First Day of Class

I'm finally a student again!  I've been dabbling with the clay and creating flowers on my own without any instruction so I was eagerly awaiting my first day of class and I was not disappointed.

I wish I had brought my camera so that I could show you how beautiful my teacher's studio was. She had all of her floral projects displayed on her wall and we all had our own stations with all the supplies neatly arranged.  I'm trying to convince Bernie to give me the den in our apartment to make my own home studio=)

My instructor wasted no time in getting us started with our first project which was making a "proper rose" and used those to decorate a mirror. I will have to post a picture of that at a later time because my completed project is still drying.

This little guy is a bear I had to make completely out of deco clay. When my instructor first showed me a picture of what I would have to make, I had no idea how I was going to crank this one out.  However, I'm quite pleased with what I did.  Not bad for a first try!

Below are pictures of my last project which was a rose and shell wreath.  

Lastly, I would like to leave you with a full rose that I've been working on.

I'm thoroughly enjoying learning different ways that I can create things with different types of clay.  I've recently made some bowls using red clay with some beautiful glazes.  I'll save those for a later post.

Flower Arrangements

Bernie saw my previous posts and tried to help me photograph my flowers a little better.  He helped me think more about composition and lighting.   I never knew how much thinking about all of these design elements are so important in showcasing your work.  I'm by no means a photographer and I just used my digital camera with whatever lighting we had so enjoy!

If you look at my previous post, I changed the ceramics pictures with the ones that Bernie helped me take, too=)

Traditional Ceramics

Image from: Alley Cat Productions/ Brand X/ Corbis

Before I started my venture into the Deco clay art form, I was dabbling in traditional ceramics. When I was in Korea after I graduated university, I started taking classes there and learned a little bit about throwing pieces on the wheel.  However, I never was able to progress because of my work schedule.

Fast forward 7 years later...I decided to attempt to go back and try to take some classes at my local community art center with my husband.  I absolutely love everything about working with clay.  I'm just starting out and most of my classmates have worked with it for decades. Here are some of my first pieces that are nowhere near the level of craftsmanship of my peers, but I'm motivated to start heading to the studio more and making more pieces.  The great thing about ceramics is that I can use whatever I make.  

Here are some pinch pots and a plate that I made for my first ceramics class.

Update

Yay!  I have my first follower. This should motivate me to start posting more faithfully.

More to come soon ...

My Journey Through Clay

I'm taking my first Deco Clay class on Aug. 15th, and I can't wait to get started learning. Normally, I would wait to buy any clay or do anything before I start my classes, however, Bernie encouraged me to start experimenting and researching.   Why not?  I have the time, since I'm not teaching the summer quarter, and what's the use of wasting a couple of weeks just anticipating the start of classes.

SO

I drove over to Piecemakers in Costa Mesa.  It's a cute country craft store that has every kind of craft class imaginable.  They even have a restaurant in the store if you happen to be hungry while shopping=)  They also just happen to be the ONLY store in my area that carries Deco clay so I grabbed some.  

Now, being the ambitious person that I am and not knowing where or how to start, this is what my first attempt at a rose was.  I was personally happy with what I had accomplished for my first try, but my professional artist husband thought otherwise.

I was determined to make it better so on my next try I came up with this ...

I thought my rose was a big improvement, but I know that with any craft or art, it takes a lot of practice.  I spent the next couple of days creating these.

I have a long way to go in terms of improving my roses, but as you can see I am completely obsessed with making these!