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

Moto Jacket Update: Zippers...Argh!

Note to self:  aluminum is not the same as nickel.  Yep.  It says so right there on the old periodic table.  When the metals are used for zipper teeth, the difference is more than obvious:  it's "one-of-these-things-is-not-like-the-others obvious.  I don't know if you can see the difference, but I can and it annoys me.  Sigh. 

So what are my options?  First, the aluminum zipper is staying in.  It took me FOUR tries just to sew the zipper stop at the top.  After I finally got that on, I installed the zipper and topstitched it in place.  This is my first time installing a separating zipper and I am quite pleased with the final result.  I am not unpicking that shit. 

I've given some thought to what else I could do to make this jacket happen:

Option 1 - Order two more 24" zippers from Wawak and shorten them to the lengths required for the pockets and sleeves (which is 6").  I've never added a pull tab or metal stops to an already-existing zipper, so this will be new to me.  In addition to buying more zippers, I would also have to get zipper tops, bottoms, pull tabs, and pliers and then watch YouTube videos to see how to put these things on.

Wawak has a shorter 10" aluminum zipper made for slipcovers and pillows, but the zipper tape only comes in natural.  Yeah, like pillows can't be any other color than natural.  SMH

Option 2 - Try to order the zippers from Zipperstop.  The reason I didn't order from them in the first place is because the only two zipper tape colors they had were black and navy.  There's a note that says any other color requires a minimum 50-unit order.  I will call them to see if they would be willing to make an exception.  If not, then this option isn't happening.  What am I going to do with 50 6" aluminum zippers?  Exactly.

Option 3 - Try Joann's or my other local fabric store.  I doubt Joann's will have what I'm looking for; that's why I didn't go there in the first place.  I will call the local fabric store to see if they have what I need.  Their zipper supply is pretty thin, so I'm not too optimistic.

Option 4 - Skip the zippers on the sleeves and pockets altogether and save that idea for the second version of this pattern.

If option 2 doesn't work out, then I'll probably just proceed with option 4.  I really don't feel like building a zipper from scratch.  It's a shame, too.  This jacket would have been totally bad-ass with all the shiny metal.  The aluminum just goes with the grey denim.  It really does.  Now the jacket just looks pitiful.

I have light blue denim that I was going to use to make another pair of jeans.  I think this fabric will make a cute moto jacket with brass zipper teeth.  For now, it looks like version one will be plain and simple.

L