From the Studio

I throw as much as I sew - some weeks even more.  Here are some photos of what I've made recently.  Unless otherwise specified, all pieces were fired cone 6 (temp ~2200 deg F).

 10" desk lamp

raku fired

glaze:  white crackle

 lidded jar

glaze:  zincless clear

 soap and lotion dispensers

left glaze: waterfall brown over spotted cream

right glaze:  rutile green

bottles

top left glaze:  white crackle (raku-fired)

top right glaze:  copper matte (raku-fired)

center:  waterfall brown over spotted cream

lots of dishwear

 tea mugs

glaze:  waterfall brown over spotted cream

 tea mug

glaze:  waterfall brown over green celadon

 functional tea pot

glaze:  waterfall brown over spotted cream

 one of four salad plates

glaze:  waterfall brown over raw sienna

I'm still working on my dish set.  I have a complete set, but they're not glazed because I can't decide what to colors to use on the plates and bowls.  Many people at the studio loved the glaze combo above.  It's a little dark for me, but I do like it.  I REALLY like the waterfall brown-green celadon combo.  It has such pretty colors and runs beautifully.

Currently I'm working on replacing a couple of the salad plates; the ones I have now are a bit heavy.  I also have a two more lamps in the works as well as three more soap dispensers.  One of the lamps in the works was thrown in three pieces.  It is HUGE.  Well, huge for me.  It stands about 16 inches.  I really hope it survives the bisque firing.  I put all kinds of texture on it so the glaze has a place to run and break.  I don't want to get too excited about it, though.  I don't want to be disappointed if it doesn't survive the first firing.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

On the sewing front, the mystery project is almost finished.  I'm still working on the moto jacket and with SUPER HUGE GINORMOUS thanks to Kyle, I should be resuming work on that soon!

L

Wadder Number...I Lost Count

I had high hopes for the iconic wrap dress a la Vogue 8379.  Maaaaaaaan, this FAIL came straight from the heart.  Where do I even begin?  This dress is just all kinds of wrong.  Each FAIL ranks supreme in its awfulness, so I suppose I should just list the issues as they come to mind.

Fit 
I made a muslin a couple of years ago and altered the pattern to fit.  I seem to have developed an unconscious affinity to working on older projects with completed muslins.  Obviously I need to rethink or scrap this approach 'cause the shiz ain't workin'.

The FBA I made is too big and gives me SBS (Saggy Boob Syndrome).  The bad thing (or good thing depending on how you think about it) is my boobs aren't even in the saggy area; they're above it.

The bodice is too short for my liking and the V-neck is too low.  That's not a camisole peeking out; it's my bra.

I lopped off four inches of length and the dress is still too long.

The sleeves are tight, but that's because I've been pumping iron.  I do 15-pound curls and 25-pound tricep exercises with free weights.  Apparently it's working. 

Finally the back hem is higher than the front hem.  I forgot to add a wedge for my trunk junk.


Facings

The facings on this dress are pure evil and a good lesson in Zen practices.  I unpicked them all and settled on binding.  This was going well until it came time to address the skirt.  You see, the bodice has an attached facing while the skirt has a self-facing.  WTF?  I sort of winged that whole area and it shows.  I tried to bind the bodice and skirt separately, but it didn't turn out so well.  It's a hot mess.

Ties
The ties are entirely too short.  You can see the teeny-tiny bow it makes in the front.  To get that little ass bow, I practically had to cut off circulation to my lower half.  

And then to top it off, the current tie location and desired tie location are inches apart. 

This FAIL of epic proportions is going to become one with a landfill.  It is not worth repairing and I would not even donate this to the devil himself - despite bestowing demonic facings upon the sewing world.

I might try to save the skirt because I really do like the fabric.  Anyone who knows me knows that "might try" means "hang it up in the UFO closet until I'm tired of looking at it and toss it at the next purge."

So what number wadder is this?  Four?  Five?  Maybe even six.  I am not at all defeated;  I have already started work on the next project.  

Even though my sewing is in somewhat of a slump, my pottery output is on fire...no pun intended.  Everything is wheel-thrown with a white stone wear clay body.

The first pair of pictures show coffee mugs I made.  The green mug is complete and functional; I had a cup of tea a few hours ago.  The mugs on the right are bisqued.  I glazed them today and will probably get them back next week.

This is a drum I made a couple of months ago.  The horn and drum (sans skin) were both wheel thrown and the tube was extruded.

I learned how to make lotion/soap dispensers and took it to the next level.  I'm really enjoying making bottles now.  The bottle on the right is greenware and needs to be fired, glazed, and fired again to complete.

This is a replacement casserole dish.  The first one I made stuck to the kiln shelf and cracked.  I was really disappointed because it's the first lidded piece that I made that had a really good fit.  Making lidded pottery takes skill and I finally got it right. 

The picture on the left shows the first casserole dish.  The photo on the right shows the bottom of the same dish.  I kept it so that I could get a decent measure for the replacement.  Clay shrinks as it dries and after its fired, so I made the second bowl's opening  bigger in the hopes that the original lid will fit.

So far, so good!

Up next in the sewing queue:  BWOF 8-2005-102 (skirt)

Finally I want to thank everyone again for their words of encouragement and support.  I am doing the best that I can.  I've started a blog post that gives a bit of detail; I may post it soon.

Until next time, be well!

L