Thursday, July 31, 2008

documentary update

clay:


just go see my ceramics set. I took about 200 pictures, and posted 25. yes, I am entirely narcissistic.

yarn:
(boring shots)




as always, click the pictures for the original in my flickr photo stream.

hat attack

yep.

my boss called me in to work today. he wants me to work monday, too. I said, "that is my last week of class."

he said, "really?"

so I don't know if I'm supposed to go in monday or not.

more money = more yarn

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

for the win!

I opened my kiln. the news is mostly good.

it's funny how we get used to things. shino I've used before got lighter as it got thicker. temmuko generally had a satiny solid consistency. nothing I don't like, just a bit of, "huh."

certainly some pieces came out far better than I expected.

pictures soonish. I'm earning my blog's url. also, exams are happening in less than two weeks.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

first glaze firing

fyi-- I will be updating quite a bit on this, but I will edit it so I don't have four million posts.

7am
fired kiln up, cone 6. shelves are freshly painted with kiln wash. the scary glass piece is on four shelf separator tabby things. the vents are both open, but I will probably close them after not too long. it's hard to get reduction firing in an electric kiln.

8am
closed the vents.

9am
opened one vent and took a look. maybe saw smoke. I figure if something is burning, it is the glass. that will be an adventure. I watched for a while and didn't see any more smoke. maybe I am just stroking out.
I'm watching factorum, and it reminds me a lot about my last serious relationship. hopefully it's giving me some good insight.

10am
things are going great. the pieces are starting to glow.

11am
as it turns out, taking a picture of the inside of a kiln through the peep hole vent thing with a tremor is a challenging task. things are still going good.

12 noon
well, fuck me. I left the vent thingie out last time. (big sigh) everything is still good.

1pm
the day goes by really quickly when you break it down into hours.
pieces are glowing, but they are not yet so bright that I can't see them. it doesn't look like the glaze has melted yet.
I'm making these pastry things I make. I use some combination of pillsbury crescent rolls (which I *love*), olivio, cream cheese, brie, blueberries, and raw sugar. I can't eat much at all because of the gerd, but I can eat these PLUS they are super delicious.
it's an 80ยบ day in july, so of course I should have an oven at a couple thousand degrees downstairs and an oven at a couple hundred up.

2pm
it was my plan to study a bit today, not sit at my computer the entire time. Shane is coming over soon (at my request), and so I will further be able to distract myself then. BUT!

I took pictures:
more to come
my pastry thingies

more to come
some of them got more exciting than others

more to come

I'm seriously hoping that blue spot is not my camera melting.

3pm
(almost)
the pieces are glowing but still distinguishable.

4pm
it is all just a glowing and I love it

6pm....
I checked at 5pm, too. it's all good in the hood, my friends.

7pm
I'm grateful for the firewall. the glow comes out from the peep hole vent thingy. I'm tired and I want to take a nap.

8pm
no change, except now I am also hungry. (har har) the estimated timer thingy says a little more than four hours, so we are right on schedule.

9pm
pleasantly boring. w00t! uneventful kiln log!

10pm
we are crossing from red hot to white

11pm
16 hours and success!

Saturday, July 26, 2008

the biomechanics of my art

okay, first, Palmer, because she is adorable and I ♥ her


I wound the yarn that I dyed.



I'm not thoroughly thrilled with the way the india ink stuff turned out. I *love* the rooibos and turmeric. it's a good thing I have 450+ yards of each, because otherwise I would not want to swap it.

of course, I keep plugging away at the "blankie."


one of my classmates asked me what I was trying to make. hmph. I told her about the sock yarn blankie and the swaps and how much fun it all is. she commented on how long it would take me, adding, "that's going to suck."

this is a pleasure thing. why would I do it if it sucked?

some people's kids.

in other news, tomorrow I am glaze firing for the first time ever in my very own kiln with my very own pieces I threw and glazed with my very own glaze. how awesome is that?

oh, yeah. you may look at these pictures and think, "I thought Shine was in law school. does she ever study at all?" I have found that knitting or glazing for half an hour, studying for four, and then knitting or playing with clay again (and on and on) is very enjoyable. plus I feel a lot more productive.

fine print: all of the photos are links to the originals in my flickr photo stream. click = love

Thursday, July 24, 2008

that which achieves its effect by accident is not art

seneca, always on my mind...

I studied! w00t!


check out my pre-underlined text book


I got distracted


a lot.


a lot. a lot.


actually, I find that I am much more productive when I give myself permission to do other things as well. I feel a little bit guilty, especially about not being at work, when I play with yarn and clay.

I'm dyeing yarn. it's kind of addictive.


by kind of, I mean severely.


and, of course, my boyfriend, Clay.




nobody gets paid for art anymore anyway.

vocation v. convocation, right?

little bitty thingy to say: all of the pictures are links to my flickr photo stream.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

a break from the macro lens



I was very productive this weekend.



inspired by:
crimlaw notes

I made very delicious things:




and.... not great photos, but good for telling what's up:
obligatory ravely shot
sock yarn blankie

obligatory ravely shot
lyric tree

all of these pictures are links to the originals on my flickr page.

