The fragrance of wisteria has been in the air at the studio for several days. My neighbor has several old, tall pines and they are well wrapped up in wisteria vines. Since the weather has been moderate, I've been able to open the back door and it just wafts into the throwing area. I am visited yearly by carpenter bees, who are trying to bore through my shed roof and supports and make a swiss cheese sculpture. We have an agreement that I will leave them alone if they stay out of the studio, but last year several got trapped indoors and refused to leave. Apparently they were attracted by the fluorescent lighting. Over a period of days I found their little carcasses in bowls, on the floor and on the table. Maybe this generation has learned to avoid the great white lights!I have been working on carved pieces. On Thursday I threw most of the day. Friday was nice enough that I left work out to firm up for trimming under the shed roof. So yesterday morning and evening was carving. I have specific shapes and images for some orders and I make several, then choose the best. This has left me with extra bowls and vase forms so I used the wisteria as an image. This piece will not have the usual totally carved background and I want to experiment with some purple commercial glazes as highlights on the wisteria blossoms. I have a nice blue and red and you would think you could just mix and get a wonderful purple. The glory and surprise of glazing chemistry does not guarantee such a result. I will try another experiment, varying the ratio of the blue and red to see if I can get closer than I have in the past. More trials!
Here are some shots of a few of the other carved pieces. I am working on leaves on the bowls and pomegranites on the vases. Well have lots more lots on music, movies, pottery, etc. but will post later. Work is calling.
3 comments:
I've always loved your surface treatments, especially the bottom two. What tools do you use?
What tools do you use for the surface treatments of the bottom two pieces. I've always loved the carving work you do!
I use a set of mini loop tools that have 6 tools in the package. They have 2 different size heads in a circle shape, a triangle shape and a squared shape. Usually I use the small circle, you can tell it from the background carving. When I want a sharper line, I will use the triangle shaped one, just one edge of it. I also like a very fine lined carving tool that Dolan made but have used a Kemper wire tool that is double ended when I couldn't find the Dolan one. Sorry I don't have the numbers. Tools are at studio and computer at home. If you want them, just let me know and I will gather the data.
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