A mad firing week

It has been a hectic week with glazing and firing. I am having another working weekend. Definitely a bit of madness has crept in. Last night I worked until ten, but today, I have finished by eight. I am happy!

Bisque firing of masks went well, luckily. They came out in the morning on the 20th.

Bisque fired masks

More bisque fired masks.

Then they all went to glaze-firing on the 23rd. Glaze-firing takes about 12 hours. The kiln becomes cool enough to open after 30 hours. 

Lower shelf - ready to glaze firing

Middle shelf

Top shelf

Yesterday morning I opened the kiln. Disappointing! It was under-fired. One of underglazes blisters at high temperature, I tend to set it a bit lower when using this underglaze, but it was too low. Glazes didn't flux well, and oxides look dead.  And a few masks had too strong colours. That's a shame, because I can't remove them. In ceramics, we can only add colours. Most will have to go back for another firing

But time was too tight to lament. I prepared the another glaze firing yesterday, and started the kiln in early morning today. These have been waiting for their turns for a long time. As they are tall ones, I can't have another shelf, so I had to wait until enough tall sculptures are ready.

'Oh, it has been such a long wait! My head fell!' :D

Now the kiln is cooling down.  I can open it tomorrow morning, and I will unload it and load it up again. I will start another glaze firing back to back. I just hope there won't be any more surprises.

He changed from a girl to a boy today! 

A prince

First of all, I like to thank you for all people who came to like and to comment my brand new Facebook page. It means a lot to me! I still don't understand lots of things there. For example, how I could find people's  business 'Page' from their personal page? Should I request friend or not? What are Facebook etiquette? Why I could follow some people, but not others, etc. It'a maze. Twitter is simpler. You either follow or not! Funny thing is that Facebook keeps asking me 'Did you go to the secondary school?' After Ignored its prompt, it said 'You didn't go to the secondary school'. Or it nagged me when I tried to 'unlike' my page after I 'liked ' it from my website as test; something like you shouldn't unlike your own page while others liked yours. It's a bit comical.

I tried to 'like' or 'follow' all people who 'liked' mine, but a half of them are invisible. So if you are one of those invisible, although I don't know who you are, but my gratitude is here. Thank you!

*************

I caught another bug again. This weather is not helping me. Yet, I managed to load the kiln on Friday. And I had worked through the weekend. But too much was too much. This morning, I finally couldn't get up. I had headache and all aches all over. What's worse, Mike caught it, too. But I had three works to post, so after lunch, I packed them and posted them. They are a rabbit, a chicken and Amelie. They all went to very nice people. I am so happy!

I only checked the kiln early this evening. It's a mixture of success and not so good. Nothing is disastrous, luckily. Test pieces will need at least another glaze-firing. Oxides were too weak, and they were burnt out. I also forgot to glaze the eyes of one figure! How stupid is that? That's what happens when I overwork.

Others were successfully fired. What a relief! I started feeling the pressure, as time is ticking.  Now I have got six new works I could take to the art fair.  If you would like to receive invites, please let me know by direct mail or email which is in the contact page in my website. (www.MidoriTakaki.co.uk)

This is the one fired earlier. He was a boat. But his expression is not for a boat. He wanted to become a royal. So I gave him a crown and now he is a prince. I like the gradation on his body. I got the idea from the Paul Klee exhibition at Tate. It looks so natural and pretty. I liked it so much that I am using this for some other pieces. Once a while, one glaze firing is enough for a change.

A prince

he has an unusual expression. 

     

Out of sorts revisited, angels and Butchery Lane in Canterbury

Here in UK, we are having May Day Bank holiday weekend. Today, the second day of a long weekend, warmth has finally returned, thankfully. While I was in Japan, bank holidays could be on any day of a week.

Here in UK, all bank holidays are on Monday, except for Christmas. Even the Queen's birthday is moved to the nearest Monday, for the convenience. It is called the Queen's official birthday. To me, it should be celebrated on the day she was born. But I think peculiar British rationalization and unique logic of convenience rule here. So if they have moved Her majesty's birthday so that they could have a longer weekend, it was just the most natural thing for them to move May Day to the nearest Monday.

