompson Enamels.  We are really low on certain colors and I had to break down and buy more colors or there would be no new pendants or bowls in the next few weeks.  Though our bank account is starting to look pretty sparse, so I really hope we do good at this show we have on the 30th and 31st of July!

Depending on how I feel, I may go over to mom's tonight and make up some beads for a project I am working on.  Plus I need to finish off the last tank of oxygen so we can order some more.  I don't think that will take me long to finish off, so I guess I will help mom cut out some copper pendants so I can set up another assembly line of enameling tomorrow and Sunday.

Oh Boy, Mom is Hot to Trot (As in Pissed)

Ok, for those of you who don't know my mom, you don't piss her off!  Especially if you tell her one thing and it doesn't get fixed and then we get double whammied the next month on our new credit card machine, which I am sure we will not have much longer!  I sure as heck would not want to be the person who receives the message that mom just left on their voice mail - OUCH!  Though I have to say that they deserve it!

This year mom and I decided to go with a knuckle buster for our shows because we were going into more art shows this year.  We have only had the credit card machine for a few months, but last month they charged our account for something and then this month they charged us again for the same damn thing.  They were suppose to refund us last month, but it never happened.  I guess mom was checking our account this evening and noticed we got charged again; the paperwork came out, the fax was flying and the phone conversations were heated.  Like I said, "DON'T PISS OFF MY MOM!!!"

Of course it doesn't help that mom and I went to see my grandpa, who I have not seen in over a year, because he lived in Colorado, at the nursing home we hate...ok not hate, loathe.  We just found out that grandpa has cancer in his lungs and it spread to his bones and that he is also diagnosed with alzheimers.  The boys moved him back home to be closer to family.  It was sad seeing grandpa like that because I am used to seeing him more robust, with a cigarette and a beer in his hand.  I am not sure if he recognized me or mom, but I sat there and talked with him for awhile, before they brought him in to eat lunch.  Ok, tell me, if your relative was diagnosed to live only two more months would you have them do physical therapy?  HELLO!  Why is the nursing home having him do physical therapy?  This is nothing against my aunt or uncles, I just seriously freaking hate this nursing home and I just don't understand why they are doing this to my grandpa. 

Sorry, I had to rant and I apoloigze.

Ok, on to better news.  I posted the kokapelli pendants that my friend did not pick.  I know some people were interested in the pendants and I am just giving you a heads up that they are posted on Etsy now and there is no fighting or if there is fighting, no hitting below the belts over the pendants.  Mom and I can make more!  If there is a color you are interested in please let us know and we will see if we can make something up.

Kokapelli 1

Here are the three that we posted on Etsy.

Kokapelli 2

Kokapelli 3

Facebook Fans and New Etsy Postings

There was a delay on posting things to Etsy this morning.  I woke up with a really really bad headache that I thought was going into a migraine.  I took some drugs and the headache is down to a manageable pain level, which means I went to work.  I was able to post three things on Etsy during lunch and I will see if I can post a few more things this afternoon, after work.

Yellow/Purple Earrings

Yellow/Green Earrings

Leaf Pendant

I  also wanted to let you all know that mom and I do have our Facebook page up and running now.  We just posted that we will be having a giveaway when we hit 100 fans so please spread the word.  We decided to give away a pair of earrings.

My Time in the Military, Love of Flowers Depicted in Ceramics

I hope you all had a great Fourth of July and loved the fireworks.  I also hope you are staying cool whenever possible because it is hot out there!

Well, I didn't get the junk room cleaned.  I woke up with a really bad headache and I was not in the mood to tackle that room.  Though I really need to get in there, sometime in the near future, and clean it.  I am also waiting for the camera to charge so I can take photos of things to post out on Etsy.  So, while I am waiting for the battery to charge, I thought I would post photos of my ceramic pieces from my spring semester class.

A disclaimer first.  During the spring semester I wanted to incorporate images of my time in the military and flowers.  These works are not a commentary against the military, our men and women serving our country or the wars we are engaged in.  The military images have personal meaning for me.  I love photographing flowers  My professor challenged me to combine these elements into my semester final project. 

