I love pushing the boundaries of what clay can stand up to. Carving and elaborate cuts are always unpredictable in the kiln. The more free standing the appendage is the higher chance it will slump or bend. Sometimes this is a bad thing but only if your wanting your finished piece to look just how you arranged it. I'm obsessed with organic shapes so I love the anticipation of waiting to see how my cuts and molding changed thru out the firing process. My glaze firings are what we potters call cone 6 which equates to around 2200 degrees. That means as the clay goes thru the firing the clay will quite literally become red hot and start to bend and move as it becomes soft but not quite melting. The end result of course is that the clay then becomes, yet again, as hard as stone like it once was millenia ago before it broke down into clay.
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My most favorite part of working in clay is the creation process. This means I tend to get bored with one style or glaze pattern and before you know it... I'm off to the next design! I think this is good for the people that follow my work and support me because they can always find new and exciting pieces when they come to see me. Its great for me since it obviously feeds my creativity and gives me opportunities to push the boundaries of my skills and imagination.
Inspiration is found all around us and different people are inspired in different ways by different things. My inspiration comes from what stirs my soul! Visually I love, and am drawn to, flowing curving shapes and lines. The fluidness of them feels in tune with my being and just feels good. I’ve always been drawn to these things in music or forms and even light shows. Light shows, or lazer shows, were always fascinating to me growing up because of how the light bends and flows…. Mesmerizing. I also strive to be naturally open to inspiration around me in that I don’t seek to intentionally see or hear something inspiring but that I am open to seeing and hearing the beauty around me wherever I happen to be at. If you always look at the world with an eye that cares to see beauty there’s an amazing amount of it everywhere you go!