Sunday 25 May 2008

Ceramic Heart Face Cabochons


Yesterday I was writing a bit about not being motivated to make my crafty items and after some reflection, I think it's because I've been focusing on making things that, while I love them and think they're cute in one way, they aren't items that I myself would use. They're items that I used in my crafting a number of years ago but my personal tastes have changed. I think that's why I'm having a bit of a problem with them right now. I've been so focused on making things that others like that I've ignored making things for myself. After all there is only so much time in a day. Well today I've done a bit of both. I finished off some buttons I started a couple of weeks ago so all I have to do is add the coating and I'll try and do that tomorrow. I also make some green ware from the molds I made yesterday and I really quite love them. I can see even in the very short time I've been working with clay that I'm learning by leaps and bounds. Just a few minutes ago I took the first item out of the kiln that I'm really in love with. These are heart face ceramic cabochons. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them but I really like how they turned out. I couldn't wait to get to the computer to share the picture here. These are made from an original sculpture I created and then I made a mold. The cabochons were made using that mold. I really like how the glaze turned it. It's a new technique for me where I covered the bisque ware with the black glaze and then lightly washed away the glaze from the high spots and then covered it in a clear glaze. I also fired everything to a higher temperature than I'm used to. I'm still a bit frightened of the high temperatures of the kiln so very carefully watch everything. Anyway, I wanted to post the picture here. I know it's not everyone's style but you can see it is very different from the types of things I've posted here previously and it's the sort of thing I'm into these days. Now that I've done something I really like my motivation is back and the ideas are starting to flow again.


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