The B-52s and Baby Powder

My worker bee hive since yesterday. I've been listening to the entire collection of The B-52s on my iPod dock -- really really loud. I learned it takes 3.5 loops of their entire anthology to roll, cut and stamp 300 tiles. And since I use baby powder as a stamp release, I reek of the stuff. Happy and reeking.

Every once and awhile, the Universe gives us the opportunity to make a positive difference in the life of a dear friend in dire need. When myself and others in our art community were alerted to the plight of Melissa Gaulding and her husband, Herman, we were compelled to act. They are dear people -- the kind you immediately adore, and feel you've known all your life even though you met them only two minutes ago. Thoughtful, intelligent, fun, witty, supportive and talented, they charm you instantly.

So what began as Heather Malone-Bogle's plaintive question of what could be done for them has now bloomed into a joyous, enthusiastic snowball of generosity from every corner of the industry. It's times like this that remind us what's important and what unites us, and so this effort has been a true celebration not only of Melly and Herman, but of what it means to be fortunate enough to have them as friends.

While many artists and collectors are donating exquisite pieces for the cause, I considered what I could do. So many of these pieces are expected to go for high-ticket amounts, and I pondered what could allow lots of folks to participate in this giving party, too...and it popped into my head: The stamped tiles! Of course!

So I set myself on a plan, now formally termed The Terracotta Tile Project! Fellow mudhen Marge Para suggested using terracotta clay to make them really distinctive, which was a stroke of genius. Thanks Marge! And since Melly's logo is a flying heart, I decided to create a little heart stamp to make an additional imprint into the clay, making these stamps doubly unique.

A bit of epoxy clay shaped into a heart stamp, wrapped in foil and rapidly cured in the oven allowed me to get to work immediately. While Melissa's logo has a winged heart, I thought it fitting the horse in the tile would "fly" the heart instead, neatly tucked in his chest. Lots of meaning fit for the occasion.

So since yesterday afternoon, I've been a Sarahsaurus Rex possessed, cranking out three hundred beautiful 3" terracotta tiles, which are now happily drying. The eight day countdown begins now! Once they're bisque fired, a slew of incredible glazing artists have volunteered to glaze many of them, and then sell them on Melly's behalf. Here's a list of the current glazers hungry to help: Karen Gerhardt, Barb Ness, Jen Kroll, Joan Berkwitz, Adalee Velasquez, Lesli Kathman, Cheryl Farrens, Marge Para, Jenn Danza, Elaine Lindelef, Margaret Olson, and of course myself. Stay tuned on their blogs or lists for updates regarding their tiles, and other fund-raising contributions. And stay tuned here for updates on new glazers jumping into the gleeful glazing fray!

Even Hubby got in on the action!

Here's a sneak peek at this special tile! The white bits are the baby powder, which will fire off.

Each participating artist gets to glaze and decorate their allotted tiles however they wish, making each of these tiles super special three times over! And not only that! Everyone who buys ones of these tiles is entered into a drawing for two more special items! HAZZAH! To learn more about The Terracotta Tile Project, and to stay updated on all fund-raising activities, bookmark the Flying Heart Fundraiser page. Things are developing very quickly, so revisit it often to keep up with the breaking news! Also, the selling process for these puppies is still being formulated, and this project will have its own page soon, so hang tight for more as it blossoms!

To learn more about the cause, visit Joan's blog post, Karen Gerhardt's blog post, and Lesli Kathman's blog posts here and here.

"All you need is love." ~ The Beatles

The B-52s and Baby Powder

Six of One, Haffie Dozen of Another!

March of the Haffies

To my great delight, Barry of Bear Cast LLC dropped off the first batch o' Haffies this afternoon. So nineteen sets will be sold soon, but I don't know when yet specifically. One set is being retained for cleaning, to be catapulted to Blackberry Lane Pottery for transformation into clinky goodness. Woot! And in theory, this set will be the fodder for Mayhem 2010! But if you need resin casting done, I highly recommend Bear Cast LLC: Top quality castings, with speedy, professional service. You won't be disappointed -- I promise.

And I was additionally thrilled to learn that Barry can do cold-cast bronze! So I'm going to have him work his magic on Reflective and Jax again, but in that beauteous stuff, which will open up whole new markets for them! We also discussed some options for my sproinging Arabian mare I'm working on in order to preserve the illusion of being airborne.

