So, I'm finally settling in, after what seems like forever but, in truth, has only been a month, to my new studio. I haven't been the new person anywhere in a long time, and there are a lot of adjustments that I will have to make whether I want to or not. The most important one being that my new studio fires in a reduction gas kiln... as a person who almost exclusively uses clear glaze to coat the outside of her work this is a huge problem. The clay and the glaze absorb a huge amount of smoke from the atmosphere coating everything in gray, which obliterates a lot of my designs and colors. I have managed to procure an electric kiln for this batch of pieces because they are already scheduled to go to different spaces and people, but this means that I will have to do a lot of testing to figure out what I can and cannot do, and I am kicking myself for not thinking of this earlier. Sooooo, if anyone has a recipe for a clear glaze that stays clear in reduction I would love to hear it. Otherwise, if you need to find me, I'll be the one with the huge stack of test tiles in the glazing room.
On a happier note, I went to Asheville the other weekend with my awesome family to check out some of the art galleries and studios, and got to tour Odyssey and talk to several people in their studios. They all made it seem infinitely more reasonable to go there than I thought it would be, and I have renewed hope for applying there in the future. Also, on this trip I went into a few stores that I think would be willing to sell my work (provided I can actually make some). I hope this works out, but it will be along time coming because of the learning curve that reduction firing has given me. I've been at the studio a lot these last two weeks but I haven't really managed to make anything that I would consider a success yet.
And........ the video that was made about my last body of work is finally finished and making its rounds on the internet. I posted it below with a picture of my first finished mug, and a snapshot of my new studio. Enjoy!