After I left Japan, the then Japanese government made an unspecific holiday to make a long holiday from late April to early May. Bank holidays used to be the 29th of April (the Late Emperor's birthday),  the 3rd (Constitution memorial Day) and the 5th of May (Children's festival). Now the 4th of May is also a bank holiday. Unlike here, in Japan, sadly workers still find it difficult to take a long holiday because of social pressure, so this was the a bit of a solution from the then government. Two countries and two solutions to make longer holidays.

Although I am not under such pressure, I seldom take a break from ceramics. If I do, I tend to get bored. I have to find something else to occupy my mind. Last night, I loaded the kiln and started bisque firing after finishing this chicken totem! I did some sgraffito on her body.

Out of sorts (2012). Sold  

About 18 months ago, I made this chicken, Out of sorts. An art tutor purchased her on the first day of installation of the MA show last September. Since then I have had requests for her from a couple of galleries. I had enjoyed making them, and I would like to expand on this series more.

My latest Out of sorts

I do a mock-up of loading, and take photos before taking them to the kiln in the cold garage so that we wouldn't have to spend unnecessary time there. When I did for this shelf, they reminded me of terracotta army! :D Mine are all hand-built from a scratch; everyone has his own character. They are angels.

Five angels and three chickens

This is as tight as I could load in this kiln. There is also a lower shelf with porcelain wreaths and a few wings. The tallest boy only had less than 2 cm above his head to the lid; mine is a top-loading kiln. Having said that I was amazed that this small kiln actually can fire as many as these.

It's full! 

********** 

Late this morning, we popped into Ecco to buy me a new pair of walking shoes. I have worn some Reebok's nubuck walking shoes for several years. But they are discontinued now, I had to venture to find a replacement. Well, I had to thank Reebok. Ecco has my size, 3.5, as a standard, and the pair I bought are very comfortable, light and soft. What else could I want? My dog walks would be much easier on them. (Our dogs pull a lot!)

Here are some photos of the city centre this morning. There were lots of European tourists, especially French. First, we decided to have some cakes before shopping. We found this new Turkish cafe.

Turkish coffee house with Turkish deserts. 

 From the window seats, you have a glimpse of the Cathedral.

Upstairs

******Edited 21/07/2014

We bought 4 baklava to take out. We were charged £9. We will never go again!

£9 for these! 

 ******************

It is on Butchery lane. It is a narrow lane with several independent shops and cafes.

The sign from the past is still here. 

Some shops still uses old signs. Charming! 

There is also Roman museum. You can see the excavated Roman mosaic in here. Canterbury used to be one of the important cities since the Roman period.  

Canterbury Cathedral gate is just there. This place used to be a cattle market. Tourists were queuing this morning. 

Cathedral gate

 On the way to Ecco, we saw these peculiar Morris Dancers. They are all in black and covering faces!

Next to them, ordinary Morris dancers were waiting for their turn. I love their cheerful costumes! 

We had fun today. I hope you had good weekend!

Chickens have returned, and a little bird called Ruth.

Today, I have finished my studio work before 7:30! That's early for me. I have wanted to update the blog for days, but when I worked until 9, I just couldn't have time or energy to do blog. My creativity peaks in early evening; obviously I work with that in mind. I do my other work, all administrative work related to ceramic business, packing and shipping in the mornings. So I could gear up for my creative time later.

I have made lots of 'people' this week despite strangely I have had two nightmares (too scarily to tell you here!)  and the return of the virus infection, which finally cleared two days ago.

Chicken is back!

I made a chicken similar to these, and showed her in MA show last year, but no general visitors had a chance to buy her because one of art tutors snatched her up during the installation. Since then I have been asked if I had more. So here they are!

'Do you think it's going to rain today?'  'We might need brollies.'

And these three boys are drying. I have made two more, so there will be five angels. They are relatively smaller size. I like their faces!

