fish and bubbles

adventures in making wood out of mud

It was an accident. I wanted to make pinwheel buttons. I make pinwheel cookies-- my favorite ever.



I made some changes for reasons that were quite stupid-- largely because I apparently have to make things more complicated than previously considered possible. ANYWAY

Cutting vertically like you would for pinwheels made a gross mess. The lines were not even and pinwheely. The lines looked more like the inside of a tree. Hm.... so how about cutting horizontally?





How would it look fired?



AWESOME.

so the next project is a bit of a tower



fun!

now I just want to stay home and take pictures of buttons

tomorrow my family is going to Sterling, Colorado to celebrate with my in-laws. we will have limited internet access, and so these buttons won't be added to the website at least until the 21st. Also, all shipping will be delayed until the 22nd.

Improvements

YOUGUYSGUESSWHATIHAVEANEWLOGO

see it LIVE at thedelicion.com

I was surprised, when I had the shop critique, how many people didn't like my logo. I didn't think people cared that much. but here-- I now have the company name spelled out in three mugs. and then I painted it. woo.

the wiggly from my tremor makes me happy in this context. it's the wings on my heart.

there are a couple other really big deal kind of things going on right now.

the happy one is that I am in the process of taking out our basement shower and the wall between the bathroom and my studio. in this newly annexed studio space, I will move my kiln. I will be able to vent the kiln directly out ductwork we already have in our house.

my oh-so-romantic birthday, anniversary, and giftmas present from my husband is the retrofit vent. heck yes.

the one that is mostly happy except also kind of sad is that my garden is no longer my own. the abandoned house where it was is being gutted and rebuilt as a demo for a construction company. apparently they work for an entity that manages abandoned properties.

I'm not exactly sure how that works.

anyway, my garden is gone. poor thing. it got mowed, two trees fell on it, and now I lost custody.

it's good for the neighborhood. the garage is a nest for feral cats, and in general people can take more pride in their neighborhood when there is not a house whose outsides are crumbling next door.

on the plus side, I did get to see the inside of the house. there is standing water in the basement, the staircase to the ¼ story loft is rotting out, there is a hole in the ceiling beneath it (although I did not see a hole in the floor through the curling carpet), the beautiful oak hardwood floors through the entire place are swollen and grey, and something fell in the bathroom and broke the mirror and toilet. it is in surprisingly good shape given that it has sat empty for over four years. The workers cleared away organic debris around the garage, showing that the bottom 18" (aboutz) are swollen and discolored.

sexy.

work is being done.

my wheel is disassembled so I can clean my studio well and then put it back up somewhere else. the paneling, dry wall, and shower liner that was glued to the drywall (is that standard practice?) are down. an entire six foot-long wall of studs that didn't actually reach the ceiling or joists is down. now I have to solder off plumbing. I've never done that before.

I like doing things I've never done before.

in summary, we conclude:
1. new logo woo!
2  bathroom space annexed for studio woo!
3. new kiln vent woo!
4. green house no longer rotting away woo!
5. aw but that means I lose my garden. maybe.

smile a lot!

Elements

Today I did something that I am EXTREMELY proud of: I replaced the elements in my kiln. All by myself.

The kiln is the piece of equipment in my studio that would be most expensive to replace. The type of kiln I would use starts around $4,000. I fixed mine for under $200.

What feels coolest to me is that I am so much more a “real” ceramist; I can maintain and repair my own equipment. I know how to make the stuff to put in the kiln, how to fire it, and now how to fix it.

It’s okay if you’re not as excited as I am.

My next bisque fire will be on the 28^th of November, and the corresponding glaze fires will be on the 5^th and 8^th of December. Now is the time to make custom orders. I will be using two new glazes: Rovin's Bright Ice Creamy Crimson and Grape Fizz.

Snowflake buttons based on the artwork of Wilson Bentley will be available in limited quantities on December 10^th.

For February, I will have “special edition” heart buttons based in part on the artwork of Jon Collier.

These buttons will be available for sale on January 11^th.

Buttons will also make an appearance in the January Phat Fiber box. Samples in the October box were a single Mighty (larger than 2.5 inches) button. Samples in the January box will sets of two Bitty (less than 1 inch) buttons. The bitty buttons are my favorites, just so you know.

Eastern Market Artisan Village is winding down for the season. We will pick back up mid-April on the south side of the recently-renovated Shed 5.

