Exile Art

New Wheel

2012-01-04T19:05:00.001-08:00

I bought a new wheel. Not a potters wheel, a spinning wheel. For making yarn.

Now to figure out how to restore it!

Odile's Loop Scarf

2011-02-25T05:35:00.003-08:00

I've noticed a lot of women wearing soft silky scarves looped, the fringes dangling. I don't like regular keyhole scarves, but I wanted a looped scarf. So I came up with a scarf pattern that imitates that. I named it for my cousine Odile, who is French, chic, and unfussy, like this scarf.

The problem I had in designing this scarf is it needed to be grafted, and grafting in rib is ... difficult. After thinking about it and looking at some online tutorials I realized that grafting in rib is just grafting in stockinette. From both the front and the back.

Thank you to Laura for modeling my scarf at the preschool playground.

Read the directions, make the scarf, and if you have difficulty (or better yet, think of a better way to graft in rib), let me know.

As an aside, this scarf can be made in garter stitch and have no issues with the grafting.

Download here

Ruby Hat

2011-02-11T13:57:00.001-08:00

Sabine and I were at Joann Fabrics and she picked up this yarn and asked me to make a hat. I came up with this simple pattern to show off the stripes, and it's stretchy enough to fit every size head from three years to adult. It's great for a striping yarn, but I've also used Wool-Ease for charity donations.

Yarn: Lion Brand Amazing, 1 skein (Aurora is on the left, Ruby on the right)

Needle: 8

Gauge: 9.2 sts = 2"

co 80 stitches and join to work in the round.

work k2 p2 rib for 6 inches

work stockinette for 8-9 inches or until nearly out of yarn

bo as follows: k2tog each stitch as you bo. Use tail to stitch together top of hat in 4 lobes.

Blog Changes

2011-02-10T13:56:00.000-08:00

It's not that I haven't been doing clay work, it's just that ... I haven't been doing anything that I felt like blogging about. What I do want to blog about is knitting. Rather than continue to post about knitting on my "family newsletter" blog, or start a new blog (how many blogs do I really NEED, after all?) I decided to revamp Exile Art to cover my knitting, both projects and my own designs.

Since I started knitting six years ago I have been revamping patterns and coming up with my own designs. Rather than produce hand-knits with my own designs, I'd much rather share those patterns with other knitters.

In addition to knitting patterns and projects, I'll still be posting pictures of my ceramic work, especially as it relates to fibers.

Summer Project

2007-08-28T05:24:00.000-07:00

Self-Portrait as Modersohn-Becker

Self-Portrait as Kirchner

Crack that Whip

2007-01-12T07:21:00.000-08:00

I have been getting a little studio time in over the past few months, but not as much as I would like. Is it ever as much as I would like?

But I have to get moving on some projects, as I have a few commitments to attend to. Nothing to show in pictures yet, so I will insert a recipe instead, from the Glaze Handbook,

Colored Stain
EPK -- 1 part
Frit --1 Part
Oxide -- 1 part

My favorite way of mixing this is with Frit 3124, and copper carbonate for a celadon green in oxidation or some flashing in reduction. I also use it with Mason Stain, like a cobalt-bearing Black. It works with low-fire and high fire, oxidation and reduction, with or without a glaze. It is more economical and has a nicer surface than oxide alone.

Tile Ideas

2006-11-06T05:56:00.000-08:00

We've been planning to tile the kitchen backsplash since we bought our house last year. I have had a hard time deciding what to do, but saw these tiles on the floor of the Irvington Lodge, and liked them. I like the use of different tiles, and the designs are kinda medieval, which fits with the way I see our (barn) house.

In other news, I have been travelling, giving demos, and getting a little studio time. I have a sculptural project in progress, but I would rather wait until it is done to show images, so you will have to make do with pretty pictures of tile instead.

Little by Little

2006-10-11T05:56:00.000-07:00

I have done two bisque firings in the past week (even though the vent isn't installed yet), the horse took up the entire kiln for one firing. In this picture you can see the seam where the head comes off for firing.

