It's Here! It's Here!

Oh happy day! My Simmons Slicer is here! I got it put together and I was slicing away in no time. I have two retreats coming up that I am teaching at. (Clay Fest in Wisconsin and Clay Carnival in Vegas) Both are having swaps. Now if you know me at all you know I haven't even thought about what I am going to do for my swaps. Well after today I don't have to worry about it. This baby can slice up any cane into thin and even slices. It's just a matter of making the back and applying the slice. And I can get so much out of an inch of cane.
I have been working on finishing some pieces for sale at above mentioned retreats. I will definitely make use of my slicer. I will post some pics when I get them finished.
It's back to slicing.

Come See Me!

Well it's only a few weeks until Cabin Clay Fest in Wausau, Wi. I will be teaching a caning class there. Kathryn tells me that there are still a few spots left so I hope y'all can join us. It's going to be a great time. (Of course it will! I will be there!) There is also a pre-confernece class with Jeff Dever. I have taken many classes over the years and I have to say that Jeff's class is one of the best that I have ever taken. I just love his style of polymner art and he is a wonderful instructor. I don't think he teaches many classes and you should really take advantage of the opportunity.

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE CLAY FEST GO HERE.

Other news - I am still waiting for my Simmon's Slicer. A few changes were made and I think it will be here soon. I can hardly stand the waiting. That's the good news. The bad news is I think that I have become allergic to something in my studio. It seems like I am well one week and then I work on a project and BAM! the nose starts running, I'm sneezing, sinus headache, etc. At first I thought it was the super glue but I wasn't using that the last time. I was baking though. Maybe my oven needs to cleaned out from all the polymer residue. Anybody else out there ever experience this?

I will be going to Asheville this weekend for our October Clay Play day. It has been a long time since I have been able to make a meeting so I am excited. It's a special day and is open to anyone if you are in the area stop by.

Check out this link that Cynthia Tinapple sent to me. I loved it.

That's all for now.

Finished Pieces

I know it is rare for me to finish many pieces but here are two. One is a pendant the other a wall hanging. For the pendant I tried to give it a look of a framed masterpiece. I worked up some intricate caning for the "gilded" frame. The other is my "end piece" mosaic. I added it to a canvas that I covered with clay.

I just got back from a class with Kathleen Dustin. It was in Santa Fe and it was wonderful. She was trying to help us all find our own voice with our art. I came with an idea of doing an organic piece but after talking with Kathleen I had renewed vision of my mosaics. I only had a small section of my latest cane with me but I worked on some new shapes and designs with it. I left with a new plan for more mosaics. To tell you the truth it was hard working in Santa Fe because we were on this lovely porch overlooking the mountains. I know... life it hard sometimes.

I am back home now putting the finishing touches on my book and my class for craftedu.com. Yes there are still boxes to unload but I figure they aren't going anywhere!

Another SLICE of Heaven!

If you have been following my blog you have read about my trials and tribulations over slicing one of my canes. Well you can see by the pictures that I have finally found a solution. Last May I met the Caner Extraordinaire Carol Simmons at a retreat. If you haven't seen her work you should crawl out of that rock that you are under and Google her. Her canes are amazing. Her technique is one that you want to slap yourself in the head over. (But you'll have to learn that from her. I was lucky that I heard her speak at Synergy this year.) Anyway, I was happy to be invited to her lovely home in Colorado. (Did you know that Denver, the Mile High city, is really flat??? I need to get out more. ... I know I digress.) Carol has been working with a friend and engineer on a new slicing machine. Well I almost slipped on my drool while using it. It is hard to explain how thin these slices can be. In fact, Carol kept asking me why I was dialing them up to be so "thick". I told her my brain just couldn't handle the really thin slices. Actually the makeup of the mosaics meant that they need to be a little "thicker" so as not to come apart. And by "thicker" I mean really thin. We put the largest cane I had with me which was my first mosaic cane. I'd say about 4 inches high. It sliced thru it like butter. Thin! Even! Easy! Drool! Drool! I have signed up to buy the first slicer. Now I don't think that this will be the must have item for all clayers but for me it was invaluable. Nothing worse than working three weeks on a cane to have it fall victim to crappy slicing. If you think about all you could do with thin, even slices you took will fall in love with this machine. Think of the things that you could cover. If you don't have equal slices when you go to apply them to an object you get distortion when smoothing them in. Or perhaps Mokume Gane is your love. Get your hanky out because I see drool coming. So far there are only two or three of these things in existence. I know we came up with a few modifications that need to be made. Ok now you have come to the end of this commercial... you know the part when you hear the bad news. I think it is going to sell for around $700. I bet that stopped the drool in mid-spit. For me it was worth it. Keep an eye on Carol's website for more information.

Mosaic in progress

Everyone has been so nice with the comments about my latest cane. I thought I'd share this picture with you. It's not the greatest photo but you can see the scale of the cane a little better. The piece in the chair is the "dimensional" slice that I made with each row as I completed it. You can see the actual cane on the table to the right of the chair. When you see it in person it is much harder to see the image of the face up close but when you step back from it there it is.

Thanks again for all the nice words.

Success!

Here is the reduced cane. The cane originally was about 7 by 8 inches. With less than 2 inches in depth. The slice on the right is about 2 inches high. I am happy. (I guess I have to go back to unpacking now!) Of course my next obstacle is slicing the booger. I am going to see a friend who has come up with a new slicer. I am going to bring some of my cane in hopes that she needs one to demo on. I'll let you know how it goes.

A Leap of Faith - DaVinci Mosaic

Here is my latest mosaic cane. I am very pleased with the way she came out. I went with a more artistic interpretation with my use of colors. When I was building this cane I had to take a leap of faith that it was coming out right. At first when you just have a few lines it is hard to see the face. I remember when I had about 1/4 of the cane finished I had it sitting on my work table. When I came back to work on it and I turned on the light, from across the room I could see the face clearly. Of course up close it was difficult to see. Fortunately I had faith and kept working. As I said I am very pleased with the way she turned out. Since I had so much trouble with my last mosaic with taking a slice of the full size cane that this time I decided to save it by cutting off each line as I built it and saving it onto a sheet of clay. This resulted in a mosaic made up of uneven bits and pieces. I have included some pictures of this. One you can see from the end how uneven it is. Again from across the room the face is visible. I like the way the pieces are uneven. I hope you do too. I will try to reduce the cane tomorrow. Wish me luck.