Fleshy Flesh

IP panic crazy time- a week in a half left to work.... hopefully i can finish in time, we'll see. I am feeling better about my surfaces ( only because I don't know how to glaze and messed one of the kilns up so I decided to try using a non glaze material). I have been experimenting with conte crayon on a bisqued surface with a layer of parafin wax rubbed on top. It creates this fleshy, worn, organic surface that I love. I've also been using the crayon and wax on top of samples that I've already applied textured and satin matte glazes. The pieces that have lichen or M and M glazes already look great with the conte and waz over it. I think the textures and Jackie's base with 5% Rutile with act as an element of diversity within the creatures. As for now I really need to start organizing my piees orientations for the installation because I think that will really determine how I glaze each individual piece.

Ok so just had a meeting with Janie, Seth and Amanda- it's time to glaze one of the pieces and see what happens:)

And so the firing begins....

Yes that's right people, I started firing my pieces (specifically the biggest ones in the Nordore kiln, its seven feet tall). We started the bisque on Thursday and will shut it off on Saturday and I should be able to open the kiln on Monday morning. I am excited and terrified at the same time, I feel like I constantly have this worried look on my face haha.

I'm drying out the rest of my pieces and will be loading them in the Blaauw kiln the next week and run another bisque, that way I'll have all but one piece fired and ready to glaze. The piece I am still working on is the one that goes into the ground then goes into the wall scales upward. That piece I will finish this weekend and begin drying out.

As fore my surfaces! I fired some sames and came out with some good results and now have a refined direction. I am posting images of the sample I like the best (Amanda and Erica also gave me some really helpful feed back on them). I want to use multiple glazes on the same piece. Each piece will have some sort of unifying surface but I want the color and textures placement to vary on each of them. Amanda suggested some good ways of approaching my glazes looking to growth patterns of different organisms....also looking at bioaccumulation and where that forms. Overall I feel good about where I'm at and how much I have left to do.

I've been thinking about the installation and how it will look/be arranged and was thinking that I may want to put some sort of dirt or mulch on the ground under the pieces. I think it would drive home the idea of them as organisms. I know that dirt is associated with plants, but I like that idea that they'd be growing out of the ground (especially with the one going into the ground then reappearing)..... what do you guys think?? The floor on the yellow barn is hard wood, although not very nice, kind of degraded.

That's all for now. I LOVE NICE WEATHER IN MICHIGAN, its about time. Oh yeah fuck Rick Snyder.

I'm in Turkey? You're in Turkey

Oh if I was in Turkey...
This week in IP I worked on the second draft of my thesis, started my second round of surface experiments and continued my building.

For my thesis, I basically rewrote the entire paper. My first draft was a piece of crap, I really had no idea what I was trying to say. I am much happier with this second draft, although I still have a lot of work to put in it, as well as a page or two about my surfaces and installation (once I figure them out).

As for the building, I'm still working on the piece that goes into the ground, reappears, then goes into the wall. I'm really excited about this piece because it's actually using the space it exists in, making it more of an installation piece and not just a series of arranged sculptures. I'm also working on a fragmented piece.. but after today's critique I don't know if I have enough time to do that, finish the wall piece and figure my surfaces out and fire and glaze everything in two weeks. I'm stressed to say the least.

As for my surfaces, I've gotten some good testing done. I'm working with washes, terra sigs, and some textural glazes. I've made a large batch of Jackie's Base (a low fire semigloss matte glaze that produces little speckles) and added different oxides and colorants to it. I'm also experimenting with how I apply the glazes, instead of simply apply the glaze with a brush or spray, I'm wiping them off as if they were a wash. We'll see how everything goes...

As for now, I need to go to sleep but unfortunately these a ton of people over at my house partying and all i want to do is sleep because I have class all day tomorrow like a real person.

Prom Parti.