Finally Filling Up the Studio

Well,  I have been busy and with 2 weeks to go I am finally filling up the studio.  I do have to glaze it all unfortunately.

The tunnel kiln is shut down until after thanksgiving, so I will try to have some of this ready then.  I do have a small wall set up with fired work, but have to work on it some more.  Elyse has come to help me in the studio and has given me hope that I can get it all done.

Elyse in the Studio!

The pieces are pretty rough and I decided that they should remain that way.  Ironically, the glaze really covers them and smooths the roughness, sort of like snow obscuring the hard sections of the landscape.  It is pretty liberating to leave in the mold lines and imperfections.  I love the cartoonish branches.

 These arrangements really remind me of taxidermy dioramas from local nature centers.  If you ever wonder what is inside these nature centers, it is taxidermy of all kinds. Driving from Sheboygan to De Pere twice a week and then sometimes to Appleton, seems to have influenced this work.  The landscape changing to fall and then winter seems to have sunk in.

Whenever I feel like I'm filling the space, I just have to look at this picture of Sunkoo laying out all his tiles before packing.  He has filled 8 crates!

Well,  I'm off to Appleton tomorrow after finishing up a few things.  Happy Thanksgiving.

First big molds and casting

Finished up the rabbit mold on Tuesday.  Here are some shots of the process.  A very long process.  I do start to run out of patience and energy at the end.

2 sides poured.

ready for sides 3 and 4

I'll spare you the rest of the images and skip right to the end.  Finished molds!  They are not pretty or well made, but they work.  The only way to make really tight, beautiful molds is to be a very patient and meticulous person.

the positive peeking through

taking them apart for the first time

I made good use of the scraper and hammer!

For you skeptics out there, here is the result.

So I immediately began working on the third wall mount. 

I got it ready tonight and will begin making the mold tomorrow.  I'm not quite sure if I can handle the amount of plaster, but I'm just going to start.  Sunday seems to be my mold making day.

Looks like a lot of fun, right?

Got a few more tests ready and hopefully will start to get some stuff out of the kiln.

test birds

Another test piece

It looks like tomorrow will be a busy day.

Molds and Positives

I cleaned up my five molds and started on a new positive, the first in a series of 6.  I alson drove to DePere to teach my class today.  I've decided that 5 molds is too many at once.  I start to loose focus as the day wears on.

just started this positive

the five molds ready for the dryer

Busy Sunday

I had a grueling day of mold making today and completed 5,  2 part molds, each with multiple pieces inside.  Not a great way to enjoy a Sunday.  I didn't stop for pictures, just a minute to microwave my lunch.  Here is the final product.  They go in the dryer tomorrow.  I wanted to get them done before Monday since I will be up in De Pere tomorrow.

The five finished molds.  Will clean them up tomorrow

Kohler Day 2

Well, I have finished my second day and finished three molds.  Here are some images from today. These are Sun Koo's large tiles being poured. 

My first positives are ready and my molds complete after a long day.

positives

ready to pour plaster

side one finished

This whole process took 3 times longer than I thought, but that is too be expected.

finally cleaned up

ready to go again

 I finished around 8:30pm, but not before saving one of the molds from a blow out.  I think I'll still with the boards even if it wastes plaster. Nobody likes a blow out!  The mold survived and I even poured the third section before I went home.

Saved from a blow out

Until tomorrow.