Ferocious felines, a portmanteau and how to make the change...

 

 They are quite possibly the greatest dreams ever.  Enough said.

Now, on to the good stuff. 

There is a serious lack of craft breweries, and breweries in general in southern IL/southeast MO.  Oh, there are a couple in the area.  There is Big Muddy in Murphysboro, Buckner in Cape Girardeau and a couple wineries that have jumped on the band wagon.  I am also eagerly awaiting the opening of Scratch Brewing in Ava.  When you compare it to say, Chicago though, this area really doesn't have much.  Certainly not enough to do a proper brewery trail (although there is talk of organizing one).  As a lover of craft beer, I would like to see this changed.  Somebody get on that.
Actually, if there was anything I could do aside from being a potter it would probably be working in a small brewery/brew pub.  I would be fine with doing little stuff, but it would be wicked cool to help create the brews.  So if there are any breweries in the Carbondale, IL area that have a few extra bucks to throw around (HA!) and need some part time help, give me a shout.

Say hello to Maggie.

  Maggie is the new cat my wife and I decided to get recently.  I am not entirely sure why my wife wanted to get a cat.  I think it has something to do with thinking it would be cute watching Noah playing with one.  It is kind of cute, but only for us.  Maggie seems terrified.  Of course that may be because Noah's idea of playing with Maggie is getting 2 inches from her face and laughing hysterically. 
I am hoping Maggie grows up to be a ferocious beast and hunts down all the moles that have been tearing up our back yard.  In the mean time she has been running around the studio pestering the dogs and such.  She seems quite interested in whatever I am doing, trying to jump in my lap and get on the wheel whenever I am throwing or trimming, attacking my elbow when I am decorating, etc.  It is not too bad having her around the studio most of the time.  She has only broken a few pieces...so far.

Luckily these were not among them.

Baa!

 

Baa?

 

I made these beer steins recently featuring people with sheep heads, or "sheeple" if you prefer.  Now, there are some particular associations with the word "sheeple."  Although this is where these pieces started, once I got working on these they became more about the visuals and less about the meaning.  I was really just having fun with the images, seeing how different sheep heads would look on different bodies and such.  They start a story in my mind.  I am hoping they do the same for other.  I think I may continue this line of decoration and do a little run people with various animal heads.  Swine-dividuals?  Cow-mans?

  Last post I was rankling about the oppressive heat.  As luck would have it two days after that post my wife's grandpa brought over this little gem! 

Sweet, sweet conditioned air!

He has owned numerous rental properties and now has quite a collection of things that were left behind, this being among them.  I thought it was going to be a bit too small at first, but not so.  I usually only run it at about 20 - 25% power and it cools the garage-io plenty for comfortable working conditions.  Freaking great.

And finally, I have been seriously thinking about making a major style change with my pots lately.  Currently my work is sgraffito decorated stuff fired to cone 5/6 in an electric kiln.  I enjoy the pieces I make, but came on this style more as a result of circumstances rather than choice. 
 Originally I wanted to get some sort of graphics on my pots.  The more I work on pots and in my sketchbook, though, the more I want to see the illustrations on paper instead of on pots.  That idea has been floating around in my head in a sort of insubstantial way the past few months or so, but was really solidified in the past two weeks.  I have been working on building up inventory and have found myself putting off the decorating part of the work in favor of throwing more.  A pretty fair sign that it may be time to move in another direction.

In addition to graphic pots (and probably before those, actually) I have always been extremely interested in wood, salt and soda firing.  The pots that come out of those kilns are just plain beautiful.  There is definitely something to the interaction of the clay and the flame.  Those pots seem to have a different, more natural life than pots that I have been making.

So now the question is how to transition from what I am doing to what I want to do.  Whenever I figure out what I want/need to do I want to get to it right away.  I have plans to go to a wood firing workshop next year, but that is an awful long ways away.  I have looked for other potter wood firing in this area to sit in on or help with firings, but to no avail.  I know SIU (the college 'round these parts) has a wood kiln, but I am not sure how often it gets used.  I am thinking about contacting the ceramics professor there to see if I can help with anything there or maybe even audit a class or something.  If I can get in on something like that I may even try to stretch it into getting into the graduate program.  I am sure my work would benefit from some serious critiques, especially if I am going to try my hand at wood firing.

Ok, that was a lot of eff-ing writing, so enough of this.  Next time...beards!

Kangaroos, the good folk and the complexities of the quadrupel......

 

Apparently the largest kangaroos are the reds, which can grow to a height of 6 1/2 feet.  Disappointing...I thought they got bigger than that. I was really hoping for a nine foot behemoth that could stand on its tail and put a foot through a brick wall...oh well.  On to the meat and...you know.

This is a quick shot of some volunteer potatoes I pulled out of the compost yesterday.  They are all just little things, but they were unexpected so it was just a nice little bonus.

It has been hotter than a...something that is really, really hot...I'm not very clever.  Anyway...as such I moved my decoration operations indoors today (I usually do my sgraffito scratchy scratchy outside, better light & such) in an effort to keep a little cooler.  

It did not work.  My studio is in my un-airconditioned garage, so it is still pretty warm in there.  Not as hot as it is outside, but still quite uncomfortable.  (And don't worry, the dog in the background is not dead, just resting.)  Thus I am now inside working on the computer and whatnot.

Excessive heat aside, here are a few of the things I have been working on the last two days.

Hopefully these wine buckets/crocks will be occupying shelf space in a local gift boutique.  I like the one on the left with the offset feather/leaf thing.  The one in the middle with the lattice pattern is so-so.  And I am really digging the one on the right with the art nouveau-ish flowers.  Thoughts?

One of the things I am working on while escaping the heat is drawing.  I try to work in my sketchbook whenever I get a chance, which is unfortunately not too often.  It is usually when I have a custom order for a subject I have not really worked with before.  Thus is the case today.  I recently got an order for a mug with a fairy on it.  Now I am not really a fairy kind of person, so I need to do a little research and drawing first.  Where to turn (aside from the computer webs)?

A fantastic little book called Faeries by Brian Froud and Alan Lee.

I originally saw one of Froud's books in the Barnes and Nobles and loved both the style of the art and the fantasy theme (I am a bit of a geek some times).  Being remarkably cheap though, I passed on getting it.  Later when I needed reference material for a fairy order I knew exactly what to look for.  Off to the Bookworm (our local book store) to get this classic tome. 

And lastly, while in town getting a great book on the wee folk I also acquired a fine bottle of beer to celebrate yet another year of not dieing.  

In case you cannot read that label, the brew is Three Philosophers from Brewery Ommegang in NY.  It is a very complex, very tasty quadrupel ale with a dash of a cherry ale thrown in for good measure.  It takes some time to work through all the different things going on in this beer; definitely a sipper.

Up next...dreams of flight.

-Rob, Simple Circle Studios

Monkeys, pie and how not to fix a truck...

 

 The first monkey to be sent successfully into space was Albert II, a male rhesus monkey, who made it to a height of 83 miles (134 km) on June 14, 1949. Albert II was carried aboard a V2 rocket as well, though his fate was not as lucky as that of the fruit flies: a problem with the parachute on the recovery capsule sadly led Albert II to his death from the force of the impact upon landing.

Courtesy UniversityToday.com.

This past Sunday my sweet wife did something unprecedented...she baked a pie.  Scratch that, she baked two pies.  It is not like she never bakes pie, but it is pretty damn close.  If you count the one she baked for me Sunday, I am averaging one pie every five years.  It is ok though.  She made me a pecan pie and it was freaking fantastic.  Which naturally leads to the question, how long does it take one person to eat a whole pecan pie?

The last piece...such a sad, sad day.

I managed to make this one last two days but it took a great deal of restraint.  I probably could have polished it off  as soon as it came out of the oven.

And after she finished making my pecan pie she made a chocolate pie for herself.  The thing I have always thought was kind of funny about chocolate pie is that it is just chocolate pudding in a shell.  Why not just put it in a bowl and save yourself the trouble?  

