Owner: Colorado Art Studio URL:http://coloradoartstudio.com/blog Join Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 20:58:47 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: A blog that chronicles the work and business of being a ceramic artist. Site statistics:Click here
P is for Patience... 2007-05-16 14:46:00 Top of Cake Platter, porcelain clay, colored slip, sgraffitoBottom of Cake Platter, this is approximately 12" in diameter x 6" highMugs - Still GreenIs it Wednesday already?? I had meant to post yesterday, but our torrential downpour Monday night prevented me from photographing some of my new work. So, I had to postpone my "photoshoot" till last evening.Back to the title of this post. Now, I don't want to have a pity party for myself or anything, but I have been learning or maybe re-acquainting myself with the nuances of working with clay in the past few months. She's a demanding mistress and will not be rushed. But, if one waits too long, then the opportunity to manipulate the medium quickly disappears. How am I learning this lesson? The cake platter above, is one that I threw Sunday, May 6th, and it's only been ready to handle in the past couple of days. I had already trimmed the piece, but I'm drying it very slowly. I don't want it to warp or crack at any stage of the
Happy Mother's Day! 2007-05-13 16:07:00 Drawing by J.G. age 9, watercolor crayons on 140lb. cotton rag paperHappy
Mother's Day to all the moms out there! Sometimes the best art works are the drawings/painting/sculptures made by children. I have stacks and stacks of my daughter's work, including the drawing above, that I'll treasure and keep forever.Have a good week everyone!Oh ya, I almost forgot, I was tagged by Lynette Clay and Dinahmow, with the same meme, so if you don't mind, I hope my answers will satisfy both tags. I'm not sure if I can come up with 7 things about me that you might not know...but I'll try.I just completed substitute teacher orientation with Denver Public Schools on Thursday.I'm a little nervous to complete my first sub assignment. I signed up to sub for all of the elementary schools in a 2 mile radius from my home and for art sub jobs k-12 district wide.Despite being able to sleep till noon when I was younger, I can no longer sleep past 6:30am on any given day.My favorite adult beverage is Read more:Happy Mother
The Zen of Ceramics?? 2007-05-11 15:26:00 2 pots destined for a raku fire in a couple of weeks - still green. One of the cool things about Denver, is that we have a local dairy that actually delivers milk to our doorstep once a week, the pots are sitting on our delivery box.Gee what a busy week it's been! The end of school is nearing for my daughter and it seems as if the social calendar has picked up 10 fold. I guess that's a good thing, but...breathe....Cynthia, breathe. In between these bursts of activity, I'm trying to fit in a little clay work here and there. If you read any ceramic magazines or talk to any people who work with clay, one often hears talk of how clay "centers" the artist. Just do a google search for zen and clay...you'll see all sorts of references.So, where am I going with this?? I was thinking of this concept the other day when I was throwing some mugs on the wheel. I was talking to my clay whispering "center, center, center" - it's quite a site, if you happened into my studio in one of my t Read more:Zen
My Latest Music Obsession - Johnny Cash 2007-05-09 15:10:00 It's sort of funny how music can strike a chord (pun intended) at certain times of our lives and not others. I've heard Johnny
Cash's, music before - I mean who hasn't? I would listen and definitely recognized the music as his, but never liked the music enough to go out to buy any of his albums. Recently, something about his music and song writing has clicked with me and I've been listening to The Legend of Johnny Cash
in my studio while I work nearly every day this week. I don't seem to tire of listening to the album. One of the songs on the album is his rendition of Hurt by Nine Inch Nails, not exactly the same musical genre. When I first heard Johnny singing the song, I thought to myself, where have I heard this song before. I just wasn't putting NIN and Johnny Cash together. Anyway, I guess I'm grooving to his sense of humor and storytelling. Meanwhile in the studio, I don't have much to show and tell. A moment of panic set in yesterday as I was attaching handles Read more:Music
, Obsession
Misc. Eye Candy...and Cake Platter Again 2007-05-07 03:09:00 Handbuilt plate with accent glazeNotice the ruler - this time the plate should be large enough at about 11.5" in diameterIt's been a lazy weekend around Denver, mainly because it's been raining on and off and all I want to do is take a nap.I did manage to get out into the studio today and weighed out 5 pounds of clay to attempt another cake platter. It sort of boggles my mind that a plate requires that much clay. But, after you take into account 10-15% shrinkage, trimming etc. I guess that's about right. I probably could have used 6 lbs, but I just didn't want to waste too much clay since this won't have a foot like a normal plate would.I need to let these set up a little bit so that I can assemble it tomorrow. Though, I am tempted to fire them separately and attach the pieces after firing. At this size, I worry about warping during the glaze fire. While I was out in the studio, I threw some more mugs. My goal for the Summer Art Market is to have at least 20 mugs. I have a Read more:Candy
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WIP and Trashball Art 2007-05-04 15:17:00 Carved raised bowl side view - 9" wide x 6" tallTop ViewBefore carvingBefore CarvingA wonderful reader asked me if I could make a custom raised cake platter a couple of weeks ago and I thought, why not give it a shot. It's basically a plate on top of a pedestal, right? Well, it's turned into a good challenge for me. The photos above are my first attempt at making one and like many things, it didn't turn out the way I envisioned; but I have learned something from the process.It's way too small for a 8-9" cake. The problem? I only used 3.5 lbs of clay to throw the plate. If I use 6 pounds, almost double, I think that will do the trick. So, today, I'm going to give it another whirl times deux. This forlorn raised pot has been sitting in my studio all wrapped up in plastic (so that it would remain wet enough to still work), waiting for me to decide what the hell to do to it. Yesterday, I had a couple of hours to kill and I thought to myself - carve it up girl. And, that's j
A few new pieces out of the kiln and My Space 2007-05-02 15:13:00 Wow, that sure was refreshing writing about someone else's art work on Sunday! So, here I sit, with less than 10 minutes to compose a post before I need to start the day. Can I do it? I'm not sure, I always end up saying much more than I want to.So, how about a little bit of show and tell instead? I had tried to use a mocha diffusion technique of decorating some pots a few weeks ago. Basically it's an acidic colored slip that is applied to wet slip. It is suppose to form beautiful dendritic patterns on the surface.The recipe calls for tobacco, and I tried to get around that by making a concoction of apple cider vinegar and manganese dioxide. I failed miserably. Well, I shouldn't say that. I don't hate the pots that I made using my recipe; they just didn't turn out the way I thought they would.I found a new recipe which calls for water, vinegar, manganese dioxide and 1 king size cigarette. So, against every grain in my body, I purchased a pack of cigarettes at the gas st Read more:pieces
, Space
Featuring Paula Manning-Lewis 2007-04-29 23:07:00 Enough about me already. A month or so ago, a blogging friend and fellow artist featured me on her blog and I was very flattered. I thought it would only be fitting if I returned the favor. So here she is PaulaManning
-Lewis
:I know you are a painter based on the art work on your blog and website. What kind of paint do you use and do you use any other mediums? Currently, I use Watersoluble Oils and acrylics. The H2O oils (as I like to call them) I use for painting on canvas and matboard and the acrylics I use for painting on guitars, furniture and wood. When I started painting, I used watercolors exclusively, so I've always enjoyed the consistency. The switch to H2O oils was necessary with my abstract work so I can layer my designs without washing out the bottom layers. Also, I tried working in regular oils for about a year, but I had to stop because they were making me physically ill. I'm allergic to everything, so I guess I was particularly sensitive to the solvents, etc.I just
And the winner is....(drumroll please) 2007-04-28 15:48:00 Happy Birthday to my 1 year old blog. Wow, I've sure come along way baby! I hopped on the blog bandwagon or should that read "blog bandwidth" last year in 2006. I wasn't quite sure what to write about or how to start, but after reading plenty of buzz about blogs on Wetcanvas, I just knew that I HAD to have one. I originally set one up on MSN Spaces, which was horrible and then after visiting multiple blogs, decided that Blogger is a better platform for mine. After being completely frustrated at my lack of computer technology, I took HTML classes online, figured out new widgets and how to navigate the whozits and wazzits. Before this, I could basically surf the net. It's exciting now: people email me for how to information. I never could have imagined that happening. Before I forget, I would like to thank everyone who is currently linked to me!As to wondering what I could possibly have to say week in and week out, I have the problem of having too much to say. Compare my 1st Read more:winner
