100 Spring and Summer bulbs ready for Labor Day open house

bulbs in progress (before glazing)

Join me at my home studio this coming Labor Day weekend for a free open house featuring my work and that of my friends and art colleagues at Yakima Valley College, Kayo Nakamura (drawing, prints, mixed media), Monika Lemmon (drawing) and Chris Otten (photography). Oops! in my last post, I forgot to mention that my daughter will also be there with her handmade jewelry.

Now that she's nearly and adult and working independently, she decided to rebrand her jewelry with her name (before she and her friends were "Dezignosaur")

Stop by my studio, 203 S. 8th Ave, just south of Walnut Saturday and Sunday, August 30 and 31 from 10-4 and/or Monday, September 1 from 10-12. Admission is free. Kids welcome, as long as they can be gentle around art. (Adults welcome under the same expectations ;-)

bulb in progress, partway through its first coat of underglaze

In the Spring and early summer, I made a bunch of bulbs, to replace the 100 bulbs that I installed at YVC. I had a blast making the bulbs, but now I've spent what feels like the whole summer glazing them. 

finished bulb, this one was fun to underglaze

Last week, I unloaded maybe the third load of glazed bulbs (and a few other odds and ends). 

bulb from my sketches, made to look drippy

Somehow I still keep making them, so I'm not exactly caught up, but I did get all the ones made in spring done. It's funny how small pieces like this can feel both like nothing (I didn't make any new large or even medium sized sculpture this year), but also like a lot (I made and finished 100 pieces in about half a year).

some of the 100 bulbs made earlier this year

The irony, of course, is that I don't have space to show 100 bulbs during the Labor Day open house. Maybe I'll just put out a bunch in some bowls for folks to play with. 

the original idea for the bulbs installation was that the audience could rearrange their order and orientation

For the show, I bring in a partial wall with hooks. While I'm using the studio for making, this wall is in storage, but during the show, it gives me space to install 27 bulbs while hiding the clay storage area under my worktable.

the partial wall during a previous year's studio tour

The other thing I'm not sure how to think about is all the bulbs that require more work because the plan is to include mixed media. I've got maybe half a dozen bulbs that I planned to add stuff too, and adding that stuff takes extra time. 

These perforated pieces are a bulb I intend to sew together. So far I'm on attempt 3 to get the sewing to look right

I'm not exactly behind my timing plan, so they might still get finished, though I have a lot of things I plan to do if I have time. I already started cleaning my studio, and I've fired what I hope is the last firing (I got an error code, but the top layer looks ok, so far). 

a new bulb with glaze on only the sprigs

Most of the mixed media stuff can be done in the house which may work out well, since this week is supposed to be very hot and my clay studio does not have air conditioning. The weekend of the open house is supposed to be cooler, and my studio feels great when the fan is on and the windows are open, as along as it isn't 101 degrees outside.

a bulb after underglaze, but before glaze

The bulbs that I've been working on have been a blast. I got really excited about making them earlier this year and still have lots more I want to make (and finish). I've been trying to balance my glazing (and painting) time with my making time, because, apparently I could just make bulbs basically forever and not do anything else.

a chain bulb--the chain moves

Earlier in the year, I thought I'd spend this summer focused on more political pieces and/or screaming faces, but I just didn't find the energy. The politics pieces and the faces tend to take more of my mental and emotional labor, while the abstract pieces are fairly relaxing and calming to create.

the only screaming bulb from this batch

Even applying the underglaze layers to these pieces can be fairly relaxing, at least when compared to painting and using glazes themselves. For those of you not familiar with my process, underglazes are the colors I use for the bulbs and most sculpture. These colors look similar before and after firing, while glazes are the ones that can melt and get shiny. They usually look very different before and after firing.

bulbs with the second coat of underglaze applied, ready to be wiped

For most of my bulbs and sculpture, I bisque fire the dry work, then I apply the first layer or layers of underglaze and fire again. After that I add a second layer of underglazes, wipe that away with a wet sponge, so that it highlights the textures of my forms. Then I add a layer of clear glaze to some or all of the sculpture. That clear glaze will be glossy, and may also darken or deepen the appearance of the underglaze.

bulb before the third firing, with pink underglaze

The glaze I usually use over the underglazes appears pink before firing and clear after firing. I use different glazes, which fire to a hotter temperature, for my functional work. Most of the glazes we use at YVC are still different glazes that fire to a yet hotter temperature.

the same bulb after firing, the pink turned clear (over green)