Wednesday, March 11, 2009

March 2009

Welcome to my web sight. It is so nice of you to visit. Spring is almost here. What have I been doing lately?
I have been very busy getting my one of a kind "Begonia Leaf" platters and bowl shapes ready for the Begonia Society Convention in Florida in April. They are coming out very beautiful. I will have about 50 to ship out soon. Each leaf is used once to imprint it's design on to the clay. After imprinting the leaf, I shape the clay into an appropriate shape that is dictated by the size and shape of the leaf. It is then dried and fired to bisque temperature in my kiln (about 1900^F ). After it is fired once, I glaze the piece and fire it again to 2232 ^ F. in an electric kiln. Most of the platter and bowl shapes have small feet to lift them off of the surface the they are on.
Skiing at Hunter Mountain this season has been great. Since it is almost St, Patrick's day, the crowds are slimming but the snow is still good enough to slide on . In between doing my ceramic work, I spend at least 3-4 days skiing.
I am preparing for the "JOURNEY'S IN CLAY, CONTEMPORARY CERAMICS 2009" . I am excited to invite wonderful artists this year. Please join me at the reception May 30. 2-4 pm at the Mountaintop Gallery, Main Street , Windham, NY. The exhibit will be there until July 18, 2009. Some of the artists will be,Corinne Alexander, Susan Beecher, Marybeth Bishop, Karen Battles,Frank Giorgini, Fred Koshetski, Steven Fabrico, Joan Snyder, me and others.
This will be the first semester at the Art League of LI that I will be teaching "Raku Buttons, Baubles and Beads" It will be so much fun to make and fire the beads. We make a bead gadget to wire the beads on to a stand and quickly fire the pieces to red hot temperature (about 1900^F) The bead holder is then lifted out of the kiln with tongs and placed into a chamber with combustible materials. The fire it creates is smothered which creates wonderful smokey glaze colors mixed with carbon. Please see some photos on my web sight. (or see class listing at www.artleagueli.org)
Until next time. Please feel free to contact me. Ruth

Labels: