The Weekly Report: 6/18-6/24

The Weekly report is back! And a little late! Anyway, my workflow started increasing enough again to justify the weekly report posts. Throughout June, I've been slowly working on some reproductions of ceramic pieces that I made last year with the intention of selling them. I have also resumed work on pressing and managing my button collection. I would rather be selling them so I won't so much to organize, but I guess we can't always get what we want. Anyway, here's the breakdown with what was going on.

6/20: I worked on one of my clay projects. It is a recreation of a piece I did last year called Creation. I was also doing some finalized touchup work on some of the other pieces I had done in previous weeks.

6/21: I worked on the next egg-shaped piece based on Creation. During this time, I also left out some older egg projects so they could dry enough to let me do some burnishing work the following week. Since I can only work on this stuff two days a week, I to wrap up the work again so it wouldn't dry too much before burnishing.

6/24: I did further work with organizing my buttons and doing some new pressings. I had actually neglected this for several weeks. I probably did about 2 hours worth of work.

As the weeks go on, the weekly reports will get more interesting. The next weekly report should be coming much sooner. I also hope to have the Part 1 of the May 2017 Progress Report up within a week or so. Until then, take care and please share this post as much as you can. Eery view helps me out. Thanks.

2017 Progress Report: April-Part 4

This week focused on three specific tasks. First, the work on the backs of the ceramic wall pieces continued. Second, the saggar piece was polished. Third, after some neglect, the mixed media pieces have started to receive some more attention. A total of nine pieces were being worked on throughout the week. While I a lot of progress was made, I still a lot left to be done.

This is the final part of the April 2017 Progress Report. I hope to have the May posts up soon. My only problem is I'm not sure what to do with it yet. There are a lot of pictures, but those pictures take up less than the month of May. I'm not sure if May will take up two posts, four, or how they'll be divided. I'll hopefully figure that out soon.

As always, feel free to leave comments and share this post if you liked what you saw here.

4/25/17: I started the molding paste work. The bad thing about it is the amount of weight it added to an otherwise light piece.

4/25/17: A lot of molding paste was needed for this piece.

4/25/17: The wood pieces for hooks and the label area is in place.

4/25/17: Placing the wood pieces and label area was tricky. It seems to work though.

4/25/17: The wood pieces and label area is in place. A lot of hot glue was needed to make everything  stay in place.

4/25/17: Some canvas work was done and a little bit of molding paste was used on the sides in order to add some consistency and fix a flaw that was left behind during the wet work process. 

4/25/17: Canvas work was done. I had to be careful and make sure I didn't use too much of it. I didn't want any of it to e seen from the front.

4/25/17: Canvas work was done. Molding paste was added to the wings in order to fix some flaws that were made during the piece's initial development.

4/26/17: The polishing work is done. This piece is looking much better than it did the previous week.

4/26/17: Additional molding paste work was needed.

4/26/17: Additional molding paste was also needed on this piece.

4/26/17: A little bit of gesso work was needed.

4/26/17: A little bit of gesso work was needed.

4/26/17: Like the others, gesso work was also needed here.

4/26/17: Some more drawing was done this week.

4/28/17: The first layer of coarse pumice gel on the back is done.

4/28/17: The first layer on the back is done.

4/30/17: The second layer is done.

2017 Progress Report: April-Part 3

A lot happened during this week. I unwrapped a piece from a sagger firing the previous week. Three more raku firings were done. The backs of several ceramic was pieces were being worked on. A little bit of drawing was done as well. Even though a lot of work was done this week, April still isn't over there is still another whole week of the month left. Hopefully, Part 4 will be posted soon and we'll be able to finally put April to rest and move on to May. Until then, enjoy the pictures and leave a comment or share this post with anyone who might find this stuff interesting.

4/18/17: Since I can only be at the college two days a week, I had to wait nearly a week to open this. I like the way it turned out, so it will not have to be re-fired. Now I have to move on to cleaning and polishing.