These works are test pieces for me, because I have my senior show next spring semester.  I want to figure out what to have in the show.  The pieces allowed me make and to test underglaze colors and celedon colors to determine what will and won't work during firings.  I had a great time making these pieces and it brought back tons of memories.  I hope you enjoy my take of my time in the military with a bit of a "Mother Nature" spin.

My first pieces - it just hit me to go with pastel colors, because I am female, and when you think of a girl, you stereotypically think of pink.  So the M16 being pink is the first piece I did for my military theme ceramics.  I also liked the idea of the grenade and an explosion of colors.  I am also experimenting with slips and underglazes for the colors of the flowers and grenade.

<>

Pink M-16 and Flowers

Pink Grenade

Flowers and Grenade

My next project was incorporating my dog tags.  I also want to some way incorporate my great grandfather's, grandfather's and my dad's dog tags in the next project.  I am still contemplating the design.

My dog tags and a For-Get-Me-Not

My Rank During My Time in the Army

The next two bowls are of the vehicle I worked with while I was at Fort Hood.

TLQ and Flowers

TLQ, Flowers, Peace and Love

A gas mask and flowers.  The first image is just in black and white and flowers were suppose to be blue and purple, but they didn't fire right, so I will have to use a different underglaze when I color the flowers.  The second gas mask I love!  I wanted to somehow incorporate camo in my images and I loved how this turned out and the colors.

Mask and Flowers

Camo Mask and Flowers

I wanted to do a series of plates with my combat boots (I know weird, but I miss how comfortable my combat boots were and how much a part of your life they were).  The first plate is a nice looking boot with a tree full of flowers depicting the enthusiasm and how "gung ho" I was when I joined.  The second plate is an old and tired looking boot with a dead tree and only one branch showing a sprig of life.  This depicts how I felt when I left the army - worn out and disillusioned.

New Boot and Flower Tree

Old Boot and Dead Tree

The next three plates are just ideas I was playing with.  One is an effigy to a scale because I freaking hate being weighed!  There are some stupid things I did to try and make my weigh ins and I refuse to do it now!  The next plate is of my 4th ID patch and a life cycle of a flower.  The last plate is of a pick, chains and a wall and on the other side of the wall is a key.  I thought if I just got to the other side of the wall it would be all better (becoming a civilian) but the other side of the wall has its own set of problems.

Effigy to a scale

4thID Patch and Life cycle of a flower

Pick, Chains, Wall, Key

The next two bowls are of what I did in the military and an issue I had with one of my troops.  My job in the army was a Russian linguist, though I mostly worked in the motorpool or was out in the field. The image of the barrel of a gun and bullets was the only image I could come up with to show what happened with one of my soldiers.  I was his squad leader; he was my responsibility.  It is accurate, but fear not, I wasn't injured and defused the situation successfully.

Headphones, Russian, Flowers

Bullets, Barrel of a gun, flowers

Outside of the bowl with bullets

The final project I did for class is very near and dear to my heart.  While I was stationed at Fort Riley I was on a funeral detail.  I was a member of the firing squad who performed the 21 Gun Salute.  I felt honored to provide this service for those men and women who were being buried and for their families.  I am also still really angry that my grandfather refused to have a military funeral when he died.  Believe me, I nagged and nagged him, but he said no.  So, this project is sort a way to show my time of being on the funeral detail and dedicated to my grandpa.  I threw about 60 small plates and chose the best of the plates (21), I then drew on the plates "Taps", the plates were dipped in Celedon and then fired.  This is still a project in the process of being made.  My professor and I critiqued it and I think it is going in a totally different direction.  Here is my first trail of 21 Gun Salute.

Layout of 21 Gun Salute

Close up of Taps

That is it for the spring semester.  This fall I will be a ceramics and metals studio tech.  I really don't know what to expect from doing that.  I know I will be working on my senior show projects.  Once I have the projects created I will post more pictures.  I hope you enjoyed my take of my time in the military depicted in ceramics.

Crashed and Burned but Productive Studio Weekend

Mom Crashed on the Floor

Today was another day in the studio.  I think mom and I are trying to make up for all the time we were not in the studio for the past month.  I think we both have agreed that we cannot do two days in a row in the studio.  Mom's neck gives out and I have shooting pains going up my feet (even with inserts in).  Goodness we are getting old and falling apart.  How do you like the photo of mom crashed out on the studio floor?  Pathetic, aren't we?

I am excited about all the work that we did get done.  I was able to enamel two very large bowls, which we probably won't ever do again, or if we do, we will only make one a year.  Those bowls are a pain in the a$$ to cut out and even worse trying to get the enamel on the bowl and then putting the bowl in the kiln.  Though one of the bowls is a wedding gift for my aunt, so she is well worth all the swearing mom and I did while making that bowl!

I was also able to enamel two more leaf pendants, a happy/sad face pendant, a film reel pendant (part of a project I am working on), two pairs of hand pendants for earrings, and fixed a sun flare pendant and a dream shaman pendant.  Though on the sun flare pendant the holes filled with enamel, and to be honest I sure as hell was not going to drill out the enamel.  Mom and I are going to have to improvise on adding wire to the pendant for a loop. 

I think tomorrow will be a relaxing day, maybe.  Mom is going to work on cleaning her house and I want to tackle my junk room (lord give me strength!).  I then want to come over to mom's to work on lampwork beads and finish off the tanks so we can order more oxygen.  I also want to take photographs of my ceramic pieces from my spring semester and re-take photographs of the pieces we have worked on this weekend and get them posted out on Etsy.  Wow - not so relaxing is it.  I also want to order some enamel because we are out of or almost out of colors that we use alot (credit card save the day).

Ok, enough of my typing your eyes off :)  Onto the images....

Bowls

"I Do" bowl

"Lollipop Lollipop" Bowl

Pendants

Happy/Sad Face

Dream Shaman Pendant

Film Reel Pendant

Trans Greens Leaf

Spruce Leaf

Sun Flare Pendant

Earrings

Yellow/Green Earrings

Yellow/Purple Earrings

Long, Long Studio Saturday

Today was a long day in the studio, seven and a half hours.  OMG my feet hurt and mom's neck is killing her.  I was able to get the following items enameled: three bowl, two leaf, a gingko pendant and four kokapelli pendants.  The kokapelli pendants were a request from a friend.  She asked me to use black, turquoise and fuschia, though I didn't have fuschia so I tried to improvise.  (If you want to see the names of the colors I used please head over to our Facebook page.  I will also work on loading the photos to our Flickr account).

When we first got to the studio we filed and sanded the pieces, which seemed to take forever.  Once that was done I started on my enameling assembly line.  Mom worked on cutting out more pendants to enamel because I want to get those posted out on Etsy.  I think the pendants might sell better than the assembled necklaces, though I could be wrong.

I am so happy with the way the enameled pieces turned out.  I had to improvise on fixing the kokapelli pendants because the trivets but indentations on the sides of the piece, so I have to file the indentations down so they don't get caught on clothes or cut someone.  I hate how the filing makes the backside of the pendant look, so I improvised to fix the problem.  There was a lava rock sitting on the kiln with wires sticking out, so I hung the kokapelli pendants on the wire and stuck it back in the kiln for about 45 seconds to melt the glass again.  Overall I pretty happy with the way the back of the pendants turned out.  I think I am going to wrench my shoulder of the socket trying to pat myself on the back.

Today was also the day I launched our EB Bead and Metal Works Facebook page.  I tried to load the Facebook page to blogger but I am having issues, I might have to do log the page from work.  I know I have the pop up blocker off, but when I tried to load the page I keep getting blocked.  Oh well, another day's work.

I did take the time and take photographs (though I really wanted to go home and crash on my comfy couch and not come up until starting the process all over tomorrow).  Enjoy!

Bowls

"Flower Power" - Peace symbol design

"Awakening" - Lotus flower design

"Forlorn" - bonsai tree design

Kokapelli pendants

Pendant 1

Pendant 2

Pendant 3

Pendant 4

Gingko and Leaf Pendants

Gingko Leaf Pendant

Red/Orange/Yellow Leaf Pendant

Yellow Leaf Pendant