REcent work

Title. Worked until he could be worked no more

Bowls (still greenware)

THe first of 2014 Made from the innards of the chicken coop to th tea set.

the last of 2013

THe greenware will look a whole lot different when it is fired.I have had one imortant piece stolen at the guild and I am just hurt by it. THat bowl was to belong to Hyia, and made with a great deal of love. I would have liked to have seen how it turned out.

I love that cat bowl!

I still have the sculpture of Kya proudly displayed at home, and the miniature of the sleeping chihuahua on my desk at work. They are so lovely, and they get many compliments!

I made that one so Ressie can stick his head in it and I can take a pic.
Which sounds silly but it is why. It's made out of porcelain. I wanted to see how well the mason stains hold if I fire it in the electric kiln and not the gas.

I am very glad you are happy with my work. THat meas the world to me.

Like them all.....but I too love that cat bowl! Just awesome

LUcy two.. REssie broke Lucy one.

Since I can't seem to get the lady that bid over 300 dollars donation for a costume t set to send me photos (that has never happened before) I made this cup to test out the mason stains and see if they come out right, and maybe to tempt her to get it done and get them to me, or even just a written description. I dunno. But anyway..cat cup. I do make sure it isn't going to clunk you in the glasses if you really drink out of it.

still wet.

the cat is just too little to get pretty blue eyes in. If I do the tea pot I will make one the handle and it will be big enough.

this is about life size.
Hyia calls him Mustache man. She says she likes him. THat's that last hard piece of clay from the bottom of the bag too hard to do anything else with and not enough to bother re hydrating. He can be number two in the worked until he could be worked no more series.

YOur a hard crowd for feedback. Just posted to get outside perspective, what's a good idea an what's not. If your not interested, I won't share more.
i share in case someone else might be learning stuff too and can get someting out of my trial and error, but also in case someone sees something that could be better. sighs.

I love seeing your work, please keep sharing!

My experience with clay is very limited so I can't really give any insights, but I love love the tea set. I wish I had won it. Your miniature work blows me away .

Smkie, I love your work! Love the animal related peices, of course. Some of the bowls reminds me of a smiling sun

thanks (((HUGS)))

I think I will be working on tea set forever. Cat cup two I have been working on two days, and who knows if it will work or not, if it doesn't i will keep doing it until it is right. I am stopped on some parts of this until I can get to the clay supply store which is forever and a day away. I wish I could just have them mail it, but if for any reason it freezes it would be worthless.

THis is the headache for now. Sometimes I need a little brain relief like mustache man, I have no idea what he will look like either after firing. I hope it works. THese mason stains seem to keep their color at the high temp.

Love the kitty stuff! I like Lucy Two as well, she's very nice.

Not familiar with pottery stuff - what is a mason stain? Is it one color or different colors?

mason stains are oxides in a range of colors you can either mix with slip or brush directly in using some water, or i am trying something a bit different of applying dry and carefully pushing it into the surface. THey are iffy at high temp at best, and take a lot of experimenting to see what stays and what doesnt'.

THe cat bowl might crack, it is porcelain which is to me awful to try to build with the way I do for it isnt' very elastic and it loves to crack, and I didnt' get that bowl near thing enough. I have another like that I call the bowling ball. I am going to raise the temp in the electric kiln slowly and fire it all the way out instead of putting it in the gas kiln where it is almost for sure doomed.

Tomorrow i hope to get some new clay and can try again on Lucy, not quite happy with that, and get back to the original tea set. I will just keep doing it until I get it right.

Thanks all for the comments. Kind of lonely here working on my own, I miss the guild with the insight of other artists. It is just too far except for a once a month journey for dropping off and picking up. I wish like crazy thee as something like that out here, but there just isn't. Sometimes I think I should just go back to paper, but in my heart I really don't want to.

I hope the most recent cat looks like he is going in for the lean and not raising his tail to mate. The first chicken cup I did I looked at it after it was done, and thought if that was a real chicken it would poop in the cup. So the next one I made sure I turned it around. YOu still want to make sure it doesn't poke someone in the eye if they actually try to drink out of it, and I hope the cat is on there so good it would take more than a good knock to break it. I had it lean away from the face of a human if they were taking a sip. I watch ressie much closer now. IT is harder to tell from SAncho because he is so much hair, but REssie does that with his tail when he first stands up, an is about to lean in and be affectionate. SO that was the tought behind it. CAnt put much more detail in a face that tiny. I tried once to get eyes and all in there on the first lucy cup but making an eye the size of the head of a pin, or smaller is awful hard.

