I, Curtis

Category: Art

  • Moments of Artistic Passion

    In the past few weeks I have had to do a lot of seeking in myself to find a way to pull myself out of a fog I had been in since about the middle of spring. During the past two weeks I have reached my absolute lowest points, looking forward to very little, snapping at everyone and basicly making everyone else suffer because of my bad moods.
    Now, for the point of this entry. During the past several days things have been improving. My hardest challenge currently is deciding which of my abandoned projects I wish to return to first, there are quite a few to select from. I can get more serious about ceramics, I can continue the upgrades to GITI, spend more time with the canvas to further explore painting, I can work on one of my numerous websites that I have abandoned or one of many other activities.
    There is a point where going from not wanting to do anything, and then wanting to do things but finding that there are a lot of options sometimes becomes overwhelming. I have abandoned a lot of things that I would really like to do. I guess im just going to have to approach it slowly and find ways to ease myself back into it.

  • A New Accomplishment

    Last night I completed a variety of throws, including two of an unusual height. The pieces were at 9.5 and 10.5 inches when they were removed from the wheel. After trimming one was at 10 inches and the other was just below 9 inches. These are my first throws to be above 8 inches in my home studio.
    It was a lot of fun doing these throws, there is no feeling like having your arm down in a spinning ceramic work that reaches up to above your elbow. The final pulls were a bit scary because of the height and the perception of a very fragile accomplishment.

    9″ Vase

  • First Earthenware Glaze Tests Complete

    On Tuesday evening my new electronic balance (Ohaus CS2000) arrived, the final piece of the puzzle for making glazes. I began with 5 simple recipies, of which I used 4 and then made my own 6th.

  • Test Glaze #1 (not used) – converted from a lead-based recipe, but not attempted in this batch.
  • Test Glaze #2 (blue/creamy purple) – made from a modified “programable earthenware glaze recipie”, using base glaze #2 and a few other components I decided to use on my own.
  • Test Glaze #3 (red?) – made as a direct interpretation of a “programable earthenware glaze recipie”, using base glaze #2, with no modifications
  • Test Glaze #4 (icky) – same as #3, but with added bone ash.
  • Test Glaze #5 (kinda dark green) – Base Glaze #2 with some copper and chrome thrown in.
  • Test Glaze #6 (Dark Blueish Grey) – Base Glaze #2 with cobalt, iron oxide, whiting and Zircopax.

  • Announcing: Clay Mentality

    It brings me great joy to announce the completion of my new ceramics website, Clay Mentality. This is my formal return to having a web presence. Several years ago as I slowly let more things out of my life, I gave up on having a personal website. A personal website without passion is nothing more than a dynamic autobiography. In the art of ceramics, I have found my passion, and my desire to open my world to the eyes of everyone.
    During the past few weeks I have been working on and off with this project, in order to give me some distance from it as I allowed it to evolve around my habbits. For the first time ever I have managed to keep a secret. Only one person has been privilleged to see this site before its launch; Chris has given me much input on the site’s design as well as provided me with some technical tips for some elements of the site. On the topic of the secret, I have never seen anyone more interested in seeing a website I have created as my friends seem to have been when I told them that they would have to wait. I would like to thank everyone for their paitience and support during the development of the site.
    And without further rambleing, I am proud to introduce, Clay Mentality:
    Clay Mentality – http://www.claymentality.org
    In addition to the website I am also announcing the new gallery for my blog. I have selected a new software, which allows for flexibility, as well as added functionality. For all features to be availible to you, you will need to register with the gallery software. Once registered you will have access to any special galleries I may have decided to post privately, and you will have the ability to comment on images/galleries. Registering is important if you wish to interact with the gallery.
    New Gallery – http://www.disturbingthoughts.net/gallery2

  • Happy Easter

    Image of ceramic eggs made for Easter 2006, by me. Image by Chris

  • The Reason Glazing is an Experiment

    I just opened the lid of the kiln from my most recent glazing. It was a load of 4 pieces, 2 of which glazed well, and 2 of which didn’t do so great. One of the not-so-good pieces is a bowl that I really had high hopes for. I really like the design that i did on that bowl, so I think I am going to try doing it again on a new bowl, but I might refine certain elements of it a bit, as well as use a heavier dose of glaze to make the colors not fade as they did on this first attempt. Images of the pieces (even the bad ones) will come soon.

  • A Preview

    During the past few days I have been playing with glazes, and now there are a few pieces that are complete that I am ready to share images of. Here they are http://www.disturbingthoughts.net/gallery/index.php?folder=/Ceramics/20060329/
    I have typically only enjoyed the wheel side of ceramics, but I am starting to really find creativity in the glaze proccess. I have a few more pieces that are almost ready to be fired that I have spent more time putting thought and energy into. I have a few shelves full of bisqueware that is waiting for some type of finalizing treatment that I want to experiment with.

  • Crime Scene

  • One Year of Throwing

    It has been one year since my Creative Artista pottery wheel arrived. With the arrival of the wheel last year, it brought back my creativity and desire to work with the clay medium. During my childhood clay was a very good way for me to pass time. I used to do some wheel stuff when I was younger, but I did more with handbuilding during that time. I spent a lot of time with my grandmother when I was younger, and one of our favorite things to do was to play with clay. My grandmother used to become angry at my mother when she would give me “Play Dough”, she wanted me working with the real stuff. After my grandmother died and my grandfather remarried the one thing I was determined to get from his house was a small ceramic pitcher that my grandmother made while I was working on some other ceramic project. In the period of one year I have created a lot of new pieces and I feel like I have found myself again.
    In this year I have gone from my first throw which looked like nothing more than a twisted volcano to some fairly nice pieces. In this year I have taught myself how to do feet on my pieces and I began glazing my finished pieces. Also in this year I did my first fired pieces. My portfolio of creations is continuing to expand as I become a more competent potter.
    One year has gone by, hopefully my second year will be just as sucessful and productive.

  • New Pottery Images Uploaded to Gallery

    January 3, 2006
    January 8, 2006
    I don’t really have much to say about these, mostly the images speak for themselves. I am fairly happy with my work on these over the past few days and I hope to be able to further my skills to create even more elaborate and interesting pieces.