New Bisque Work Fresh From the Kiln & Blogaversary Give-away 2007-04-25 17:02:00 I just love the top view of this one.Yesterday was a dreary day in the Denver metro region. We received about 2" of rain in less than a 24 hour period. While I'm not complaining about the moisture because Colorado sure can use it to replensish the aquifers, I was happy to wake up to clearing skies this morning. I celebrated by unloading my kiln full of new bisqued porcelain pots and by taking my dog outside on a nice long walk this morning.I did spend the rainy day yesterday in the perfect place. I chaperoned a field trip to the Denver Art Museum. I'm embarrassed to say that this was my first visit since the new Daniel Libeskind addition was opened. I need to go back by myself because I missed so much in my efforts to stop the 8 & 9 year olds in my charge from setting the alarms off. In fact, one very wise security guard became our personal detail whilst in the RADAR Exhibition - Selections from the Collection of Vicki & Kent Logan. It was a pretty intense grouping of art fro
Good News! 2007-04-23 04:51:00 I found out last week that I have booth space at the Summer Art Market in June. This is good news, because the Art Student's League receives way more applications than they have space. I'll be sharing a booth with Mary Cay and Kathleen Laurie both ceramic artists living here on the Front Range. The event takes place Saturday June 9th and Sunday June 10th in Denver if you happen to be in town. Of course I'll repost this info closer to the event.I did a little more sgraffito work in the studio on Saturday. I really like how this turned out and plan on making more sets like this. I didn't plan for this to happen, but these bowls stack very nicely. One is just slightly smaller than the other. Speaking of sgraffito, I have a request to craft a special order for one of my readers. I am going to be making a custom sgraffito footed cake platter. Stay tuned for images. The colored slip on these bowls is a French green, which hovers between blue and green. The gold color you see Read more:Good News
"Throwing off the hump" 2007-04-21 15:09:00 In my comments yesterday, I wrote how clay speak is sort of bizarre and cryptic. Since I had already written about the "slump" mold, I decided that I would demonstrate "throwing off the hump". Sound like an odd ritual or maybe some sort of offbeat sport? It's actually an easy way to throw multiples of the same form from one piece of centered clay on a pottery wheel. So, it saves some time and it's much easier to handle 2+ pounds of clay than a 1/3 lb.In this case I decided to throw some more spoon rests. Before I began to throw, I decided what size I wanted to make them - roughly 4" across and 1" tall. Choose an amount of clay that you can comfortable manage. I wasn't quite sure how many spoon rests I would get out of 2.5 pounds before I began, but now I know that I can get about 6-7 from this amount. I'll add this to my studio journal for future reference.Meanwhile, I did something yesterday that I've wanted to do for quite some time... I'll share a photo in my next pos
In A Slump 2007-04-19 18:52:00 Slump MoldLeather hard platter removed from slump mold with colored slip - I will be adding a sgraffito design later today.I'm in a slump, not figuratively but literally. Before you start to feel sorry for me, read on.... I turned 41 in March and my father in law mentioned that he wanted to make something for me and my new ceramic studio. He thought it would be more meaningful and useful than something store bought. Boy, was he right. I had read an article in Pottery Making Illustrated, (or was it Clay Times?) where the artist had made a slump mold out of plywood. I asked my husband if he would make one or two for me and he said sure, but in my mind, I knew it might be several months before I saw one.So, when my father in law offered to make something for my birthday, I immediately envisioned an assortment of wood slump molds. I sketched out the shape on the all weather plywood and he cut out the shapes with a jig saw and then sanded the edges. Yesterday, I decided to try it o Read more:Slump
Cone 6 Triaxial Glaze Test 2007-04-15 19:36:00 While it may look like I'm getting ready to bowl with my ceramic materials, I haven't quite lost my mind yet! With the help from my friend and ceramic's mentor, Mary Cay, I performed a more complicated glaze test this past week. It's called a "Triaxial Blend" and I used Robin Hopper's text, The Ceramic Spectrum (page 96) as a guide.The idea behind the testing is that you get 21 different variations on 3 base glazes which opens up quite a new world of color development to the ceramic artist. It was a pretty cool experiment. For base glaze "A" I used a Val Cushing cone 6 glaze, VC Satin White Liner, pg. 130. For base glaze "B" I used another Val Cushing cone 6 glaze, D base pg. 123 and added copper carb at 3% and cobalt carb at 1%. For base glaze "C" I used Denton 6, pg. 282 from the Electric Kiln Ceramics Book and added copper carb at 2.5%. There's a few keepers, but I'll need to look at them a little more closely in the next week.Meanwhile back in the real world, my Epso Read more:Glaze
