More cat stuff

Since I've visited my blog here, I've been continuing to make ceramics and GUESS WHAT MORE CATS.

I was jokingly/cynically trying to make a fast/cheap thing to sell, and as it turns out, that's impossible.  Even a form I can make relatively quickly is a canvas for a drawing that I can get overly involved in.  

This was one of the first ones:

Kitten vase
stoneware, glaze, underglaze

 Simple, yes.  But even a line drawing needs to be done to a certain standard, so these took a little more time than my original goal.  (A big part of the time factor is that underglaze really looks best when it's applied in three layers, so I had to go over lines multiple times.) Then I got addicted and decided to make a few dozen, because that is how I do everything.  Some of these are available in my online store, and some I'm holding back for the KC Clay Guild Holiday sale happening Dec. 3rd - 5th.  I'll be set up at the Mother Ship (the Guild itself, 200 W 74th St, KCMO), as opposed to cleaning my own space at home and hosting there.

The pieces are still affordable, but not, like $15--you want stuff like that, go to a big box store and buy junk made by a robot or underpaid labor.

Cat vases
porcelain, underglaze, glaze

mugs!
porcelain, underglaze, glaze

I started out just making drawings from my memory of what a cat looks like (I'm pretty familiar), but then I started looking at cats I know and using their markings as inspiration.  Prepare for cuteness:

Zevon

Clover

Tilly (foster)

Bruce (foster)

Pauline

It's been a while, hope you come around my many digital neighborhoods and reach out if you ever feel like it.

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KC Clay Guild Spring Sale

Last year at this time we were wondering if we'd be able to have a Spring Sale...like, it's a likely chance this whole Covid thing will blow through by that time, surely!?

HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAAAAAAA

Anyway, with proper safety precautions, widespread vaccinations, and careful planning, we ARE having a Spring Sale this year at the KC Clay Guild, and I am ready. for. it.  Even though I took six months off from producing ceramics, I have more than made up for it since we got access back to the Guild, and I'm excited to share my work with more than just my humble social media circle.

PREVIEW!

Drawn flowers on mugs and vases

Hand drawn with brush in underglaze on B-Mix

CuPu series

Hand built cut and pushed vases, bowls, and planters in B-Mix with heavy glaze

Cat planters

Hand built cat planters in various clay bodies

Nubby things

Hand built vessels pushed out with a nubby motif and experimental glaze combos

I got my vaccine over a week ago, so by the time the sale is here, I'll be basically as protected by science as I can be. We will all be abiding standard safety guidelines and the artists won't be hanging out at their displays as in years passed.  Small price to pay to be able to share!

You can browse and still purchase from my online store until Thursday, when I'll be blocking sales until after I can take inventory on Monday.  The Guild only receives 20% of each purchase price--a good deal if you've ever sold consignment anywhere and a way to support both the artist and the facility that makes our work possible.

When:

Friday, April 23, 5-9pm (this is when I'll be working the sale)

Saturday, April 24, 10-5

Sunday, April 25, 11-3

Where:

KC Clay Guild

200 W 74th Street, KCMO

Links:

Facebook Event Page

KC Clay Guild website

My Instagram

My Facebook

My Online store

Tell your friends!

Cat Head Sculptures

Not everyone wants or needs a planter, but still wants a cat!  I went on a tear pinching out these little sculptures, using dried seed pods and random tools to make depressions on the surfaces.

Greenware

Adding red iron oxide and underglaze

Finished litter

Oh, hi!

Great as a planter pal or garden buddy.

Cat Planters

A friend saw that I was making planters and requested a memorial cat head planter for a coworker who had just lost her kitty.  Instead of making one or two for her, I made a dozen and just kept going...

The first generation.

Trying to keep glazing simple with oxide rubs and underglazes.

I based this one on Clover!

I put some weird nubs on the bottom of this one.

Planted with a little cactus babe.

This was the simplest one I made, and the smallest...and fastest to sell!

Clover-as-Planter with Purple Heart.

Happy customer!
This went to my friend and lives as a home to a beautiful cactus.

I debuted these at the Kemper on Saturday's Block Party and many found new homes!  Looks like, as usual, animals (and cats in particular) are a big hit around here.  

Wake Up, Sleepyhead

So the blog has been quiet for a year now.  I've been lazy about writing.  I'm still making stuff, though!

Fast highlights I will elaborate on soon:

I've had many companies ask me to hang my work for the Now Showing program at ArtsKC.

I was in a group show at the KC Artists' Coalition.

I participated in Art Westport, the Plaza, and some smaller ceramics sales through the KC Clay Guild.

I've had some home projects, the biggest being completely gutting and remodeling my bathroom.

I've replaced my manic Dumpster diving with flower collecting (dubbed by a friend the Urban Flower Rescue Mission) both around empty lots in town and along country roads.

I've been making planters and larger vessels, and some cats!

Stay caught up on INSTAGRAM because that's my main show-off place right now...

And stay tuned.  Thanks for sticking by me.

More Cat Mugs

Still playing around with my digitally cut vinyl stamps.  I might have to (gasp!) go purchase some commercial glaze because I just don't love many of the colors the Clay Guild provides--that's why I do a lot of mixing mason stains and such. 

But these little guys are pretty cute, and once I get a large enough group I'm going to take them to Purrfect Pets in Overland Park--a wonderful cats only shelter that placed my foster kittens in a fabulous home last year.  They have a small boutique section where I have sold a few clocks as well.

cone 6 white stoneware, hand built, dipped antique green and purple with white inside and bottom

put some tea in this

or some coffee!

 INSTAGRAM IS MY FAVE!

Stoneware Cat Mug in Neutral

The next several posts share a series of mugs, pendants, vases, and tumblers that I made from cone 10 recycled stoneware that was put together at the KC Clay Guild.  Many of these are prototypes or test pieces (everything is a test piece for me!).  I'm still pretty unfamiliar with using cone 10 glazes--it is truly painting blind--because the high temperatures, amount of oxygen in certain parts of the kiln, and clay body makeup all react differently with every firing.  But that's what's fun about it! ...usually.

I made stamps with my digital vinyl cutter to impress cats into the clay and let the glaze fill in and highlight without any kind of wipe on/wipe off technique.

I really didn't know what I was going to be getting with this combo.  I think I was expecting a darker top half because the glaze is called "Carmel 14" but I'm quite pleased!

recycled cone 10 stoneware, half and half dip glaze

recycled cone 10 stoneware, half and half dip glaze

recycled cone 10 stoneware, half and half dip glaze

recycled cone 10 stoneware, half and half dip glaze

I'm putting stuff up on INSTAGRAM as I see fit and enjoy hearing from you!

The Year in Review

I have to say, 2013 was a great year for me, both personally and professionally.  I started a new business with The Retro Ranch, visited new cities and states while selling at art fairs with Eighty Acres Art, made a couple new lines of work, and experimented a lot with new materials and techniques.  I now proudly make clocks, art, stickers, candles, vases, and cards and sell old and rusty junk from Kansas.

How 'bout some photos!

First up, The Retro Ranch:

My first Retro Ranch sale on Etsy.  Sold to an artist in Florida.

 Springtime pickin'.  I sold the long lattice just this week at River Market Antiques.

The backside of several sheds that hold treasures great and small,
 and constantly make me wonder about my ancestors.  This IS the "Ranch."

I also seemed to be featured in many publications, both paper and digital.  This has been a real honor for me, and quite a surprise, as I don't actively seek this kind of publicity out.  It's a right place/right time kind of thing.  Big thanks to KC Magazine, mash handmade, BizBaz blog, The Scoop KC, InkKC/Kansas City Star, and the Travel Kansas blog!

Indulgence section of KC Magazine, early 2013.

Travel Kansas blog



Some behind-the-scenes goodies:

Photo shoot in my bedroom of table top clocks...Ginger isn't a very good assistant, honestly.



Found sheet music + small desk clock = happy customers!



This is the glamorous set up I have for product shots outside.



New frameables with a Kansas flair and found linens reproduced on fabric.
Wood and horseshoe provided by The Retro Ranch.

 
On the road: 

On my way to Oklahoma at a Flint Hills rest stop.

That's me!  In my booth in OKC.  Thanks to Laura Nugent for the great photo.
We got every kind of weather in Oklahoma: snow, hail, sun, rain, wind...this day was pretty nice.

The Devon Tower was ominous the night of the big storm in OKC.

We got outta there early and are SO glad we did!  The white circle is where the show was, the red circle is where we were staying.  We avoided most of the hail and scary conditions.

My first trip to Iowa City was great and I loved the college town feel.
Not the biting flies, however.

Post-Iowa City trip to Des Moines.  On the road a person often drives through
some crazy weather, and I could see it all from behind the wheel.

A cool thing! At Loring Park in Minneapolis.  This was my first trip to Minnesota;
 it was beautiful and lived up to its great reputation.

A super fun thing about setting up my tent is the occasional
disrespectful critter (in this case, I think it was a pterodactyl) leaving
a huge surprise for me to deal with. 

This is literally one of the only things between Minneapolis and Des Moines on I-35.

I also liked the wind farm somewhere north of Des Moines.

Custom Orders:

I had so many custom orders this year, but one of my favorites now lives with
my niece in Texas.  This has her favorite things: her seahorse (named Happy),
pink, and a rainbow.

8 x 8 Giraffe clock with numbers

8 x 8 I Love You American Sign Language clock

8 x 8 Glittery purple Dachshund clock

And a very big part of my life is my cats.  Here's the full family:

Ginger (male): age 8ish; FIV+; great at spooning; originally a porch cat.

Gracie: age 10; looks like a coffee bean when she sleeps; loves boxes,;
came to the family as a kitten (Sean's side).

Elsie: age 7; followed us home on a walk in '07; disappeared for two months this fall and
was given back to us; very tiny and my best frenemy.

Clover: age 10; found in a barn in Kansas as a wee babe; blogging and studio assistant;
very good at jumping after cat toys like a goalie.

Zevon: 2003-2013; brilliant biscuit maker, sleeper-onner, purr factory;
 medical mystery, and missed horribly every single day.

I feel I've grown this year, and even if it might not look that way on paper, I know my business and artwork has, too.  Thanks to one and all! 

2014 is going to be great.