I'm also cold-painting a Laf'nBear Smittyn into some sort of sooty tastiness, and hope to have her done by Friday or Saturday, and up on Auction Barn next week. She is so fun to paint! I still have to finish glazing that Taboo, too. I love it when there's an overabundance of fun stuff to cram into each hour -- keeps me revved up!

The yin yang of Haffidom

I'm also happy to report that the sponge technique for equalizing the glaze on the tiles worked like a charm! I bought a few kinds to experiment with, but this definitely is the ticket. HIKEEBAH!

The Summer issue of The Boat is shaping up nicely, and I was given stewardship of the new RESS blog, which has been really fun to develop. And if you notice at the bottom of this blog, and the RESS blog, there are nifty Amazon widgets that link you directly to recommended resources. This new feature hopefully can be useful to you at some point in your own art career.

To cap off a perfect day, I saw three baby squirrels in my back yard! YES. I leave lots of food out for them so they gets bigs n' blobby, and it'll be so fun to watch these wee ones cavort about! And that Mourning Dove pair should be hatching their eggs any day now!

Exciting times!

"If art takes up much of the artist's time, then it makes sense that she/he be 'lost' in the euphoria of creating. Isn't that one of our ultimate purposes in life?" ~ Harley Brown

Six of One, Haffie Dozen of Another!

A Lucky Break

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Ceramics isn't for wimps. You gotta have a certain moxie to handle the unexpected whims of this capricious media. And boy...did Big Al open up a big can of slap-you-in-the-face-with-whim this last fire! Feast yer orbs on this:

Look at that big fat crack in my kiln shelf. Cone 5 got medieval on my tiles! I am flabbergasted that the shelf didn't collapse down completely, but remained somewhat semi-detached by its last little tendrils. Only that upper corner teetered down to the shelf below it. And those shelves are $65 each. Crud.




I pull up the two broken parts to find the aftermath on the shelf beneath. Broken shelf bits everywhere, and six otherwise beautiful tiles ruined. The broken shelf bits simply fused into the molten glaze. One tile, in particular, went out with flair, actually melting onto that one corner of the broken shelf (red arrow).

Now I will say this: I did notice a tiny crack in the shelf beforehand and, tempting fate, decided to ignore it. I can be silly that way. So let's just say I won't be making that mistake ever again. I shudder to think of what might have happened if this was a Mayhem fire!

So that was a bit of excitement in the midst of this latest batch of tiles. Anyway, this is the last batch of this design, since a new version has been made to replace it. I also got new crackle glazes, and I can't wait to see how they come out. But I had pondered why the glaze still was so uneven, even with dipping...

While the glaze itself is pretty, it's uneven! I can't sell this!

Why was I having this problem? And then I reflected on how I dipped...after pulling the tile out of the glaze, I'd roll it to one corner and shake off the excess. Then sit it, face up, on a table to dry. Why -- of course! That thicker area of glaze is where the glazed ran into when the tile was tipped! DUR SARAH. You can imagine how stupid I felt, after that shelf incident and now this. Live and learn -- eventually.

So I got to thinking: How could I still dip, but remove the excess in a more even way? Why dab, of course! Dip n' dab! So I got a towel, dampened it, and wrapped it around a large tile to keep it flat. I did my dipping, but rather than tipping the tiled, I immediately dabbed it -- face down -- onto the towel. That worked pretty good. Not great though. Too much texture, and I didn't know how that would translate into the glaze. But I was on the right track. I knew I needed a sponge. A big damp sponge. That was my ticket -- but we didn't have one. Or so I thought! Hubby came home, and immediately dug one out from some secret Harley place in the garage and voila! It worked like a charm!

The glazing tray (on the right), with the damp sponge (on the left). Below the sponge is the damp towel.

Suffice to say I'll be getting an array of big sponges to experiment. I'm so happy with how it worked, and I'm really hoping it's my solution. The Laguna high fire crackle glazes are so beautiful, and a more even application would allow me to use them in production, which is my goal. I need a measure of predictability for the regular line. In particular, I want to put Laguna Desert Skye into production, because it's my favorite, but that glaze is so variable. My fingers are crossed that Sir Sponge will grant my wish. Now one thing I did notice from this first batch: Laguna Ocean Teal applies really evenly, even with the tilt n' shake method. Every one of them came out perfect. Which suits me fine -- it's one of my favorites! So I think I can put that one into production. In this fire I also experimented with some mixes, so we'll see how those come out, too.

Anyway, here's hoping that Big Al isn't such a prankster this fire!

"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known." ~ Carl Sagan

A Lucky Break