happy new year! while i am excited for the new year it's still january so that means it's grey and it's cold. i'm a little grumpy. the vitamin d is in overdrive but i've still been reminiscing about this a bit too much:

ummm, warm sand...

well, that's still half a year away. since i've been griping a bit too much about the weather the husband has been trying to distract me by talking about the new kiln space he is organizing for me. the landlord has graciously allotted some space in the basement for a small kiln and now that all this holiday nonsense is finally over, we are going kiln 'shopping', (he says shopping, i say buying). yay! i'm so ready already.

for the past several sundays i've been meeting with my friend deborah bacianga (whose awesome work you can buy here). she has very graciously been giving up some of her time to teach me the fine art of mold making.



not only has it been a great time learning a new technique but it's also been great commiserating with an artist whose work you admire. for the last few weeks i've been making molds and pouring slip. there has been some learning curves, but overall all it's been a great resource. hand building the same pieces over and over is very time consuming and honestly rather boring, so this will help tremendously. i have many new items ready for their first firings.

it's nice to get a helping hand....heh.

bud vases! and some assorted arms and legs too

some things you still have to do by hand

prints, cards, and postcards coming!

i'm also working on a new website that will eventually replace or at least supplement my etsy shop. i'm hoping to have all the new items in the shop for february. we'll see. there's always the potential for disaster when it comes to firing ceramics so we will see how many of these ideas are actually viable. they tell me that's half the fun but i'm not so sure about that.

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since i spend so much time indoors i am always thinking how i would design my own home. right now my husband and i live in a small two-room apartment (we're talking 300 sqft) with the bed and the kitchen in the same room. initially it was suppose to be a temporary lodgings while we looked for a more suitable place to live when we returned from 18 months of traveling around the east coast. well, two months have turned into two years with an indefinite extension. while the apartment is not ideal, it is cheap, which really allows us to save for the home we really want.

living in such a small place has made me realize that i actually really like it. everything we own is in this space and i could probably even do with less. i now think twice about every purchase and buy quality over quantity. so while we wait for the right time to buy (and where?!) i've put together a little wish list of what it our permanent home might look like (thank you pinterest):

welcome!

i want to be the dog

cozy

or i could just live in this shed

and create 24/7

i'm finding that i have this dutch or scandinavian aesthetic. oh well, guess that means we'll just have to move to amsterdam (sweden is just a little too cold...).

if you would like to see more of my dream life in white just hop on over here.

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the pond.

cross if you dare!

yum!

i know they're weeds but blackberries are still yummy!

i like bridges. crossing the columbia river, vancouver, wa

so the next day back home in seattle we woke up to - surprise! - snow showers. i know many of you are like 'big deal', but we don't get snow very often in seattle (even though we are so far north it's usually just rain) so the first snow is always a little exciting. besides i had been waiting for a chance to wear my new katie mawson hat that came in the mail last week (love! i want another!). hat, gloves, and my utility canvas coat and i was ready to go!

just like xmas!

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faye bradley

little burrow design

want to see how big a whale really is?

and finally...wait for it...

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and the box of buttons,

and my dad's old corona,

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i feel grey today, naturally. so this is what happened:

mouse finger puppet

raccoon

in between i trolled.

oh yes back to bed maybe?

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existential question of the day: are these rabbits becoming an extension of myself?

julia smith mt. baker - colin grigson

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the studio is looking a little crowded today. many rabbits in various states.


many of them are 'test rabbits', trying out a new idea or figuring out what size is best or what clay to use. no one will ever see most of those - and i have a lot of these. the ones in the bag are getting ready for slip molding (more on them later).

so i'm using the bunny in the button down shirt as a test (left hand side of the picture). he's already having some problems. but first, let's start at the beginning:

start with a mound of porcelain clay

smooth him out

add the nose...

and eyes...

and ears...

and eyelids...

and finally clothing.

removing the inner clay

i have to wait until he firms up a bit before i remove the inner clay (usually about 30 minutes depending on humidity in the air - more humidity slower drying time). i have to remove the clay because if i don't there's a good chance that he may explode in the kiln or have some unwanted cracking due to air pockets and/or too much moisture in the clay.

