School Projects

The first of my class projects that I would like to share with you is from a course called Sacred Geometry.  The thing that really stood out to me in this class was the pervasive nature of geometry.  It's concepts and symbolism are everywhere.  Particularly beautiful to me was seeing the geometry in nature.  I am ever amazed at seeing the order and beauty of the Creator's touch.  Nothing is overlooked.  Everything is so carefully and thoughtfully put together.

We completed three projects in this class.  The first two are pencil drawings.  For the last and final project I couldn't resist using clay.

What have I been up to?

Ok, so it has been a long time since I posted anything on here.  I've been busy.  "Doing what?", you may ask.  The answer is, "Going to graduate school!"  So far I have really enjoyed it, but it does seem to gobble up every bit of time that I have.  I have thought about going back to school for an MFA degree for a long time.   This past summer it finally felt like the right time.  My boys don't need me ALL the time and long before I am ready they will go off to college and I will need something to do so I don't go crazy.  The masters degree is a way to expand my options.  I hope to teach at the college level.  I thought I would share a few pieces that were in my application portfolio for the program.

      

                           

One of my pieces is from the pitfire that I posted about earlier.
                                                       

I also included a few cake sculptures....

                           

...and a few drawings.

                                        

Hope you like them.

Etsy Grand Opening

Well folks, I have started the great experiment.  I'm up and running on Etsy.

My shop name was supposed to be Glazed Over Expressions, but it ended up singular due to Etsy's limitations on length.  I have a relatively small selection up right now and hope to add more listings in the coming days. 

Pit Fire

This past February I was able to participate in my first ever pit fire.  Pit fires are so unpredictable.  I think that is part of what makes them so much fun.  Any piece you put in the fire you have to count as a loss.  Anything that comes out successfully is just a treasure from the ashes.

First Digital Kiln Firings

Ok, so I ran a bisque fire and a glaze fire with the digital controller.  It's a success and not...let me explain. 

Let's start with the bisque fire.  I didn't take any pictures.  No problems at all!  The firing went great and it was so much less stressful then firing with a traditional kiln sitter.  One benefit that I discovered which I hadn't even thought of before installation of my new controller, was that I could see the temperature read out as the kiln cooled.  That meant I could easily tell when it was safe to open the kiln.  Happy day!

Digital Kiln Conversion

How many hours have you spent watching to see when that little cone will melt and flip the switch on your kiln?  If you have a manual kiln sitter you know what I'm talking about.  With no indicator to tell you what the temperature is or how far the kiln still has to go, you check it every 5 minutes when you should be working on something else.  It's nerve wracking to say the least.

I hope to solve that problem, and a few others, on my kiln by converting it to a digital controller.  In addition to the actual, real-time feedback of the kiln temperature, I'll be able to program the kiln to increase temperature at a desired rate and hold for a designated period of time.  All this hopefully means better, more efficient firing.  Let's get started.

When I began researching this conversion I, of course, went online to see what information or tutorials I could find.  To be honest, I was disappointed with the lack of information on the subject.  Isn't everything supposed to be on the internet by now?   Maybe most people just upgrade their whole kiln.  That wasn't in my budget.  I bought a digital controller made by Olympic that is designed to replace the old kiln sitter.

Here is my lovely kiln before the conversion.  See the little gray box of the kiln sitter? That's what will be replaced. Well, sort of. you'll see.

Baby It's Cold Outside

Isn't the southeast supposed to be known for mild winters and almost tropical summers?  Sure could have fooled me this week.  School has been cancelled and the boys have been sledding!  You heard right, sledding!

I've had to bring my drying greenware into the house to keep it from freezing.  Have I mentioned that I'm ready for spring?

Stay warm out there folks,

Kerri