Adventures in the Mud

Murphy's Law/Dixieland Grand

2010-09-11T17:54:00.000-07:00

Hey all,
I haven't worked on Murphy in a while, but I wanted to post some pix. I'm a little discouraged with him, as there's a couple buggers in the glaze that I'm not sure I can fix (but I DO know how to prevent on future horses!). So, any thoughts would be nice. I like his face. I do plan to add some underglaze stripes to his hooves. I tried something, and it didn't really work out how I wanted.

Dixieland Grand

2010-08-27T16:26:00.000-07:00

Hey all,
Well, my kiln broke down, so I figured I'd just post these pictures that I took a few days ago of Dixie. I ADORE this little fella (tho he's so dainty, why wasn't he a mare?). These are pictures without hoof stripes, and he's only glazed a little bit lol. IF my master plans work out, his eyes won't be so creepy, the brown should fire down to a nice dark brown. When will that be? I don't know. I'm being ever so patient waiting for my part (I ordered it two days ago from Wa...so why isn't it here yet!!) lol. But, he's first on the list of stuff to be fired, followed by some very minor touchups in overglaze on the previous 3 mini's. Then, on to the AA Shetland pony (no idea what color yet...). So, anyway, enjoy!

A final thought. Always remember how fun it is to play in the rain :)

New Pretties

2010-08-18T10:50:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a while since I posted last, but I have lots of good reasons! Here's a few :)

Also, none of them are quite done yet. And, my new camera really doesn't do the little horses too well. All of the white markings are WHITE, not icky yellow. Enjoy!

I have this guy's name stored somewhere in my e-mails, but I found this guy at Breyerfest HIN room sales. I just love him, and picked his pattern based on a little wild pony in a picture I have. He has etched hairs in his mane, to give a mixed mane appearance. Please note- his hooves aren't finished, and the end of his tail isn't glazed. :)

This little one is one of my experiments. This is "Bressay" I think is how she's spelled. I bought her last year at the room sales, with a broken leg, and never did anything with her. I have since repaired her leg- while it's sound, it's not as smooth as I'd like it to be. She's also still in the works, I need to finish up the black and glaze her face, but isn't she cool?

Now this one...I don't want to brag, but I was so stinkin' tickled when I pulled her out of the kiln! She needs a few more things glazed, but for all intensive purposes, here she is. I just love her. I am thinking maybe sending her to NAN next year if she does well this show season.

Wouldn't he have been neat if he'd turned out!! This is a Hagen Renaker Arab Stallion. He started out white, and in my need to tinker, I glazed him bay with two hind socks. Now, a neat thing happened, tho I'm not 100% sure why. What I glazed him with had reactions every time it went in the kiln. I was thinking about giving him some kind of name with electric or lightning or something in it. Going to use him as a decorator piece, he's really pretty, just...ya know, not really realistic :) I think I'll cold paint his base, I've tried glazing it a few different times and it just hasn't worked out lol.

Hope you liked them! What's next? I have two real nice horses coming over from Animal Artistry in England, an Arab and a Shetland Pony. Who-hoo!

Clikies Done!

2010-07-17T07:11:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
Gonna be short and sweet cuz I gotta get these guys delivered :)

AA Mule- he'll be for sale. High gloss, very cute.

AA Gypsy Cob- This is probably my fav. AA mold, so be ready to see lots more in the future. I'm not 100% happy with this guy, but happy enough to send him to Breakables lol. He's much darker in person than these pix show.

Loza Arab Grey- This guy will be for sale in the Artisan Gallery at BF!!

Loza Arabian Pinto- This guy will also be for sale at the AG, probably for a reduced price, as there's a couple things about him that I'm not happy with how they turned out.

Thanks guys! More to come after BF!!

Sleepy Shire All Done!!