I've always loved your work.
Sorry one got stolen. That's so sad.

Smike you are INSANELY talented. I love love love seeing your work! Someday I really want to buy one of your pieces.

okey dokey I know I am not talking to myself.

I have a fresh hundred pounds of that lovely lovely b mix and dark brown stoneware so I am all back in business. It was a road trip, but I should have enough to keep me in stock until late spring anyway.

work small helps with that even if it is harder.

So back to the tea set grind stone. I am going to do this thing one way or the other. At least second time round is almost always better and faster> Cross your fingers for me it won't require a third. I am not a fast learner, but at least there is something to be said for steady.

My most favorite quote ever I saw hammered into a metal fireplace cover is "the life so short, the craft so long to learn". AT least I know I am not alone in that. You see some of these young people that are so good, so early, and you doubt yourself. I lost a lot of time when I should have been practicing like a work horse raising my children and working where good insurance would take care of special needs. I am no where near whee I want to be. When I go to the American Royal I stand in front of a sculpture of two mules and think if only I could do this. It's my dream. I could die happy if I could make something so expressive, full of so much life. I have a long long way to go.

I want to own a piece of your work, but I just don't think it would survive a journey to wales

Smike do you have a website or any compilation of your work?

For now, I do donations, and if anyone wants to trade me a bag of dog food or cat food, I am good with that. I am hoping that if I can, I would like to put together a good collection for a gallery. That's my goal anyway. I don't have a website, or advertise, or put a money value on what takes far too long o ever think profit. Honestly if your doing my kind of art and think it's going to support you, your approaching it from the wrong direction. AT the very best, it is being allowed to practice. My memberhship dues are due at the guild so if anyone thee would like to pay for it, I would hand them a really good piece or pieces of their choice. IT's too random, I am no good at receipts, or keeping track or promoting. All I really undersand is making, so that I focus on. I do try once a year to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to someone that has helped Hyia and me along the way.

As to shipping, there are ways. IF you use that foam that is to go around pipes to seal them, a box, and plastic sheeting, you can encase the whole business so well it can make it just about anywhere. That is if it can cross the border. I have had that problem twice. SAje's rabbit hopped to Canada two or three times I forget. THe last time I put 0 worth, and it was finally able to hop home. Spain was tricky I gues they inspected the package which contained one pencil drawing, and damaged the paper putting it back in. I have counted up, India, Ireland, half of the United STates, Germany, be it ever so humble a piece, something I made is there. I forget a lot that I made until I go over somewhere and see it and think oh yeah. I did do that, forgot all about it.

I have health issues, some pretty big ones that I could never ever afford to cover without help. I am not ashamed of it, there are a lot of people right where I am, but I can still be of some value to the planet. And, my son told me last night, that he reall loves my work, and I know he is proud of me. I Told him it's good thing because it's about all I have to leave him. Certainly isn't going to be the ranch, stocks, or even a cabin somewhere. He said that doesnt' matter. HE's a good man.

If the bottom drops out for me, I would like to think I have enough soon to approach a gallery, and that might give me just enough of a safety net to not be homeless. Maybe yes, and maybe no, but it's all I knw to do. So I make it, store it, and hope my skill level improves. A little faster would be nice.
Ignorance is Bliss a tribute to Monsanto and bees and Nuclear spills and gooey starfish. The more you learn the more you wish you never knew.

That was what I was thinking for this one.
I will post these after they fire, they should look significantly different

My view on Monsanto and bees and Nuclear spills and gooey starfish. The more you learn the more you wish you never knew.
Stone ware, porcelain, mason stain, and eventually glaze for teh inside and iron oxide for the out.

My friend Cindy has more of my work than anybody I know. She will come pick something out if she needs a gift, then give me a ride to the clay supply store and stock me up. If it wasn't' for her, a whole lot would not be happening at all.