On a side note, these are the egg yolks she used to make her pie.  Now those are some big, orange yolks...definitely NOT from factory farm chickens.

 And now for the (unfortunately) continuing saga of the truck.  I thought the fuel filter did the trick.  I took the truck for a spin after I switched it out and it ran fine.  The next day I went into town to run some errands and my trusty, reliable truck shit on me again...twice.

Luckily I was right next to the sweet wife's place of employment and was able to swing it into the parking lot.  There it sat for the past week plus; I finally go it home today. 

 Now, it could be fixed.  Since the fuel filter didn't correct the problem, it is probably the fuel pump...or something else fuel related.  The alternator also appears to have gone by the wayside, though.  Again, it could be fixed, but the sweet wife and I have been dabbling with the idea of getting a new truck anyway, so now seems like a pretty good time.  I am actually going to look at a truck tomorrow, so hopefully the saga will conclude by the week's end.

**Wait!  There is late breaking news on the truck front!  My two year old son just said he could fix my truck with prunes...perhaps...perhaps...

In studios news, I would like to again sing the praises of the portable, home made damp box.  I think I did a post on it a while back, but I couldn't find it.  The idea originally came from Meagan Chaney and I have been using it successfully since I read her post.  Basically you fill the bottom of a plastic container with plaster.  When the plaster is set you saturate it with water and add a lid...boom, instant damp box.

I have had a lid in one for a few weeks that was actually too dry to trim when I put it in.  I pulled it out today and it trimmed just fine.  Perhaps a little on the dry side still, but good enough to get the job done.

Compost crock says, "Me eats garbage, me makes good dirt!"

 And thus ends the Simple Circle Studios blog post number...whatever it is.  Now I have to go brush my teeth; good oral hygiene and whatnot.  

Next time...how tall is a kangaroo?

-Rob, Simple Circle Studios

Don't ever say your car is broke...

Kombucha!!!

Go ahead...click the picture.  You know you want to.
And here you thought I was going to go on some SoAD rant.

A little more than a month ago I did an art fair in Paducah, KY.  Aside from it being a little hot, it was a good show.  Right up until I tried to go home.  I was cruising down the road in my gem of a truck when things went awry.  Whenever I tried to accelerate the truck would hesitate a bit, then pick up again when I let off the gas.  Not a good sign.  (Actually it started happening on the way to Paducah, but only once or twice and I had things to do, so I didn't think about it.)  The problem quickly got worse, forcing me to down shift to 4th, then 3rd, then finally to pull off the road where the truck promptly died.  The sweet wife kindly came to pick me up because it was too late to do anything else.  The next day I borrowed my in-law's car to check things out.  A few hours and two tow trucks later the truck was back in the driveway, still not running. 

And there it sat, patiently waiting to be fixed.  Unfortunately I could not get around to doing that as I was getting ready for another show in three weeks. 

Finally this week, after a kick-ass show in Webster Groves, MO (more on that later) I chatted with our mechanic neighbor and came to the conclusion that it was probably the fuel filter that was gumming up the works.  Between yesterday afternoon and this morning, after two trips to the auto store, the truck is running once more!  Turns out it was indeed the fuel filter causing problems; the new one is performing like a champion...so far.  

Now I have almost three months until my next show, so I have a good deal of time to build up inventory, work on the display and post stuff on etsy.  Heck I just might even have time to get some yard work done.  Or at least post on the blog a little more frequently.

Next time...Space Monkies!

One day Tommy ate a bug...

The Yeti!

  A couple weeks ago I was at an art fair in St. Charles, MO. I had never been there before, but apparently they have a quaint little historic main street area filled with various shoppes, boutiques, restaurantes, etc. it was not too shabby a place for an art fair. Traffic was on and off, partly due to the interesting weather that struck Saturday. I always find it odd when the sky gets made enough at you to throw chunks of ice and such. It rained for a brief bit and then turned to quarter and golf ball sized hail. Thankfully it did not last very long and the weather was a bit better Sunday. I was happy with the whole deal and hope I get to go back again soon.  I would have pictures, but I am terrible about remembering the camera and such.