I haven't had much time for the studio lately, and when I am in there I have been trying to clean up the space. In this pic you can see the bin behind the horse (its full of finished pieces) and boxes (ditto, some going back to grad school). So little by little I am transferring the work out of cardboard boxes, into platic bins, and toting the darned things down to the basement. I hate having to play musical bats every time I want to work on something, so its neccessary. Arg. My test tiles for a neighbors kitchen project came out chartreuse instead of taupe. You would think that when a mason stain says taupe it would be taupe, not vividly and acidly GREEN, but c'est la ceramique. Pictures of the tiles will come along later, I rather like the crackle slip textrure, if not the green glaze.

Now the big decision, how to glaze the horse.

Myths unravelled

2006-09-20T05:51:00.000-07:00

Self-Portrait as a VanGogh, currently at Amaco in Indianapolis. This was a demonstration piece, but I enjoyed the color work.

As part of my thematic investigation I have been contemplating stories I like, and considering their themes. For example, Shantaram, which I finished a few weeks ago, is a wonderful and meandering story, but in the end I would say it is about revelation and forgiveness. I am also rereading some Joseph Campbell, and his analysis of folklore and mythology.

Life is a journey, but the places we have been are just as important as the places we are going. Unfortunately, the maps are all places well travelled, and an artist needs to pioneer new territory, personal territory. This is difficult for me, as some of my revelations are uncomfortable for me to even write, let alone make visual art about. I'll take VanGogh's example today and let myself be sensitive.

Recovery and Redemption

2006-09-19T05:24:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed my two days at the Clay Expressions Conference last week, I hung out, I chatted, and I watched. I sat in on the workshops by Rimas Vis Girda, Randy Schmidt, Paul Wandless, Melisa Cadell and Richard Zakin. Although I have done the clay transfer / monoprinting process before, that Paul was demonstrating, doing it with the group at the conference made me rexamine the process and what possibilites it holds for me.

My biggest realization though was that my work has been lacking a unified theme for quite some time. I have drifted through different expressive avenues without a sense of an underlying theme or purpose behind the work. So, although my newer work may have appeared similar to older work, it was becoming lifeless. Why did this realization take me two years? Maybe the lack of dreaming time that comes with looking after a small child full-time, or the sleep-deprivation, or my own over-confidence. So bear with me while I rummage around in the attic of my brain, and start making some new connections. (Can I get hip coordinating new color storage systems for my brain?)

In the meantime, while I was at Amaco on Monday (being photographed with the green modeling clay. I am a spokesmodel?) I finally got around to taking my own pics of the demo pieces on display there. This one is my self-portrait as a William Blake.

Clay Expressions

2006-09-15T17:11:00.000-07:00

I have spent today at the Clay Expressions conference in Indianapolis, had a great time, and am now wondering, why is it I never see any ceramic blogs? Knitting blogs are everywhere, you can't surf the net without tripping over the danged things (much like a yarn stash, I suspect) but I have managed to miss any ceramic blogs lurking on the edges. My paltry attempts to find such things have come up with nothing, just a couple of people who like clay but don't really blog it. Hmmm.....

Tomorrow I will have pics of the conference to share, maybe even a pic of my own hands on project. I had a great time, have some ideas for tiles ...

Man

2006-09-04T11:43:00.000-07:00

Man (2003) 21" high, ceramic. $900. includes shipping in the continental US. This piece is constructed using a combination of handbuilding (slab and coil) and slip-casting techniques. the entire form is handbuilt, including the head, then a head and other parts, are cast with very thin ceramic slip in a mold, and applied on top of the handbuilt head while the slip-cast form is still wet. The whole piece is then fired and glazed.

Dragonfly Platter

2006-09-03T05:44:00.000-07:00

Dragonfly Platter with Rutile glaze. $80. High fire ceramic, dishwasher safe, lead-free, appx 16" long.

Large Horse in Progress

2006-09-03T05:41:00.000-07:00

This piece is now up to the poll (behind the ears) and is 30" tall. After firing, with ears, it should be about 28" high.

Introduction

2006-09-02T04:43:00.000-07:00

Almost all the artists I know have websites, but I'm too lazy. So instead I am starting a blog. This site is where I will post images of my current projects, art which is available for sale or rent, and updates of what I am doing professionally. I can be contacted through the comments section of the blog or by email. Thank you for visiting.