Wednesday, December 16, 2009

getting ready for the Renegade Craft Fair..



And one more kiln load which has my little porcelain figures/monsters in it. Cant wait to see them. I will post them up when they get cool enough...

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Renegade Craft Fair in San Francisco! 2 weeks away!



Make your plans to go! 150 hand picked vendors. Some from way out of the area, like Boston and Chicago.
Ochibo and Skeletal Dropkick will be there, selling the wares. so Go! Go! Go! Go!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

25 LBS of clay


Before and middle and after...

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Friday, October 16, 2009

Renegade Craft Fair-Holiday!!


Yipee! Skeletaldropkick and Ochibo will be at the wonderful Renegade Craft fair! Hanging with the kids from Wear Yeti. WHat more can you ask for! I, for one, am quite pleased :)
Keep December 19th and/or 20th open!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

That garlic demon...

Well. One of them died in the bisque fire. It is my educated guess that I did not let it dry out enough. Someday, I may learn that lesson... but, you do get to see how nicely I am throwing lately. Those are some pretty even walls.


And then there is the surviving piece...

Sunday, October 4, 2009

lotsa greenware

Here is all the greenware from last week. If you ordered something more than a week ago, it is in here...

The big monster with the lid is a full sized garlic holder, built to hold 3 or 4 bulbs of garlic. His horns on the lid will act as handles.


Should be dry enough to fire in about 2-3 days...

Friday, September 25, 2009

Kiln Load OUT!


Those things I had a pic of in the last post? They are done :) The ones on the left are already sold, some of the ones on the right will be listed on Monday in the shop. salt cellars a-plenty!

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Today's throw


Threw this stuff this morning. The big domes with a hole in the top are Yarn bells. Not sure that they will be better than a yarn bowl, but I will test them out when they are done :)

Monday, September 7, 2009

Latest kiln load


This is the latest kiln load. The top shelf is all going into the Etsy shop when I have time to photo and post (this week...) and the bottom shelf is all special orders, except the yarn bowls on the right. Fun!!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

3rd Saturday Design Downtown


I will have stuff at this weekend's Design Downtown on K street in Sac.
Here is their blurb:
On the Third Saturday of every month the Sacramento News & Review transforms Downtown Sacramento into a bustling creative district with fashion, music and art at the forefront.

Discover some of Sacramento's greatest DIY artists while supporting downtown businesses. With over 50 local art & crafts vendors, community art projects, and live entertainment this FREE event promises something for everyone.

What:
SN&R presents Third Saturday, Design Downtown, A Creative Block Party

When:
This Saturday, August 15th from 4-9pm.

Where:
Downtown Sacramento (on K street between 10th and 11th)

Other:

- Free, all-ages event, open to the public

- Over 50 local art & crafts vendors create an exciting and unique shopping experience.

- Live music performances by Live Manikins, Cowboy Killers, Lite Brite, Scientific Remedies.

- Other performers include Autumn Sky, Jazz Ghitan, Core Dance Collective and more!

- Live art projects by Crocker Museum

- Beer Garden at Cosmo

- Twin Soup after party at Social by Shaun Slaughter, Jon Droll and Crookone.

- Fashion shows by Miko Bella Designs, Dee Aguilar Designs and Atelier

Sunday, August 2, 2009

GARLIC KEEPER!!!!

Can I tell you how cool this garlic keeper turned out? Well, it turned out really freaking cool....



This one I am keeping and the other was a custom order. I plan to have more in the shop in the next couple of weeks, check back soon!!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Another load in the kiln...Bisque!



The first firing for this lot. Look at all the teeth! what fun!
I also made a big 'ol monster bowl, should be about 7" tall and about 10 "wide. Getting ready for Halloween!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The Renegade fair in S.F. !

Before the crowds...

And after...



The San Francisco Renegade Craft Fair was a whole lotta fun! There were almost too many booths as it took about an hour to even sort of peruse half of it and even then I saw people with really cool stuff that I missed. I also met some great crafters from as far away as New York! Yay!
There were also a whole lotta people there, mostly on Saturday. Word of advice for future fairs: Show up right at opening time, there was barely anyone around until about 1.5 hours after it opened...

PS: that rockin' peacock feather dress is by Wear Yeti, whom I shared a booth with. Go check them out...

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Renegade Craft Fair in San Francisco!


All go to the Renegade Craft fair in S.F. this weekend! Lotsa fun, craft and music! GO! GO! GO!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

New design at SkeletaDropkick Etsy


Here he is. What is he, you may ask? Well, he is sort of multi-purpose. He can be a sugar pot, a creamer, a holder of jewelry or other small items, a salt cellar or anything else you can think of! Yipeee!!
Now available for purchase at SkeletalDropkickEtsy.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Indie Mart in San Francisco!



Yes! Yes!
All go to the IndieMart!
June 21st, 12-7pm!
17th and Wisconsin Street!
It will be fun, loud and rockin'! Many great crafts and extra cool people! Ochibo and Skeletal Dropkick will both be there!
GO! GO! GO!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

MAKER FAIRE!



