Sculpture

Well, here it is. It's a little bit hard to describe and even harder to get a good photo of. This is my sculpture from my Botanical Sculpture class I took last semester. It is based on the seed cases of Hellebore plants. Instead of glazing it, I finished it with copper leaf and then glazed it and waxed the surface. The bottom photo is pretty washed out color wise, but it shows the shape pretty well. I'm very happy with how it came out in the end.

Another winner?

Ha! So Marc's Dad sent me a picture that was forwarded from Marc's Aunt & Uncle... Apparently the reason I couldn't find the peach jam at the State Fair was because it was in the First Place cabinet! No way! I just assumed it had been disqualified because it had pieces of cardamom and clove floating around in it. Who knew the judges would like cardamom?? Wow. That's pretty cool. The peach jam was the last minute entry, the one I just totally winged it on, didn't even have a recipe. I had signed up to enter back in July (you have to mail the entry form by July 31st, about a month before) and it was two days before the Fair and I decided I had to make it at the last minute. Yay!

Bored

Still bored at work.

I hope I can work on the fish tonight after Olive goes to bed. Marc's got band paractice. I've got some gardening to do... things are past their prime and ready for the compost pile. The back yard is totally overgrown. I also have to figure out what to do with the damn guppies in all my planters. I put them in there this spring to help control the mosquito larvae, and they have thrived in the dark muck of the planter reservoir. I cleaned one out last week, and where there once were 6, there were probably 20 now. Yikes. I told myself when I put them in there that I'd just let them freeze when winter came, but I think we all know that's a big joke. I can put some in the little kitchen fishtank... as pets. And some may make it to Jim's cichlid tank... as food. C'est la vie.

Pickle Winners!

Yay! The Bread and Butter pickles won Second Place at the MD State Fair! I'm shocked. I didn't win anything for the jams, which is fine; but the Bread and Butter Pickle category is usually pretty stiff competition. I didn't expect to place in that category, let alone second place. Pretty cool. I have to write to my grandmother and tell her that. It's basically her recipe, with some added spice modifications. I have to admit, I was feeling pretty smug.

I love the State Fair. I love to see all the hard work that goes into stuff... the people who sit there all summer trying to grow the perfect eggplant or gourd. They just take such pride in it, and it's nice to see. I didn't see any micro tomatoes there this year, which made me wonder if I should enter them next year. Hmmm.

I have more sculpture and mosaic pictures to put up, I just haven't gotten to it yet. I did some more work on the fish last night; I am finding this one to be really challenging. Going along, you establish a pattern and a direction for the rows of tile. But especially with a cut out form like the fish, you start to run into problems with how those rows come together while still working with the overall form. Do the rows run straight across, or follow the outside edge? It gets harder as you get to the end because it all has to come together and you have less and less space. All of a sudden, the way you have been working on it for weeks doesn't make sense. I think this wouldn't happen if I was using a rectangular board; then it's just a grid in rows across. Anyway, I will sort it out, I'm sure.

I am thinking about taking Hand Built Tableware this fall at Clayworks. My teacher from Botanical Sculpture is teaching it, and it looks like fun. I just have to see if I can afford it. I'd like to take the open studio option, but I'm afraid I don't have the discipline to get myself there to work on anything if I don't have a specific class to show up for. I had a hard enough time getting there any time outside of class this summer. I'd like to make some big forms to build mosaics on; just hand build them and bisque fire them. I have been contemplating the idea of a 4' yellow mosaic cat for the front yard.

I guess I'm just rambling now. Probably because I'm bored at work.

Mozzarella!

I made homemade mozzarella last night! Yummy. It's easier than it sounds. It's one of those things where you think it's going to be a total disaster, and then at some moment you realize it's working, and voila, there's cheese. Food science is pretty cool stuff.

Here's the link to the 30 minute recipe:
http://www.cheesemaking.com/store/page/21.html

If Olive isn't a total wreck when I pick her up tonight, I want to go to the State Fair and see how the judging went for the jams...

I was giving the mosaic fountain some more thought, but I've decided I need to finish the hippo tang mosaic first, before I start anything new. See that? Commitment. Besides, that's a better one for winter so I can set it up in the yard in spring. I decided to go back to the glue option rather than the Thinset to attach the tiles and it is soooooo much easier. Less mess, easier to control. All the tiles are level and even. Yeah, I think glue is the way to go.

Creativity switch: ON

Wow... I am totally inspired by this mosaic artist that I found today... Her name is Sonia King and here's a link to some of her work:

http://www.mosaicworks.com/

Super cool. I love the use of materials other than glass. It gave me an idea to maybe try some small mosaics with semiprecious stone beads... Obviously, cost prohibitive. Ebay has so many lovely options. I'm also thinking of trying paua shell veneers perhaps. Tres expensive, but so beautiful. You'd only need a little bit a as an accent here or there. I was thinking of maybe using plates as bases for them. Hmmm.

I'm also kicking around some mosaic fountain ideas in my head. Yeah, I've got to dig out the sketchbook tonight.

Botanical Sculpture class

Gonna try to make some progress on the fish tonight... I went into the basement yesterday and saw a painting I had started a year and a half ago and never finished. I hadn't seen it in awhile, and I was surprised at how good it looked to me. Maybe worth finishing after all. It just reminded me of how important it is getting stuff done, not just started. But, before I dive back into that, I think I should work on the fish and get that going.

I did get my ceramic piece just about done Friday... I have to post pictures of it. It's a piece I made in my Botanical Sculpture class this summer at Clayworks. (AWESOME, for anyone who hasn't taken classes there) It basically is kind of shell shaped, like a nautilus, and has no distinct bottom on it. I had to make little stilts for it to sit upright on for the bisque firing. I decided I didn't want to risk glazing it and having the glaze run down onto the stilts and have to be broken off and ground down. So instead, I "cold finished" it by painting it black and using copper leaf on it. Then I distressed it with steel wool and glazed it so it has the look of burned metal. I liked the idea of metal, but I also didn't want to lose the organic feel of it by making it too shiny and fabricated looking. This way it looks like it's a natural patination. (I'll post some shots tomorrow from work)

My other small sculpture from that class needs to be hung up somewhere. I love it. It's based on the buds of Echinacea flowers. I really love this one because it's different for me; I don't usually do things with multiple parts like this, but I really love how it turned out. This is not the greatest shot of it, I'll post a better one of it once I get it up on a wall.