 I am always amazed at how little time artists get in the studio some times. The two weeks before the St. Charles show I don't think I stepped a foot in the studio. I did however build a new display set up featuring a number of pedestals and shelves. I was pretty pleased with how they turned out, but it will take a bit of tinkering to get everything arranged in the booth just so.

Tools of the Trade

The pieces of the puzzle

The end result

They are still a little rough, but they work.  I will clean them up and paint them eventually, but it is not really a pressing matter as they get covered with cloth for the display.


And on top of the new displays, I finally got a new tent! Some shows require a white tent canopy, but the one I have is blue…shazbot. I was originally looking for a high end tent (craft hut, trimline, etc.) and actually found one for a really good price on ebay. Unfortunately the person who listed it had no idea what they were doing and I never got the tent. Thankfully ebay has a buyer protection program, so I got my $1100 back. Later I found a cheaper tent that, while not quite as good, will serve the purpose and last a good while as long as it is well cared for. It will get a test run this weekend as long as the weather cooperates.

And I finally got around to finishing a few teapots I started a number of weeks ago. I tweaked a few things from the last teapot I made, which did not pour quite right. These have narrower spouts, so hopefully that problem is taken care of. The handles are still a little weak; they need to be a bit beefier in the profile.

And last but not least, for anyone who might be in the following areas at the following times, I have a couple shows coming up in the next few weeks. May 18-20 I will be in Paducah, KY at the Lowertown Arts Fair. June 1-3 I will be in Webster Groves, MO (close to St. Louis) for the Art & Air Festival. It would be wicked cool of you to stop by if you can.


Next time…kombucha!

He lives in a hobbit-hole and everybody knows...

Mr. T, of course.
Now, a brief recap of the Dogwood and Azalea Festival in Charleston, MO. (the show I was at this past weekend)....It was not great. I think it was just the wrong market. It was more of a county fair kind of thing rather than an art fair. There was a lot of crafty stuff and imported buy/sell stuff being sold on the cheap, so $20+ pottery was not as sought after. Fine for what it was, but apparently not the place to hock my wares.

On top of that, the weather was terrible. It rained pretty much all day Friday. Saturday it did not rain, but it was still windy and cold. Sunday started off a little warmer, but ended up getting chilly again and raining on and off all day. Suck.

One the plus side I did get to try out my new truck camper. It was acquired last week so I could camp instead of getting a hotel, drastically reducing my overall show expenses. It has already paid for itself, so good deal there.

Here is a picture of my little hobbit hole. You may notice that the back window is taped up and held closed with a ratchet strap. Yes, the camper needs a little work, but it served its purpose so far and will not be difficult to fix up.

On another note, I had an official logo made up for the studio. I think it fits the bill pretty well.

I know, I know..."You're and artist, why didn't you just make your own logo?"  While I have drawn logo designs in the past, I am not a computer person and do not know how to format it to use on a website, business cards, etc.  Since drawing a logo directly onto my computer screen just doesn't work and drawing a logo on each business card would be very inefficient, I decided to go the professional route.  My new logo was designed by Sharon Reynolds Haege.  You can check out her website here.

Speaking of business cards, I just had some made featuring the new logo. Hopefully they will be finished in time for the show this coming weekend in St. Charles, MO. The St. Charles show (7^th Annual Spring Art Walk) is in a much more affluent neighborhood and just features artists. No imported buy/sell stuff, no Ferris wheels or corndog stands...I have much higher hopes for this weekend. Now I just have to make sure my display is up to snuff.
Up next…the Yeti.

A bunch of freakin' stuff

Topic #1: Flies in the ointment
     It really sucks when you have nice pieces that are irreparably flawed in some way.  These are three such items.  The top two are in pieces now, but the designs will undoubtedly be used again.  The bottom one is still usable, just not sell-able.  It will take up residence on the kitchen window sill.

