Lost Mail

Watching a TED talk on the lost art of letter writing and mail sending really got to me. Sure, the speaker was a bit fluffy-fluff in her argument for sending letters. What she achieved, however, was pretty creative... namely writing love letters to strangers and leaving them all around NYC for people to find. It's receiving that personalized letter that is most important though. To know that someone would take time out of their day to design and write something only meant for you. 

The top message medium for me is the POSTCARD. It's compact, open for the world to see, and has a great glossy image on one side for you to mess with and doodle on. It's the ultimate proof that someone cares, and wants to show off this consideration in the most casual, concise way. 

The right is what my friend sent to me.

 The postcard is from this amazing burrito shop near Fenway Park. She goes to art school in Boston and I only get to see her once or twice a year.

The left is what I sent to her. 

An artist's postcard that I defaced, but honestly with the utmost care in "enhancing" the painting that was originally there... I promise~

Moss collection

The light really reverberates, why is moss so cute?? 

(if you would like a list of the species identified, feel free to send a request)

~Using Mosses of the Great Lake Forest -Howard Alvin Crum~

**oh, need to take an updated collection photo soon

stigma

Been using a lot of fine point stabilo pens for quick concepts/sketches, and am I in love! 

The color combinations always feel right, hoping I can take it farther.

Glazed

Oh, some last year's ceramic work that for some reason never made it on to here.

High fire vessel (~16 in)

Low fire slab crystals

Greedy Foxes

Take, take, take. There's not much to offer but here it is.

Summer Dreams

Another world~ It would be great to find something new every day from here on out. Something new about people, about our surroundings, about processes, materials, emotions. I'm a little sad the summer is winding down, but the absolute best season is just around the corner! FALL.  A great time for light sweaters, luke-warm tea, and spectacular visual shows of rusty browns and soft primaries.

Post-firings

Raven skull done with several raku glazes. The flower petals kinda blew off the thing when I brought it from the kiln into the air, had to fix it with a bit of epoxy. Turns out I missed a piece... ah well. The concave portions of the petals have no glaze and were left to blacken naturally in the wood chip bin.

 

Roe Deer skull was done with high fire glazes. The antlers were a bit of a nuisance, but eventually had to prop them up with chopsticks and newspaper to let them slowly dry. Luckily, they didn't blow off like the flower petals on the raven. The small flowers along the back were meant to be poppies, but the red glaze didn't really show through, I don't know whether I should leave it be or add red nail polish. The base glaze was made with layers of several different glazes, it turned into some milky nebula look that worked well.

Raven skull as promised...

Finished glazed pieces coming soon

The Works

The raven skull has been bisque fired, and is ready for the raku kiln. I really hope it turns out amazing, if anything raku can only make it better (and shinier!). In the meantime, I've been working on a roe deer skull laying on poppy flowers. The antlers make it difficult to use raku, so instead I'll do some hand glazing for the electric kiln. Here's the deer skull just before bisque firing!

Craft Sale

My two friends and I set up for two events at the ever so wonderful Earth week celebration on campus.
 There were amazing ceramists and jewelry makers there as well. 

I'm so proud that we were one of the few tables with completely handcrafted objects. 

Here's a sample of crafts, felted and sculpted!