Friday, July 18, 2008

I should be doing homework...

a couple weeks ago, I spent a lot of time not doing homework. there were other things that I wanted to do. I didn't do those things. I struggled with that to do long enough that I didn't do either.

it was bad.

now, I am giving myself permission to do other things. if I feel like throwing, I can throw. if I feel like knitting, I can knit. I limit my time, otherwise I would spend all day throwing or knitting.

on wednesday, my glazes came in the mail. I'm setting up my studio bit by bit, so these are my first ever very own glazes.

I wanted to glaze things really badly.

the second I started saying.... I shouldn't.... I told myself that, yes, I can, but I can only glaze one thing. I did that, and then did my contracts stuff, and then I had enough time to work on another piece.

also, I am really enjoying my macro lens and maybe should take a break from it so I don't make everyone crazy.

pictures:







as always, click for larger.

my tremor was really bad yesterday, so macro was quite the challenge.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

argh things I shouldn't do

yesterday, I got my glazes in the mail. glazes and cones. shino, temmoku, and blue rutile.

MUST. STUDY. CONTRACTS.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

(head/desk)

I've been a weird kind of busy lately. I think it feels most weird because I am not busy in terms of places I have to be. I can sit at home and I am still very busy.

because of this, I have become a complete and total introvert.

on the plus side, the sock yarn blankie (at least at this stage) is extremely portable. I've been bringing it just about everywhere with me. I think about constantly. I dream about it. I have a formula for how I am going to attach triangles.

on the down side, I'm knitting compulsively. it's like smoking. I *must* knit. not so healthy.

I think I ruined the yarn that I dyed. drying? not so great.

so, of course, I'm going to do another batch. this time, I want to use tea as dye. in my mind, it is beautiful.

also, I'm not super blogspot proficient. I received a lovely comment from RUBA, and I don't really know how to respond. so, thanks RUBA.

happy tuesday

Thursday, July 10, 2008

dyeing

I'm participating in a hand dyed sock yarn swap, and so I got myself some dr. ph. martin's pigment and went to town on that vanilla wildfoote I got yesterday.

all hanked up

(the little one is leftover)

and of course I love my macro lens


soaky soaky


and I made a mess
I swear I don't know how it got there
I have no idea how I got pigment on my cup


don't worry. it's on foil

yep.

I trimmed and blocked John's argyle socks


so I didn't get to knit a whole bunch today. something about contracts, damages, and remedies...

pictures like woah!

yeaz!

so, yeah. I did my part to stimulate the economy. ready?

(click the pictures to see bigger)



check out that fucking amazing depth of field.

this is pretty much what the blankie looks like right now:


it's much more exciting in person. at least to me.

and I got undyed stuff for a hand dye swap. I'm going to get some india ink, maybe tomorrow.


finally, I decided I wanted to do something a little different than socks. I'm very excited to use the noro sock yarn. (we're all clear that I'm a noro junkie, right?) I didn't want to buy the noro sock yarn without really having a pattern in mind. just because yarn is cool doesn't mean I have to use it right away.

this pattern struck me. as I was walking around the store looking at bulky and super bulky, I came across kochoran.



remember what I said about noro?

so I'm excited, because I'm making little triangles. I also have a more substantial project to work on.

yea!

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

only pertinent to pictures

I got my lens. it is a sigma f2.8 ex dg macro. I have to be to work in a little more than an hour, and if I break it out, I won't work at all.

LATER TONIGHT!

I'm also going to city knitting before work (and will try very hard not to spend too much time there) to buy undyed superwash sock yarn (hopefully) and then some gigantic yarn for a non-sock project.

it's, bad, though, when I say, "alright, me, stay below $80."

hooray for free government money!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

swap mania

I've joined two swaps so far. I am organizing another.

YARNNNNN

also, I've decided more of my compulsive plan.
3 - 3 single triangles (done)
3 - 1 join 2, 2 single (in process)
3 - 1 join 6, 1 join 2, 1 single
3 - 1 join 14, 1 join 6, 1 join 2
and so on

maybe?

Monday, July 7, 2008

the sock yarn blankie

alright I'll do it.

I'm making the blankie. I started on july fourth. so far, I've knit a bunch of triangles. I knit two together the way we're supposed to. I'm planning on knitting three of each color I have. I did that in three colors, and with the fourth, I started knitting one triangle between two of the original triangles and two unconnected ones. I plan to do this for a bit and then start knitting two of the three-triangle-bits together and keep making loose ones. I want the color pattern to be as random as possible.

I'm also on the prowl for sock yarn. I joined a swap in the blankie mania group. I've also offered to exchange yarn for anyone who has it. this offer goes to anyone who is reading this blog as well.

no pictures yet. I was *going* to get a new macro lens today, but apparently it is not in yet. I thought it would be really fun to break it in with triangle pictures. maybe tomorrow.

for now, I'm going to get some of that delicious noro sock yarn. I will use it to make socks. promise.