This was an experiment with underglaze and wax resist.  The experiment worked fine; the bits of detritus that settled in the bottom of the cup did not.

The sacred cow had two little pop-outs from bits of who knows what in the clay. 

Unfortunately that light spot on the left is not just a glare.  Apparently part of the slip got rubbed or washed off at some point in time.

Topic #2: The ones that didn't get away.
     I unloaded a glaze kiln today and all in all, it was a good firing.  There were a few bigger pieces and a couple plates in this load, so I didn't get quite as many pieces in as normal.  Thankfully all the orders I had in there came out suitably well.  Here are a few shots of some of the keepers.

Piggy bank...obviously.

Part of a "donation" for an upcoming show.  There was no booth fee, but there was a required donation for a pre show viewing thing.

SETI inspired works just in time for "World UFO Day" celebrated on June 24 (or July 2, depending on your source).

Flies can be cool.

Civet decoration on a coffee pot...wicked cool.

Round two got loaded a little while ago.  It should be out tomorrow night.  The only bad thing about having all this new work is that now I have to take pictures of everything.  That is probably the only part of the whole process that I really dislike.

Topic #3: Living on the edge
     Or on the rim, I guess.  I was playing around with the rim on a couple of ice buckets today, trying to do something more with them than just an abrupt ending. I was pretty happy with the results.

It looks better than what showed up in this picture.  I think I will try this with a split rim too.


Topic #4: The most expensive clay in the world
     I have heard this little quip as a way of describing reclaimed clay.  I have also heard that if you have more time than money you should make (or re-make in this case) it instead of buy it.  Since I unquestionably fall into the category of more time than money, I will continue to reclaim my clay.  To do this I needed to make a new plaster slab as my old one was getting a bit tattered.  Perhaps that was the reason for the little pops on the sacred cow.

I put this frame together today.  I ran a couple1" dowel rods through it to help support the slab as the bottom will be removed once the plaster has set up.  Now all I have to do is figure out how to mix good, strong plaster.

Topic #5:  It's killin' me
     This killin' time, that is.  Or perhaps it is the Easter candy sitting on the counter.  So what do we do while staring at Easter candy, waiting for a kiln to cool?  Make "chocolate" covered pretzels, of course.

To be honest, they are not actually covered with chocolate.  The Easter candy was made out of sugar and oil with natural and artificial chocolate flavoring.  Not really something I need to put in my body, but when combined with little pretzels it doesn't seem quite as bad. 

Next week: Which is better, a turkey or Mr. T?

Why I hurt...

A month or two ago my wife and I purchased a short term membership to Crossfit, a local gym.  We have both been putting off actually going thus far (my wife still is).  Yesterday I bit the bullet and attended my first class...it kicked my ass pretty hard.
Crossfit is not your typical gym though.  They have scheduled classes with short, intense workouts.  Yesterday we did squats, kettle bells, pushups, lunges and something called burpees.  Doesn't sound like much, but we were supposed to do as many as we possibly could of each of these exercises in four minutes.  So the total work out only lasted 20-25 minutes, but everyone was laid out on the floor after it was all said and done.  And on top of all that, I chipped my tooth with a weight bar.
I am a strange kind of sore today; my muscles hurt a bit, but they are more tired than anything.  It was good though.  I am going again tomorrow.

On the clay front, I was accepted to a couple art fairs last week, which is cool.  I was kind of worried about getting accepted to shows for a little bit, so getting into even these two shows is a nice little validation of what I am doing.  I still have to apply to shows for later in the year though, so I have yet to see what will happen with those.
The wife and I are also planning a home show type thing in the next month or so.  We have a lot of work to do to get ready for that on top of making enough inventory to cover everything.

And finally, here are a few pictures so this post isn't so dry.  This is all stuff that came out of the last load, I think.  I just haven't put any of them up here yet.  Most of these and more are on my Etsy page.

Skull butter dish.  Someone asked if I could make one of these, so I did.

Bird and magnolia butter dish

The "Baa Baa" cup

Raven wine set

I guess that is all for now.  Until later...

