Wednesday, August 18, 2021

work stuff and dinner


Monday I got all the rest of the frit in the big flower and ready for the background color which I still had not decided on. Sometime during the night I woke up with the the answer. I guess my mind had been noodling on it while I slept. I chose a color called olive smoke. I didn't want to use a blue which would have been my go to because the chemicals in some of the blues react with the chemicals in some of the yellows to produce a brown wherever they touch. I could have covered all the yellow with a thin layer of clear which would prevent that from happening but that would have been another whole day's work. Anyway, I think it will look fine with the color I chose.

Tuesday was grocery store and then back in the shop, got the background color in 


and then the rest of the glass, a clear layer and a final white layer. So now it's ready to go in the kiln.

Here's my work table.


Just some of my 355 color samples, these are mixed transparent colors. I also have mixed combinations of opaques, opaques and transparents (like the sand mixtures), pure color samples of all the transparents, opaques (frit and powder), and of the modeling glass.


All my frit and powder. There's also a table in the shop full of large containers of some of these colors. I will never use all this, I will never use most of this in what's left of my lifetime. I could probably winnow out at least a third of the transparent colors that I never or rarely use because they are so dense they just look black but I like having the option, a complete palette.

transparent colors on the right, opaque colors on the left

I checked with one of the metal shops here and got a sample of 1/8” aluminum and I think I like it with the feather pieces. I have to let the guy know so he can check and see if he has a drop off big enough to cut two 11” squares, otherwise I'd have to buy a whole sheet and that would be very expensive. So I'm waiting to hear about that.

And then I fixed dinner Tuesday night, tried my hand at another pastie only this time I did one big one instead of four little ones like last time. Same basic ingredients...shredded leftover roast and pork chop, onion, garlic, celery, broccoli, mushrooms, carrots, potato...a little bit of everything cleaning out the crisper in the fridge. This one came out better. The first time the filling was a little dry so this time I added some of my frozen tomato juice cubes which was perfect. Sort of like a pot pie only without the pot. Small disaster though, once I spooned the filling onto the pie crust and folded it over it split along the fold so I cut a section off the other pie crust (I buy them ready made, 2 to a package) and patched the split.


More finish work on the drowned feather piece Wednesday while Marc made the other trumpet flower mold. Worked on the rocks with the fine polishing point, and the feather, and the edges. Hot and sweaty work but getting there. the gray powder I laid down first in the feather really doesn't show except in certain light and certain angle, neither does the gray I used in the quill. Though I supposed those shadows are really the gray powder, just not as apparent as I had intended.
 

I'm pretty single minded right now, nothing else to post about besides work but that will change as soon as I get finished for the show. I'll still be working, just not to the exclusion of all else.


17 comments:

  1. The feather just sends me, astonishing, so gorgeous. I would take that what ever it is pie thing , pot ot not. looks so yummy!
    I love how organized your shelves are, no guessing where things are. Ship shape, mately!

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  2. You're allowed to talk about it; it's what you do! Why, I'd be talking about weaving every day, if I had thread to weave with and a loom to put it on!

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  3. I like art shoptalk. Interspersed with food, too.

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  4. Ellen, your art work is truly unique, beautiful, and creative!

    I absolutely love the way that white feather stands out from that dark background!

    In my younger days I used to love eating potpies! The moist crust was my favorite!

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  5. What else is there to write about besides our days? And your days are filled with art now- more interesting than most of our days.

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  6. You certainly are motivated right now and your work is gorgeous!

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  7. I love that feather. So beautiful.

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  8. I love that feather art piece. It really is so beautiful. I am looking forward to seeing how the trumpet flower unfolds.
    That pastie looks yummy.

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  9. I'm so glad to see you working and what you work with. I need to get off my ass and finish that crow quilt and get it delivered.

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  10. The feather piece is beautiful! Glad you're making progress on the trumpet flower, too. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

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  11. I just repeat myself, but it's so interesting to follow your work processes and to see the stages. So intricate and so many steps.
    Also of course, the pastie!

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  12. That photo of the color samples is art in and of itself - love it! And your feather is just fabulous. But what I'm really obsessing about is the pastie - I'm going to have to try to make one of those myself because you've gotten my memory of them all stirred up.

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  13. I just had lunch and seeing that Pastie I am hungry all over again

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  14. Beautiful... your pastie reminds me of Joanne Noragon's Crostatas. Yummy!

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  15. I read this one, but one sight of your pie sent me off again to try and find a decent and authentic empanada place in my area. No joy. Houston it is, if I want the real thing.

    Your feather piece sure is the real thing. It's more beautiful every time I look at it. I love those color samples. They'd be fun to have around just as they are. I can imagine them in a glass jar on a window sill. Would it be as pretty as I imagine?

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I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.