Decals, Screen-prints and Frustration

I started a while back learning the process of decals and found Justin Rothshank’s website which provided a huge amount of information. Useful information which went from the start of the image process to the final product. Having found his website at the beginning of my decal journey to incorporating my own photography into my pottery I thought this was the norm for finding information on new processes.

That was a mistake on my part and a rather arrogant mindset that I should be able to find whatever information I needed without doing the work and testing to find if it fit my needs.

Starting with both a DVD and a book from well-known potters who create decals from ceramic underglazes I had a pretty good grasp of the process AFTER the screen print was created. This is
where my problems rose up. Neither the book nor the DVD explained in any detail how to prepare the image. No troubleshooting for my particular needs.

Now mind you, I’m still in the mindset at this point that the information should be easy to find if you just look and now that I’ve actually paid money for something to help me learn then they should be able to answer my questions. Frustration set in when messages on Facebook and emails went  unanswered. It didn’t matter that I didn’t even know the correct question to ask. I needed help and wanted it now. I was pretty cranky.

I started scouring all the screenprinting sites and YouTube video’s I could find and came across one small tutorial from wegraphics.net showing how to turn a photo into a screen printed graphic. That started my journey into what I needed to do to prepare one of my photographs for screen-printing.

I’m still just at the beginning of my journey but now have a clear goal in sight so it allowed me to
take a look at my expectations and see I was not really fair and the expectation of responding just because I purchased a book or DVD is not reasonable. Going to a workshop and asking those questions is reasonable and if either of the two potters has a workshop near my home I will guarantee I’ll do my best to get there!

In the next couple of weeks I’ll put some pictures together to share a little more detail in hopes that I
can pay it forward to make up for my greediness for knowledge and to help alleviate someone else going through the same frustrations I have experienced so far.

Am I Crazy?

In my last post on 7/13 I just spoke about how little time I had to post on my blog with part being due to our new puppy and the amount of time it takes to grow up. So what do I do? We add this to our pack:

 

 

So I will just have to get better at time management and take lots of advantage of naptimes!

I’m finished with the Fused Glass Pendants for now. Moving back to my clay which I’ve missed for the last year. Feeling pretty good about the recovery of a number of decals which had to be re-done after the WD Passport crash. I’m working on getting pictures processed and online on the Etsy store but here are just a few that I’m happy with.

 

 

It’s Been A While

Quite a bit has gone on in my life since Nov 2013. A new puppy was born Nov 2013 and came home to use 8 weeks later. New puppies take lots of time. 

From this:

To this:

To this:

Would not have traded this time for all the world.

The next year was spent mainly trying to recover from a major loss when I dropped my WD Passport. I know better than to not back things up. I work in technology and just kept putting off fixing the issue with the other Passport not backing up. Then I dropped it. Still haven’t recovered but got enough to focus on a few trophy donations, made some new decals.

Also found myself working and learning about fused glass. Ran a few tests to see if my decals would work on glass. They did. From there a lot of reading, a class at a local glass place and lots of supplies. These complement my pottery quite well so I’ll be continuing to work on them.

How Fun! Ornaments!

My learning this year leading to creating decals from my photography have been so much fun and turned out so much better than I expected. I love these ornaments. Sharing some here.

I can’t wait to start getting pictures of other breeds I love and get to working on them also. How much fun for next year.

Decals – The Learning Continues

I’ve been so busy testing, developing, throwing, deciding. Even with a heavy workload at work I’ve had so much fun continuing on my decal journey. I’m still not confident on what causes changes in looks in decals but I have moved a long way towards being consistent with the glaze, decals that don’t burn out and firing processes with the glazes I use.

I’ve learned so far the Coyote Clay Shino & Light Shino thickness plays a large part in the appearance of the decal. They have to be fired back to Cone 1 to keep the glaze from turning to underfired matte. They don’t seem to eat the decals as some other glazes I’ve tried.

I see my testing continuing for quite a long period of time as I try to find different combinations. How fun is that!

 

 

The Importance of Testing

And not just testing but documenting also. I have a tendency to say “I’ll remember…” and when slight changes are missed you do not know what actually caused the unexpected results. I know to never take my firings for granted but I was a bit dismayed at how my latest decal tests turned out.

