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Kid?s Clay Class Work
2008-05-13 15:15:00
Crazy clay head  - my mother’s day present from my daughter Side View It’s hard to believe, there are only 2.5 weeks left for my for daughter until school’s out for the summer!  That means that I only have one more week of teaching my after school clay class - which is both good but also sad.  ...
More About: Work , Class , Clay

New Clay Bevel Tool & Happy Mother?s Day!
2008-05-11 16:48:00
Several weeks ago, I visited the Clay Stamps website and tried to purchase a bevel-o-matic clay tool via their Paypal Buy Now Link. I didn’t receive a confirmation or shipping info after committing to purchase. A week later, an email appeared in my inbox from Paypal informing me that Clay Stamps has not ...
More About: Tool , Happy , Mother

Photo Set Up
2008-05-07 15:51:00
Last Thursday, I spent most of the day at the church where the guild holds its sales photographing work to use in future show advertisements and on their website. Our sale runs Thursday - Saturday for obvious reasons and the church apparently gives the guild favorable rental terms. It doesn’t hurt that ...
More About: Photo

Colorado Potter?s Guild Show Closes Today
2008-05-03 16:00:00
Opening night before the doors opened - so cool to see so much amazing ceramic work all in one place As a member of the guild, which operates like a cooperative, everyone is assigned a job (ideally the job that best utilizes one’s skills) to help the guild and our sales run smoothly.  So, as a ...
More About: Colorado , Show , Today , Potter , Guild

Colorado Potter?s Guild Sale Invitation
2008-04-30 15:18:00
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 1, 2008, 6:00pm - 9:00pm First Plymouth Congregational Church 3501 South Colorado Blvd. Denver, CO May 1,2,3 Friday May 2 9:00am - 9:00pm Saturday May 3 9:00am - 5:00pm Press Release Gee, time flies by when one has deadlines and shows lined up so close together! Whew, I’m looking forward to the opening and will ...
More About: Sale , Potter , Guild , Invitation

?Fine Art of Craft Show?
2008-04-26 17:35:00
Mary Cay and I at the opening standing in front of 2 of her pieces I drove up to Evergreen by myself yesterday evening for the opening of the “Fine Art of Craft ” at the Center for the Arts Evergreen where some of my work was on display. Unfortunately, my husband and daughter ...
More About: Show

“Fine Art of Craft Show� Invitation
2008-04-23 18:46:00
Opening April 25th, 2008 5:00 - 8:00pm “Fine Art of Craft â€� Center for the Arts Evergreen Address: 32003B Ellingwood Trail, Evergreen, Colorado 80439 Phone: 303.674.0056 April 25 - May 23 I have been in overdrive for the past month getting ready for this show and also the Colorado Potter’s Guild show and sale which opens the following weekend and runs May 1 - May 3. Of course you’re invited to this event as well. I pushed my luck and fired the work for the “Fine Art of Craft” show the day before the work was to be delivered. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when the kiln was finally cool enough to unload and made the drop off deadline to boot. Only 3 pieces will be on display in the gallery for the month and then the rest is for immediate sale in the gallery gift shop. I know many of you will not be able to attend, so here’s a sampling: Porcelain Boxes, sizes vary, either slip transfer or hand-painted with underglaze, ^6 oxidation Re...
More About: Invitation

First ^6 Glaze Fire in New Kiln & Vow
2008-04-21 15:21:00
In an ideal world, I am super organized and plan for all possible outcomes. My make up is always perfect and I am the the epitome of calm and cool. In reality, I seem to be flying by the seat of my pants these days and it ain’t pretty. I have been ...
More About: Fire

You?re invited!
2008-04-14 15:11:00
Both my Monday and Tuesday after school clay classes will be displaying their most recent work at the Space Gallery today from 4:00pm - 7:00pm. We’re sharing the gallery with the After School Art Club and their work - come on out to see some great children’s art! I spent a part of ...

Kemper Mini Clay Extruder
2008-04-11 14:50:00
I spent a cold snowy afternoon (isn’t it spring already?) in the garagio yesterday afternoon, constructing some porcelain boxes for the group show I’m in the end of this month. I had already measured, cut and mitered my slabs of clay the day before, and set the pieces up conveyor belt style in ...
More About: Mini , Clay

Secret Treasures
2008-04-09 15:45:00
I started making these porcelain boxes and I can’t seem to stop. In fact, I have another 4 in the works ranging in size from 2″ square up to 5″ x 6″. In a departure from the slip transfer that I used on “Birds and Bees”, these 2 are hand painted with underglaze ...
More About: Secret , Treasures

New Work - Guess the Title
2008-04-05 18:06:00
Hand-built porcelain covered box with slip transfers (green), 6″ x 4.5″ x 4.5″ Alt view of porcelain covered box Last week, I had to sign a permission slip for my 10 year old daughter to attend “Family Life” classes at her elementary school in Denver. I don’t have any problems with the class, ...
More About: Work , Title , Guess

