CuPu Series

 I'm jumping all over the place, as is my way, and I jumped into a new technique a couple months ago and went crazy making...

CuPu vases and cups

The Cut and Push Series, aka CuPu, involves me handbuilding (by way of pinching and smoothing), cutting a design through the wall, and pushing it out to form a relief.  I wanted to explore glazes and how they perform on deep surface changes.  Some designs are free-form, some I measure out and try really hard to make even, and some start one way and end up being made another.  I get too excited to stop and take action shots, but below is a bit of an inside to stages of one particular piece.

First I make the vessel, let it set up a bit, and decide on a design--usually I go from one element of the design to the next and fill in along the way.  With this one I made a stencil and played around with spacing and layout for some time before committing. 

Planning stage.

I use an Xacto knife to cut through the wall and push from the inside out to create a relief.

Boy, that escalated quickly.

Smoothed out but still in the green stage.

After the bisque fire, I sanded the surface and glazed the hell out of it.  Due to the conditions in the kiln, glaze ran down and puddled around the bottom, but the kiln loader was able to salvage the piece in whole so at least all my hours of work weren't destroyed, just a little ragged along the bottom.

Glazed.
Planter with Reitz Blue and Yellow Salt

I will not have this particular piece available at the KC Clay Guild Spring Sale, but everything in the first photo will be there, and many are already available online in my ceramics shop.  I have a lot more of these in me, but I am making an effort to cool it for a minute until I can clear some work out from under me.

See my process on Instagram!  I love to share.

Shop Update

Saturday, March 20, at noon, I'm going to have a shop update--my first this year.  

I've been making a ton of new work.  Here's preview!

Hand drawn flower pieces...

Dogwood mug

Queen Anne's Lace vace

Some mug experiments...

Cinched-waist mugs

Always have to include cat heads!

Small and medium cat planters

Nubby planters for the upcoming plant season...

Nubby planters

And a new series, titled Cut and Push (CuPu for short) includes versatile vessels that can be used as vases, cups, or simply art pieces...I'll have a post about this process soon.

Turquoise CuPu vase

Large mouth CuPu vase

I will be sending out reminders all over social media, especially my Facebook and Instagram pages.  Let me know if you have questions about anything.  As always, thanks for your support.