Angels

****

While I struggle with time management, there is a lady who is so good at it. I have wanted to tell you about a lady called Ruth. We met on Twitter and my pair of owls now live with her. She has a demanding a full time job, yet she runs her two Etsy shops very successfully. She also tweets funny things a lot, which I giggle, and blogs regularly! She even started decorating ceramic! How could she manage all? According to her blog, she has a routine for certain tasks. Amazing! She has sweet birds prints in one of her very popular Etsy shops. It is full of sweet birds and animals!I have enjoyed reading her blog. Her straight talking yet humorous writing is refreshing. We all know that it is not easy to keep focused on more than one thing. If you have Etsy shop and another work, her blog would be very inspiring how she copes or, in fact, thrives on both.

Ruth's bird print

 

Crying owl and my fairy godchild

The first work for Landmark Arts Centre Midsummer Art Fair is finished. I started this in late January.  I needed to glaze-fire him up to 1240C four times, mainly because grey underglaze around the eyes has had problems. It has been a long journey. I am so glad it is done now. 

Crying owl

He just appeared after I heard from a mutual friend that my sick friend had been bullied by a nasty and coward man. I wanted to help the friend who has never said anything about it. But as I can't do anything else, this owl appeared from my clay. His tears are made of blood. It is very unusual piece among my work. 

There are a couple of pieces nearly finished. But I have to wait for another glazing firing for that. In ceramics you always have to work in the boundaries of available kilns. Ideally you fire a full kiln. It is more efficient as well more ecological. When I was using university kilns, it was easy. But now I always have to keep an eye on how to fire work. Quite often I have to stop glaze-firing even when I have still more to do because there won't be enough for firing or the combination of size and shape of work wouldn't suit to another firing. Good planning has become essential. To make it easy, I put a shelf in an open cupboard at the height of my kiln interior. So I am able to grasp which should be fired with which at a glance as I make. This photo is just before the second cupboard was put up next to it. The lowest shelf is my kiln size.  

    

Here are some pics of work in progress. 

Porcelain wreath 1

Porcelain wreath 2

Porcelain wreath 3

Angel

*****************

My 3 1/2 month old fairy godchild from NZ has visited us with his parents. Seb is such a smiley baby. He made us all happy. His parents are very loving. Seeing them made our hearts really warm. How nice! The second time in my whole life I held a baby! They plonked the baby on my lap. I was really surprised. I didn't know he was so heavy for the size. I think babies are dense! He is with his parents in this photo.

My fairy godchild, Baby Seb.

 

To prepare the visit Mike and I had blitz yesterday. We threw away things, did a tidy-up and cleaning. The ground flood became clean and tidy, but some mess had to immigrate to upstairs! :D

Rabbit, Minotaur and Storm.

The Easter holiday is over. I hope you had fun! Yesterday I had to spend most of the day in  bed again due to illness. The bad headache came back again. But I was able to manage to post a rabbit mask to a lovely friendly lady in Australia in the morning. I usually take Topaz, the loyal pooch, to the post office, but not yesterday, I quickly drove there and drove back. I am crossing all fingers for his safe journey!

Beautiful crackle glaze. 

He has one of the most beautiful crackle glazes I have used. But it is very difficult to show well in photos. So here is a close-up for you.

I use the Royal Mail tracking service for purchase over about £80. It is peace of mind for both customers and myself. A few months ago a lovely gentleman in US was on holiday, when the sculpture had arrived at NY airport. He told me he had been tracking it, and hoped that it would arrive by the time he got home. And it did! If there is a request, I will, of course, change ordinary airmail to airmail tracking service. Please let me know before your purchase!

Minotaur, the beautiful beast, crossed the ocean to live with his loving owner. 

I felt so unwell that I didn't open the kiln by myself yesterday. Mike did it for me in the evening. It was mostly successful, glad to say, but one piece definitely needs another firing. A few pieces are getting finished, which takes some pressure off me. The Landmark Art fair, which I am going to participate in is in June, 20-22. My self-imposed deadline is the end of May, but I am aware that so many things could go wrong, and I must make more than enough. I had two lucky so called sold-out shows (In fact, not every piece was sold but most were gone).  So I would like to prepare well in advance for this fair; visitors should not be disappointed.

She came out beautiful and mysterious. 

