The gift of giving

Recently, I had one of my pieces (one of the 3 ”Arrested Development” black and white pairs from the Series ”Mute Message Down Under”) purchased by a customer from Laval, QC.

It is meant as a gift for his mother’s birthday. Since I found it was a lovely reason to buy one of my pieces, I decided to make a box for it to travel safely and be worthy of the gesture.

I have always admired the Japanese for being very thoughtful regarding the packaging of their work as they believe it to be an extension of the work itself. Called ”Tomobako” (accompanying box) it serves as a means of storage for the artwork and a way to authenticate the piece as the maker often puts his mark/brand on it.

 

Here are few interesting sites to learn more about Tomobako:

http://www.e-yakimono.net

https://eastasianart.wordpress.com

http://www.shibuiswords.com

http://the-et-ceramique.blogspot.ca (French only)

 

For this project I had in mind to use one of the available laser-cutters that our city library owns, in Ottawa’s first public makerspace. I had been ”certified” to use it in 2014 and had not had the chance to use it yet. It took a first failed attempt to realize that even with the knowledge I have in design softwares, Inkscape or SketchUp are hard to understand. Because I needed to deliver the artwork in the following weeks, I had no time to learn how to use them, which meant I had to look online for shortcuts.

While I was told one could get designs from Thingiverse where I found an awesome box (maybe for later), due to size constraints I instead went for an online software that is especially designed to deliver a file to make boxes called MakerCase.

Once the pieces were cut by the laser, I realized the thickness I entered for the wood was not quite right so the junctions do not fit seamlessly. As well, there was a strong burnt smell. So I thought I’d get rid of it by rubbing the cut parts with baking soda… It made it smooth and less smelly but I left the pieces outside for a few days to air as well. I used No More Nails glue on all the pieces except for the lid of course and since it didn’t dry transparent (yikes!) I resorted to painting the seams with Van Dyke Brown acrylic paint. It made the seams shiny again.

Being a first, the result is not perfect but overall, I’m pretty pleased with it and was proud of the astonishment of the buyer’s friends who would deliver the box later in the week. I just hope my customer’s mom doesn’t mind that I put my artist statement in English only…

 

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Mentor Mixer Monday

This is the first event organized by the Young Arts Leaders Collective that I went to. It was a panel of accomplished artists and non-artists who also happen to have given back to the arts community in one way or another. They were discussing their big breaks, tips and what to do’s and don’ts through a series of questions. I don’t remember the facilitator’s name but she did a great job.

Another interesting thing was the venue itself which is a store on Wellington called Maker House
They were streaming live during the event and the footage can be seen on YouTube.

Here are some of the key-points I retained:

• Say Yes to each and every opportunity that comes your way until you’re busy enough to be choosy of where you spend your time/energy or if it doesn’t go with your branding
• Go to openings and build your network
• Use social media
• Make a 5 and 10-year plan for yourself
• Volunteer
• Like for the NHL trade up! (meaning think about your CV when building your career)
• Seek out a team of mentors

From there I took upon myself to start a conversation with one of the people who had just left from the panel. She happened to be the owner of studiosixtysix, Carrie Colton. She mentioned their upcoming exhibition as well as a potential opportunity for me to show my work in November. I had heard of the place and have a friend living nearby so I took this chance to visit the Gallery. This is my next Post’s subject.

Kiln gods

One of the things I have learned at the Ottawa School of Art from teacher/artist Penelope Kokkinos was the existence of “kiln gods”. Prior to firing the kiln, artists make a little figurine with fresh clay and put it on top of the kiln (outside) to ensure a good firing. In today’s era it could be thought of as a useless superstitious activity but I think of it as part of the charm of the ceramic practice. Since a lot of what happens in the kiln or even during the construction of a piece is mysterious to the maker (chemical reactions happen depending on the glaze material, the placement of the work in the kiln, the flow of heat…) why not putting all the chances in your favours? 🙂

Here are some of these cuties hanging around after firings in the OSA kiln room.

2015 Ottawa Guild of Potters Spring Sale

Tags

argile noire, black clay, Exhibition, Exposition, porcelain, porcelaine, pot, poterie, pottery, sale, vente

Today I went to see the Ottawa Guild of Potters Spring Sale. I am still a member of the Guild but am not currently exhibiting with them as it is mostly functional work people look for in these show. This is the 2nd time they use the former Horticulture Building at the Lansdowne Park in Ottawa. It was a hot and humid day both inside and out but the natural light was amazing.

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Update on my new Business Card

The cards arrived on the estimated date. Interesting thing is that I paid for a 10 day-shipping and they shipped the item 3 days upon its arrival. It should be called ”Give us some time to print the damn thing”. Go figure.

After opening the box, the first thing I checked was if the raised print was applied, as specified, to the logo only. Nope. The whole text, logo included is raised. Though it was a deception at first, the raised part of my logo is so thin that having paid significantly extra just for that would have been a waste of money.

Note to self, having a dark background and a matte finish that comes standard is a recipe to leave your fingerprints all-over the card. Quite distracting.

Would I order again? Not sure. Compared to the $100 quote I was given for raised print, this was cheaper. I would try the Spot gloss option to outline my logo more. But then again I did not like how the background of my picture turned out a little too pixelated for my taste.

Again, the goal for a Business Card is for people to remember you and your product. I hope this does the job.

Updating my Business Card

Tags

Business Card, Business of Art, Vistaprint

Previous Business Card Design.

