Today In My Studio 06

It’s been a good 2 weeks since I’ve posted on my art/design work. There has been a whirlwind of activity trying to finish the Gingko project phase 1, developing a collection of mandalas and creating samples for a very exciting proposed project in Houston that if approved will be one of the more exciting public venues I’ve created for in the last decade. I can’t say more than that at this point nor can I show the samples yet but needless to say, I’m on pins and needles waiting to hear.

In times like this when I’m working hard to meet deadlines both personal and imposed, I tend to get wrapped up in what I’m doing and forget to step back to take photos and share the process. This morning, I took a deep breath to do so and below is what’s been going on yesterday and today.

Yesterday we finished a small field tile order that is Phase 1 of the Gingko Leaf project that you may have seen in a recent post. This project is complete master bath remodel here in Portland for a very kind Pediatrician who has been a pleasure to work with. We’ve made a backsplash for the sinks and shower tile consisting of 1-5/8” squares. We used 2 glazes and varied the application so that it seems like there are about 6 or 7 colors in the same vein. These greens are warm and cool and frankly are much more beautiful in person because the glazes have an opalescent sheen.

Phase 2 of this project is the Gingko Leaf accent. Below I’ve started carving of the 14” wide x 52-1/2” tall piece. Today I’m doing a second round of size tests to make sure the shrinkage is just right. Shrinkage at first look seems to be simple math except it isn’t because there are so many factors that affect the precise size of a tile after its second firing. To name a few - how much moisture is in the air, exactly how dry the clay is when you cut the piece and where it is within the kiln. A kiln has varying temperatures shelf to shelf and if it’s on a hotter shelf for both firings, it will shrink more than if on a cooler shelf for both, so each piece has to be rotated.

The other endeavor we have going on - which I wrote about in my last Today in my studio post - is developing a collection of mandalas and yantras. This is slow going since we’re working out a lot of bugs in order to be able to reproduce them economically. I’ve decided to make 10-12 and choose the best 5-8 best to begin the collection with and we'll add more over time. Below is the first round in the process right now:

And a little more process on the Chinnamasta Yantra which I'm particularly excited about. This one is about intuition and uses a very simple palette to bring the viewer to an internal state from which it's easier to hear the intuition:

Rob hard at work:

And lastly a 2 second gif of me glazing:

Ruth glazing from Ruth Greenberg on Vimeo.

I greatly appreciate your support of my blog, more to come sooner than later!