Cleaning - Wedging & Playing with Clay - January Recap!



All the planning and organizing are in place
and I'm ready to rock n roll with my year, but before I get started I'll share a quick review!   






JANUARY RECAP! 

Wedging 300 lbs of Pugged Clay - (and digging out the dry chunks).
I am so grateful to Andy from Stan State who took his own time and my 5 year old buckets of scrap clay and made it usable again! Since the clay I gave him was too wet, he graciously added some dry scrap clay to give it some (for lack of a better word) sustenance! After letting the clay sit for 3 months started the wedging and found that some of these chunks were a little to large to break down.
Even though this took some time...I'm extremely thankful to have all this clay to use, without Andy it could have been another 5 years before I reclaimed it !!! :D  


Cleaning the workshop: It's been a long time!!! Yes this is a never ending process. After living in this new space for almost a year now, it's time to fine tune the space for efficiency (sometimes you just don't know until you use it!)

Before  

After

This is my happy place! 

Playing with New Toys - Brushes, Wonder Bat & More : Another hobby of mine is bargain shopping for new studio tools...discount is good, clearance is better and free is best!!! I was able to score some really exiting finds during the month of January! I also purchased a Wonder Bat to make space saving easier (I give an example in the below video)


Clearance Find - brushes were 75% off
I need to hurry up and make something so I can try them out! 

Getting Back on the Wheel!: I was able to try out my new Wonder Bat and the newly pugged clay! FUN! The smaller square bats really work well in saving space on the shelf! The new clay is going to take a little getting used to, but I'm excited about the change. The combination of my clay and the added clay has made a more groggy mix. I haven't fired or glazed this new clay yet I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing how it differs! 





WHAT'S COMING UP! ...Looking Forward!  

Sharing Video's & Photos: I'll be creating a video once a week on the happenings in my studio, but will be sharing more play-by-play photos and activities on my Hobby Potter Facebook Fan Page 

EVENTS

Stanislaus Artist Open Studio Tour - April 25-26, 2015
I'll be opening up my studio to the public and invite everyone to come on by! I'll give more details the closer we get to the event! 

"Speech Patterns" @ The Chartreuse Muse Art Gallery - April - June 2015
I'll be sharing my journey in creating pieces for this show! 

Stanislaus Family Justice Center - Art Restores Kids Fund Raising Event
This will be my 3rd year creating a piece to donate for this wonderful program that helps crisis children heal through the power of art! Artist choose an inspiration piece made by one of the children and creates their own work to donate. 

That's it for now! It's a beautiful day outside (well, in my neighborhood ;) ), get outside and enjoy it !!