You don’t have to go to Eastern Market to gaze upon my ceramic splendor. Most items are available for sale through my website, thedelicion.com. In a recent shop critique, many people said that they wanted more specific dimensions. The process to provide that information is a long one. In the meantime, please contact me with any questions at shine@thedelicion.com.

With regard to the buttons, items will be individually listed instead of just by price, size, and glaze. I currently have 26 glazes and an average of 26 buttons per glaze, though, so posting each individual button is not a quick job. The effort has been worthwhile. Thank you for that.

In summary:

1. I am awesome.

2  Custom orders placed by November 23^rd will be available for shipping or delivery on December 10^th.

3. Snowflake buttons go on sale in December and heart buttons go on sale in January.

4. Detroit Eastern Market Artisan Village winter recess is nigh, so do your shopping online at thedelicion.com.

5. Improvements continue on the website. Do you have suggestions? I could use them!

all of zen wants you to shut up (o:

This past weekend, my new button search feature went live. Gaze in awe upon its design glory.

Marty has done the code for my website as well as a good amount of the design. He makes *me* look professional. He also undercharges, but I can't guarantee he'll do that for you. If you need any web work done at all ever you should get in touch with him at Starkiller Interweb Design.

The buttons that necessitated the search function are for sale, and you should buy them! They are completely functional. Each is unique. Every fingerprint is mine. The leaves all came from either my yard or my parents', and the sea shells came from the beach by their house.

For the snowy seasons, I will make a stamp based on the intensely impressive work of legendary Wilson Bentley. Ideally, these will be for sale early November.

However. (huge sigh) During a recent bisque fire, my kiln released a fantastic haze. We suspect that the elements are consuming themselves. We had already planned some involved renovations to properly vent the kiln, and now we plan to include replacing the elements. Replacement elements are surprisingly inexpensive, but removing several yards of coiled-- electrified-- metal wire from firebrick is not exactly a quick job. I'm less intimidated about installing the new ones, in large part because they will be less brittle.

I had planned the October / November firing sets to start two weeks from today. There are custom orders delayed, actually, already. The sadness.

I'm not going to take custom holiday orders until I have that all sorted out.

On a more positive note, in terms of holidays, I'm making globe ornaments.

They are a long way from perfect, and so I have about a year to get them down and ready.

 In summary:
1. Marty of Starkiller Interweb Design made a really cool update to my website.
2  My buttons are neat.
3. My kiln wants a lot of my time and energy.
4. #3 briefly precludes my willingness to take custom orders.
5. For the love of cupcakes, I'm throwing SPHERES.

name dropping

Donald Calloway, Jr., a friend and very talented artist, has started using my buttons in his work. Pretty neat, huh?

if you haven't been by my booth at Eastern Market, then you have not seen how beautiful it is.

Tuesday, September 27th is the last of Eastern Market's Tuesdays for this season. You should come by and get some delicious food.

I am still working to raise money for my Art Prize project via Kickstarter. Your pledge can make this work possible AND buy you cool goodies.

Earlier this week, I sent in $350 worth of buttons to Phat Fiber headquarters for the October box. The ideal outcome for this effort is a retail placement. Also awesome is if you and your loved ones buy the buttons through my website. The button-purchasing-dealie will be improved very soon. Your feedback as to how you would like it to work would be greatly appreciated.

so... my garden....

This garden is in the yard of an abandonned house in our neighborhood. The individual who owned it died something like four years ago, and no one has lived in or cared for it since then-- with the exception of a lawncare service hired by the township to mow lawns of abandonned properties.

This spring, I planted a vegetable garden. Within a matter of days, said lawncare service mowed it. A reasonable amount survived, but nowhere near as much as if, you know, it hadn't been mowed. Several weeks later we had a nasty storm that knocked down a tree. The majority of the weight of the tree was held by the power lines, and so I did not give up hope!

Monday, when I went to dig up some delicious Detroit beets, I discovered that my garden had been completely crushed. A huge limb of another tree fell, and this one brought the phone, cable, and electric lines with it. They actually seem to be tangled in the branches.

so no beets. no tomatos. no carrots. no fennel. no peppers. they are now part of an eight twelve-foot row vegetable casserole. maybe once the wires are moved I'll be able to find some survivors.

*sniff*



In summary:
1. I totally get to brag about my work being a part of another, more widely-know artist's work.
2  The last Eastern Market Tuesday of the season is this coming Tuesday.
3. Please back my Kickstarter project.
4. My buttons will be included in the October Phat Fiber box, if you are able to get one. They are also available for sale on my website.
5. My vegetable garden, mighty in spirit though it may be, is not strong enough to handle this second tree's weight.