I was sure after the several sets of testing done that I had a good process for my Coyote Clay Shino glaze with decals. I was so sure it would turn out I used some larger bowls I planned to donate for trophies and applied decals expecting to see what I had envisioned.

Opening the kiln I found several decals burned completely away. Ok..that was my mistake in not making sure there was enough contrast and strong details. I have already re-done the decals and expect they will be better.

But then I got to the tumblers. I was quite surprised to see a slight yellow cast again and while not matte the glaze had a soft feel to it. What did I miss? I went back through my kiln firing journal.

• Glaze not applied to thick. Check!
• Fired to Cone 1 Fast fire. Check!
• 5 min hold. Oops..no hold. Oh No!

Add that I had the tumblers on the bottom of the kiln which is the coolest part of my kiln (known from using witness cones on a regular basis) and I think I know why I had a setback.

I will try again with the Shino and decals because I love the blend so much but I will continue to search for other glazes that are a little more predictable but still give  me the look I am trying to make.

These are the only ones I consider successful. While the glaze on the Eggshell/Green needs to be dipped for a cleaner line the decal turned out as I hoped. The birds are Light Shino with a Croc Blue edge. I find that one appealing so will be doing a series of this glaze combo.

 

Many more were failures. Either burning out too
much, leaving a yellow band around the Giant Schnauzer or the glaze turning the matte yellow.

 

Below was my saddest. I WILL figure out how to make it work as a decal. The picture looked awesome of a dog coming over a jump and will be used as a special trophy for obedience. You can just see a faint outline of the dog’s head.

 

So back to the drawing board for a number of decals. This is why I only committed to a small number of projects this year.

Learning To Use Decals

I am not an artist. I do not draw or paint on clay. Nor am I a sculptor. I do not etch or carve on clay. I’ve tried. I intensely dislike what I see from my efforts. You can call it hate. I love what I see in others work when they use any of these techniques with their pottery.

So what is someone like me, who loves the imagery, to do. I love photography and while I am still in beginner mode it does not cause me the frustration trying to draw, paint, carve or sculpt causes. I actually feel as if I’m improving and I like what I see. That is most important. I like it.

I came across some conversations discussing decal work. I initially tried sending off for high-fire color decals and while they worked very nicely it was not the actual look I was hoping to see and it was a bit costly for my particular budget. Fast forward to this year. I keep seeing a name and work I like. Justin Rothshank's

He does wonderful work and has freely shared a huge amount of information about decals with the world of potters. Using the information from his blog I gathered enough tools to start my own series of tests using my own photography.

I am liking what I see so far. I have much testing to do and will share my steps as I go along from what glazes work well at what temperatures to taking a photograph step-by-step from photo to decal.

With the pictures below I’ve noted the clay, glaze, firing temp, speed of firing and what I’ve found with the decal or glaze.

All clay and glaze below is Laguna B-Mix C5 with grog. Glaze is Coyote Clay Shino glaze with Espresso Bean on the rim. Decals were printed on Fired-On Decal transfer paper.

The following picture shows tumblers bisque fired to cone 05, glaze firing done in a Skutt electric kiln to Cone 5 at a fast speed. Decal firing was to cone 04. I was surprised the glaze turned matte since my early tests to these temps did not turn matte and held their Shino colors. I realized this application of glaze was quite a bit thicker since I had to brush this on. As you can see it is rather yellowish and the Espresso Bean rim lost much of it's darkness.

I then took a group of them and decided to fast fire them back to Cone 5 and see if I gained my glaze As you can see by the comparison the one on the left looks like a glaze fired to the right temperature again. I assume the lumps and bumps under the glaze is the grog coming to the surface due to the firings.

 I then decided to try just firing the rest of them back to Cone 1 to see what would happen and they look as if they were fired back to Cone 5. I do lose some of the darkness from the decal but this glaze blends well with the sepia colored decal so I'll keep it. I will need to make sure I have some good strong lines in my decals when using this glaze. I lose the fine details firing higher.

Periods of Time

It’s interesting how certain things in life seem to fall into categories or ‘periods of time’ for me. I have a tendency to like such a wide variety of activities when I have to do the same thing over and over it falls into a rut and becomes boring or stressful.

