Clayton Hill Studio

Posted on July 18, 2013 by claytonhill

Busy, Busy – Birthday, Birthday

It’s been a busy week: Monday was … well, MONDAY (‘nuff said!); Tuesday we had early morning wake-up to get to Metro (pups did great! New family in MS and VT) and visited with my grandparents; Today, the Twins turned 16!!! To celebrate – we did what they allow us to do (as a family) – took them to the movies and to our favorite restaurant … Happy Birthday, MY BABIES!!!

Hope to slow things down for a day or two – maybe catch some studio time and a dip in the pool. We’ll see …

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Posted on July 12, 2013 by claytonhill

TGIS … Thank God it’s Sunny!!!

DH and I have been empty-nesters all week, as the twins are at camp. So – I’ve spent the week in the pool (during the day – in the sunshine). And played a bit in the studio in the evenings. Here’s my coffin load, ready for slumping – and a [taboo] photo post-slumping (at 500 degrees – not supposed to open the kiln then … oops!). Can’t wait to get my hands on them:

And, here are a few of the pieces from the last coffin load: peacock; tree of life (finished); and a Celtic design I played with (COE 90 steel blue that turns silver when exposed during firing). It didn’t do what I had envisioned, but … it’s all learning(!) and it’s salvageable …

I also played a bit more with svg files, the plotter and screen printing: Betty Boop. Something happened here (right)… ??? Hmmm, I didn’t take it too hot; I also didn’t vent it (DOH!) – so maybe that’s why the red is yucky; I didn’t realize when I purchased them, but the screens are used – so maybe a chemical reaction from something on the screens??? And lastly – although it doesn’t hold true for her eyes (white opal) or jewelry (marigold opal), it’s possible that the black is overpowering the other powders as they’re a mix of transparents/opals … IDK. I’ve got the left piece firing in a vented kiln now, so we’ll see.

The twins come home tomorrow! Smile And – I head back to work. Sad smile I took a hit on Monday, when my boss pulled me aside to point out the joys of working with women. I spent time this week processing my way through it, getting over the feelings of anger, hurt, and petty cattiness … So, ready or not – here I come …

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Posted on July 6, 2013 by claytonhill

Happy Independence Week …

Yep, I stretched that day out to a whole week! Family time, play time, and plenty of food! All while giving thanks for those who [have] provide[d] for my independence …

Not much to show from the studio (although, I am sporting a sunburn from time in the pool) … Here’s a picture of the first kiln running all week – working on more plates/platters and a fleur-de-lys trial:

And, here’s a (hopefully) neat-something I ordered in the mail … If this works the way I hope, it will incorporate some of the toys I have to allow for easy/fun screen printing on glass. I plan to play with it this coming week.

But, now I think I have just enough time for another dip in the pool and romp with the pooches before I head off to work …

Happy Independence Week, Ya’ll …

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Posted on July 1, 2013 by claytonhill

Tips on proper E.R. etiquette … AKA WWU

Or … how NOT to gross-out or annoy your ER nurse:

1) This does not (necessarily) need to be show-and-tell time: Seriously, I will believe you if you tell me you have something unusual about your body fluids. If you say there is blood in your vomit, you do not need to bring some in from home to ‘prove it’ to me. (Doubly true for stool!!!)

2) On that note – please leave your pasta bowl (or other tupperware) at home … or at least in your car! I understand the need for a traveling vomit-receptacle, but – really? Something that you’re likely to use in the kitchen again??? (Doesn’t anyone use little trash cans at home anymore?) Trust that I will provide an ugly pink (or industrial grey) bucket on arrival for any spontaneous expulsion of body fluid. And, no – I don’t want to have dinner at your house …

3) PDA: While the nurse in me is thrilled that your life is complete with a soul-mate (thus, I don’t have to worry about that aspect of your psyche/mental health/physical well-being), please do not cuddle, lip-lock, explore tonsils, grope, pet or perform any other private acts in the ER, squeezed together on a narrow cot designed for ONE (normal sized) person. It makes it really hard to believe that your pain level is 10/10 when I’m forced to witness these behaviors (and it makes me just a bit nauseous). Public Displays of Affection do not belong in an ER.

4) Swearing: When you drop the ‘F-bomb’ or otherwise cuss like a sailor with nursing staff, and then act like a civilized person when assessed by the doctor, you risk annoying your nurse. FYI: Nurses can impact how quickly you receive care, medications or any other comfort measures in the ER (or any other hospital setting) … just in case you didn’t realize.

5) Lastly – while I will document whatever you say … if smiling, laughing or texting precede any complaint of ‘10/10’ pain, it does prove that you have a warped understanding of the pain scale speculum, and thus may impact your pain medication choices.

There are many other basic behaviors we could cover, but I don’t want to overwhelm anyone …

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Posted on June 28, 2013 by claytonhill

Happy as … Larry(?)