I am a workaholic, and like to get things done well in advance. Mike, in domestic occasions, is the opposite, he says there is still time until late and has to do things in hurry. (Note: he is truly professional, and just gets things done for his work, or, in fact, anything related with IT at home.)  I used to nag him, but I gave up. Each has his/her own pace. Having said that, I am the one who almost misses trains, planes, ferries and he arrives well in advance. But the point is that I seldom miss anything because I will run fast!

 
She came out so beautiful and strong. That's what I like. A strong, resilient and confident women. The strands of hair are still safely attached, too. What is great about sculpture is that it looks different from different angles. Also the light makes a big difference. I love the face changing expressions according to the light. If you have one of my sculptural pieces, please put it in a different place once a while. You would be surprised how different it looks.

Another bisque-firing and the British Museum

Hello everyone. I have just started the kiln for bisque-firing.

The lower shelf.

Mike made a pair of little owls as tests. Do you remember we bought a bead rack? They are the first ones to hang from it!

The top shelf

I wanted to make another piece, but after a few hours' trial, nothing came out of the clay. So I gave up, and made an anteater for fun. The anteater we saw in the Zoo last weekend inspired me. He had gentle eyes and cute ears, so does mine!

My first anteater!

******

We went to the British Museum for my research on Saturday.  I needed to look at the Lewis chessmen again. They are in a new bright display. I could see them in detail.

The Lewis chessmen

We had stayed there until we became hungry. There are always so many interesting things to look at. These are Roman brooches. One is a rabbit. The orange one is a sandal brooch! Why? I thought it was a pickled cucumber! :D

Roman brooches. Rabbit and Sandal! 

Then we went to Soho to have dim sum. We found a restaurant recommended by the Time Out as well as Japanese expatriots. Yes, it was delicious!

Then I came across the Chinese stationary shop I had wanted to visit for years, by chance.  I did some shopping!

After that, we went to Mayfair. After some shopping, we came back. What fun we had! It was also my monthly day-off. I usually have a half-day off each weekend. Once I take a day-off, it would take a few days for me to get back to the rhythm. so when I have got a project or two, I prefer to keep working.

I hope you had a good weekend, too!

My brain clicked.

Hello! Yesterday evening, my brain clicked. I finished the body for this boy. He will have wings. He is an angel. I had struggle with both the body and the head for several hours. Unlike some ceramic sculptors, I don't use moulds, so each piece is totally original and unique. It takes lots of thinking and trial and error. I create something different each time and that is the point of me creating. It is not going to be any easier for me.

I love his lips! :D

 In the meantime, The rabbit girl became this. As I removed the ears and hair after it became too dry, I can't smooth the surface much. I am still trying to find who she really is.

Once she was a rabbit girl. 

This is an ancient Japanese child. I liked the way the head is over-sized, but not completely sure about the proportion of arms. As faces are the most important parts to me, I like to emphasize them. But when you add hands, hands start telling a story, too. Getting the right balance is important.

Ancient Japanese child

Rolling heads

Hello everyone. Happiness start with lie in on Sunday! Ta-lalala!  This is the best rest I can get. In fact, I had lie in yesterday, too. Ah, bliss!

I have been working in the studio, which is a glorious name for former dinning space with two tables and two throwing machines, a lot recently. Today I will share the heads I have made recently.

.I nicknamed her 'Oracle'. She is quite large for my work. She has waterfowl spirit on her head. I have a couple of ideas for the body.    

'Oracle'

This is the one I made last night. She is 'Storm'. She is small, and now lives on a glass jar. I am not sure if she survives firing, Even if she does, will she survive transport? One can't make art if one worries about these things, so I just make and see!

'Storm'

This one has already had different eyes, nose and mouth, so it looks different. But this was how she started. I change a lot and nothing is too sacred for me.  Now I saw this photo, I will make the ears bigger!  D
 

 

And this one. I made it, but don;t know who she is., She is a definitely a girl.

Topaz was very helpful.

Topaz is incredibly patient. She puts up with almost anything I do. On the other hand, Pearl the whippet runs back to her house if she doesn't want. She also sleeps 23 hours a day, so She is too busy to help me!

Now I am making a body. I hope I could make the torso tonight!