In the years that have passed since taking pottery, and my photography, back up I’ve noticed I prefer to use them as a stress reliever so I do not stay within what I should be throwing or need to be throwing and I just throw what I feel like at the time.

Last year I made the decision to go back to work outside of my pottery fulltime so I would not have to make financial decisions. This would allow me to continue to throw whatever I wanted and not what someone else might want to purchase. It was a very freeing decision for me personally.

So what happened? I committed to several donations and found myself having to throw a number of items and it did not matter if I wanted to throw something else. I only had spare time to throw what I committed to providing.

Huh? Wasn’t that exactly what I did not want to do? Yes but what I learned with the first donation was the sense of completion I have not experienced previously. The improvement in my actual throwing skills was measurable as I came to the end of throwing all those tumblers. Very simple form but it really forced me to pay attention to being consistent and keeping my pulls up consistent.

It was a reminder to “never say never” when it comes to a journey. Just enjoy and learn from where you go.

Summertime Blues

I love it when I open the kiln, work my way to the bottom of the kiln looking anxiously for a special item thrown as a gift. You hope it turns out as you could see it in your head. There are so many points along the way of a pot’s journey into being, so many spots where you can lose the piece. Not timing the drying process, not compressing the bottom while throwing, not allowing it to stabilize after having thrown the foot on in a separate throwing session.

Then you have the bisque firing to make it through with no cracks. The next firing is the glaze firing and you hope you have brushed on the glaze evenly. You hope for everything correct…you can do everything you think correct and you can’t always guarantee it will look exactly as you imagined.

It’s a pleasure when you see exactly what you want. Now to keep my fingers crossed it makes it safely to a 2^nd cousin as a gift for her.

Why Did I Start This Page

[Originally shared on Facebook 2/9/2013]

Depending on how you emphasis the question this is a two-sided coin. If you are one who is concerned how people perceive your words, you always want to please everyone, you worry someone will take offense then the emphasis might be on "oh WHY did I start this page and I am so sorry I did?"

On the other hand, if you are trying to learn to move away from that previous person, you want to share the blessings pottery has brought, you try to open yourself up to allow others to see what only those who truly know you see then it is the kind of question I want to try to answer.

When I originally started the page 2 years ago I thought to treat it as a business. I needed to make money from it to be able to continue putting the energy into promoting and selling. I took a 2 year break from Corporate America, although I still contracted part-time to pay the bills, and focused on making pottery. Then last year I had a major setback as my mother, 85 years old, was knocked flat at a dog show and broke her back. It reset my priorities. She is well and healing today. During this time my pottery page was neglected but I would not trade a minute of being able to be there and help her and my dad when they needed me.

Following closely on the heels of my mother's health crisis my husband had to have his own neck surgery to correct a bone graft that never healed. Little did we know the difficulties he would face from this surgery. During that same time frame I was asked if I would like to come on fulltime with the company I worked with already. There are many complaints about the corporate world but truth be told I love the team I work with, I love the job I do, I love the varied customers I meet BUT did I want to give up so much of my time and limit my pottery & photography. I come back to "Why did I start..." I needed to answer that question honestly.

My answer? I like having a job that allows me to be my own benefactor. I do not have to make financial decisions based on what someone might buy. I do not have to make decisions based on someone else’s criticism which you run into anytime you sell. I DO get to meet those who enjoy something I am passionate about. I DO get to meet many from so many different walks of life and they love something I have done. That creates a connection I enjoy.
Why did I start this page? Look where it has led me

Happy 2013 New Year in March!

{Originally posted January 1^, 2013 on my Facebook page}

I love the New Year holiday. Not because it’s a chance to start new but it’s a chance to take stock over choices I’ve made, blessings I’ve received and dreams of where I might go. This year is a bit of a new journey for me as I go back into Corporate America. In this economy I was more than willing to go permanent and use the safety net of a permanent job and benefits to allow me to do only what I wish to do with my pottery instead of having to make pottery based on financial decisions. Kind of like the benefactors of old BUT I’m my own benefactor. Rather freeing.

