Donating cups

Ahhhh... 10 cups are finally finished on time! 

They turned out great, although there are some that not as I was expected. But still fine and loving.

I tried a new style... which I called it "jeans style".. and it seriously like jeans! The brush stoke on the surface turned up really great texture. I will take another picture tomorrow with closer look.

And for the birds cups, I felt like I'm giving birth of quadruplets with different gender. They used the same copper red glaze on the inside. Went into the same firing. And the result?

One red, one split red and white, one yellowish green, and one turquoise. 

Seriously mixed! Totally one of the kind! I love these pieces... and sad to let them go. But we have to help Japan! 

Right? Right!

Donation cups

Donation cups, originally uploaded by Heldegard.

Cups for Japan

Cups for Japan, originally uploaded by Heldegard.

My 10 pieces cups are ready for bisque. I hope those porcelain slips will stay on place.

I did few designs for the cups. The most time consuming is the bird and mishima technique. 

After trimming the cups, I carved some curly design and put some thick engobe.

I let them covered tightly for a week, then start to scrape the excess engobe. 

The rest are quite simple designed with porcelain slips, at first each cups were painted with white engobe to create a brush pattern. I use my hair coloring bottle to do the dots. Hey those bottles always comes in handy and reuse! Good for the environment. 

I love the simplicity of the dots and lines. 

Still thinking whether I should color those dots or not. I'll decide later.

My ceramic website

I've been working with my ceramic website, it took me sometimes to finding the right one, and figure out the design plus placing everything together. 
But now I must say it 90% done, it felt so good knowing that I did it all by myself and I can update every time I want to. (tap tap by back)


www.heldegard.com

Mishima

I have been neglecting this piece for over 1.5 years, aside from everything ceramics that I did. 
At some point, this piece just start screaming and yell " be done with me!". 
So ok... I decided to finish it up. 

 Knowing that there's nothing much I can do to carved the surface, so I start bisque and glazing. The glazing technique that I use was similar to Mishima slip inlay technique, but since I have carved the surface before, all I did was to dip the whole piece with glazing. And wiped all the excess glaze with wet and clean sponge. 
Fire to cone 10. 

 

Make a cup to help Japan

Dear Fellow Potter,

As a potter it is impossible to not have admired Japanese ceramic art. In this hour of dire need,
we cannot stay idle but instead must give back to this country that has influenced us. Therefore,
I have decided to launch an endeavor themed the Japanese Bowl + Cup Fundraiser.
I would like to ask each of you to make 10 (or more) Japanese bowls or cups. Every piece,
whether bowl or cup, will be sold at the same time for and $20 each. Below are some visual
examples of what they look like from traditional to modern. More examples can be found online.
The requirements are simple:

* Quantity: 10 (or more) bowls or cups
* Material: food-safe clay + glazes
* Hand-made Process: wheel thrown or hand-pinched 
* Deadline: Sunday, May 1, 2011
 
Mari and Chi, with the help of their friends in Japan, are researching and will be in charge of
channeling 100% of the money raised to where it is most needed.
To make this a success event, we need your skills, dedication and imagination. Please
forward this email to other potters and enroll your artist friends in the project. We would
appreciate any help from you, or someone you know, to help secure a location to hold the sale
near a high traffic area. Additionally, your help in promoting our effort and event via email,
Facebook, Twitter, etc. would ensure this grass root effort takes off.
More information will be communicated via our Facebook page as things get finalized including
drop off location(s), sale location(s) and dates. Feel free to contact me with your thoughts and
recommendations. 

My email is syapotter@yahoo.com and my mobile number is 213 448 9109.
Also you can contact Mari @ malinaka@updateco.com and her mobile number is 323 807 7989.
日本語でもお返事できます。宜しくお願いいたします。
Thank you and happy potting,

i HEART you

heart by Corezone

The key to my heart - Artmind

Unique Porcelain Heart - Artmind

Many ways to say I "love" you

To me, waiting only on Valentine day to have all the "I Love You's" is just too sad..
But sometimes, I just need it to remind myself how lucky I am.

Happy Chinese New Year, Year of Rabbit

Rabbit Collections, In Between - Kelly Connole

Red Rabbit - Paul Smith

Rabbit - Perch

So many cute rabbit out there.. including me. HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

Wouter Dam

"Looking at Wouter Dam’s ribbon-like ceramic sculptures, one half expects them to flutter in the wind or blow away. They have a remarkable lightness to them considering they are made of a relatively heavy material. So how does he achieve this lightness? Making thin, curved walls out of clay requires support throughout the process." 
Read more on Ceramic Arts Daily

Opening Reception of ACGA National Juried Exhibition

The Association of Clay and Glass Artist (ACGA) solicited and juried over 400 fine art clay and glass entries from across the United States. Selecting the 80 best artworks for the show. 
The juror, Jo Lauria is a nationally recognized curator, historian and author specializing in contemporary craft and decorative arts. 

The ACGA is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to establishing and maintaining high standard of craftmanship and design in clay and glass.

These are some of the samples of artworks that selected to showed at the gallery. 
Funny thing, I forgot to take picture of the winner pieces.
I think every single pieces are the winner... including me. (statement of a non-winner participate) HAHAHAHAHHA
But I'm really happy... and that's important. **BIG SMILE** :D

ACGA Clay & Glass National Juried Exhibition

The ACGA have been selected two of my pieces: Between a dog and a squirrel and M(ushroom) to be exhibited at their gallery from January 22 - March 4' 2011. 
Opening reception: Saturday, January 22, 7 - 9 pm
City of Brea Art Gallery
Brea Civic & Cultural Center
1 Civic Center Circle
Brea, CA 92821
www.breagallery.com

1.11.11

Happy new year everyone! 
It's been awhile, as I just got back from my "almost a month" trip around Asia.
Too much good stuff and fun stuff!

Well... Today as I stood on my kitchen, I looked at the clock on my oven and realized the time showed 11.11 on 1.11.11! Then I waited and waited... hoping something special would come up....
Nope. Nada. Just another 20 minutes until my brussel sprouts done. 
Btw, I found a super cute salt and pepper container on my flight with Singapore Airlines. 

Clever design. Simple and Functional. 
When put on top of each other, it looks like number 8. Of course 8 is a lucky number in chinese culture. 
I'm glad they did... don't we need great amount of luck if we were 30.000 feet above the ground?