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Pastimes : ceramics-clay-pottery -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: AugustWest who wrote (203)	3/2/2002 8:55:19 AM
From: Crocodile	Respond to of 338

Hey there, I've been up for awhile, but had to go take the dogs for a walk. And then I got busy photographing some of my rocks out on the porch... and then I got busy playing with a speech recognition program in my computer...and then.... and then... Well, you know how it is... So much to do and so little time... <gg> Sounds like you're right back into the thick of it. Wayyda go. That's cool. Wish I could say the same for myself.. (o: Problem is that my weeks are being divided up just a little too much to keep picking up the thread and carrying on with my own stuff. Takes a little while to figure out just where I was... and somewhere in between here and there, there is laundry to do, dinners to cook, and a bunch of other silly stuff. Good to hear that you'll have some help with the camera stuff and getting going with that. It's a bit confusing if you aren't into the digital thing. Good to have someone who already is to give you a hand with it. Well, sounds like you are spinning some pretty large stuff. I'll bet your arms do feel that for sure. Amazing though...how as time goes by, your muscles get used to a once familiar motion and gradually get back into the routine. It seems a bit painful at first, but then as each week passes, you're doing more and more (and with better control) than you thought you could. I think it's really good that you just did the first big batch of pottery with a very free attitude.. as if it was an experiment. Probably removed a lot of the pressure and also helped you to just work freely. Now, you can do as you say..start moving towards working on form and technique. Seems to me that the only way to get anywhere with art is to ALLOW YOURSELF to be free and work freely so that change and improvement just come along on their own...naturally. And with certain kinds of art, I think that the only way to hit the mark is when you can get into a certain mode of thinking that is probably akin to some Zen thing. I know that that's when I do my best wood carving. I'm just working away and things are going right, and I'm not sure, but I don't think I'm thinking of anything in particular... for me it's like a mysterious white space kind of thinking where I must just be so into working on something that nothing else exists. Puzzling and difficult to explain, but perhaps you know what I mean. I'm like that with painting and drawing too. At one time, I could maintain that kind of state for hours at a time. Don't get much chance for it these days, but hoping to have time this summer. To some people, it might seem exhausting, but it is the opposite for me.. It's like taking a quick mental holiday in another universe for a few hours. Going out canoeing is much the same feeling to me. Well, speaking of holidays, I want to get a few things done and the work on some drawings..maybe something in pastels as, for some very odd reason, I have been thinking of pastels all week. I have no idea why, or what I'm even going to draw, but I just can't stop thinking about the damned things, so I think there must be some reason! <gg> catch up with you later!

To: AugustWest who wrote (203)	3/3/2002 12:21:36 AM
From: Crocodile	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 338

Okay...here we go. I've got a couple of questions for you. (Can you tell I'm starting to warm up to the idea of doing something with clay again?).. (o: I've been trying to think of what it is that I would like to make if I start working with clay again. I've been thinking of it for sculpture... not particularly large pieces... more like masks and such.. perhaps objects which are a combination of clay with metals, glass, wood, small natural or polished stones, etc... but with clay forming the center of what they will be. I'm very attracted to the idea of trying raku firing. I think I'm going to see if I can find someone who will bisque fire some pieces for me if I make them... I do have a potter friend who keeps threatening to spin some pots some time after an absence of many years, so I may see if she would like to get together to fill her kiln. So, now I'm wondering about what clay I should work with...not having done any raku firing... I went and looked at this website..at their clay, and I see a couple of clays on the list which are marked as being for raku. If you were thinking of something like what I'm trying to describe... mask-like objects and so on... what kind of clay would you choose? Here's the page from their site. There are some local dealers of clay around here too, but I think they get their clay from these people anyhow. pshcanada.com BTW, prepare for some silly questions over the next little while. (o: