Aspects of Clay - NM

"Aspects of Clay" is a Clay Pottery Gallery Art Studio Place in Sandia Park, NM.
http://www.aspectsofclay.com
This spring I decided to dedicate more time to do art again, and since I never really practiced much ceramics since art classes in College and High School it is about time again.
These photos of the tiles was actually taken in order to remember which ones were don with Raku clay and which ones were not, so we don't mix them up later. After the Bisque firing (the first non-glaze firing) the will all come out looking very similar (white).
On the photo below the more gray colored looking ones to the left in the picture are made with Raku clay and will later be fired with a reduction method. You can read more aboout that here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raku_ware
http://www.lynndeestudios.com/rakuart.htm
http://www.claygirl.com/raku.html#F
http://www.rakugallery.net/CeramicGroup1.asp?collectionID=27
or look at a raku firing here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv3SR7wLeoo
end results video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YtZWX3W0Es&feature=related



In the studio space Laurie (who runs and owns the place) also have throwing wheels for those who like to throw pots.



Below is Elaine who works on an hollow really cool egg she has designed.

.. and here below is Laurie herself in action imprinting tiles.

Some late night news

Maybe most of you really don't care about beading software?! Especially if you have no clue as to what Delica beads are. Well, here above is at least a photo taken of Delica beads, Friday 01-23, when I was trying to organize some of them in numerical order. These are the kind of beads one can stitch into something like an Amulet bag for ex.
Below is an Amulet bag I did with Peyote stitching some 4 years ago or so. It was my very first one.


and here is another one.... This second one was beaded with blue and cold colors on one side and warm red tones on the other.


Now to my late evening news. My glasses broke again today. They were fixed with laser soldering yesterday with a 90 day warranty, so I had hoped my problems would be solved for a while. It is really a fun experience to sit in the ceramic studio over at
Aspects of Clay (http://www.aspectsofclay.com ) and not be able to see anything. Very tactile indeed BUT no not so fun not to be able to read or see anything much. I know that somewhere here at home are my reading glasses, if I only could see well enough I would probably be able to find them.
The better news are that I found the camera and the USB cable, so now I have downloaded everything that was on it, and I am ready to take new pictures of everything that inspires me and of the art I have here.
Parallel to that I need to edit the 1500 images I now have on my lap top, and create another blog for family and friends with all the non-art related photos. I never lack projects to do.

So the GOOD news are, I am ready to take pictures of some art I have here at home, and all things pretty around me here in Paradise. Yes I do live in the true Paradise :)
The Bad news do not need to be repeated.
The best news are.... there is a bright new day tomorrow!

Beading Software

I'm debating whether to get a beading soft ware or not. For now I have a trial version of Bead tool 3.0 and it is free. I cannot get the pattern in Delica color codes from the trial version but I can transfer images. However I'm not totally happy with the transfers. Images containing few colors and very simple like this Lotus below works fine.
but more complex images like photos doesn't work as well



These are the original images.

Visual Arts means that to see is essential...

I started a blog.....so far so good.
That was Monday January 19th....and then nothing came up here. Why?

First obstacle no Photoshop installed on this mini lap.
Second obstacle .... the very next day, that would be Tuesday, my glasses broke.
My spare pair is only good enough for distances beyond 3 feet. One cannot sit 3 feet away from a computer screen and zoom in to the very max and still be able to type anything legible.
Believe me I tried!
Now today almost a week later the two obstacles got somewhat solved. Glasses are fixed and back on my face.
Gimp, the freeware, is installed. It will make do until I decide if I want to pay Adobe my money again. My current license is obsolete (CS bought Dec -04) and they will not give any kind of customer support. This after being a frequent flyer (CS) with them for the past 4 years. I have used PS as long as I can remember....
Lame and typical of today's consumerism. I hope one day we all will be able to stand up and say NO! It is not OK to sell me things and then a couple of years later tell me my stuff is useless and that I have to buy again (..and again, and again, and again...) just because..... just because they say so and they make it so.
Since it is late I will only post the one little test image I did. So here is P "gimped", not Photoshopped.
Tomorrow will be a day full of editing some of the may thousand images I have on this little thing and see if I can post some more tomorrow.

Adding...

...some images while waiting...



Necklace in Lapis Lazuli, Sodalite and silver

Necklace in Rose Quartz, Swarovski Crystals and silver

There is no time like the present

So today I'm starting my Art & Design Blog. It has been long overdue but due to lack of time TODAY is the day!
The first thing I need to do now is to find the cable for transferring everything that is still on my Canon Camera.
Second I will need to reinstall Adobe Photo Shop and a few other Adobe programs so I can crop and edit photos of Artwork that I already have on my computer and extra storage drivers.
I wish for a dialogue with you all out there to get feed back on art work and to give you all inspiration to value everything beautiful!!
My intention is to show the whole variety of my work as well as showing work of others or images that has inspired me...
See you soon again
A special greeting to Malin in Canada :) Thanks for your support!