Slip Transfers - Finally Success
2008-04-03 15:44:00
I’ve been in the studio working like a mad woman for the past 2 weeks getting ready for “The Fine Art of Craft Show” at the Center for the Arts Evergreen opening on April 25th. In the meantime, my kid’s clay class started back up and my class is going to be having ...
More About: Success , Transfers , Finally , Slip

Artist?s Date & Thank You
2008-03-31 15:54:00
The Artist ’s Way by Julia Cameron Raise your hand if you’ve ever read or even heard about The Artist’s Way. I finally read the book about a 1 1/2 years ago and actually worked through most of the assignments. It gave me a tremendous boost and pushed me to move forward in making art ...
More About: Creativity

Action Shots in My Studio - I need your help!
2008-03-29 19:08:00
Last week, Alyson had a short blurb on her blog about updating photos of oneself in action in the studio to add to websites or other marketing materials. I personally enjoy seeing photos of other artist’s at work and of their studios and know that this has been on my to do list for ...
More About: Action , Shots , Studio

New Studio Tools & Volume Calculator
2008-03-27 17:52:00
It’s no accident that my new iPod Nano is reminiscent of one of my favorite glazes! Last week, I celebrated my 42nd birthday - and I had been wishing for my very own iPod to use in the studio. I love it and am enjoying loading music and podcasts onto it to listen ...
More About: Tools , Calculator , Studio , Volume

New Family Member?
2008-03-25 15:51:00
Danzig 6 years old If you’ve been around long enough, you may remember that a little over a year ago, we had to lay our elderly diabetic cat, Helper, to rest. It was pretty traumatizing for the whole family, but we knew it was the right thing to do. Since last summer we’ve ...
More About: Family

Bloglines and Can One Retail & Wholesale?
2008-03-22 02:20:00
Hand-built printed stoneware cup Original lino-cut used to print slab of clay for cup Okay, so the two images above are really eye candy for this post. I don’t have the heart to post without adding a photo or two. Really, I’ve want to talk about Bloglines! Frankly, I don’t know how I’ve lived ...
More About: Retail , Wholesale

Pampering Myself and I?d Rather Be in the Studio!
2008-03-16 17:10:00
I spent most of yesterday in the studio and was pretty productive which felt great. So now you might be wondering where I’m going with this post given the title? Slowly, I’ve started adding inventory to my wholesalecrafts.com artist page, and was pleasantly surprised yesterday to receive an inquiry about my work from ...
More About: Studio

Little of this, little of that?
2008-03-14 14:20:00
We helped my husband celebrate his 43 birthday last Monday - his chosen place of celebration was the Cherry Cricket, home to the best burger in town (maybe even the nation). Their tap menu doesn’t stink either. It wasn’t a huge milestone type birthday, but a birthday nonetheless. I’ll let you in ...

Playing with Color & Dreaming
2008-03-12 14:48:00
I spent a good part of last weekend in the studio. It was cleaner than it had been in ages, thanks to the tidying I did before the arrival of my new kiln, and the temperature was pleasant making frost bitten fingers a thing of the past (at least temporarily - it is ...
More About: Color , Dreaming

New Kiln - Finally!
2008-03-09 17:07:00
I experienced a few delays after ordering my new kiln from Mile Hi Ceramics last December - but am happy to report that my new Skutt 1027 with Envirovent was delivered Friday afternoon. Thank you Mike! The Skutt 1027 has a 7 cu. ft. interior - which is almost triple the size of ...
More About: Finally

It's official - I've moved!
2008-03-03 00:50:00
Please visit me at my new Wordpress blog hosted on my website(I couldn't let it go ;D) - http://coloradoartstudio.com/blog.I will no longer be posting on this blog from now on - but will leave it up for the next 3 months until my new blog starts generating more traffic.Fondly,~CynthiaSubscribe to Fine Art and More by CMGuajardo
More About: Official

Moving Update...
2008-02-23 17:36:00
Moving anywhere, including somewhere else in cyberspace is hard work. My advice to anyone contemplating the same is to think wisely and be prepared to invest time and patience into the endeavor. I don't want to reveal the link yet to my new blog since I haven't decided whether or not to host my own wordpress blog, or to use the infinitely easier and user friendly one on wordpress.com site. I would hate to have everyone update their links, only to move again.I currently have both types of blogs set up - but am wrestling with all types of code issues on my hosted site trying to make it look just right. I thought I was pretty savvy, but it turns out I have a lot to learn.Having a wordpress.com site is very easy and intuitive - but the obsessive compulsive person inside of me wants to host my own blog. Hmm... what to do, what to do? I have a busy week coming up, so I'm going to delay the reveal until later this week when I can devote more time to the project. Maybe Wordpress f...
More About: Moving , Update

