Monday Mood

Got to be a busy bee this week to get ready for the fair in Eindhoven this Sunday.

Bumble Bee bag

Happy Bee - children t-shirt

Bee Coasters (pair)

Happy Bees on a sunny day

See more Monday Mood Boards on Fleurfatale's Blog

Happy Stats

My happy stats of a wonderful past week:

• My baby niece got baptized, was a beautiful ceremony. She wore the same dress that her mum (my sister) wore when she was baptized and which my brother and I wore as well. I do love family traditions like that.
• A friend, who's a writer, is going to write about me.
• Love the color the red clay has turned after firing at 1220°C.
• Found a shop in Leuven to sell my work: Bizart.
• Had lunch with a friend whom I had not seen in years, sooo good to catch up.
• Light for the garden in porcelain worked out fine.
• My bum is not too sore after cycling a long distance for the first time this season.

My Creative Space

Playing with silk, porcelain, cord and glass today to make a piece of wearable art. I had thought of making more bowls, but once rummaging around in my atelier I suddenly found the right combination for all these bits lying around. It happens more often, suddenly an idea comes together, if I would have tried to find it I would have been strugling. So I always wait until it apperas by itself. Even if I have an idea of something I want to make the final result is never firm in my mind beforehand and appears while working on it.
How does that work for you, do you know from the start what the finished product will be?

My Creative Space

Today I had a lazy morning with an early visit to the dentist, just the half-yearly check and luckily all was fine. Than a visit to my parents and popped into my sisters house just for a minute too. I saw them all last Sunday when my sisters baby girl was baptized, so no mayor news to exchange. No news is good news as they say. I gave my brother a hand installing some software and looked at some gold-smithing tools with my sister, she is the real gold smith in the family :-)
Meanwhile the kiln at home was cooling, it had been on since yesterday evening, but firing till 1220°C and cooling takes it's time. You don't want to open the kiln to early and give the pieces a temperature shock. By the time I got back it was getting cool enough to open. I had a peep and saw that the red clay had turned a really nice color, remember the garden ornaments from this post, well here they are after the final firing:

As you can see I fill the small places in the oven with small items, so I'll have lots of rings and brooches to make this afternoon, I made roses, hearts, more jewelry inspired by the folklore form Zeeland, little animals, and little blue twitter birds. The last I'll make into little hangers which I'll give as a present with a sale.

Monday Mood

What other mood is possible these sunny days ;-)

Happy Cloud

Empire of the Sun

Sunshine Amber ring

Here Comes the Sun

Happy Stats

Finally treated myself to a lovely notebook from Kreativlink

Fixed the back door, it opens and closes smooth again

Went to an interesting reading by ceramist Jeanne Opgenhaffen 

Made lots of ceramics, so I could fire another bisque-kiln

Enjoyed lots of good weather and time with family

Reading by Jeanne Opgenhaffen

Yesterday evening I went to a reading by Jeanne Opgenhaffen. She does not give much readings anymore, but Katja from Atelier K! had convinced her otherwise. Jeanne works mainly with porcelain and showed lots of pictures of her work, explaining what they presented and what had influenced her: large landscapes.

The wall hangings you see here are in real life 1x1 meter and consist of numberless wafer-tin porcelain tiles. I really like that her work is so pure and natural, that you can feel the wind, the waves and the force of nature.

Less natural, but just as impressive are the wall hangings and objects she makes using transfers. She makes her own transfers using a silk-screen print technique to add a picture or text to each tile of a wall hanging. Here is one she made for a Belgium newspaper:

 These works could take a year to make, to see some result sooner she's at the moment working on a series of little boxes which have all a different image on it, again using the transfer technique. She starts with an image she draws or paints herself on paper or on the computer. 

I liked her a down to earth attitude and she presents it as if it is all very simple and easy what she does. I guess it is once you have mastered all the skills she has. And fair enough that she did not give away all her trade secrets, but enough hints to know where to start.