Cool Retro Sculpture!

 We just got back from 5 days in Palm Springs, hoping to catch some sun and warmth during the long President's Day weekend. We had a great time despite the unseasonably cool weather. There were two separate art fairs and the vendors were great. I really enjoyed the artwork/sculpture by Stevo. He makes retro style clocks and various wall hung art. Really neat stuff...kind of like George Jetson  meets Joan Miro. I want to save up and buy one of his clocks. Check out his website.

http://stevotomic.com/

Experiment on a tumbler

This is a recent test of a new decal technique I'm trying. I silk-screened the words 'let me help you' on some waterslide decal paper. I used 2 parts black liquid underglaze + 1 part acrylic gel medium + and 1 part black mason stain (in dry powder form). This created a very acceptable screen medium that worked quite well and I quickly cleaned/washed the screen off after printing to prevent the medium from drying in the screen. I glaze-fired the porcelain tumbler at cone 3 with a clear glaze on the bottom part. I then soaked the dried decal for one minute in a bowl of water (the gel medium prevented the underglaze from melting in the water) and slid the decal on the clear glazed area. I then bisque-fired the piece. PROBLEM. For some reason, the clear glaze bubbled a little bit. Bummer. So I refired the piece at cone 3 and the clear glaze remelted just fine. The only problem was the slight movement of the lettering. The glaze moved just enough to "bend" the lettering just a little. I'll keep experimenting, including applying the decal to the bisque-fired pot and re-bisquing it. Then I'll apply glazes and do the glaze fire last.   

Gabriel Brubacher

This video of Gabriel Brubacher has been around for quite a while but I still love watching it....great music. It's backwards!

Teapot Time!

I really like my Mole Firefighter Teapot. He's sooty and dirty, yet determined to put out the cups on fire. Obviously, he's smiling and very happy to have a job in these difficult financial times. Yes...he is a union member.

*note that the negative space between the cups creates a heart shape. This set was created for a teapot display last year in February (Valentine's day?).

My New Favorite Cartoon and Blog

Richard Thompson is the creator of my newest favorite comic strip,  Cul de Sac. I think Thompson is a brilliant cartoonist and the best since Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson retired.  Cul de Sac focuses on Alice Otterloop, a preschool girl and her older and nervous, diorama making brother, Petey. The characters that populate Cul de Sac are wonderfully quirky and beautifully rendered. Richard has bravely announced that he has Parkinson's disease but he's continuing to produce this wonderful comic strip. I hope he continues for a long time!

Here's the link to Richard's blog and that has a link to the Cul de Sac strip of the day:

 http://richardspooralmanac.blogspot.com/