My thoughts to have the monthly giveaway turns out to be a blessing also as my work commitments have changed. Later today I will be posting the next giveaway and it is one of my favorite types of pottery to throw. I’m also looking forward this month to actually getting some design work for special trophies for several dog competitions this year. I have the mental images, now I need to start getting the test pieces done to see if they actually meet what my mind sees. With Bob’s (the husband) neck surgery life went into survival mode. With advanced medical procedures these days it’s too easy to think the recovery can be as quick. Yes…we were guilty of thinking he would be up on his feet quicker.

So Happy New Year to all of you. I hope you have a chance to look back and appreciate the blessings, learn from decisions, look forward to possibilities and appreciate what you have right now.

Micky!

Learning to share myself.

My next step in sharing my story. The following is taken from my Facebook Notes.

I am going to a craft fair the day after tomorrow. Why do I feel nervous? Does it make me vulnerable to see or hear what others who do not know me might say about my pottery? I know it is a personal choice as everyone has different tastes. I still find it intimidating. I do not know how to make people feel comfortable if they do not like my work. It’s ok. I like my work.

I know why I have a hard time keeping my blog up-to-date or updating my status. For years I have resisted speaking publicly. I HATE (yes HATE) being put in front of a group of people to speak. It doesn’t matter if it is a group of my close friends. My ears buzz and I can’t breathe if asked to give a presentation. This includes being on the training field or in an obedience trial although a good friend helped me to learn to focus and not pay attention until I get off the field. I hate being watched.

I am learning to share more and put myself out there. I have done so with my photography and find myself able to put it out there even when I know it opens me to critiques. I believe it’s important for growth.

So now I move to my pottery which is just as important as my photography. I never realized how much it can touch a life. While I pay business taxes and have to do bookkeeping it is more than a business to me. I pay my bills via my day-to-day job. This gives me a chance to make financial decisions and be my own benefactor. I am passionate about my pottery. I love to share what I love to throw. I love the feedback. It gives great encouragement to know my efforts don’t just please me but others also.  But they are not just something to hold pens, eat from or hold your coffee. My hope is they will hold memories for you.

My Life Lesson: I have a childhood friend. I have known her since she was in 5^th grade. Her mother had a stroke when we were just teenagers and I had the chance to see what a vital life she still lived even when partially paralyzed by the devastating stroke. When she passed away several years ago and Abbe was cleaning out her things she brought me a little pot with a broken handle. I had thrown that pot in high school and given it to her mother. I had no idea she had kept it close all those years. The broken handle was just a strong reminder that even though a vessel might have a disfigurement it does not mean it is not useful. I have that little pot sitting on my desk where I see it every morning as a reminder. It holds my memories of Mrs. Onanian.

 

Days of Grace mugs continued

My first set of Days of Grace mugs are out of the kiln and fired. I'm very happy with the first firing. I have a few updates to make to the templates and I know the smallest font I can use now with these glazes. I have them up on my ETSY store or on my website for more pictures.

The Days of Grace (DoG) series came from a desire to encourage women through scriptures and affirmations. There is nothing I like better than to start my day in a little peace and quiet with my hands wrapped around my cup of coffee before the day goes manic. I need a reminder once in a while to slow down and remember to take care of myself also. I hope whichever mug you choose will do the same for you.

Days of Grace mugs

I'm having so much fun with a new technique for a series of mugs aimed at encouraging women with scriptures and affirmations. While some might speak to men I think of women and our unique challenges we face as I make each mug. I can't wait to get the first kiln load fired and glazed within the next week. I'm so anxious I'm only firing the kiln about 2/3 filled. Here is an example of a group of mugs still drying.

New year....new start

Seriously. Has it really been over a year since I've updated my blog? As much as I talk? There is busy and then there is busy. I'll have to remedy this.

I'm excited with the direction my clay work is going. I've been working on tumblers that hold at least 14-16 oz. I love them over the plain glass to drink my cold drinks from so I've been working to improve my skills. I'm also working on a new set of mugs using a mix of the tumbler techniques and throwing. I love being able to make a statement with them so I can't wait to get a load of them finished and fired so I can show them off. Here are a couple of my newer pieces of work. Enjoying life!