I had a rather interrupted studio day yesterday, for various reasons, and by the time 8PM rolled around I had all my metal prepared for firing but I hadn’t fired any of it. I hopped back in the studio and started sifting and firing feathers and some other bits and pieces. It was then that I realized I wanted to make something akin to a sea urchin skeleton so I stopped what I was doing (I’m very easily distracted by new ideas, it’s an issue, but I’m often afraid that if I don’t follow a rabbit trail I’ll forget about it and miss out on something lovely and perhaps brilliant…but I shouldn’t be so frightened. These ideas live in my mind and they can’t ever truly be lost.) and I set out on a new project.
I hand sawed these guys, forged them, shaped them, cleaned them, sifted opaque white enamel on them and fired them, then fired them again, then over fired them a bit so the enamel would slip off the repousse patterns and off the lip of the hole at the tops of the domes (I’m persnickity that way….). They looked promising, hot out of the kiln, but when they cooled I felt like they were missing a bit of zip. They were beautiful but not extraordinary.
So I returned to my enameling bench and decided to sift transparent enamels over the white enamel already in place. I re-fired these pieces with their second enamel layers, fired them again, and then fired them once more to get the exact colors I wanted and the result is a bit stupefying.
I think they look like the skins of cosmic little fruits picked from the fecund lunar dust on a moon in orbit around Jupiter. But that’s just me. I reckon they also look a bit like sea urchin skeletons. I’ve found a few of those in my lifetime. They’re one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever found on a beach. I’m always amazed and entranced by them. Entirely.
When all was said and done, I came in from the studio at 2AM and crawled into bed with RW after a quick shower. This morning, I woke up and I felt very small and pretty. I also woke up to find all of my clothing dirty (No socks!) so I’m dealing in domestic arts for the time being and once the laundry is hanging to dry I’m going to go out and put some pieces together.
Can you believe it’s already Wednesday?
Time has wings.
But so do I.
xx
Plume
:::Confession:::
When I realized I was out of clean clothing, I actually went out, got a cup of coffee and then went to TJMaxx and bought a clean shirt. It has buttons and polkadots AND pintucks. Oh my gosh. Ridiculous. I can’t believe I’m confessing to such a thing…don’t tell RW…
:::Confession:::
When I realized I was out of clean clothing, I actually went out, got a cup of coffee and then went to TJMaxx and bought a clean shirt. It has buttons and polkadots AND pintucks. Oh my gosh. Ridiculous. I can’t believe I’m confessing to such a thing…don’t tell RW…
To me they look like top halves of space ships…I am slightly frightened but enamored or enameled at the same time…xoxo
FRIGHTENED?!!!!!!!
GUFFAW!!!!!!!
Fruity UFOs!!!!!!!!!!
Jillian, they are so cool! I love that their urchinesss is not obvious right away. The enamel creates a fluid nature.
Big thumbs up!
Ha ha…I cannot stop laughing!
Small and pretty indeed!!!!
Hello husband!
They do look like creatures from the sea. I love them…
and I love that you bought a new shirt because you were out of clean clothes…
and I think it would be such fun to watch you working in your studio. I can imagine its quite a sight to behold. 🙂
Jaune: Thanks for those thumbs!!!
MLJ: Me neither…
Twiggy: I think it's more of a FRIGHT to behold! 🙂 xx
Oh, I wish I could show you the wee sea urchin skeleton that my husband found last month on the rocky Rhode Island coast. It is smaller that your creations. Perfect in every way. It has a deep purple hue to it, so beautiful.
I know you would appreciate it's loveliness.
I love TJMaxx. Don't feel silly about admitting that!
A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do. 🙂
I can relate to your creative process.
(word verification…"flateri") hmmm
incredible Mrs Plume! these remind me of some pieces i've been working on over the last 2 years. have a peek: perhaps they're cousins??
http://mypublicprivatediary.blogspot.com/2010/09/artist-playtime-allowing-for-time-to.html
i once knew a woman who hated doing her husband's laundry… so each week she'd go out and by new packages of socks and boxers. one day he found a mountain of dirty socks&underwear.
— don't feel too guilty about 1 shirt 🙂
xx
Lynsey
i love them, especially the dark rich gem-y colours, and knew as soon as i saw the picture that you were going for sea urchins 🙂 lovely skeletons, for sure. gorgeous work, night-owl!
YOU are a scream, albeit a small and pretty one. i admire that…
anything that you enamel is on my "want" list.
Oh yes they are cool, and yes I can see a little sea urchin in their design without any problem, I like doing enamels to, right now I am on a fusing kick and mixing metals, creating shibushi (sorry on the spelling to tired to check it out) where you mix copper and silver together, I also understand that getting side track thing which is why I have to several creations at a time. haha!
when I was a little girl, I collected a shell with a barnacle on it from the sea. later in the day, after returning home, I saw a sign of life reach up from the center of that barnacle. a sign. a wiggle. a gasp. a grasp toward life. a distress signal. a need.
what would you do? I wept. I sobbed, hysterically. I begged my momma to drive back to the beach AS FAST AS AN AMBULANCE, NOW! (she did), and we returned the creature to his watery home.
that day left its mark on my soul.
what I'm saying is that these are evocative for me, and I need one. a green one, if you please. set as a gem or loose. it can be any time in my life, I will never forget that day.
You have your priorities in order my dear. BOUGHT a clean shirt.
Heeeheeheee.
(and I haz a "tools" jealousy).
Seriously. How could you walk away from buttons, polka dots AND pintucks? It would be madness!!!
I love your enamel work…well I love all of your work, but I'm so intrigued by the random shapes that you drape in this luscious candy coating. I can totally see a sea urchin although the "urchiness" is not screaming at me. hahaha. I can also see the top of a space ship.
Perhaps it's a flying sea urchin.
Pam
My word verification is trangbit. I kinda like it.
I understand Khobe's reaction completely. Specific pieces of yours, Jillian, have been similarly evocative to me. You have a way of tapping into the collective unconscious.
That kingfisher blue is amazing!
x
D
Cinder: Please DO show me! Take a photo and email it to me! I'd love to see it. xx
Lynsey: Totally cousins:) Totally. x
Nancy: !!! You aren't the first to say so! I'm so glad I managed to give these pieces a urchiny look! xx
Janet: GUFFAW! I love that I made your list:) xx
NAC: HA! I'm glad I'm not the only one who is such a scatterbrain while working! I'm sure we'd make great studio partners.
Khobe: I had the exact same thing happen with a little crab in Hawaii. I made RW run with me all the way across the resort golf course so I could toss it back into the sea. I felt terribly…..
It feels so good to read how much you connect with these enameled bits. So good. xx
Syb: Tools jealousy!!! All in good time, sweet child, all in good time. 🙂 xx
Willow: Exactly. A plain old t-shirt would have been much more practical but how often does a girl find one shirt that has all those details??? HAD to have it.
Doro: Well GOSH! 🙂 xx I love Kingfisher too. A lot.
I love hearing about work that goes on in the wee hours.
I will absolutely confess to buying new clothing when faced with too much laundry at home.
Years ago I did it on the way to work one time… and changed in a mall bathroom before getting my coffee & heading to my shift.
(That was the job where I met my beau, actually…)
Lizzy: I'm a serious night owl….though I'm trying to reform.
Fawn: I bet he first noticed you when you wore that new clean shirt to work — that shirt was MAGIC.
So what did you wear to TJ Maxx?
Obviouslyyyyyyyyyy a dirty shirt with a clean sweater on top.
I didn't even try on the new shirt. I just eyeballed it, bought it and got out of there. Lucky me, it fits.