It took me almost 5 years to use 250 business cards… and recently it was time to print another batch so I wouldn’t run out in the middle of a show. As much as I liked the Design I had created for it, my work has evolved of the years and I decided it was due for a change. It also needed to be cohesive with my Website (redesigned over the years) and this Blog which did not exist in 2010. With all of the other projects on my plate, it took me a few months to find the right fit (I’m not a graphic designer but I can manage my way around Gimp or Photoshop without having to hire someone or at least that’s what I think, you tell me). I also wanted to add some more info (thanks to my many readings on the business of art), get a Tagline (the exercise of summarizing one’s work in 5 words max was a hard one), increase readability (another one from my readings) by adding capital letters in the web address, emails…

Inspiration for my new Design (credit: Miss Annabel Dee, a ceramic artist from the UK).

I found inspiration on another ceramic artist’s Blog from the UK, Miss annabel Dee.

I decided to go with Vistaprint as it looked at first like a good deal… Well actually when they advertise – 40 % off an item it doesn’t mean on an order of Business Cards, but on the most expensive part of your order (here for example it was applied on the front of my card, $38 for 250 cards, yeah). I wanted my logo to appear as a raised print that’s why it’s more expansive than the usual cards as a starter. Why using raised print? Because I make 3D work and it makes the card more memorable. To this I added the reverse side in colour ($13), the shipping ($7.99 for 10 days delivery, the slowest I could get since I did not have to rush it) and taxes ($5.69). On and all it is costing me $49.48 or 19.80cts per card. In 2010 I paid for 250 one-sided card (colour) $34.56. Here is the result prior to being printed (I am expecting them by May 1rst). Any comments?

New Design for the front of my Business Cards (logo in raised print).

New Design for the back of my Business Cards.

How to photograph your ceramics

Tags

Artwork, Business of Art, Céramique, Ceramic art, contemporain, contemporary, Photography, poterie, pottery, sculpture, Tutorial

Coralline – The Sea Dragon

As I always look for ways to improve the quality of my photographs, I found this great tutorial. It is more complex than one would need but it helped me understand how professionals get that beautiful gradient background.

So far I achieved this effect on some of my pieces using Gimp (equivalent of Photoshop in Unix). You cut out the image of the piece and add a gradient background layer to it. It just takes too uch time and adding shadows make it look less natural.

All the credits go to Jeffrey Opp. Thanks

Artist Residency – Work in Progress (8)

Tags

artistic collaboration, Céramique, Ceramic art, contemporain, contemporary, Exhibition, Exposition, La Fab, La nature des choses, Laguna Frost, Lines in Nature, Paula Murray, porcelain, porcelaine, techniques

Starting in February I have been focusing on implementing ideas for the Lines in Nature Project/La nature des choses Project.
Here are some photos of the work in progress. (more to come)
Note: I have also posted some sketches and concept developed during the partnership with ceramic artist Paula Murray on the Project’s blog.

Piece for Concept #2

Piece for Concept #2 in the kiln to be bisqued

Sketches for Concept #3

Newspaper backing prior to laying my slabs (note: the height of the project is made so the piece will fit on a kiln shelf half)

I sketched a layout for the piece

Completing the drawing of the back of my piece (it will be 3D)

Cutout of the backing of my piece for Concept #3.

Studio material – handbuilding board

Tags

board, handbuilding, Studio, tip

Most of the ceramic studios I know use particle boards as working surfaces for handbuilding. Personally, I find them heavy and they don’t withstand cleaning properly. Over time corners chip and the surface warps. I got from Canus Plastics (a local manufacturer of anything plastic) some free Plexiglas pieces (most likely not the accurate term for it, I don’t know my plastics as well as they do) that I use as boards. They have a bin at the entrance of the store where they give away loose ends and other odd ends, so this allows artists to recycle theses products. With the right thickness, they don’t warp under the weight of the pieces when moving them around and they clean easily.
Here is one of my boards:

Plexiglass board.

I cut some newspaper (2 pages-thick) using the sides of the board so it fits its size prior to working on my pieces so that the clay won’t stick to the board.

Newspaper on board (2 pages-thick).

I often place the board on a banding wheel to work on the piece. Once I am done with the piece, I can put it on my shelf to dry covered with a plastic bag. Right now I have a metallic shelving space to put my work to dry and it is warped, so I am glad my Plexiglas stays flat. When shelving space has been too little I have stacked my boards on top of each other using some stilts just like for kiln shelves.

Cut out pieces on the board.

Patterns

Tags

Laguna Frost, pattern, porcelain, porcelaine, sculpture, tip, trucs

For test tiles and other shapes that I will reuse, I make patterns out of transparent and soft plastic folders (found at the Dollar store). It is particularly good when making series (production work) and you want to save some time. Below is an example for a pair of Christmas Sale seahorse wall pieces. I always start with a sketch (although I could, I choose not to trace directly from a picture).

Sketches for seahorse patterns.

Then I trace the shape on the plastic folder with a permanent marker, cut the piece out, et voilà! Easy to use, easy to clean and it can be used on both sides.

Seahorse patterns (cut out after tracing them from sketches).

For test tiles, once I cut a piece in clay I then proceed with stamping a piece of coral and a pencil to make shallow and deeper marks. I also bending the tail so I can get as much information as possible about the glaze’s behaviour. You can see pictures of my test tiles in my previous post on Test tiles.

Test tile pattern.

Here are the rest of my patterns (including the ones I made for my Business Card holders (in case one of them brakes…).