Holiday Ornaments at Heart & Soul

On Saturday, December 13, 2008, I held a Creative Souls class at Heart & Soul in Pasadena. We each made 2 different types of ornaments. Unfortunately, they did not photograph well, so there is only one picture of my second ornament.

For the first ornament, we took images from holiday cards and glued them to paper mache ornaments. We then applied a special double sided sticky tape to the image and covered it with tiny clear glass beads -- giving it a very reflective quality.

For the second ornament, we found a small image that was cut down to the size of a monocle. A special crystal clear glue was applied to the glass and then the image was adhered to it (see below).

As a bonus, I brought my Revolution die cut machine with the template to cut gift tags. Donna and Vicki really had a blast cutting out the tags from old Christmas card images.

Happy Holidays!

Surface Decoration Class - Decals

Over the past six weeks, I took a course at Xiem on Surface decoration. The final class was to create decals to fire onto pieces of pottery glazed pottery. With a little help from Pottery Barn (hey, I've been busy), I applied my photos of my artichoke in the progression of blooming to these 4" plates.

The image is sent off to a guy who makes the tranfer "paper" and then it is applied and fired.

These are not for sale, yet. But check out my new blog. http://heatherspottery.blogspot.com.

Creative Souls Workshop - Spirit Houses

Yesterday in the Creative Souls Workshop at Heart & Soul, we created Spirit Houses. This idea came from a ceramic artist I met many years ago. He was selling Spirit Houses that would welcome in the souls that came for a visit.

I've been looking for a way to recreate the concept (not using clay) and I finally came up with the idea of using chip board (heavy cardboard) and decorating the house with paper and other embellishments. I used a ginger-bread house pattern to cut out each house. They were pre-assembled for the workshop, so we could spend the time on creative part of decorating the house.

Each is Spirit House is a unique work of art, inspired by the artist's own vision.

Vicki had an idea of using twigs and moss (which she brought to share), but she ended up working with the papers and embellishments provided to create a little house with siding (see below). Her sign above the door says "Dream".

Joanne used all sorts of papers to create a colorful house. Both she and I capitalized on Vicki's idea of using the moss. We used small mirrors to represent windows.

I started using the dark rose paper on the roof - completely intrigued by the rich color. My little sign says "Believe".

There are additional Spirit House kits available for $15.00. If you are interested, please contact me directly at clare1121@aol.com.

The next Creative Souls Workshop at Heart & Soul is December 13, 2008. We will be making Christmas Ornaments. It is sure to be a lot of fun.

The Stupid Hearts, Cute Boxes, etc.

Few things are more frustrating than being foiled in your vision of a piece of art work. "The Stupid Hearts," as they have come to be known around here, were processed similar to the butterfly and flower ornaments featured in the last posting; however, something went horribly wrong.

I applied 4 coats of a low-fire glaze called "Red Dragon". Let me just say that applying low-fire glazes takes a considerable amount of time as each coat must be painted on and then allowed to dry before the next coat is applied.

When I went to pick-up the "Red Dragon" hearts, they were completely white. The red colorant had burned away in the firing. I was devastated. So many hearts, so little time.

Junzo, the kiln master at the studio, suggested I refire the hearts using a glaze called "Hot Tamale." So, once again, I spent a huge amount of time painting 4 coats of glaze on each heart. As you can see below, most of the hearts turned out okay, but a few have broken spots within the red glaze (probably caused by dust).

Despite the drama, "The Stupid Hearts" came out looking pretty good.


Somewhere in this process, I was inspired to create small boxes, using the same cookie cutters I had used to make the ornaments. It required cutting out thicker pieces of clay and then stacking them on top of each other. The lids were made at the same time -- the knobs made from a Sprig mold.

Once the stack of clay was leather-hard, I carved out the inside. This is more time consuming than reglazing "The Stupid Hearts." They are still drying on the shelf at the studio, so I am not sure how they turn out after being glazed. After my disappointment in the hearts, I am hesitant to invest my heart into their success.

Last night, I started my six week course on Surface Decoration at Xiem Clay Studio. I think it is going to be a good class and I can take what I learn to apply to my other pieces.

Preparing for Xiem Studio Sale

As ceramics (on my schedule) take about 5 weeks to complete, I have been working on pieces to sell at the Xiem studio sale in mid-November.

I used cookie cutters to cut out the shapes of the flower and butterfly ornaments and then carved out the petals and wings. They are glazed with a low-fire glaze to get the brilliant color.

Brilliant Black on the bottom and then the bottle was dipped in Rutile Pink.

Apple Green Celadon Vase

Kei-Ito Red Bowl

Matt-Black on the bottom and then bottle was dipped entirely in Korean Blue Celadon.

Matt Black with Non-Iron Blue

Update on Pottery

Here are my latest pieces of pottery with notes on the glazes used.




Unfortunately the glaze ran on this cute little jar, so the lid is now permantely attached. Bummer! Obviously, this photo is pre-glaze.








Some new shapes are emerging.

This is Brillian Black with Korean Blue









Brillian Black with Non-Iron Blue. It has almost a greenish cast to it.










Glossy White and Kei Ito Red








Brillian Black with Rutile Pink







Matt Black with Rutile Pink










Matt Black with Korean Blue










Matt Black with Korean Blue

Creative Souls Workshop - Family Tree

Saturday, June 7, 2008 - Family Tree

The goal of this workshop was to reconnect with your ancestors and to create a tree that reflected who they were using different color and patterns for the leaves.

Joanne, Laurel, Vicki and Heather participated in the workshop. It was held at Heart & Soul Healing Art Center in the back yard under a GIANT Fig Tree. The weather was perfect and the session quiet as we each reflected on where we came from and how it is part of who we are.

Each tree is as unique as the individual who created it.