Slab Built Platter and More Porcelain Pendants 2007-04-14 00:41:00 Before carving and after glaze firing in an electric kiln, porcelain, colored slips, clear glaze, 9.5" x 14.25" x .25"New glazed porcelain pendantsIt's been another productive week in "Cindy Loo Hoo Land" and the adventures of making ceramic work in a cold garage studio. Lucky for me, Denver was spared the massive spring snow storm that was predicted. Hopefully, from this day forward, we can enjoy warm spring days and warm garages.The top image is a porcelain platter that I made by rolling out porcelain clay in the slab roller at the Art Student's League of Denver. I applied a colored slip to the clay while it was still green, painted on my design with shellac and then sgraffitoed away. I'm not sure if that's the proper past tense spelling of sgraffito or not, so bare with me. After bisque firing and then glaze firing with a clear cone 6 glaze, the colored slip is a soft celery green color. I will try to photograph this again in the near future, because I had a hard time capt Read more:Platter
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New Surface Decoration Technique 2007-04-12 15:32:00 Greenware, porcelain with colored slip and black stain, 7" x 6"Greenware, porcelain with colored slip and black stain, 9.5" x 4"I was a busy bee at the Art Student's League of Denver yesterday. That is where you will find me most Wednesdays until it's time to pick up my daughter from school. I brought all my bisque that I had fired at home this past weekend to the league to glaze fire, since I haven't made any bucket glazes at home yet. I'm trying to decide on a palette. As you have probably noticed, I tend to favor cool colors such as watery blues, aquas, whites etc. Could it be my Pisces nature showing through?The 2 vases above were an attempt at a technique called Mocha Diffusion. Lest you think I was hyped up on a double caf non fat mocha latte while making ceramic ware, let me quell your confusion. Mocha diffusion is a technique where an acidic stain is applied to wet slip. Where the acidic stain and alkaline clay collide, the stain forms a dendritic pattern much like Read more:Decoration
My first pendant glaze firing... 2007-04-10 23:51:00 Looking inside the peephole into the kilnPlate-o-pendantsI was pretty dang (I say "dang" because this is the expletive my daughter often uses when excited) excited when I opened my mini Aim kiln this morning. My friend Mary Cay had given me some old glazes and underglazes a few weeks ago. Many of them needed to be reconstitued with a bit of water, and I decided what the heck...let's give them a whirl on some of my pendants that I had bisqued last week. 2 of the glazes I tried were low fire crystal glazes and one was a low fire glossy apple green.I think they turned out pretty well! So well, that I went and purchased some other crystal glazes at Mile Hi Ceramics today. While I plan to make most of my own glazes, these are pretty handy for small sized items and they fire to cone 06 (roughly 1880 degrees F) which uses a little less power than at cone 6 (around 2230 degrees F). Now, I just need some findings to begin listing them on Etsy in the near future. That and figuring out ho Read more:firing
Garage Studio Progress and Found Items 2007-04-07 19:52:00 Found SketchI made the huge push yesterday to clear out my basement studio of all of my art supplies, books and furniture. It felt like a gargantuan task and at times I was overwhelmed with how much stuff I have accumulated over the years. In those moments, I would sit down, catch my breath and wonder how this happened. The other question floating around in my head was how did I cram so much stuff into a roughly 10' x 13' space??? To read more ruminations about stuff, check out Andrea's blog...take a look at her art while you're visiting too.In my quest to make sense of my stuff and to organize my items sensibly for future use, I went through everything very methodically so that I could box drawing supplies with similar items, etc. I also found some things that have been MIA for some time including this sketch which I drew using a great Japanese ink brush pen (that I also happened to find BTW) on heavy weight paper back in '03 or '04. This eventually became a lino cut which Read more:Garage
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Listing on Etsy again... 2007-04-05 19:52:00 Celadon Glazed Stoneware Plate with Dip BowlI was at the Art Student's League all day yesterday making new work. I threw 6 forms on the wheel including a plate which I hadn't done in at least a year. I'm pretty happy with the results too. I also brought home a 16" x 24" slab of clay that I rolled out at the league to make some more slumped pieces. The plate you see above is one that I made from a slab with a small bowl which was thrown on the wheel "off the hump". Sushi anyone?? All the spoon rests that I threw off the hump a couple of weeks ago just came out of the glaze firing and I'm going to start listing those on Etsy tomorrow, if not today, depending on time. Here's an example of one of them below. My sister in law just popped in and and asked what I was up to. She came by right in the middle of my photo shoot for my new work and my subsequent resizing in Photoshop. I mentioned that "making the art is just a fraction of what goes into being an artist". She thought
