I just finished my second day of my internship with Thora Finnsdottir. 12 hours flew by like nothing.
Im covered in dust and clay and my back is sore.
But I’m also smiling, having lots of happy creative ideas and feel like I could go back and do it all again tomorrow.
I am practicing and producing lots of vases, trays and figurines and loving the whole process.
Ceramic work is no joke. There is so much knowledge to learn about. We made ceramic glaze and worked with all the techniques required to get the items ready for the first burn in the kiln.
Thora has a lot of spring markets to attend so we are helping her get ready. In that process my IT skills come in handy, as they are nowhere to be found as a skillset for Thora 😂
Normally, waking up at 5 in the morning on a saturday, would be annoying and leaving me feeling stressed out or worried - nut no today, not at this time in my life.
I can't sleep because I'm exited - and my head is exploding with ideas and I just have to get it out - so here I am, writing here, in the dark - husband fast asleep.
So whats on my mind?
Well - I went to see my mentor Thora yesterday to give her back some molds I had borrowed and to discuss the internship that I am starting on next week. I am like a sponge, just absorbing some of all the information Thora is giving me.
It feels a bit like for a person to hear a neuro surgeon talk -hahah.. so many words I don't know the meaning of, and just trying to decipher what she is talking about - technical terms, strange names of materials, mixtures and glazes. Luckily Thora is used to teaching classes and having interns, so she is so patient and explains everything.
So right now here at 5 AM, I'm trying to get an overview of things I need to buy to be able to train and experiment here at my own workshop. Thoras workshop is an hour away in Frederiksværk, so I can't go there as often as I would like, so I have to train here at home. Luckily my husband has a huge workshop that I got a room in for my stuff.
I can use some of the tools from my jesmonite tool collection, but the two techniques are so different that e.g. molds cannot be the same. For jesmonite I use silicone molds and for ceramics I need plaster molds.
The other tools I need is to smooth out ceramics, and shape it. So I need to get a hold of a lot of different smaller handheld tools like these:
So I am looking online to see what to chose, there are so many options, it's hard to chose.
I decided to buy some more stuff from Scarva and a german site. Am exited and ready for this next chapter of my creative life.
Normally I work a 8-16 job in IT - it's fast, brutal and stressful but I love it. But it does not leave me with much creativity in the old fashioned sense - creating things that are not on a computer - if you know what I mean? :-)
Therefore I took the unheard step to ask my manager for some time off - to go and spend time being creative with clay casting. For the next three months I will spend time with the very talented Thora Finnsdottir and get to know the basics of ceramic design.
Thoras is the instructor I met at the ceramics course I took a while back, (5) Finurlig keramik | Facebook and I really like her designs, and the things she has accomplished so far - Having her own brand and working whith great danish designers is not something you see everyday, so when she offered me an internship, I just had to go for it.
I am slowly figuring out what I want to design with Jesmonite and what should be done in Porcelain. I really love the whole design process of chosing materials, colors and since I am in IT, I don't mind the whole SoMe part either, but is sure is a lot of work, being both the boss, designer, sales person, accountant and having a fulltime job too ;-) I guess passion and dedication can take you a long way towards your dreams.
Once again I spent a lof of time online, searching for the best suppliers for molds, clay, tools and what else is needed to be able to design and create new ideas, and this is some of todays findings
So this is mother of pearl - I use it for trays and candle holders to give it some spark. Upside - easy to work with - downside very expensive and hard to come by in EU.This is a mixing tool for glazes etc - its a manual mixer but when you push it down it spins around, so you don't have to stir like crazy. It's in the details right ;-)I know it s a long time until Christmas but the ideas that are for sale for Christmas, are planned now already so these cutters quickly went into my cart and I can't wait to try them out. The idea is that they will look something like these ornaments. Lovely right? <3
Last but not least, I finally found the molds I have been searching for!! Real christmas ornaments!! oh my I just love them.
They are gonna work well with a colored slip cast or a colorful glaze and with lots of gold luster. I have my work cut out for me for the summer and fall for sure!!
The day finally arrived where I could pick up my beautiful ceramic creations. I had no idea what to expect, as it was my very first time working with slip casting and glaze.
So I went from this:
pre-glaze, pre-oven
After glaze and 1280 degrees oven
This is a small gallery of the weekends learnings.
I can highly recommend anyone, skills or newbie, to try out this course. It's fun, destressing and very creative. Thora has several courses coming up and you can sign up here: https://www.facebook.com/finurligkeramik
I will be going for another course in a couple of months, so I can learn to also make the gypsum molds that come with the slip casting process.
In regards to molds, I am using Ebay to search for vintage molds from the 60'ties and 70'ties to use. They are beautiful and creative but the cost is too high to go down that road for more then a few special items.
I also need to learn about Lustering (gold painting) and how to make glaze. I am sooo exited.
Only problem in my life is lack of time to go to work, build a house and have time to be creative AND get enough sleep.
