Vay-cay-shun with the whole Sevigney clan is coming soon for us! Relaxation is the key (does that happen with a 3 year old?)  I’m really looking forward to looking over one of my largest (literally and figuratively) influences; the ocean. It is beautiful here in NH and I know the Big Blue is only 1.5 hrs away but I miss having the smell of the salty bay (Narragansett Bay) at my doorstep or being able to drive to the beach in 5 minutes (Wells, Maine). Plans are to walk the Jetties @ Wells beach, Big Daddy’s Ice Cream, flying kites and having a few barley hopsilicious treats on the beach. Lobsters and steamers are a must!!! One of Graham’s favorite stops at the grocery store is to visit the Lobster tank.  I’m wondering how he’ll feel about having one on his plate?

The September exhibit deadline edges ever closer so I’ll be bringing my sketchbook, drawing pad and pens to get some ideas down. When the brain relaxes good ideas tend to surface.  Mmmmmmmm…..pennnnnnnnnns.  I stopped using pencils because erasers are not a good thing for my sketchbook.  I’m already obsessively compulsive in my working habits and pencils allowed me to erase “mistakes”. A pen’s permanent line requires me to work with all the marks I create and adds a random variable important for idea generation. My favorite pens are  Lamy AL- Star fountains  loaded with Noodler’s Heart of Darkness ink. I spent too much money on disposable pens over the past decades. I have experimented with gels, Microns, and rollerballs but most have fallen out of favor for numerous reasons. Fountain pens create the best line quality and allow for ink choice since they are refillable. For larger drawings good old Sharpie bold fits the bill.

I took a trip to RI to drop off some work that needed a soda vapor fire and spend some time with my buddy Jay Lacouture (in a glaze and decal-athalon stage right). 3.5 hour drive down, made cone packs, wadded my pieces, reminisce about my time in RI, and 3 hours back ( faster at night).  Before leaving we hit up Flo’s Clamshack looking over a drizzly First Beach (where Marylena and I got married)and enjoyed a beer and fried clams. Good stuff!!   

So here are  some of the tests out of Bertha’s 3rd fire. I’ve got a solid liner glaze, an interesting terra sig that crackles and flashes, and a copper red glaze. If I remember correctly at cone 06 you can get surface sheen and flashing from soda. This clay is SO vitreous at this temp and a nice chocolate color. I’ve put grog in this body because in most of my work people are surprised it is clay. I want people to be able to see the tooth in the clay and want the surface to speak more to the material it comes from.

Lessons from this fire:

·         I need better flame travel around kiln shelves. The bottom reached temp but the top              wasn’t close.  Good that I have a supply of shelves in storage and found four 17”                          square shelves.
·         Spray more soda solution in the kiln.
·         Get wood scraps to add BTUs and more reduction at the end of the fire.

 And now off to mow the lawn…joy. Mowing is like shaving; tedious but the brain gets to rest and allow ideas to percolate. Mowing and shaving are both mechanized but mowing takes longer and is more effort…and as Michael Scott from The Office would say….

Blog post or children’s book title? I’ve fired my phoenix kiln (aka Bertha) thrice and am still in process of getting consistent results from the firings. I loaded the kiln yesterday and fired today just before the severe weather rolled in. Earthenware at cone 1 or 2 with some soda ash tossed in gets such a vitreous satin chocolate surface. I’m looking at layering surface and adding terra…digressions…save for other posts.

Over the years I have hoarded burners, pipes, valves, bricks, old kilns and kiln furniture in preparation for having a legit home studio. I patched together my system from an old raku burner system and two venturi burner systems from 10 years ago. Ward Burner Systems is the place to go if you have questions or problems. The new Baso valve and most of my purchased kiln supplies have come from Ward.

The resulting kiln isn’t a pretty arch or masonry masterpiece (and my wife reminds me of this since it sits in our back yard) but gets the job done and only cost $250 (kiln was $50 and new Baso $179).   

The key is getting the maximum amount of grunt work done since our last week of daycare is next week! The kiln needs to be running on all cylinders! Balancing family, studio, and work is my greatest challenge. During the summer months work is at a minimum but I’m making up for the family time I miss out on for work. Seems studio is the middle child and needing more attention.    

             Looooooooong time since posting so a reboot effort is needed for my website. Classes are over at PSU so I’m dedicating the summer to my solo exhibit at Salve Regina University’s Dorance H. Hamilton Gallery that I start installing Sept 20th. I’ve attached some pics of the updated and lived in studio.

I have been working intermittently making Yunomi. These have been quick studies that I only allow myself a day to construct and act as boiled down versions of my work with a function slant. They can be used…but who will?? Interesting that when people pay a certain price for a functional piece they don’t use it. Price precludes function. I’m curious what the cutoff is?? My guess is $75, my personal cutoff is $60, but who knows? If you know or think you know feel free to inform!! If nothing else my dad will be happy since I’m making “Something cool that you make and people can buy.” This relates to something Sandy Besser told me when he bought some of my work “Be careful of your prices. You could end up being your own best collector.” Sandy gave me a financial boost years ago when he bought a few of my pieces and I was sad to hear of his passing.    

First day in the studio that felt like a real studio day. Turned on the stereo, started the music and don’t remember the mix stopping. I’m upping the scale a bit and making absurd Rube Goldberg cyborg contraptions that don’t know how to work. I stayed up late last night to finish what I was working on since the clay is drying out quick and I want to start on other contraptions.     

Yesterday’s music selection started with Beck but what stuck in my head was Beastie Boys/Santigold Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win(RIP Yauch and the Beastie Boys as we know them). It has a killer trumpet hook. After we made pizza for dinner Graham, Marylena and I danced to that song. End to a great day!!