Beginning, Middle and End 2007-04-04 04:16:00 Cone 6 glazed stonewareThe cylinder above and the one below were part of a 4 part exercise to play around with different surface decorations on thrown forms. Both techniques are similar in that I carved away a design from the clay when it was still green (unfired). The difference is that the one below used a colored slip on the surface. I colored slip with copper carbonate and a little rutile to get the light green color on the raised portions of the cylinder.Cone 6 glazed stoneware with colored slipSo where do I go from here? I like both the techniques and am incorporating colored slip and carving in my new work. 2 of the other techniques that I'm trying are a cold surface technique using my Shiva Paintsticks and other 2d materials. It also means that the surface decoration will be done after the piece is bisqued, and will never be glaze fired. It will render the piece non-functional since it won't be able to withstand much handling which has its place in ceramics. Finally,
New Porcelain Slab Built Ware 2007-04-02 00:42:00 All of this work was built from porcelain clay that was flattened using a slab roller. It is all green and has not yet been bisque fired.Just a super quick post this lovely Sunday afternoon. Ceramic production has been slower than I would like, but I am making huge gains in making the garage studio become a reality. I have moved furniture around our house and have begun boxing up all of my 2-D art supplies that are currently in my basement studio and will begin the process of dragging them to the garage.Our TV room has become a 3rd bedroom, which my in-laws will love when they come out this next week. We have been making them sleep on a futon in the TV room for the past year and a half whenever they visit. Having an actual bed will hopefully be a pleasant surprise for them. With that accomplished, we were able to move the bedroom set that was stored in the garage into the house, thus freeing space for my studio. My current basement studio is going to become the TV room. The onl Read more:Built
, Porcelain
Cone 6 Glaze Test Tiles and Keywords/Search Engine Optimization 2007-03-29 16:34:00 Glaze Tests March 21, 2007The "keepers" in my opinionGee, is it really Thursday already, because it feels like the week is just flying by! Here in Colorado, we have been enjoying warm spring days for the past few weeks; that was until Mother Nature decided to remind us that she's still in charge. We woke up to about 4 inches of snow in the Denver metro area this morning. I really can't complain because come summer we'll be crying for moisture.My goal for my blog is to post every 2-3 days, and this week I let 4 days stretch between posts.... Not my intention, but what can you do? I could backdate my post to make it look like I posted yesterday, but I won't. It's not like I don't have anything to say either. I have a blog post saved as a draft with future blog topics all ready to go.Anyway, let me get back on topic. I wanted to share my glaze test tiles that came out of the kiln last week. I had tested a high calcium semi-matte base glaze recipe from Mastering Cone 6 Glazes Read more:Glaze
, Tiles
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, Optimization
, Search Engine
, Search Engine Optimization
Studio Progress 2007-03-27 03:11:00 My creative corner studio in the garageIt has been a productive past few days around the Guajardo household! Inspired by Pinky's home renovations, we have begun painting the trim in our home, clearing out the garage and general sprucing up of the homestead. After remodeling our house 1 1/2 years ago, we basically moved in and have been living with all sorts of unfinished projects. We sort of turned a blind eye to it all, until I said, "enough is enough!" We have to finish it, I feel like there's something that still needs to be done every single day of the year and after the feng shui seminar, it's just plain bad energy.In addition to painting the trim we have begun the process of cleaning the garage in anticipation of my studio conversion. I'm working in there, but it's not pretty. Functional, but not pretty. I can already picture the crisp white walls and light streaming in from the new windows...bits of inspriation and eye candy hung on the walls. Back to reality, we po Read more:Studio
New work fresh out of the kiln! 2007-03-24 18:10:00 Here's new work fresh
ly glaze fired at the Art Student's League of Denver that I picked up this past Wednesday. These pieces were fired to cone 6 in oxidation, ie., approximately 2230 degrees F in an electric kiln. I love the celadon glaze that we have mixed up at the ASL - it's a beautiful cool, translucent light aqua color; however, on this stoneware clay body I give it a B-. Mile Hi Ceramics in Denver has, until recently, been out of the porcelain clay that I normally use so I had opted to try a stoneware called 4010 which fires to a buff color.In my opinion, it's not the best background color for the celadon glaze. The pure white of porcelain would be a better backdrop much like a painter often chooses to use the white of the canvas to highlight the actual color of the paint. Lesson learned, and I'll be adding this to my notebook for future reference in case I'm ever tempted to try this again. It really depends on what the artist is striving for though, so it's all good. I
