envyseastudio

[envyseastudio]

I drafted and queued up 3 more days worth of posts for you guys on my lunch break only to find out that Tumblr didn't actually submit them to my queue and they got lost in the void.

I did a fair amount of writing and explaining in them too which is all the more aggravating. So sorry, no post today. I'll try and redo them tomorrow

[envyseastudio]

Added handles tonight!

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I'm just really proud of this shape okay 🥺 It turned out so bellied and round and that's been really hard for me. Bonus shot of the footrim cause I'm also really happy with it:

[envyseastudio]

Here's a closeup of the other planter I shared earlier. I did a nice foot rim on this one to help with glaze placement, but totally forgot to do it on the other 😅

[envyseastudio]

My plants are outgrowing their pots. So my solution of course is to make them new pots!

The 2 pictures show the same pot at different stages of drying less than a day apart. Left: leather hard. Right: bone dry. The humidity where I live is super low so my pieces dry out very fast, which is a bit of a blessing and a curse.

On one hand dry pots are important once you fire them. Trapped moisture in the clay can cause the pot to explode when water turns into steam in the kiln. But having things dry out so quickly significantly reduces their working time and can make it hard to do the details I want. I counteracted that recently by getting a humid storage bin I can put my pieces in to keep them from drying as so fast and it's really helped, especially with more intricate things like my cat and snake mugs.

[envyseastudio]

2 pet dishes and a flower pot all trimmed up and ready for the bisque kiln

[envyseastudio]

No classes til September so I've really gotta motivate myself into wheel throwing at home.

I have a discord server for me and some friends where we hang out and draw together. I finally got a phone adapter for my tripod so I can stream my pottery instead of just drawing and so far it's already helped my focus and motivation immensely!

[envyseastudio]

The ice dye bath ^ and the shirt v

A separate tub had a lot of purple so when they got put in the wash that batch added a kind of lavender hue to everything. I don't hate it, but would probably rinse everything off by hand before putting it in the wash next time to get a bit of the excess dye off

[envyseastudio]

Close up of my parents barn swallow babies in the nesting cups I made!

The bird parents have prepped the brown nest for their second clutch.

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Now that I have an office job I get to have office plants! Here's my current little menagerie all in pots I made. The snake plant in the blue pot has just about outgrown its pot so I need to make it a new one soon

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Here's little Kiki. Her espresso cup is probably my favorite. The blue glaze I used to accent and line the interior just really tied everything together.

And here's the real life counterpart:

[envyseastudio]

im going to explode in the kiln

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Third time's the charm! My previous two attempts didn't turn out after the glazing firing like I had hoped. This little one is with her forever home with my aunt now.

Here's her real life counterpart

[envyseastudio]

Out in Oregon my aunt showed me how to ice dye clothes!

The clothes are soaked in a solution of soda ash (sodium carbonate), ice is put on top, and then the dye is sprinkled onto the ice. As the ice melts the dye is pushed through the fabric resulting in a lovely variation and intensity of colors.

I loved watching the powdered dye change color once it hit the ice

[envyseastudio]

I just really like how the face on this one is coming along

[envyseastudio]

I'm so happy!!!

I built these nesting cups last summer and was beginning to lose hope that the little barn swallows would be back afterall. They tried out (put nesting material in) every single cup I made but have settled down into the big blue one.

For a little backstory; in 2019 some barn swallows showed up at my parents' house and built a nest on their patio light (seen in top left of first photo). They returned in 2020, but the nest and the babies tragically fell off the light. So my mom tasked me with building a more suitable structure for them, based on some 3D printed designs she found online. After many months waiting, and losing hope they'd even try our home again after what happened last year, the barn swallows did return and are currently incubating eggs in the nesting cups that I made!

[envyseastudio]

Pray to the kiln gods for me. Dropped these little guys off at the studio for their final glaze firing. Hopefully everything will go well and they can make their trek out to Oregon next week.