Saturday, June 5, 2010

Studio Saturday Get Your Kicks with Creative Impressions In Clay

Welcome to Studio Saturday on Art Bead Scene! Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive we offer a free prize each week to bribe you to use that keyboard. The following week we choose a random winner.
This weeks winner is Melissa MemanCongratulations! 
You have won a Birdhouse Pendant from the studio of Jennifer Heynen
Send Jennifer an e-mail with your address and she will get it right out to you.

This week we visit the studio of Tari Sasser at Creative Impressions In Clay


Love to Travel? Tis the season. I was asked to design a collection of 4 buttons for a client. The theme is Travel for this line of clothing. I love that I get to come up with my own designs. The only design specified was the Route 66 button. Brainstorming is the fun part. What do you associate with travel? Of course those ideas need to translate into a 1" to 1.25" format. Minute detail usually doesn't work. 
Thinking I had been so original with the license plate idea, I did a web search...of course this existed already and you could buy LUV 2 TRVL as a door mat for your RV. Oh well, I liked it anyway.


Sending mail or postcards is also associated with travel. Being an internet junkie, I did a web search for stamps. Traveling in a car is how my family goes on vacation, this stamp killed 2 birds with one stone, a car on a stamp. Besides, I thought it was a cool graphic.

You have to put your clothes in something, so of course we needed a suitcase. The old type with travel stickers on them worked out great. Putting details on the tiny stickers did not, so we opted for blocks of color.

This is the group I managed to get glazed and shipped. Not quite half of the order. I managed to not do so well with my deadline. I used to live and die by deadlines in the corporate world! But something happened on the way to the forum...I messed up when I poured the mold. Yes, I still use plaster, my mistake. If you pour plaster too wet over dry clay prototypes, let's just say it's bad. The shoulda, coulda, woulda's were abundant after this! I managed to clean up and salvage 3 of the design molds. Fixing molds isn't really that much fun and time consuming to boot. I had to carve another license prototype. It turned out better than the first one, so BONUS on that one.
I have 60 more buttons to finish glazing, fire and overnight by Monday. Guess what I'm doing this weekend? This is reeking havoc on my back, elbows and hands. Sitting for hours with my elbows bent holding and painting little pieces of clay is painful. I'm tense because of missing a deadline and knowing I have to have these finished. A personal masseuse would be nice right about now. Calgon take me away or is it Robert Mondavi take me away. Someone, anyone...relaxing in Michigan by a lake for a week will have to do in 8 days. But who's counting.

My question this week is:
What is the worst mistake you have made on a project?

This type of question is always fun because we have all made mistakes when we are working. Working on a deadline makes it even worse.


Leave a comment on Art Bead Scene and you could "Get Your Kicks on Route 66" with one of my Route 66 buttons. How cool would that be on your travel tote?! 

3 comments:

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

I commented for the giveaway, but I gotta tell you I LOVE these route 66 buttons. Are you offering them online?

Tari of ClayButtons.com said...

I will be offering them online. I hopefully will have them up in the next few weeks. Email me if you would like to order sooner than that. tari@claybuttons.com
Thank you for the lovely comments!

Natalie -- NKP Designs said...

I love your route 66 signs! Very cool!

I have so many mistakes I can't even begin. Usually it starts out with "Can you make another like this ..."

From that point on I think I'm doomed because even if I've done it before 100 times, it won't fire right or my kiln will decide to die ...while firing.

I had a request to redo a bead, a plain and simple yellow and blue slip raised bead. I had all the glazes, the right clay, everything. They either over fired, or under fired. Finally I used up all the slip glaze and had to buy more. I got about halfway through each of those two bottles before I just finally gave up and apologized to the person who requested the redos.

It is an awful feeling but I suppose it's just part of the process.