Craft Vs. Art 2007-05-20 16:30:00 Porcelain Vessel, 11" H x 6" W, handbuilt, wheel thrown and carved - still greenIn an effort to boost the profile of working with clay from craft to fine art, artists will often change the verbiage to assist in that end goal. For example, pottery becomes ceramic art and a pot becomes a vessel to help differentiate the two. Where do I stand on this issue? I think the lines between craft and art are blurring and there's just too much happening in the art world to draw a distinction. Traditional mediums are being stretched and manipulated beyond historical norms. I would like to think that the cream will always rise to the top - and that's true for any medium. There will always be great painters and then there are those who love to paint but just aren't that good at it. Should that stop the challenged but equally passionate painter from making art? Hell no! I feel a tangent coming on that I had better stop dead in its tracks! Think about the words though. I'm looking at gal Read more:Craft
Pot a Day??? 2007-05-18 04:43:00 Okay, so now there's a million "painting a day" blogs since the success of Duane Keiser, Karen Jurick and others. How about a pot a day?? It's probably an equal amount of work spread out over several days. Maybe I could start the process tomorrow and then build on it. It would go like this...make a pot tomorrow, make another pot the next, once first pot is dry enough - work on surface decoration, fire when bone dry, glaze once bisque fired, fire again, display. I could feasibly cylce 1 pot every 7 days or so. Everyday would involve working on one of the pots and it could culminate in a show in a year's time. 365 Days of Pots or maybe just simply 365 as the show title. What do you think?? It would most likely be a great experience since I would grow exponentionally and would be forced to stretch a little. Each pot would be dated, which would serve as its inventory number and title.Meanwhile, I came across the work of ceramic artist, Gretchen Wachs in a 2003 issue of Ceramics
Disappointed... 2007-05-23 07:56:00 Porcelain cake platter, with colored slip and sgraffito designUnderneathI had enough ware to have a glaze fire the other day in my electric kiln. I used one of my new favorite clear ^6 glaze recipes, courtesy of a Lana Wilson. Though it's not on her website. The clear is so easy to make and gives consistent results. It also brushes on quite nicely so that one doesn't have to make a big bucket batch if space is limited. I sieved it 2 times in an 80 mesh sieve before using.Clear ^6 GlazeGerstley Borate50Kaolin20Silica30Totals100I had my glaze fire on Monday, and yesterday morning when I cracked open the kiln to let it continue cooling, I was super excited. I noticed that the cake platter had not warped and was intact. Boy, was I happy! Later in the day, when I unloaded the kiln, I noticed a hairline crack on the interior rim. Sniff, sniff, I was so sad. I'm trying to think how I can avoid this in the future. Maybe, I need to use stoneware instead of porcelain for objects t
Shameless Self Promotion Plug! 2007-05-26 10:17:00 These are but a few the items in my Etsy Shop right now. I'm offering *Free Worldwide Shipping* during Memorial Day weekend, through Monday, May 28th at Midnight!All of the ceramic components are made by me in my studio from porcelain clay that I fire in an electric kiln. It's a multi-day process and takes approximately 7-10 days to complete each piece, from the making, drying, sanding, firing, glazing and then assembling the components.Earrings = $12.00Small Pendants = $18.00Large Pendants = $22.00Have a good weekend everyone & new post on Tuesday morning,Subscribe to Fine Art and More by CMGuajardo Read more:Shameless
An experiment in making a clay sprig 2007-05-25 08:36:00 Porcelain sand dollar and star fish sprig mold and the resultsA couple of months ago, I made a couple of sprig molds of a sand dollar and a little wee starfish. I had found these in Maine and I have them sitting in a little bowl in my bathroom. It's sort of a nice reminder of the few years that we spent living in Portland, ME. Don't worry everyone, they weren't alive when I picked them up on the beach. When I started looking around for some small things from which to make a sprig mold, I remembered my sea shore findings. Sprigs are basically clay additions that can be added to any type of clay form, ie., tiles, thrown forms and handbuilt constructions. Yesterday, I remembered my molds and thought they might make some nice jewelry, so I cast a couple of sand dollars and star fish. Unfortunately, I broke 2 during the photo shoot, when I dropped the camera lens on them. But, the good news, is, I know how to make them.A lot of people use plaster of paris for their molds. I simp Read more:making
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