While we were at the cabin I setup a mini clay studio. I decided to make some ornaments because they are small and easily transported home.
First up was this bird in a wreath. I added texture to the wreath later and I carved the bird a bit.
I saw an angel last year that had been in my head and played around with a few different versionf of them. This is one version. There is a hook in the back, but I'm still not sure how I'm going to glaze fire this one. That might be a design flaw.
Puppy cuteness in bed.
So mixed results on the leaves. Some of them seem to have worked really well. Others have gotten all weird and wrinkly. I also feel like the veins are less pronounced. Putting these in clay will be the true test, but I want to wait until they are really dry so it likely won't be until after the Carroll County Art in the Park this weekend.
Also quick note - to the best of my knowledge all images have now been migrated and fixed in posts and pages. I'm positive I missed one somewhere, but I don't know where it is so if you find it let me know :) That was way more work than I would have liked and hope never to have to do it again.
These are the things I was calling the fern. Even with the mod podge they are still starting to be a little stinky. These where some of the hardest to do because of the long thin leaves.
I really thought that the oak leaves would be better. The one with the longer ends got weirdly curly.
This was hard to photograph, but you can see how wavy it is.
The leaves on the left are linwood and the right are maple. The maple came out really well, but the veins aren't as pronounced as I'd like.
These are the rasberry, blackberry, gooseberry, and currants. The gooseberry and currants came out the best of all the leaves. They were also the thickest.
Carroll County Art in the Park in Westminster is this Saturday June 1 from 10am-4pm. I've got a lot of great things I'll have with me and hope to see you there.
We were at the cabin over the weekend and I collected leaves to try out an idea I had. I've seen a bunch of articles about people preserving fall leaves and wondered if I could do the same with green leaves and use them in clay.
The first step was to collect leaves. I tried to collect a variety of leaves so I could figure out what worked best. I collected from 4 different trees - 2 kinds of oak, maple, and linwood. I also collected blackberry, rasberry, gooseberry, and currants. Finally I collected what I think is a type of fern that grows in wet areas up there.
What I have found in the past is that the tree leaves hold up pretty well just on their own for a while, but the fern in particular has to be used quickly because it turns brown and very smelly after just a couple of days.
I had read that you should press the leaves for 2 days before preserving them so I put them in this old notebook with a few pages separating each.
We ended up coming home a day early since it was supposed to pour (of course it didn't) so I ended up doing the preserving at home. I used Mod Podge Matte sealer because I had a bottle, I didn't really care if it was matte or glossy. I used a foam brush and brushed 2 coats on each side letting them dry between.
The hardest part was getting it over the entire leaf without having it stick to my fingers or itself.
Unfortunately I cannot find the stitch that I used to make this and too much time has passed for me to remember it. I had all the pieces for a while and just needed to sew it together, but things happened and it took a while.
The yarn is Saratoga Sport by Into the Whirled in Whovian. I do remember that it looks more complicated than it is. It was just two repeating rows.
On Saturday morning after we had finished the bulk of the glazing we moved on to clay. Michael explained the first 4 projects in concept and then we started on different ones so that everyone wasn't fighting over the same texture tools and puzzling molds.
I started with the patchwork plumpkin.
We used different textures on each of the sections of pumpkins.
The next project is what I have been calling the Dr. Seuss tree. Can you see the mushroom texture on the bottom? I can't wait to fire this and see it all lit up.
Next was the chicken. I had a terrible time with the beak looking like a duck the first few times.
I eventually got it with some help and this little lady is a chicken. I don't know that I have a use for these other to amuse me, but she's funny.
Next was the giant mushroom. Two of the women who did this after I finished turned their mushroom into a fairy house. I see one of those in my future, but I like how whimsical this came out.
On Sunday morning we started on a grape vase. For all the other projects we had used a raku clay, but this vase is terra cotta. I also need to remember when Michael ships this to me that this is low fire or I'm going to make a mess.
As I was making this project, I was envisioning a wine chiller. I'm going to try to make one with a similar design.
The last project we did was a simple bark bowl with leaves.
Once again Michael imparted a plethora of knowledge. On the plane home I made a list of all the projects I want to do soon.
This first video is me taking the raku tree out of the kiln. I have taken items out of the raku kiln at the last 2 workshops, but this was definitely much heavier. I managed not to drop it though!!
Here is the finished tree post scrubbing.
This second video is the big reveal of the tree. My particular tree was in a larger can with lots of paper. I think that it led to there being more varied colors in my tree than some of the others.
This last video is of me adding the horsehair to the vase - without burning my fingers.
Finished vase
Posts
