Day Twenty-Six

The first glaze firing went well. I have used this glaze many times and become familiar with how it behaves better now but it is aways a relief seeing a good result when the kiln opens as many variants like how tightly the kiln is packed, the clay type, the kiln size, etc. can alter the look and the hand of the glaze a lot. As bisque came out of the kiln I apply wax resist and glaze on them. In the afternoon I took a break from making larger pieces and worked for an hour on smaller items like mugs and cups which pull me closer to the wheel. It is refreshing after a several weeks of throwing larger pieces. 

Day Twenty-Five

I want to squeeze in a few hours to do a small fun project that has nothing to do with the ongoing projects. I am thinking of creating a collection of small drink ware in fantasy colors like pinks, greens and blues, something easy, unrealistic and sweet. It will have to be made within a half day, glazed and finished in a few hours,  and then shot in another half day so it will be uncomplicated glazing and mainly about forms made on a wheel. Perhaps a collection of 12 unique pieces, all lined up in a row like chess pieces or maybe a box of chocolate, or could it be like a frozen desert on a big sheet of ice. I wish I had a big freezer so I could make a big slab of ice. I will see if I can make time - my work schedule now is determined by the kilns which will be running back to back for the next several days. 

Day Twenty-Four

I trimmed the last tall piece and wished I made all pieces look as balanced. This was the 11th piece I made in this style including the first two made as a prototype.  I can see some unsureness in the earlier pieces. Would others see that as well on the final product? Perhaps. I unloaded the first bisque and thankfully nothing has exploded or cracked. I rearranged the drying pieces to allow a better air flow around them and put the round pieces upside-down in the nest of shredded wood to expose the bottom, the wetter side of the pots. There will be 3 more bisque loads and I want to make sure they will dry on time. I spent the later part of the day applying wax on the bisque wares. 

I went through items and ordered packaging materials. I dislike the foam peanuts. They fly everywhere, it's hard to clean up and sure, they are made of recycled materials and now biodegradable ones are available but I still can't help the feeling of buying trash.  They don't look pretty either. I remember when I was a kid my grandmother sent apples to my mother in a big box filled with rice husks. We would stick our hands in the box in search for an apple blindly and sometimes husks were stuck deep in the dimple of the fruit. There used to be a mound of rice husks in the back yard. This was before they started dressing up fruits in an individual styrofoam fish-net cap like today. 

Day Twenty-Three

I am loosing my daily rhythm. I want to get up early in the morning and go swimming before I get in to the studio by 8am. I want to meditate and do writing before I go the pool. These days I get up past 7am even if I am in bed by 10 in hope for getting up around 5am. I don't like when I get up at 7am the minute after I wake up I feel rushed, that I need to get out and start getting things going right away. It works much better for me if I have some time to relax and not get rushed by emails and things on the phone. I want to make tea and just sit down and look outside the window even though my window is facing the back of the building where I can peak at the neighbor's rectangular lappable outdoor swimming pool with a plant-filled covered terrace, the adjacent neglected garden with painted decorative tiles on the wall illustrating something - Brooklyn Bridge? - and rows of two-chair balcony where one opens the door to it the sun reflects right back to my room. I spent most of the past three weeks in the studio and in my small bedroom. I did not take the subway, I did not go to the city, I did not visit friends, I did not go see a movie or an exhibition. No I did spent some time outside of working; I went out to dinners to my favorite local restaurants, to Hip-hop Vietnamaese restaurant for their delicious Pho, a coffee shop, the stroll, the park. I am kind of puzzeled by the ideas between being satisfied and wanting more. If I learn to appreciate what I have and be happy with what exists instead of love what I don't yet have and want more, where is an improvement or an exploration? I want more and want to try more.

Yesterday I did not do much. I threw one more of the tall bottle because I broke one and I like making more than the exact quantity because there can be cracking and glaze faults. Its my baker's dozen - a potter's dozen. It is the piece I make in two parts so I made the bottom and then the top and have them rest to firm up. The kiln temperature was still high and I had a few more hours to unload. I worked on my laptop and it was already past 2pm. I was tired. The thrown pieces are still too wet to assemble. The kiln is still cooling down and the recycled clay on the wedging table is also still wet. I decided to take a few hour break and headed home for lunch and a rest. I fell asleep with a book in my hand and woke up after over an hour. I kept the computer at the studio to have another reason to go back. I did not particularly feel refreshed after the nap but back at the studio I assembled the two parts, unload the kiln, load another bisque firing, wedged up the clay, cleaned up and left. 

I prefer not to have tight deadlines. I started working on this project last year while I was working 3 days a week in the city. When I made the commitment I knew it was going to be tight and asked for an extension which got me an additional week. Still, I thought being able to work full time in my studio would dramatically help me with the time line. Sure it does but not so much like I hoped. What can I do differently? Get a help I think. it's better to start getting a help when I am not pressed with time. I can also think that this is natural that I feel pressured because it is a challenging work for me. I would probeably not be satisfied if I was working on things I have already known how and feel that I should be doing more, something new and something more than I would feel comfortable with. Otherwise where is my challenge and where am I going from here?

Day Twenty-Two

I finished trimming the last two forms, unloaded the bisqued succulent pots and loaded a few pieces of the vessels that were dry and ready for bisque firing. The last form I threw looks like an hour-glass, with wider top and bottom and a narrow waist, which I couldn't quite get on center except on the last two pieces. It is obvious on a wheel and they dance side to side while I was trimming them. I made this form the last to throw because its open form would help dry faster than others and I thought it was easier and faster for me to make but it turned out to be a trickier shape. 

As the air has been humid the past few days the recycled clay on the plaster slab is still wet after whole two days. The clay felt like even sweating on a wheel. I hope that they will dry so I can wedge it up and clean up the area. I am using 6 different clay on current projects and having unsorted buckets of clay in sight just does not help me feel I am moving along to the next phase.

I cleaned up and left home around 6pm, early compared to the past days. I went grocery shopping and cooked a big pot of stew and rice for the week. I want a good routine of grocery shopping. When I am at the studio all the time I tend to neglect the chores in the apartment. 

Day Twenty-One

I came home to two things in the mail that lifted me up: a package my friend sent me from Japan and a card from a lady who purchased a mug from me a few weeks ago. The package included notes on a card with an illustration of a raw egg yolk killing time on a bed of egg white, clearly turned off by the approaching chopsticks. The card from the lady has a beautiful illustration of Cooper's hawk. They are not only personal. it's something about handwritten notes emails or txts don't translate that I appreciate so much. I think of time -the moment the each letter was put down leaving slight imprints on the surface. How the words fill the space and the way they sign their name for their millionth's time, it's just wonderful. I want to start sending more handwritten notes. When I started working in clay I did not think of these exchanges which I now enjoy as much as the act of making itself. 

I finally finished throwing all forms. I am two days behind the original schedule. I hope all pieces will dry safely.

Day Twenty

It was a quiet Friday at the studio. I trimmed the thrown pieces from the past 2 days and thrown 8 in a new form. I have 8 more to make. The shelves are filled with drying vessels and the pile of empty clay boxes is taller but somehow the end seems still further away. The more I work on it and know the details going into the project the further the end appears. 

Thankfully everything is drying well except one of the tall bottles I made in two parts. I knew it would happen when I forced the thin bottom piece to match the diameter of the thick top piece. It split horizontally half way around the seam line like a gaping mouth of a muppet.