-Rob, Simple Circle Studios

A commercial venture for a commercial holiday...

Those of you who follow on the facebook may or may not know that I participated in a Valentine's day sale yesterday.  A very romantic way to spend a commercially created holiday.  So, a brief sale review.

In short, it was not good.  But to be fair, I wasn't really expecting it to be great.  The sale was an annual Valentine's day sale in the student center of the local college (SIUC).  There were only 20-25 vendors, not all of it handmade, and there was almost nothing for signage directing people to the sale; so it is not like there was a stellar set up to begin with. 
Much as I suspected there was not a lot of buying or even browsing traffic.  A very small number of people coming to the student center just for the craft sale.  Roughly 94% of the traffic through the space were students going to and from class. 
The sale started at 10 and I had a few sales in the morning; but pretty much everything dropped off after noon.  It was supposed to go until 5, but a few people were packing up at 3:30-4 already.  I must say I was very tempted to join them.  By that time even the students had stopped coming through.  I couldn't bring myself to leave early, though.  I always sort of thought of it as a contract when I attend an art/craft sale.  If I leave before the sale is officially over I am breaking that contract, even for those sales that don't specifically stipulate that you must stay until the final bell.  And you never know when that last minute sale is going to come through.
All in all it was pretty much what I expected...not much.  I almost made enough to cover my time and expenses.  As it stands I almost made minimum wage.  Needless to say I will not be attending that sale next year.

And now a few shots of the Valentine's day schlock that didn't sell.

Happy heart jar

Another little happy heart jar

Little heart bud vase

"Heart This" bud vase

"What the f*** is this?!" robot mug

"Cut your heart out with a" spoon rest

I guess I can see why some of this stuff might not have sold.  As I get time it will be posted on Etsy though.

Oh!  I almost forgot the art/craft fair quote of the day!

Elderly female rug vendor reacting to the skull heart jar and human heart spoon rest - "Really?!  Come on now...and I'm not too sure about this one either." (After looking at the rest of my stuff)  "While I'm not into skeletons and bare organs, you do nice work...your flowers and stuff."

Does not liking someone's work give you the right to be condescending toward them?  Oh well; she wasn't really mean, she was just expressing her opinion.  It was actually kind of funny.  Ok, that's all for now.  Until later...

-Rob, Simple, Circle Studios

Here be Dragons!

Today I sat outside in a t-shirt and decorated pots.  I know everyone has been talking about the mild winter, so it is old news, but come on.  February 2 and I was perfectly comfortable outside in a t-shirt.  That is some strange brew going on up there in the atmosphere.

Anyway, I have been decorating for a firing coming up next week.  I have some consignment stuff in there, some Valentine's day stuff in there (as previously discussed), and some new designs that I have been hankering to try out (sheep, whales, fish, etc).  Today I also worked on a dragon design. 

I have thought about doing some dragon designs before.  I mean, dragons are just freakin' cool.  They always seemed a bit complicated to put on a pot in any sort of expeditious way though.  This being the year of the dragon, however, I figured what better time to give it a go?

I sketched this guy out the other night at a meeting and put him on a cup this afternoon.  Not too shabby if I do say so myself.  And it didn't take near as long as I figured it would, so good news there.  The question is, do I make it year specific or just leave it a generic dragon tumbler?

Now that I look at it again I think this one will get a "2012" to finish out the design.  There will undoubtedly be more dragons wares in the future though.  

On a completely different topic, has anyone else been getting show stuff lined up for the coming year?  I am probably getting into this stuff a bit late for some people.  There are probably veteran art fair folks out there who already had 80% of there shows applied for and in the bag half way through January.  Oh well.  My goal for this year is to do at least 10 art fairs.  I have two lined up for this fall and am anxiously awaiting responses for a handful in late spring/early summer.  For those who have experience with this stuff, do shows generally let you know if you did not make it into a show, or just if you did?

Well, I guess that is all for now.  Until later...

-Rob, Simple Circle Studios