Soda Kiln Process Report: Groundbreaking!

We have finally started construction on our new Soda Kiln at my community studio, Creative Artists’ Studios of Ames! Yesterday we dug out an inch or two into the ground, filled it with sand, made a frame for the kiln pad and poured the concrete. Dennis and Awesome Steve A. did most of the work. Steve showed us an easy way to flatten concrete using a board and a back and forth motion that made the process go really fast. It took less than an hour to go from 5 bags of concrete to placing leaves as decoration into our smooth, professional looking kiln pad.

 

Dennis Portz mixing and pouring the cement

Our finished slab!

 

Manchurian Candidate...

I spent last week boxing up and then unpacking my parents’ house. They moved into a smaller “retirement” house in the same city. This is the third time they’ve moved since I left home, but it’s the first time I was available to help out. I was surprised at what I found tucked away in places a child would explore.

I was really surprised at how familiar this little thing is to me. My mother’s step-grandfather gave it to her when she was about six years old. It’s stupid cute to me now – you know, the kind of cute that makes you barf, but is it too far of a stretch to imagine that it influences my work today?

 

 Well, maybe. But what about this little guy that I’d forgotten existed:

 

I always thought of it as feminine, I guess because of the curve if its hip. A cute boy who had a crush on me gave it to me for Christmas in the 6^th or 7^th grade. It’s from hobby lobby or the equivalent and covered with glitter. I used to turn it right side up (upside down from how it’s supposed to be displayed) and twirl it around on its pointed foot. The gesture reminds me of the figures I draw.

 Finally, this set of dishes was collected by my grandfather’s sister in Canada. We never used the plates but they were stored in the bottom of the china cabinet with the other two treasures that I found. To me, it needs no explanation…

I guess I’ll be thinking a lot about this kind of thing next semester when I have to defend my work to my graduate professors. I wonder what else is reverberating in my brain ready to pop out if triggered - Manchurian Candidate-style!

Choosing work for exhibit submission

I'm so bad at making choices. Please help me! I'm entering an exhibit, here is the prospectus. The theme of the exhibit is play, which my pieces are all about, so I think I have a shot at this one. Please help me decide which three to send in.

the cup:

The blue platter:

The green platter:

The yellow platter:

Or the red platter:

So which three do you think I should enter?

Kitchen Studio: Wine from CSA Fruit Leftovers

Jamie and I can’t eat two quarts of strawberries before they go bad. For the last two weeks we’ve gotten that many in our share from the Berry Patch Farm. I freeze some and I give some away, but I love fresh strawberries so I keep about half of them on the kitchen counter to eat as fast as we can. We’ve had so much fun making our favorite strawberry dishes and thinking of new ways to use them. Last night I made a particularly successful strawberry beverage using my blender, vodka, ice and a lime.

But there’s always the race against time. What to do with that last cup or a half of strawberries that are too mushy to eat or freeze? I’ve begun a new experiment. Last night I squished those last few unappetizing-looking yet still beautiful smelling strawberries into a jar. I added some old Jasmine tea, sugar from Malawi bought just for wine making, and pitted dates left over from a baking project. As I opened the container for each ingredient, they all smelled so lovely. I'm sure their unique flavors will blend into a lovely wine.  

 Here are the gathered ingredients along with my CSA notebook

I know from my wine-making research that the tannins in the tea will mellow the tart-sweet strawberries. The dates should contribute a dark heavy flavor found in some Ports. Since the strawberries came straight from the Berry Patch Farms, wild yeast is living on the fruit skin, so I don’t have to worry about that. Nature will step in. In addition to making some alcohol, the yeast will start making copies of themselves for the first week or two while I allow them to be exposed to oxygen.

Of course there’s not enough in this jar to make even half of a bottle of anything. So each week I will add more mushy fruit until there is enough liquid to transfer to a small secondary fermenting container. In this new container the yeast will be deprived of oxygen and will stop making copies of themselves. There, without oxygen, they will convert all of their energy to making alcohol.

Covered to keep out the bugs

I am recording the project in my CSA journal. Each single-bottle batch will be different. I’ll keep a record of how each bottle tastes as well.

It may turn out to be a nightmare like the rock lobster in Cowboy Beebop. If I survive, I’ll let you know how it goes!

Teaching in the Studio: Teen Wheel Throwing

A really nice, surprising thing happened in the studio today while teaching teen wheel throwing. The students are 11 to 13. One is incredibly... precocious. She's a great kid, always challenging herself (and me) and today she grabbed about 8lbs and insisted on throwing it. Since I basically have to center everyone's clay during the class (I make them try at first, then finish it up for them), I gave her permission to try on the condition that she would have to center it completely by herself, or at least not ask me for help. Well, she almost got it, but couldn't get it all the way, so all the other kids jumped in to help. I was too late with the camera to capture all of them helping out, but I did get a few shots.

Here she is, standing next to the wheel with a funny expression.

Ben finally got it centered for he. He centered all his clay by himself today and started helping others too.

After that, she did the rest by herself.

She discovered throwing standing up on her own. Tomorrow she'll be trimming all day!
I love it when students start helping other students. And when they succeed at something really hard by helping each other.

-HDavis

New Wood/Soda Kiln Approved!

Great news - our landlords at the studio have finally decided to let us build a soda kiln outside! We rent space in the annex of a church here in Ames, so we had to get approval from two different committees. It took about a month but they finally said yes. The have been great landlords and continue to support us.

The kiln is based on Fred Olsen's Fast-Fire kiln. It will have two fireboxes. It will reach temperature in 4 to 6 hours, but we hope to slow it down to around 10.

We start construction this weekend!

New Masks!

I curated the new mask exhibit at the Octagon. My two interns and I picked out some amazing masks, some hundreds of years old, to put in our new cases. Our theme was red and scary. Here they are:

Day One

Yesterday I went to my friend Kristin's house where I met two wonderful artists working in Des Moines. We toured her garden and her multiple home studios, met her pets, had sangria and talked about art, being artists, and working in both the non-profit and for-profit art industries. Everyone was so motivated and positive. It was an inspiring evening.

I've been thinking of writing a blog about living a ceramic life, but I hadn't really made the decision to start until last night. Two of the ladies, Kristin being one of them, write blogs. Her passion for sharing her experiences with the crafting community is evident. Check out her blog here: http://www.craftleftovers.com/blog/. I love that about her and I want to be a part of that sharing too.

So, my blogging resolutions:
1. Read other people's blogs regularly
2. Post about once a week
3. Write for myself - no more self consciousness!
4. Anything goes. My artful life extends beyond the studio. (Ok, maybe not once I start grad school, but we'll see how it goes)  :)
5. Share, share, share... grant secrets, materials secrets, upcoming exhibits to enter, everything and anything!

Well, here goes!

Blog ho --->

Heather Davis