Strange day in the studio...

OK, not THAT strange! Probably more of an eye-opening, reflective type day.

I went out yesterday to check on my completed kiln load and to do some glazing or maybe even creating.

Kiln was at 420, too hot to open still, but where it should have been. Hot enough to keep me from being tempted to open the lid and peek!

Walked over and looked at things to glaze. Nah, not feelin' it.

Went to my glass, finishing table, dorked around a bit with some things. Nah, not feelin' it.

Moved over to the creating area, took one look and said "yikes" in my mind. Definitely not able to feel it...

When I go through my creative whirlwinds nothing goes back where it belongs. Stuff piles up, stacks up, lands wherever and stays there. I make a huge mess. I was looking a super huge mess.

Soooo, spent the day cleaning up just that one corner.

I realized something about myself during the process --- I do need organization. I've always considered myself a pack-rat type, fine with stacks and messes. I can't even claim to know where things are like some messy people!

However, I have a breaking point.

When I'm in the "zone" nothing matters, I just go full tilt. When I stop, I must clean and organize before I can start again.

I feel cleansed or something along those lines... kind of like cleansing the palate after tasting a good wine! It's energizing to create in an area that is organized.

Today, just as soon as I complete this and put on my messy clay clothes, I'm heading out to my clean corner to start the process again. Ideas were tumbling through my mind as I cleaned up and I'm going to go MESS UP MY STUDIO!!! (Oh, first, I'm going to unload the kiln ;-)

Glazed...

Today was a glaze day. Lately a lot of my pieces have been multi-step processes. I've been putting one or more glaze colors on the pieces, letting it dry overnight, then wiping the excess off getting the piece totally soaked, of course. Then letting it dry again overnight... Then adding my final colors. Sometimes I do that last glaze coat and decide it needs some touching up so I let it dry overnight, then touch up. It's a long process, but I love the results when I layer up a variety of colors.

I finished up the piece on the left today, will be starting on the one below tomorrow. First I covered the entire piece in a dark brownish glaze, let it dry, wiped off the excess. Then I glazed the tile patterns using blues, aquas and other colors. I let them dry then wiped off the excess. Then I glazed the entire piece with a tan-ish glaze, making sure to leave some of the browns and as much as possible of the tile colors showing. Well, guess I'm not quite finished --- tomorrow I'm going to touch up some of the tile colors to make sure they pop a little.

I haven't quite settled in on the colors I'll use for the piece to the right. Usually I have a good picture in my head when I start making the piece but that one has been evolving. I keep thinking blacks, tan, brown but then my mind shoots over to red, yellow, blue, primary colors. I may fire the one above and let the one below sit for a while until the right colors "speak" to me...

The studio is a mess! I go like crazy for a while, then have to take a break and neaten up so I can start the messing up process again.

Playing around with a lot of glazes and using more than one kind of clay means I have a whole lotta test tiles floating around! I used to leave them laying out, grouped by color type (blues, etc.) but now have one of those plastic drawer sets where I keep them. For starters at least! By the time I've been out there in the studio glazing for a few days it looks like someone took the test tiles and threw them up in the air, let them land wherever!