De la sensation

image by Emmanuelle Brisson

Anastasia from l'Accent Nou send me a link yesterday saying that she felt a resemblance between this work and mine. For a moment I was afraid to click on the link as I wasn't ready to see another set of babushka feelings...

image by Emmanuelle Brisson

So I was pleasantly surprised when I saw these beautiful photograph's from Emanuelle Brisson in the series 'de la sensation'. And I must agree, they express immense feelings too - very strong and delicate at the same time.

image by Emmanuelle Brisson

I also love the series of 'can't get it out of my head'.
I strongly recommend you to check out her work, hop over to her site or to Flickr where she hangs out too. :)
Thank you, Anastasia to send me the link to this great artist!!

The making of... free

Free is fun feeling to make although it can be frustrating sometimes. After I have cut the wings via a template, I smooth the edges out with a wooden tool & a wet paintbrush. This takes a while and when I work too slow, the clay dries too quickly. Then it's hard to bend it a bit at the fold and sometimes it cracks which makes me want to scream as that means that I can start all over again. After the wings are totally ready to be put on the feeling, I make scratches on the back of the wings and on the back of the feeling and add some clay slib. Then I stick it together and finish it off with a wet paintbrush.

Pay attention...

Happy weekend, everyone! :)

Spring in the birdhouse

We have a lime, metal birdhouse in our backyard and it fell down once and we left it on the ground for a while. Since it's metal, of course it got a bit rusty standing in the soil and some soil also ended up in the birdhouse itself. My partner loves spreading birdseeds for our feathered friends so also seeds ended up in there. And look, it's already spring for the birdies! I'm sure they'll love a bit of green in their home. :)

The making of... stress

The feeling stress is partly made on the couch and partly made in my studio. For a few evenings, I roll little spikes that I keep in a container. When I have enough, I apply them to the base of the feeling. I start out with holding the feeling upside down and carefully place each spike next to each other in a bit of slib. When I nearly reach the top, the feeling is too heavy and delicate to hold. Then I place it onto my turning table directly onto a kiln shelf. That way I don't have to move the feeling anymore as it's superdelicate once it's finished.
Once 'stress' is fired, it's very firm and sturdy and it's a fun feeling to touch. :)

How to recycle clay?

I've been playing with porcelain the past few days and then a lot of dried clay gets chucked into a little bowl. As long as the clay is not fired, you can still use it, even though it's dry.From the bowl, it ends up into a plastic container and I poor water over it so it gets all soggy and soft again.
Of course, in this condition, the clay is too soft so from the container it ends up on a plaster plaque that sucks the water out of the clay. I spread it out with a credit card and then scrape it off again.
When it feels all smooth again, I knead it thoroughly with my hands so that there is no air in between.
And now it's ready to use again. It's a pain to recycle clay as the process takes some time and patience but it always feels great to recycle. :)

Happy 2012

It's that time of the year again to send off our New Year's wishes.
We wish you lots of surprises and that all that you wish for will come true.
We're looking forward to an exciting 2012 and hope that it will be crazy and creative and heaps of fun...