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i never quite know if i am using the right word in the right context so i decided to actually look them up. websters defines these words this way:

a stiff, sticky fine-grained earth, typically yellow, red, or bluish-gray in color and often forming an impermeable layer in the soil. It can be molded when wet, and is dried and baked to make bricks, pottery, and ceramics.

ceramics (/səˈramik/)
pots and other articles made from clay hardened by heat. "an exhibit of Armenian ceramics".
the art of making ceramic articles. "sculpting, drawing, ceramics, and fiber art".
the material from which ceramic articles are made. "tableware in ceramic".

earthenware

stoneware plate by andrew quient

porcelain sculpture by kate macdowell

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guess an introduction would be good: my name is tere hurst.

this is probably one of the only pictures you will see of me. 

i currently live in seattle, washington. i have probably worked in every kind of medium: watercolor, illustration, oil paint, pastel, to name a few. i also felt, sew, knit, and crochet. ceramics and pottery has always been my favorite mediums but because i have moved around from state to state, country to country, for many years, committing to making pottery has been just about impossible. pottery making, in my mind, is kind of a needy art: one needs space (to make a mess), time (for the various stages to dry and fire), money (for equipment and/or classes), and patience (to work through problems...and there will be problems). some of these i have more of than others but i think i have enough of all these to finally commit and that's big because committing to anything is not one of my virtues.


when it comes to clay i'm not even going to pretend to know what i am talking about. i've taken two pottery classes in my life and though i learned a lot, i know that i have barely scratched the surface. an accomplished potter of 47 years (!) just told me she's still learning something new everyday and there's still so much she doesn't know. i should be scared but i think i'm up for the challenge.

i decided to write this blog mainly because i haven't found something like this (though i'm sure someone out there is doing something similar!). there are a number of ceramic artists (and other types of artists) that i follow but they tend to already be successful and accomplished. they tend to only post pictures of their new work, which is great, but do i really need to see another fabulous cup or bowl? no, not really. what i want to know is how. how did you make that fabulous cup or bowl or sculpture or vase? does every piece come out perfectly or was this number 12 out of 11 fuck-ups (beware, i have a potty mouth)? i want to know the process. yes, there are wonderful you-tube how-to videos that are great for tips but they don't share what to do when things go wrong or why it went wrong. that's what i need to know. i'm going to try to lay it all out here and maybe we will both learn something in the process. 

so right now this is what i know: i know how to sculpt and paint small, fairly simple items. my glazing technique is hit or miss. i don't own a kiln. the apartment i share with my husband and where i do almost all my work is 300 sq. ft (yes, i said 3-0-0). my subject of choice is the leporidae lagomorpha, aka the common rabbit.

hand-painted porcelain brooch

mini rabbit sculptures

bunny bowl

bud vase

small hand-formed and -painted plates

rabbits. i'll be making lots of them. i just like them.

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i'm home today. 

i stepped outside briefly to take out the garbage. the rain has begun here in seattle once again. our brief summer respite is definitely over. the leaves are changing.

it makes me think about the holidays which i don't normally do since we don't celebrate them. (that's what happens when you don't have children and you get old and cynical). a customer from one of my etsy shops asked if i was making anything for the holidays. every year i say i'm going to start early and here it is already october. obviously i missed halloween so i better get my butt in gear and do something. 

i've admittedly been distracted. apparently when the sun went away so did my creative energy. i've been lost in thought and getting absolutely nothing done. today i decided not to think and to just do. so i'm starting with a new post on a new blog (i think this is my third? fourth attempt?). hopefully i'll stick with it.

today i'm thinking in red and green for the upcoming holidays. last year i made a few of these so i think i will make some more.



 the final products always look so nice and clean and yet the process is always so messy.

my desk today

speaking of red and green, on my daily troll i found these:

bonne maison

bonne maison

très bonne indeed. which reminds me of:

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I've finally entered the world of computer illustrating. I have been fighting it for decades; being a devout believer in the mighty pencil, pen, and paintbrush. I have always felt that computer-generated art lacked a certain depth and warmth. Subtleties that couldn't be conveyed through electronic means. Well, can't say that I've suddenly converted to the other side but darn if it doesn't make my life easier. I started out using Photoshop, just playing around. It is great for taking out any boo-boos. Then I started using it to tweak lay-outs, brighten colors, change colors I didn't like. Now it's almost de rigeur that after I finish painting I scan, tweak, then print.

Now, I just need to clean it up and add some text (it's a poster for the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival). So, am I converted? Nah, but it is another tool in the arsenal. Cool.

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