Unloaded the Cielo firing of my kiln this morning with a couple of test pieces, as well as more than a dozen new Shards. I was anxious to see the results and they were great. Fingers crossed that this consistency keeps up.

The best news was the oxide finish that I applied to the leather hard pieces worked perfectly. If I had know how well it would turn out, all the pieces would have gotten that oxide wash. It’s a 50/50 suspension wash of red and black oxide in water, brushed on the leather-hard clay, then wiped off carefully. The dark patina in the crevices of the little sculptures then become part of the clay instead of an after-firing surface finish.

Here are the results on the two pieces I tested, Cielo #11 and #12, straight out of the kiln:

 

These are the first sculpture shards from the San Fernando Cemetery trip – I opened the kiln yesterday afternoon while it was still pretty hot, but I was anxious to see them. Beautiful – so happy with the results. Some of these will be up on my Etsy site for a new showcase on August 9th.
I found a new book on surface treatment with clay while in Bethesda and it has so many great ideas for embellishment.
Got to remember to keep it simple and let the faces tell the story.

To paraphrase Picasso, mediocre artists borrow, great artists steal. I love this quite from British writer Lawrence Durrell when asked in a 1960 Paris Review interview to name writers who had “influenced” him:
“But I read not only for pleasure, but as a journeyman, and where I see a good effect I study it, and try to reproduce it. So I am probably the biggest thief imaginable. I steal from people—my seniors, I mean. And in fact, Panic Spring, which you said was a respectable book, seemed to me dreadful, because it was an anthology, you see, with five pages of Huxley, three pages of Aldington, two pages of Robert Graves, and so on—in fact all the writers I admire. But they didn’t influence me. I pinched effects, I was learning the game.”

The Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, VA is a great reimagined space. A former munitions factory, it is now a colleciton of studios and galleries and classrooms.

I saw some remarkable works, among them this handbuilt series of small vessels with an insect in various stages of its life cycle in each section:

There were lots of painting studios – I was most taken by the large abstracts by one of the summer artists-in-residence:

Each artist has a gallery/studio space – the building has three floors with many studios, but it never seems crowded. It must be inspiring to work in such an airy light-filled place by the water:

In Bethesda this morning visiting Victoria, my long-time (since 1970) friend. It’s always great to see her and her family. We’re here for a day or two before going to their shore house in Rehoboth Beach DE. She lives in a condominium in downtown Bethesda – I’m looking out from the sixth story down to Old Georgetown Road.

This morning we’re going to The Torpedo Factory Art Center. A former torpedo factory, this world-renowned art center is located just outside Washington, D.C.  – I expect to photograph, note and steal many creative ideas from all of their great studios, shops and small galleries.

San Antonio is graced with beautiful old cemeteries – it’s one of the oldest cities in the Americas. I don’t have to look far for compelling faces to use as celebratory face molds for my Scent Shard sculptures. I took a trip to San Fernando Cemetery by the Missions today and came away with some beautiful press molds that are going to be ready to use after they are fired. I also took a lot of photos and could have take lots more. There were families picnicking on relatives’ graves and lots of really funny gaudy bright arrangements everywhere. Shops around San Fernando sell these. Some have cartoon characters like Bugs Bunny festooned with polyester flowers. But the sculptures and monuments are unrivaled.
The first photo shows me reaching up to take a face mold from a tall angel statue – I use only white clay to leave the stone unblemished, and the process takes just a few gentle seconds. The other two photos show monuments that I thought were particularly lovely.

It works! The little Skutt kiln that I bough on Craig’s List, brand new, has been wired, test fired and welcomed home to its own little tented firing pavillion outside my garden gate. The wiring cost half as much as the kiln itself, but the total cost was still less than half of what it would have cost from a retail clay supplier.
By the way, Clay World, which took over Hood Clay, my supplier in the 80’s, is a wonderful place for potters. I can get in as much trouble there as I can in any art store. They have beautiful carved wooden stamps, tools, books – oh. my.
The Scent Shards page is growing and expanding on my own website – check out the videos. No matter what happens, this is the most fun I’ve had in a long time. See the little kiln’s new home in these photos. There’s a shelf above the kiln with the Kiln Gods that my grandsons made to ensure a good firing, and there’s a drying rack for unfired pieces – it’s a wonderful space.

I had what stores call a “soft opening” when I posted my first Scent Shard sculptures on the ETSY gallery site this morning, and darned if one didn’t sell right off the bat. I was absolutely delighted. Two more sets sold to a friend, so I’m working away getting ready for my Etsy art showcase next Thursday. Also, Carole at La Vida Gallery wants to carry them, and lots of other people have shown interest. We’ll see how far it goes, but right now, I’m having a good time working with clay and I look forward to firing my own kiln next week. Here is a link to one of the Scent Shards on ETSY, and here is another link to a short YouTube video that I did this afternoon, totally unrehearsed but enjoyable, as I described the process of making the molds and then pressing the sculptures.
So stop and smell the shards!