Jon-Erich Presents: Tales From The Studio

Monday, July 24, 2017

2017 Progress Report: May-Part 1

The first half of May was probably my busiest work period throughout the year. The show was right around the corner and there was still so much left to do. Some of the work couldn't be ready in time for the show, but most of it was. After the show, the second half of May was much more calm. Serious work wouldn't resume again until early June.

Even though most of the work was done in early May, so many pictures were taken that just like the April Reports, May will also need to be divided into more than one post. There are a lot of pictures here to look at. Take a look at all of them, ask questions or leave comments and share. Thank you.

5/1/17: The second layer of pumice gel is done.

5/2/17: The pit firings are done. They turned out darker than I was hoping they would, but there's still a lot going on here. They're still interesting, so I won't redo them. I like them the way they are.

5/2/17: The first layer of pumice gel has been applied. I'm really liking how this piece is turning out so far.

5/2/17: I attempted the first layer of pumice gel, but I ran out of the stuff which really sucks. This was not the time to run low on supplies. I immediately ordered more.

5/2/17: I decided to used Fiber Paste as the texture for this piece. Even though most of the piece is covered with it, I'm still going to need to apply more of it later.

5/2/17: I did polishing work on this. It looks much better.

5/3/17: I glued on some foam board to give me a flat space for a name label.

5/3/17: I finally managed to get some more drawing done on this piece. I should have had this finished a while ago.

Molding Paste has finally been applied to the back of this piece, though it will need more.

5/5/17: The second layer of Pumice Gel has been applied.

5/5/17: The second layer is done.

5/5/17: I made a name label.

5/5/17: Some touching up was done around the name label.

5/6/17: More touching up was done, this time with the pumice gel. I did this in order to give the piece a better sense of consistency.

5/6/17: The second layer is done.

5/6/17: The first layer is finally done.

5/6/17: More Fiber Paste work was done.

5/6/17: A name label was finally put in place.

5/6/17: Touch up work was done around the name label using light molding paste.

5/6/17: Touch up work was done around the name label using molding paste.

Sunday, July 16, 2017

The Weekly Report: 7/9-7/15

Quite a few things happened this week. I continued organizing my button inventory, something that is going painfully slow. With my ceramics, I did some burnishing, a saggar firing, and constructed three new pieces. I also managed to sell a button on Etsy, something that doesn't happen quite enough. Next week may not be quite as busy as this week, but who knows.

7/11: Most of what I achieved during this week happened on this day. Someone bought a button from me on Etsy. I created the shipping label and prepared everything. The button was shipped roughly 12 hours after the order took place. After I took care of the button order (but long before I went to the post office), I took sometime to organize my button inventory. I'm getting closer to completing the first step, which is getting everything in the correct sized baggies, then doing the proper number of pressings for everything that I currently have prints for. Step 2, which I'll get into some other time will take much longer. After arriving at the college, I took several ceramic pieces I made and had them fired at a low temperature. At least two of the pieces are meant to be saggar pieces for the next day. I also did some burnishing work on one piece that is further behind than the others.

7/12: On this day, I made preparations for the saggar firing and then completed the saggar firing. Both pieces turned out great. While waiting for the firing to get done, I prepared three more ceramic pieces that I made with the intention of selling in the future. The basic construction is done, though the burnishing probably won't be done for another 2 weeks.

That's pretty much it. Unfortunately, I only spent 2 days out of the week doing anything that was worth mentioning. Still, it was a lot within that short period of time. I'll hopefully have more to share soon. If you liked this post, feel free to comment or share. Thanks.

Friday, June 30, 2017

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.

Thursday, June 22, 2017

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.