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?

Ceramic Artist: Katherine J. Dube

Rings

Tupolino's Serving Sets

I'm lucky. 
Lucky enough that I'm being able to watched her working on her pieces. 
How she put attention to detail, patience and idea showed a lot on every pieces she made. 

Artist statement:
"I enjoy the process of discovery, starting with vessels and familiar forms of nature, taken to their less logical conclusions; setting up a symbiotic or even parasitic relationship between the elements of my work. Trained in the sciences, I allows the habit of inquiry and love of complexity of form to take hold in her work, exploring the connection between science, contemporary art, and the natural world." Katherine J. Dube

She received a Bachelor of science in Biology and Biochemistry, then returned for advanced studies in both Education and Chemistry. 
(I wonder if I should ask her to clone some of her idea to my brain.)

Ceramic Artist: Ayumi Horie

Ayumi Horie is a studio potter and ceramic artist who works in the Hudson Valley of New York making functional, handmade pottery for use in kitchens, offices, and cars everywhere. The pots are distinctly handmade, where idiosyncrasies and imperfections are celebrated as evidence of human vulnerabilities and foibles. She believes that intuition often trumps calculated planning in making a comforting and meaningful functional pot. 

milk-jar

milk-jar, originally uploaded by Heldegard.

I forgot about this milk jar I did few years back.. It is one of my favorite, i like the delicateness of the handle... and the owl just "sitting pretty"

Tree House, Part 8

Tree House, Part 8, originally uploaded by Heldegard.

So far so good. 
The glazing part wasn't as easy as I thought... especially when the glaze I use has been discontinued.
I tried to cover all branches and trunk with glaze , then wiping it off to show off the texture and tree lines. 
But I notice that the tree branches are so narrow, I can't get my hand in between. 


I'll figure out different methods later... now time for duckey!
(duck for thanksgiving)

Sculpture by Beth Stichter

I am no one

A Rush of Blood to the Head

Beth Stichter "A Rush of Blood to the Head" behind the story:
 "The first thing I like to make clear when talking about my work is that the images I create are visual questions that I am asking of myself, and by extension, all those who come in contact with them.  They are questions, rather than statements of opinion, because I am constantly struggling to reevaluate my own assumptions about human behavior and motivation- my self as the primary subject of scrutiny.  This ongoing internal investigation allows me to delve into subjects I find deeply uncomfortable and personal, using the sculptures I create as a means to speak of things I find impossible to put into words."

Looking at her work of arts is like reading thru her diary. It's very personal, but I can't stop reading nor put the book down. 

So much to read that kept me staring, and wondering what and why.

Every detail and every movement of her works awed me so much.

I wish I could put the book down.. 

But too afraid I missed the whole story. 

Beast in process

Ceramic Studio, Bandung

I visited Kandura ceramic studio last year in Bandung, Indonesia. 
It was a small ceramic studio with 2 designers who runs the studio and 4 other ceramic artisan who makes all the ceramic magic happened.

As I was trying to make few ideas going into mass product. But unfortunately it's difficult to connect the chemistry between the studio and I. Just a simple basic email communication that failed us, and internet was not to blamed. 
Other than that, the studio had really excellent, super talented ceramic artisans that worked for them. And they are amazingly good! Despite all the limited source and space, somehow they made an excellent job.

I made the list that showing how good they are:
1. No throwing wheels. Use left hand to spin the wheel... (never knew it even possible)
2. No glazing containers, no glazing equipment. 
They mixed glazed in small containers and brushed it on. (still turned out even!!)
3. No city gas. They use gas small tank for firing, that looked more like oxygen tank for diving, only twice bigger. (imagine how many they use? A LOT!)

Plate making

I do want that machine that can flatten the clay so fast... as quick as a thunder!
"BAM!"
The result? cute dancing mice plate... makes me happy. :D

Kathy King Gives Helpful Tips For Using Sgraffito in Your Work

I really love this piece. Not necessary because of the snake or the bird (yes I put a lot of bird on my ceramic pieces lately). But the way Kathy King brought such a simple technique became such an amazing pieces.

And how nice of her to show us the better way to do it:
Learn of the day: "Use 5-7 coats (instead of 2-3 coats) to a little over leather hard piece before you start to scratch"

"Make sure the paint dry enough before scratch, check by touching it make sure not leave your fingerprint"

Go ahead check on her video:
» A Good Scratch: Kathy King Gives Helpful Tips For Using Sgraffito in Your Work

Tree house, Part 7

Tree house, Part 7, originally uploaded by ega-ega.

I always wanted to have a tree house, a house that sitting in the middle of a gigantic tropical rain forest tree. I've been nagging to my dad all my childhood years. Even told him, that he will never ever had to worry about me nagging anymore if he built me a house tree. I guess he kinda knew that that never ever happened....

Despite that I also wanted a puma, a monkey, and my best buddy, Fitz that should came along with the house tree (hey he really should blamed Janet Jackson for having puma at her music video)

And now.... I have my own house tree. MY OWN!! JUST ME and buddies. It's not done yet, still long way to finish.
And it's too small for me to live in, but still my dream house.

Yes proudly to say i'm a tree hugger, literally.