I’d never heard that particular idiom (link for the origin of this phrase can be found here), but – I’m happy, so go ahead – call me Larry …

Great week! Good food/family time, a bit of sunshine in the pool, lots of romp time with the pooches, and I’m pleased with my studio work this week. My frit mold came together well; And, my component pieces – I like them:

I also received a shipment of Fusers Reserve glass … isn’t it beautiful!?! I can’t wait to play with it, and maybe make a pendant or two …

Maybe a little more playtime tomorrow, before heading off to work …

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Posted on June 26, 2013 by claytonhill

Decisions, decisions …

Kicking around the idea of playing with web-code again … maybe to add a storefront to my facebook page, or to my website, since I can’t add it to this site. (Darn drawbacks to wordpress.com, anyway. If my ramblings [blog] were on Blogger, I could easily add a shopping page. But, IMO Blogger has drawbacks, too – so for now, I’m staying with WP.) Wondering if all the work involved would be worthwhile???

I salvaged my Tree of Life irid mishap … Yay! Now to decide if I want to slump it into a shallow bowl, set it up for wall-mounting or place it in a metal stand …

In the meantime, I’ll be working on additional irid projects (along with a new mold project – I’m just about ready for another coffin load), some freeze-n-fuse and component pieces with powders (am definitely on a powder kick, too) … Now, which to work on first??? Hmmm – decisions, decisions ….

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Posted on June 24, 2013 by claytonhill

Supermoon (AKA WWU)

There she is – acting like a BEACON, calling ALL WHO WOULD LISTEN to the ER this weekend!!!

The good news … one GIANT Supermoon – AND(!) one weekend closer-to-retirement. Winking smile Oh … and … I did good for my patients; no one died; I successfully found non-existent veins for IV’s; I was a customer-service super-agent; etcetera, etcetera, etcetera …

Now to soak my troubles away in the pool – with the sunshine(!), plan for my week ahead, and crash for a bit …

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Posted on June 21, 2013 by claytonhill

Doh!

Must have been tired yesterday when I was playing in the studio …

I pulled my latest Welcome Yoda sign out and was initially pleased! Here are both irid signs:

And then, as I was trying to catch the irid-flash on the (more square) Yoda, I finally realized why I couldn’t see it … It’s on the back of the sun-catcher – DOH!!!

As I had success with my first garden summer slumped bottle, I was eager to open the production kiln and see how my new piece (with additional flowers/butterflies) had fared on the cobalt slumped bottle. DOH!!! No Joy! On top of cracking into two pieces – all the colorful (red, orange, white, green and yellow) frit burned to an unsightly brown/black or darn-near disappeared. It was fused at the same temps (same program) as the first bottle. I did vent the kiln through the first half of the program in an attempt to get a truer red … Hmmm ???

I’ll let it all ruminate, but now it’s time to play with puppies ….

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Posted on June 20, 2013 by claytonhill

Spinning my wheels …

but – still being productive. After seven phone calls, I have the next doctor’s appointment set, this time with an academic dermatologist (yeah, I didn’t realize there are different types either) … I see him in 6 weeks. Lordy, here’s hoping everything stays stable and the fever stays at bay. As a healthcare worker – I hate saying this, but sometimes healthcare STINKS!!!

Anyway – back to being productive: The garden is planted; The new liner is in the pool – with brand new clear, sparkly water … no green Jello to fight this year, thank you very much! I’ve been a cooking-fool in the kitchen; I’m playing with pooches … here’s a fuzzy pic of Cally – loving her discovered and promptly coveted ‘Big Dog’ bone – silly girl!

And, I’ve been creatin’ in the studio [… umm, thank you Insomnia (???) Confused smile ]. I’m still on my ‘Welcome Yoda sign’ kick. Here’s the last one (I capped it with clear – kind of) and thought I had a good, slow bubble soak going, but … Nope. No Joy! Hmmm – he’ll join my ‘wall of shame’ here in the studio (which is getting quite full – DOH! Surprised smile ) Here’s tonight’s trial – on irid glass – as it appears to be my new obsession (???) …

And, I got my hands on some Float Fire 82 (thank you Armstrong Glass), so I have a slumped wine bottle with this image ready to go into the kiln. I also have an idea ‘percolatin’ that involves these images …

But, next on my list is cleaning this studio. What a mess! Not an empty surface to be found. Yep, must clean … soon! Meanwhile, I distracted my mental worries/woes with a WEE bit of internet shopping. New goodies coming soon! Open-mouthed smile

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Posted on June 14, 2013 by claytonhill

Listings are good …

It means I’m producing! Here’s my finished Welcome Yoda sun-catcher/sign … Not bad – I like it, and I know what I will do differently next time:

And iridescent platters (Yay!):

And more dichro badge reels:

Of course, it also means sitting at the computer cropping photos, creating ‘fun’ descriptions for the listings and uploading it all to the shops (Artfire and Etsy). Which I do in small snippets of time to keep it from boring me to death. And I play with puppies in between!