4/18/17: There are thee glazes being used. I tried using different glazes on the edges  instead of doing everything by layers., although there is some overlapping.

4/18/17: I tried to be careful here. I didn't want to use so much glaze that it would  cover the texture, yet I also didn't want to use too little because the it would have to be re-fired. 

4/18/17: This was a little tricky to glaze because of all the curves and uneven surfaces.

4/18/17: The two square pieces are for the hanging hooks. The rectangular piece  is supposed to balance the ceramic piece on the wall.

4/18/17: This is a little tricky. The foam piece is supposed to be what properly balances the ceramic piece on the wall. With this one, it ended up not working too well, though I wouldn't find out until later. Looking bacon it, the foam piece should have been lowered.

4/18/17: Molding paste is being used to cover up the wood. At the bottom, the molding paste is being used to make the bottom stick out so when this piece eventually go on the wall, the top and bottom will be even.

4/19/17: Some additional work was done. With molding paste, it is sometimes easier to let something dry overnight and then add on to it the next day.

4/19/17: Canvas was added and gessoed. I warned from last year not to simply cover the wood with molding paste. This adds strength.

4/19/17: Canvas was added and gessoed. A lot of molding paste work will have to be done here.

4/19/17: The firing turned out okay. I like the colors, but there is some inconsistency. Some areas look glossy while other areas do not. I can fix this without firing it again by using polymer gloss. That's a trick I picked up on a while back.

4/19/17: The firing for this piece turned out perfectly.

4/19/17: The piece turned out okay for the most part, but it also had problems with inconsistencies. I can fix it later.

4/19/17: I did some more drawing. The drawing is in it's ugly phase right now. I made the mistake of not  smearing the charcoal enough. I'll have to fix this later.

2017 Progress Report: April-Part 2

Part 1 focused mostly my mixed media work. This week focuses primarily on my ceramic work, though I did continue my mixed media work as well. If I counted correctly, 11 projects were being worked on in such a short period of time. Raku firings also took place during this time. Despite getting as much done as I did, I wasn't even close to being ready for the upcoming show in May.

Part 3 should be even more interesting than Part 2. That post should be coming soon. If you liked what you saw here, let me know and feel free to share this post with anyone who might be interested.

4/11/17: The bisque firing was successful.

4/11/17: This bisque firing was also a success.

4/11/17: It took a while to finally getting around to doing it, but the low temp bisque firing for this pieces is finally done.

4/11/17: This is also one of four pieces that were fired at a lower temperature. Three of them will end up  as pit firings while one of them will be a saggar piece.

4/11/17: This is the third future piece for the pit firing that came from the low temp bisque firing.

4/11/17: This is the only saggar piece that I'll have for the upcoming show

4/11/17: This piece is glazed will be ready for a raku firing the following day.

4/11/17: This will be the second raku firing done this week.

4/11/17: I got around to doing the canvas work this week.

4/11/17: Canvas work on the back is also complete.

4/11/17: Canvas work on my other mixed media piece is done.

4/11/17: Canvas work on the back is done.

4/12/17: I used a single coat of ferric chloride.

4/12/17: This also has a single coat of ferric chloride.

4/12/17: Like the others, this also uses a single coat of ferric chloride.

Unlike the others, this will use three coats of ferric chloride. Since the will be a saggar piece, I'm also using horse hair, copper wire, and sugar.

4/12/17: This has been wrapped up in two layers of aluminum foil. The effects of that will be seen when the saggar firing is done.

4/12/17: The gesso work on the front is done.

4/12/17: The gesso work on the back is done.

4/12/17: The gesso work on the front is done.

4/12/17: The gesso work on the back is done.

4/12/17: The drawing is starting to take shape.

4/12/17: The raku firing is done, but still needs some work.

4/12/17: The raku firing is done and luckily, it will not need as much work done a s the other piece.