MudStuffing Sketchbook

Kids are back in school, so I’ve been working the studio pretty hard lately though, all except the old blog… sorry for the lack of updates, for some reason my internet/computer time is on the back burner. Even my etsy listings are tapering off while I get a few large wholesale orders out the door. Wholesale has never been much focus for me, and every year I seem to try and push that revenue stream different ways to see how to make it work for me. I think the fact that I am so used to my retail margins, selling at 50% seems to suck all the enthusiasm out of it… but I am giving it another shot, and the next two kiln loads are pretty much spoken for, except for a few pieces heading to Atlanta.

BTW - If you are in the Atlanta area in October, I’ll have some pots in the MudFire’s Asheville in Atlanta show. Big thanks to Kyle Carpenter for the invite!

Just before going on vacation, I rebuilt the kiln. Yeah… go figure… Same dimensions, same frame work, same bricks (flipped) but a slightly different configuration. It’s not the typical Olsen fast fire 32 design anymore. I really needed to be able to stoke the kiln from one side. Running back and forth was really wearing me down physically. So now both fire boxes are stoked from the same side, and will accomodate slightly large wood. The stacking space is a little less than before due to this, but hopefully all things considered, the added ease of loading and firing will hopefully make it so I can fire at least once a month. The good news was, the salt and soda hadn’t taken too much of a toll on the soft brick in the year and a half of firings (14 firings total). I’ll take pictures soon and do a full post about these changes. In the mean time I am madly trying to get pots made and fill it so I can fire the first week of September.

Started a new sculpture to work on in between pots.This one is done with highwater’s craggy crunch, and so far it’s a pretty stout clay body, if a little gritty from all the grogs. We’ll see if we get cracks. I am trying to be more careful about my drying to. I’ve found myself drawing more and more lately, which is great for me, and I really like the changes I am seeing in my sketches based on my experiences sculpting heads.

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. We had another great Big Crafty this past weekend, and I am hoping things wind down around here and I get some more new work started in the studio. I also need to do “Part 2″ of new things I learned about my kiln. In the mean time I shot a quick (maybe even boring) video of this new gumball machine. I’ve been making ceramic gumball machines for years now, but this one works a lot different than the previous ones.

A sculpture, originally uploaded by mudstuffing.

The sculptures have been pretty much finished, came out of the warm kiln this morning. Not super excited about them, but not unhappy either. I’m learning and gaining experience, seeing what is working and what is not. Finding out it’s not only a process making them, but it’s one big long process. One piece doesn’t really end the process, it’s actually continued in the next piece I suppose…

Anyways, the process story behind this lady is…

She was done right after making the busts of my kids. I started out wanting to do something stylized rather than realistic and anatomically correct… flattening features etc, however as I started working, I kept sliding back towards a more realistic bust, which sorta left it all in limbo - not really successful on either end of the anatomically correct/incorrect. But I hollowed it out any ways and decided to use it as a test piece for experimenting with the surface treatments.

The surface treatments started with some stencils and slips on boneware, and some underglazes as well. Bisqued, and then treated with an iron oxide wash. A clear glear sprayed over it along with sprayin a few commercial cone 6 glazes. Fired to cone 6. Then toner decals applied and fired again to cone 04.

My whole idea with to develop mutliple layers of embellishment, from the clay body up. Which it does I think, successfully. I don’t think I am digging the glossy clear glaze, I would have prefered a matt, however the gloss what more reliable with the toner decals, and the matt glaze tends to get milky where it’s think and I didn’t want to risk the milkyness. But looking back, maybe a matte would have been best. I also went with solid eyes, and painted the pupils with under glazes.

I’ll be posting photos of the rest as the week goes on.

My little brother mentioned this software awhile ago. Zbrush is basically software for making 3D models (virtual models for animation), but with modelling ‘tools’ more akin to working with clay than the archetectural/geometric tools you may have seen in software like 3D studiomax. I guess making it more intuitive for artists.

Here’s some of the recent work Dave has been doing, and it nice animation of someone working on a kid’s head…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/humbleego/4321439628/

Skull Study, originally uploaded by mudstuffing.

Hope your holidays were great, I’ve been purposely absent both online and in the studio, spending a little quality ‘real’ time around the holidays….

My brothers and sisters pitched in together to get my mom Philippe Faraut’s DVD series on sculpting. It’s an excellent series, and I highly recommend it. Not hat my mom really needs it, she’s a fine sculptor in her own right, but defintely has some tips and great information on anatomy and facial expressions. We previewed while at her house and I think all three of us (my little brother Dave, mom and me) were itching to get our hands on some clay to put some of this new found knowledge to use.

I decided since I had never haven’t drawn much anatomy since college, and all of that was drawing based (not 3d) I’d start with a study of the skull. I’m digging the results. I’m away in Seattle for next week, so no clay for me, but when I get back, I’ll hollow this out, start on something new, and bust out a bunch of orders I’ve been procrastinating on… I am usually creatively drained after the holidays for some reason and the last few weeks have been nothing but food, family, and a little poker. Now I am itching to getting back to producing and experimenting with new stuff.

Here’s the link the the DVD series if you are interested.

http://ceramicartsdaily.org/bookstore/dvd/the-art-of-sculpting-by-philippe-faraut-3-volume-set/