I'm moving!
2008-02-17 18:39:00
My new banner for my website, blog and etsyHi all - I feel so neglectful for not posting in a few days - but, I've been very very busy. I'm not out in the studio, but I am on the computer. Yesterday, I spent almost 12 hours wrestling with Adobe Golive setting up a new site. Nothing like just doing it to learn how to use the software. I built a fairly simple site - nothing flashy and downright minimalist. I wanted a clean look with not a lot of bells and whistles. I hope to tweak it a bit more today and then upload to my new host.In other news, I am also moving my blog to Wordpress from Blogger. I have been meaning to do it for sometime now - in fact I've had an account at Wordpress for over a year, but have done nothing with it. I did check out Vox, Movable Type and Typepad before settling on Wordpress. While Adobe does offer editing for Movable Type in Golive, Wordpress is very easy to use. I was inspired by Heather over at Bad Kitty Art Studio who recently moved to Wo...
More About: Moving

Happy Valentine's Day!
2008-02-14 15:23:00
Photo Credit: nkzs on Stock Xchng Royalty Free Photographs.No huge plans on this Valentine's Day for me, other than attending a party at my daughter's school (can you say sugar high?) and a casual family dinner. I'm making my usual Valentine's fare, shrimp risotto followed by chocolate dipped strawberries for dessert. Yum!Clay extruderThis morning, I'm going to the guild to watch an extruder demo - woohoo - do I know how to party or what? I haven't used one since college so I could use a refresher.Meanwhile, it's snowing again despite 60 degree temps yesterday. I just know that Spring is around the corner somewhere.May romance fill your day,~CynthiaSubscribe to Fine Art and More by CMGuajardo
More About: Happy

Just Working...
2008-02-12 15:35:00
Okay, I've got nothing right now, but, I'm still working. The good news is that I'm not subbing this week and plan on starting on some colored porcelain experiments that I mentioned in my last post. I was listening to a podcast yesterday on my run (the first run in 2 weeks since I got a nasty cold - it's amazing how fast we lose fitness), and the interviewee mentioned that she starts a new project by cleaning her studio. She recalled a prof in grad school telling her that if she was cleaning, she had no ideas and was just filling up time.I thought about that, and I have to disagree. Cleaning, paves the way to productivity. I don't know about you, but after a project comes to a close or even just an extended period of work, my studio is a mess like a tornado came through overnight. Starting fresh, helps pave the way for a new project or period of work. I figured out that that's what I do, I work in spurts. Making, glazing, firing - start over.So, I'm going to take the ...
More About: Working

Colored Clay
2008-02-08 17:51:00
Colour in Clay by Jane WallerLast summer, I started some experiments using mason stains to color porcelain to use in my work. I was inspired by an article in Pottery Making Illustrated featuring the work of Chris Campbell, a few years ago. My colored porcelain pendant experimentsI didn't get far and became distracted by other techniques I wanted to try and life itself. I still have a few blocks of colored clay, but at this point, they probably need to be reconstituted. I was reminded of my experiment the other day, when the green pendant on the right sold. I was quite pleased that someone bought it, and had recently been considering removing one of these from my Etsy Shop for my own use.My "agate" ware thrown pots from 2005 using 2 different stoneware bodiesI checked out some books from the Colorado Potters Guild the other night when I attended new member orientation, including Colour in Clay by Jane Waller. As I glanced through the book, the section on "agate" ware caught my...

Wholesalecrafts.com & Cool Flickr Toy
2008-02-06 21:40:00
I've spend entirely too much time online recently, and can't seem to sign off when I mentally tell myself to. So, the other day, I uploaded some new photos to flickr and started messing around with some widgets and such while I was there. I came across Big Huge Labs, that nabs some of your photos to create this cool little mini banner.Meanwhile, I spent the better part of 2 hours applying to wholesalecrafts.com this morning. A rep called me this am to follow up with an inquiry that I had sent them. I sort of forgot about it, but then, thought, "What the heck, let's see what she has to say!" She gave me temporary access to the site for me to peruse, and answered all my questions. It's $395.00 a year, if I am accepted. That's a lot of dough, but, I asked a few people who are represented by wholesale crafts and they're doing great - so it could be worth the investment. One artist I know even closed her Etsy shop because of the amount of business coming her way.In other new...
More About: Cool , Flickr

New Jewelry & Inspiration
2008-02-04 15:49:00
New Porcelain Necklace with Sterling Chain now available in my Etsy Shop.I have worn the prototype of this necklace for about the last 6 months now, and get a ton of compliments and requests for duplication. I have a problem though, I have a high amount of breakage during the making and firing of the piece since it's so delicate. Anyway, 2 survived my last firing and I may have figured out the secret to making these successfully.The original necklace was inspired by this sculpture that I made in college my last semester. I love the organic shape and have been meaning to do more work in this direction but wince when I recall the cracking and baby sitting of this piece during the drying process. I never did glaze it, because I couldn't decide how to do so - but have some ideas now. I just need to do a little sanding and will most likely glaze it the next time I fire to ^6. I don't know about any of you other ceramic people out there, but glazing doesn't come easy for me. So...
More About: Jewelry , Inspiration