You really should go to this. It is amazing, inspiring and fun to see what everyone can make. I will be throwing clay at 11am and again at 4 pm. I will also be showing people how to make a slump mold bowl at 4:30 PM each day. I will be in the Expo Hall (marked on the maker map as "Maker Made Stage"), booth #276. I will be throwing 2 times a day and demo-ing slump molds 1 a day. Yipee! If you can make it, you really should go, the fair is freaking amazing!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Handmade Parade in Sacramento this weekend!


Ochibo and Skeletal Dropkick will be at the Handmade Parade this weekend, May 23rd from 11am to 5pm at Giovanni Hall at 1333 58th street in Sacramento. Many vendors and a lot of fun! Be sure to go!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

big 'ol bowls!



I got a special order for a coupla big big bowls...I have to say that I have not thrown that much clay in awhile. I am afraid my arms will be sore tomorrow ;) I would say each bowl was about 5lbs of clay. A lot to muscle around on the wheel when your hands are small like mine. At least, that is what I tell myself so I won't bed bad about being wimpy...
I did 4, but the 3rd one got all wobbly and died on the wheel...It is now sitting in a bag to be recycled as soon as it dries out a bit...

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

not really ceramics related, but...


I am starting a new blog for my crocheted critters, Ochibos. It will cover their travels around the city an the world as they influence those around them with cuteness and critical thinking. You can find them and patterns at the Etsy store.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Unloaded the Glaze firing...

So the glaze firing came out great. Only lost one piece due to dripping glazes to the kiln shelf. I am trying out a new glaze combination and sometimes it makes a mess. One casualty isn't so bad tho. Here is the new glaze:


Quite nice, I think :) The blue Vampire mug will be in the shop by tomorrow.
Here are some of the pieces that came out just fine:


This must have just been fulla Demons. Look at all those teeth!
I will be posting some pics of me throwing next week while I get another kiln load ready to go.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Ok. Now comes the glazing. I make all my own glazes from scratch. I have several buckets of different glazes. FIrstly, I have mix them up since things settle to the bottom while the buckets sit there on a shelf twixt glazings. I use a metal paint mixer on my drill.

Then I dip the waxed bisqueware into the glaze....

Now, you can see the glaze in a total mess on the bottom of the piece.

So, I wipe all that off after the glaze has dried a bit.

So, I glaze everything, taking great care to wipe off the excess glaze so it does not stick to my shelf and destroy the piece and my shelf.
Then I let the glaze dry. You can see where the wax was applied to the teeth and horns, nice and clean!

Then I load the kiln. I have a total of 9 shelves, but 2 live on the bottom, so they don't really count. I can usually sneak in a narrow shelf that I can load with tags and lids.


Voila! Three hours after I started glazing, the kiln is loaded and ready to fire...

Not everyone made into the firing. Because I can stack things inthe bisque firing, but not the galze fire, there is almost always someone left out. Good thing they are patient.

It will take about 8 hours to reach cone 10 then another 20 hours or so to cool down to where I can unload everything.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

after the bisque...




Unloaded the bisque firing. Lost 2 pieces because I was impatient and loaded them too wet... Sigh.... otherwise, all went well and I ended up with a whole buncha stuff to glaze. First, before glazing I wax 'em! The wax keeps any glaze from soaking into the bisqueware, very handy if you do not want your pieces melting into your shelves. Also handy if you have part of your mug that you do not want glazed, like the horns or teeth of a demon or the eyes of a particular critter. So the bottoms, horns and teeth got waxed tonight. Tomorrow I will glaze everything and load up the kiln for the glaze firing.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Latest bisque firing



So ceramics need to be fired twice (Yeah, I know, some people do it all in one firing, but that is too unpredictable for my tastes). The first of the firings is called a bisque firing, this takes out a good amount of the moisture, but is not hot enough to vitrify the clay. WHat you see loaded in the kiln is what is called greenware. That just means that the clay has been thrown and allowed to air dry. It is freakishly fragile at this stage and still makes me nervous to handle it. I fire it to cone 04 for my bisque firing, around 1925 degrees F. This is considered low firing. When someone says they use a low fire clay, it is in the range of cone 06- cone 1. It is the most common firing range for ceramics, but also leaves the piece relatively weak.
In a bisgue firing, since the clay is not vitrified or glazed, it is fine to have pieces touch each other or even be placed inside one another. Therefore I get a lot more in the bisque firing than I do in a glaze firing. I pack those bisques tight!
In my little Skutt Electric Kiln, this firing, done on a slow speed will take about 13 hours and about 65kwH of power. I then have to wait for it to cool down, which takes about another 18 hours or so depending on the outside temperature. SO at some point tomorrow, I will take pieces out to wax and glaze them. more on that tomorrow!

Saturday, February 14, 2009

custom order cream and sugar set



This is a special order I am doing for a customer, but I am rather pleased with this set so far. providing it survives the firings and such... It has a creamer, a sugar bowl, a sugar packet holder and a tray. From the top, the tray looks like a nifty skull! I just wish things would dry faster >.< More pics if they all survive the glaze firing.