Ceramics

Hey there! This week I want to share with everyone something I've been working on for the past two months. If you follow me on Instagram or any of the Alana Kruse Creations pages that we have, then you've already seen some of the work I've been doing.

I want to level with you guys...I'm actually having a little bit of a crisis right now. I signed up for a pottery class, I've taken this class before, same professor and everything...and I'm rediscovering a deep passion. Well, that's obviously not the crisis part. The thing is...I don't know what to do anymore. I had plans to apply for graduate school as a counselor, put my bachelor's in psychology to good use...but now...ugh! I just love making things so much. That's all I want to do...make stuff! Let me show you what I mean...

This was my first attempt at sliptrailing. For those of you that don't know, slip is basically watered down clay that has pigment added to it; and sliptrailing is when you put the slip into some form of bottle and trail the slip onto a piece to make patterns. So, not only is this bowl actually pretty well formed, but I think my very first attempt at sliptrailing turned out pretty good!

After doing some experimenting with the slip I created these:

As you can see, I took to this pretty quickly and pretty well. And I'm really passionate about what I'm doing. I absolutely love the creation process from start to finish. From wedging clay, to throwing, to trimming, to decorating. I love every step of the way.

Another decoration technique I've been playing with is called sgraffito, which just means carving, essentially. Take a look:

Yea...I gotta say, sgraffito is holding me just as enthralled as slip trailing. This bowl is one of my favorites. That flower! I surprised myself. Really.

Another fun part about doing this from start to finish is the end result:

You can never really tell how a piece will turn out. And that's part of the magic, I think. And it's also really fun when happy accidents happen:

Yea...this is my favorite bowl so far. I'm keeping this one! Haha! But I am also trying to recreate that effect on the inside on other pieces. This one took even my professor by surprise. And sometimes things don't quite turn out the way you wanted:

There's definitely an element of suspense and stress over how your pieces will come out of the kiln. I'm so, so nervous about how those plates will turn out! I have high hopes for those pieces! If you'd like to see more of what I've been doing, Instagram is the first place I post, and there's not 100% carry-over onto other social media accounts like Twitter, although I do share some things. If you want to find me on Instagram I'm @alanakrusecreations. If you prefer Twitter, I'm @akrusecreations, and we're also on Facebook as Alana Kruse Creations. So, if you want to see more of what I've been doing, you can find my work on any of those.

And...of course...I had to make myself a yarn bowl!

So do you see what I mean, now? I'm having a little bit of a life crisis because I really love what I'm doing now and I want to keep doing it. Problem is...it's pretty expensive to keep up independently. So...what do I even do? Just stay in school forever so I can keep doing this?

(*deep sigh*)

I guess I'll end up doing what I feel like is the responsible thing...I'll have to let you guys know what that is when I figure it out!

Till next time,
Alana