Working with Underglazes

I use underglazes to create the colorful matte finish on my sculptures. I DO enjoy working with COLOR. The underglazes are fun because while i am applying them, they look pretty close to the color they will be after being fired in the kiln. It's possible to see and work with the relationships of the colors; like painting with watercolors.





First, I fire the clay, bisque firing. Red clay looks like this after the first firing....
Ready for underglaze. I paint them on with brushes, my fingers, wires, a variety of tools. I use lots of water to create a kind of wash blending the colors. I start with a base color and begin to see where harmonizing colors want to go. Sometimes i use two or three colors only. Usually i use LOTs of colors. I get a little carried away...I have about 40 to choose from which i have arranged in ice cube trays. One tray for blue, one for reds and yellows, etc. If I get something i don't like, i just wash it off and go again. when it's finished the piece goes into the kiln for the second firing where the colors become permanently fired onto the clay.

artist statement

bLUE FiRE
clay...fire...dreams

I work with clay, fire and dreams. for me, artwork is the practice of perceiving the sacred in the moment..
.....and honoring that truth... bringing sacred dreams from the mystery into the literal world.

......using clay and my hands i bring into form the dreams in my heart...holding my attention on that dream, i work with the clay, co-creating with the clay....watching the piece come into being...this feels magical....i leave the marks of this exciting process visible in the clay surface.... after the first firing, i brush colorful underglazes onto the clay, emphasizing the texture and shapes. the piece is fired again at least once. underglazes while permanent have a soft look allowing the texture of the clay and the forming process to remain visible.
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.......... art is a sacred process for me....the hand-built clay artworks i create are expressions of my joyful relationship with beauty and the sacred dream of love and power...they are gifts from the Great Mystery, the energetic ocean of Creation...

............. beauty, the sacred made visible .............

bLue FiRE.......
............this name was given to me by my spiritual teacher about 10 years ago. it is the name that describes my sacredness, my truth, my heart. we are all sacred being. my art work is one way that i remember myself, my sacred self.
....i've been working in various mediums since i began this lifetime. encouraged by my father, a professional modern art painter and teacher, i was introduced to art processes at an early age. over the years, a few of the mediums i've worked in are graphic design, photography, silk screening, drawing and painting. artwork is an essential part of my life. i'm grateful now to be working with clay. i've been making and selling my clay creations for 15 years.
... Before moving to the city, i lived in the wilderness in the Nantahala National Forest where i forded a river to get home. my neighbors being trees, owls, bears, stars and the dream of love and power. Inspired by that Beauty, which i re-visit regularly, i'm enjoying working at the Odyssey Center, surrounded by many inspiring artists.

ETSY Front Page Again!

The third Front Page in three weeks! This time it was the Purple Tailed Tittler Beauty Bird that lighted on the Etsy Front page! These Beauty Birds are just being sighted all over!!

Here's the link to the Front Page. http://www.flickr.com/photos/memake/2548095767/in/pool-etsyfrontpagetreasury