Weekend

This weekend did not produce as much as I had hoped for, but I got a couple of more plates made.  The layering process takes so long, and then I smashed them together.  Denise said that it can be liberating to take something precious and basically destroy it.  I can say that I felt very cautious and was definitely uncertain of myself at the time I did it.  I spent all day Sunday wrapping the arms of 2 of my kids with plaster wrap so that I can use their arms as table supports to go with my plates.  I got one substructure built for one of the tables, and today I finally got it out of the form that I had poured the plaster into.  I also started creating the layers for 2 more plates tonight, but this time I am thinking about a particular thought from my childhood.  My son thinks it is a little creepy looking and I think that he would just laugh at me if he realized what is going on.

Long weekend ahead!

The work week for me is finally over, and I am anxious to get busy with some clay this weekend.  I have been diligently cutting apart aluminum cans since I returned home Tuesday from my mentors.  My clay work takes a very long time with the layering techniques that I have been using and I need long full days for the process.  I have finally decided to make some displays for these plates that I will be making out of the plaster arms that I had been experimenting with, (or playing around with).  Denise and I discussed my interest in using or re-appropriating stuff that I have excess of around the house, such as cans, bottles..etc.  Now, I am planning on a new experiment with sewing and cans.  We will see.  I did play around with some strips of some of these cans and wove them with some fabric.  It is a little small for a place mat, but you get the idea, and it was just a trial to get a feel to see how I feel about working with the material. 

Visit with Mentor

Today was my first real life meeting with my mentor, and it went very well.  She was very encouraging and supportive of my ideas.  We both shared a story from our childhoods that left us with blacked out fragmented memories of a bad time.  This conversation evolved around my ceramic plate work which is something that I will continue to build upon.  She also helped me to generate new ideas to develop into my work, so this was well worth the drive in my old car.  I was very glad that I made it there and back home.

So Busy..

Sometimes I feel like I dropped off the face of the planet!  I am working full time subbing in the neighboring township, and doing my work for school.  I had not even realized that I had not posted here for 10 days..Boy did time fly!  I designed a holder for the "family of four" experimental piece that I am making.  The holder itself is 7' long or tall, and is still in the sewing stage, hand sewing the back at this precise moment or I will be back to doing it after this post.  I have been free writing the last few days for the critical theory paper which is coming due very soon.  My brain is starting to feel a little mushy between spending all day with elementary kids, sneaking in some reading for lunch, and working at home each night and trying to think critically about what I am trying to read and write...then be creative...HA...Can we say mush brains?  Okay, here is the picture before I started sewing the pieces together, it is just cut out and front and backs basted together.

Invisible thread

Now, I know why I was able to find a spool of that thin plastic thread, so fittingly labeled, invisible thread.  The first habit that you have to break as someone who sews, is that need to wet the thread to get it into the eye of the needle. (won't work no matter how many times you make a lame attempt at it)  I think that I will be blind by the time I am finished sewing with it, and that is why I probably found it in the first place, because I have no idea how it arrived in my possession.

SLOW

Funny, how it seems that lately everything that I do is in an ultimate slow mode.  Elmer's glue is great, but I feel that I am losing a whole bunch of time waiting on things to dry.  I have multiple things in progress, but they all have drying time involved.  Today I worked with some clay, along with some colored slips, that I made yesterday and I am using a monoprint type of transfer for the design. I applied multiple layers of designs and I hope that it works the way I had envisioned.  I may even apply a decal in the end....after all I did buy this laser printer for that purpose, and I found my decal paper for the ceramics.  Hmmmmmmmmm, I wonder how much trouble I can get myself into.  

Finally!

I finally finished reading "The Poetics of Space" late last night, and today I started on some articles for my next paper.  I read a few pages of one book by Tufte, and a few pages of another article and one complete article.  I think that I will read the book by Lippard next, because she is closer to the subject of my next paper, "feminism".  I do not know if I can put it simply other than by calling it as I see it....."no one has lived my life, especially not a man, and I am not accepting the fact that he is a man to excuse the behavior anymore."  Life truly belongs to the bitch!