2010-07-14T17:14:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to post some pix of this pretty boy for you all to see. I'm pretty happy with the horse, but I don't like how the kitty turned out. He was supposed to be orange tabby, but apparently I was watching the movie more than the glaze color, and he's dark brown with a pink nose, black white, and a white tail. The shire, tho the pix don't show, has 3 colored eyes, cream off white main/tail/leg feathers, and kissy spots. He'll be showing at Breakables, along with 4 others if I can get them done in time!!

Here's a size comparative next to a Breyer Stablemate.

Til next time!

Dances with Kiln

2010-07-10T05:32:00.000-07:00

After e-mailing Lesli, and reading her awesome post this morning about the exact problems I've encountered, I just had to post. First, her most recent blog if you want to read it (warning, you can get sucked into her blog for hours...days...) is Blackberry Lane, over to the right in the links.

Now, here's how I started writing to her. Check these bad boys out....

You can imagine my surprise when I opened my kiln, and instead of seeing two neat experiments, I got this mess. I didn't realize my glaze would have such an angry reaction with the masking (which Lesli was talking about in her blog). Basically, you see all those little dots all through the pattern? That's a big glob of glaze, sticking off the body. What a mess! And, to get it off (because I did get some off) you literally have to break the bisque. This is why I try out new stuff on my burro's, for speedbumps like this..
It's not really fixable, tho I was tempted to finish and glaze one just to see what happens lol.

On to some fun stuff. I'm hoping these guys will be done in time. The arab is the sorrel from previous posts, however, he had some weirdness that I didn't like, so he went black and white. I think he'll be sharper this way :) Concepts are hard to cover, I expect he'll be fired 4-5 more times before he's BLACK.
The other three are Animal Artistry, and have the BEST detail. Seriously, I was blown away how nice these guys are. I love the Cob (large grey appaloosa). He's going to have a black m/t, and black spots added. I haven't decided what I'm doing with him yet, but the other two will probably be for sale to fund more bisque.

This is the Lakeshore that I was working on. I masked off a big blanket, and airbrushed him black. While he turned out pretty much just like I had planned...his markings that WERE white (his two pinto marks and his face marking) turned a weird yellow color. So, I learned not to use pre-exisisting marked models, good tip for BEFORE Breyerfest lol. I'll be making his blanket quite a bit smaller to get around those pesky markings. I am, however, quite pleased with his leg markings, which I etched.

Til next time!! Breyerfest is right around the corner, are YOU ready!?

Sand Blasting

2010-07-08T20:15:00.001-07:00

Sometimes called "air erasing", sand blasting is, for lack of better works, using sand at high pressures to remove things like rust, paint, or in my case, glaze. I bought my sand blaster probably 6 months ago, but due to this, that, and every other thing, tonight is the first night it's been fired up.

Why did I want to learn to sandblast? To me, it opens a huge door to doing neat things with china horses. Take, for example, the horse below. I am, as usual, sorry about the picture quality (really, what's the point of having a phone that is smarter than I am in so many ways, and yet it can't focus or adjust lighting lol).

Our two victoms:

A legless Hagen Renaker horse (I was told what would happen, but I'm just kind of a nut who has to see it for myself). I know it's hard to see, but you see that grey area around the tail and the rump? That's where the sand blaster literally blew chunks of the underlying HORSE off. There's large chunk of horse missing now. I was told that bisque (ceramic) horses are much softer than porcelain, and, they are porous, so they actually bond with the finish.

A Lakeshore horse I think called Touch of Sky. Regardless, I am going to just call her Sky. The horse to the right is what Sky looked like before she went into the sand blaster. I started out thinking I'd blast the whole horse white, but she sort of ended up with an appy pattern, so I switched to plan B. I am going to go over her black area's with the black that I have, so that it matches what I will be using. I'm thinking maybe very low or no front socks, and adding some black to the back legs but I need to find a picture first. I'm also going to change her face marking, so I made a blaze to start with. And of course, she'll get some spots. Neat thing about sand blasting, she's roaned all over the edges of her blanket.

So there you have it. Plan is to have her done in time for the Breakables show. We'll see. Hubby's leaving in a couple hours for his military 3 week romping, so I'll have the evenings to myself to work. So here's hoping. I have a few other horses I'm trying to get finished to raise some quick Breyerfest bucks, just a few weeks away!!

Til next time!

2010-07-01T16:57:00.001-07:00

First off, sorry, all the pix were taken with my IPhone. Handy, but lacking in quality :)

Flower accessories: keep the kids happy for 10 min. lol. Our neighbor was trimming their hosta's (I think), and the kids kept dragging these flower stems home, so I made crowns and bracelets for them. Amused them for about 10, maybe 15 min. But it was fun.

So, I've been pretty active about looking for new molds to work with, not that I don't love the Doc Holiday wonk, but you know. Call it fate, but I picked up these two new molds, shortly before I went into the hospital. They are small, light, and easy to work with, I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot of these guys over the summer while my back heals. Aren't they cute? I don't really like the drafter in harness, I think I'll do that one as is, but probably will carve off the harness (the collar casts separately) and leave the bridle on. I really like the little calf, I'm not sure if he's an HR knockoff, but the two cows defiantly look like they are.

And speaking of Doc Holiday, I haven't forgotten them :) Alfred has no pictures, because he's in a bag, drying slowly. He got lots of lovin' today. I also worked on these other two, which I really should name so I know what I'm talking about. Now, don't let them scare you, Frankenhorses lol, because after they are fired, ceramics can be dremeled. I'm just trying to get arab's head attached to her body, so I have something to work with. It's *very* important that there is an air hole from her body, to her head, or else her head will just explode (man do I know what that's like...). The little head is Ichy mare, I'm going to fire her head attached to her neck, then attach her neck to her body. Seemed easier that way.

And, lastly, I'm not sure if it was all the drug induced sleeping, or being so relaxed the last few days, but I wasn't sleeping more than a couple hours a night (no worries, the kids are home, I'm ready for bed before they are lol). But, one night when I was bouncing off the walls at 3am, I started sculpting this. I only worked on it for about an hour before I decided I should at least go bounce around in bed, so it needs a lot of work. But here is my first sculpture attempt. I didn't have anything to scale it with, but it's BIG. Like, probably 5 inches long? maybe 6. Plus a backround. But I thought, if I finish it, I'd make it and market it as a wall hanging. I think it'd be fun to do as bisque. I was trying to make it a "generic" horse instead of real typie like an Arab. The eye is a little freaky. Actually, it started out as a forlock, because I wanted to practice sculpting hair. It looks a little more 3D in real life, this picture actually makes it look creep lol

I hope everyone has a safe and fun 4th of July!!

Sneak peek at pinto's

2010-06-30T06:31:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
I had a thought last night (yep, it happens lol). I think people who work with ceramics are artists who want Christmas all year long. I say that because, every time I open my kiln, it's like Christmas-you never know what you're going to get. For example, would you buy the two horses in the first picture? I wouldn't. Yuck.

And yet, with a little masking removable, and overnight hanging out in the kiln, you get this..

See my point? It's like Christmas!! The two shown will both be for sale I imagine when they are finished. The larger one is a Loza Arab that *might* be offered at Breyerfest by the castor, we'll see when he's done what she thinks. The other one is a Pour Horse, I can't think of her name off the top of my head, but I bought her at Breyerfest last year cheap because of a broken leg. So the leg is being taken extra special care'd of, but it is in the stages of being repaired (the uplifed one).

I want to say, just for the sake of saying, that anyone who enjoys having or looking at china horses/stuff (like Hagen Renakers, Beswicks, custom glaze, ect), should know, it's hard. I was reading my HR book last night, and they had a breakage rate, by their best cleaners, of 1 broken to 5 intact. They broke one piece for every 5 they made. That's a lot, if you are a business that rely's on bulk pieces being made. I'm obviously not a business, but I'll tell you, even working with big horses with fat legs, my percentage isn't all that great. I figure that this rate, I'll be a master of repairs in about 2 months, because I have a box in the basement with at least 5 broken horses in it. However, this is my first real successful finished repair. Her right ear I broke off after she had been fired.

Our friend Alfred the horse got fired before I went into the hospital, I ment to get pix of him to post but haven't because he's drying (he has two broken legs). His mane cracked a little, so I had to fix that, and he'll be thrown in again, then I'll get back to building up his shoulders and butt a little bit. But, he's cute. Kinda homely looking tho.

And, for all curious, my back seems to be back to normal except for being a little sore. I have been taking things slow, and lay down a lot, but for as bad as that whole episode was, there's very little reminder of it. Strange, huh?

Til next time :)

Life is in my Way

2010-06-20T19:52:00.000-07:00

Well, life has gotten in my way of glazing and doing fun stuff. I figure since only my good friends are following this right now, it'd be safe to post a few non-mud thoughts. But don't worry, I'll pull it back around to something interesting :)

Today was the first day since I came to the hospital where I went for a gimpy walk while I was in that place between drug induced fog and too low on painkillers to move. And I noticed something as I hobbled along with an old lady walker. I'm the only person in this section of the hospital that's under 60. No kidding. I was walking slow enough to see into every room, and even say hi to anyone alert enough. And I am being generous, I really think everyone's over 70. Last night, when I was moments from passing out from the painkillers, I heard a staff member say "well, she's only 29!" and the other member sounded pretty shocked. Now I don't mind telling you, it scares the peepers out of me that I'm locked in an old person ward, and I can't move fast enough to pass any of the other residents to get out. I've been here since Thursday, and it seems like the only two places I've been are out of my mind with pain, or totally drugged to the point of not being able to focus. I sure hope they find something on their tests tomorrow (they don't run tests on the weekends apparently), something fixable, because I don't want to go through life in a haze. They did some med switching, apparently the foggy meds could cause seizures (which would just do wonders on my back I'm sure...), so they put me something else, which made my face swell and breathing hard. Now I'm on plain old Vikadin. I'm grumpy, I want a shower but can't stand long enough to get one, today was considered progress because I could walk a couple dozen feet to get some paper to draw on. So what separates me from the old people? Well, that's pretty simple. I have a laptop, and I'm listening to music on my IPhone :P

Any time I end up in places like this, or situations like this (sadly, it's been more times than I care to remember), I feel bad for elder folks. It's flippin' depressing to sit around, day in, day out, with nothing to do, in pain, not being able to shower and always being at the mercy of your nurse. Not that the nurses here are bad, much the opposite, but you get my point. Using a bed pan is just a horrible experience. Having someone help you dress because you can't do it yourself isn't all that great either. At least I can always cling to the knowledge that I'm not 30 yet, I'll be going home eventually. But what do older folks have to think about? esp the ones that are just thrown into nursing homes because their too busy kids don't want to deal with them. I can see why some folks just fade away when they get sent to places with no hope of getting out.

So anyway, back to stuff that's more interesting. I bought these two off eBay. They were supposed to be mint, but the PO had other idea's. Aren't they cute? But they didn't ride well together. They are by Beswick, and about classic size. Does anyone know anything about them? I ordered a Beswick Book, so hopefully I can find out some info on them, but they will be excellent repair projects. And if they aren't worth anything, they'll be awesome glaze projects. Just picture them as wild appaloosa's!! I really like the bigger one tho.

And, while I was out checking in on my mom's house in Ohio, I stopped at a little shop, and picked up some Hr's. Not sure if I'm keeping them, the little foal has toothpick legs that are just waiting to snap. But, these are my fav's of the group (I think I bought 18 or something).

I really like the turning one, he's cool.

This is one of my fav Hr mini molds, but darn if I can't find one that's LSQ. This is the nicest copy I have (I think I have 5 copies) and she's just sloppy. So if anyone sees one that's actually nice, drop me a line so I can snatch her :)

Slow as Drying Mud...

2010-06-16T20:20:00.000-07:00

I told myself when I made this blog that I'd post at least every three days. And here, the second post is late already! I had the best weekend tho, so it works. I went on a camping horseback riding weekend with my friend Nikki and her in-laws. Couldn't have had more fun, unless the 6 hour rides had been 8 hours lol. But, when I got home, I managed to pop a bone in my lower back out, and since I'm stuborn or something, took me 3 days to get to the back cracker. So things have been slow.

However, all that borning-ness to say...

I started pouring molds again today, with help from my side kicks of course.

Because if everyone isn't covered in mud, you're just not doing it right.

I also finished up some other projects. I like to experiment, and tinker, and these were the results of that. I went to a junk store not that long ago, and picked up 6 brand new pitcher molds for $1 each! They are really nice, easy to work with, and are about 4-5 inches tall when they are done. They are great for trying out colors that I'm not sure what color they will fire to be :) I've got close to a dozen done so far. Not sure what I'll do with them, but here's a couple I really liked.

I haven't done anything with the horses from the previous post, except to fire the pieces. I found that working with the greenware was tricky, at best, and the head of the itching mare was too heavy for just greenware to hold. I'm waiting til my back is behaving again to tinker with them, tho I'm feeling very impatient to wait that long..
But I did work on these two. The first is a little mule, that I was practicing mule pattern on. I think he turned out cute. I love that high gloss look, and the contrast of the white and black. I will be doing a lot of wild mules I think in the future, as I recently bought a bisque mule that I just love, but haven't found "the" pattern for it yet.

And this, is a Doc Holiday Thoughbred. Rather than call him all that, I just call him Alfred. The DH TB is kind of wonky to start with, so I've been working on building up his butt and shoulders a little bit, and gave him a new mane today. There's something very liberating about the thought "I can always make another one if I don't like this one". Unlike Breyers, where if you don't like the work you've done, you're out $10+, these guys, with mold costs and everything, are only a couple dollars each to make (they get spendy when you start firing them a zillion times with glaze, but that's for another day). Maybe that's why I feel so brave with resculpting them so liberally. Anyway, here's Alfred.

Obviously, he still needs some cleanup, that's just in the "leather wet" form of greenware. The body itself is fired bisque tho. I tend to squeeze the life out of them when I resculpt, so best to fire the body first with no mane :)
Til next time!

2010-06-07T18:34:00.000-07:00

Hi All,
Well, I've never done a blog before. I'm not sure I'll be all that interesting, but I thought I'd give it a try.

Today was fun. In a "I have little to show for it" kind of way. I have recently suddenly re-fallen in love with working with ceramic and custom glaze horses, and, while I stink at it, I really enjoy it.
So today, I poured a few of my molds. Since I'm learning, I never wanted to drop a ton of money into molds, so I bought some Doc Holiday molds, which are pretty generic. I have several of them, but the two I worked with today are the Arabian mare, and the grazing mare. Now, I happen to adore the grazing mare, and I don't normally tinker with her, but last night, I got this great idea and wanted to try it. I cut off her head and neck, and am working on resculpting it to make her scratching her side. Much harder than I expected, since her head is heavier when it's fighting gravity instead of just hanging off her shoulders. But, here are the pieces of her. I'm letting her dry some, and will continue tinkering tomorrow.

The other horse I worked with was the Arabian mare. Now, my kiln is just a wee little thing, and this mare is about an inche too tall for me to actually fire as is (which I found out after I poured and cleaned one). So, I got the idea to cut her head and neck off, and just lower and turn her head a little. Nothing major, right? Til Rachel ran by (my two year old daughter), and Arab's head with PLOP on the sidewalk. Hmm. Thankfully, since I had pour this mare before, and in frustration, throw her into my scrap bucket, I went down, and broke the head off of what was left, and used that. Hence why it's a different color :)

Since taking the pictures, I have cleaned the bodies of both horses, and will hopefully have them done and ready to fire by this weekend :)