#framing

[iteration-dave]

There is no moral justification for allowing a tiny fraction of humanity to control life's necessities and to extort labor from the rest of us for access to them.

[claypigeonpottery]

don't mind me, I'm going to ramble a little about decorating plates (with pictures lol)

one of the things I really enjoy about decorating plates is that the rim of the plate is the perfect place to put some kind of framing

(all pieces in this post are sold)

I don't always frame the images, sometimes leaving it uncarved is the best way to accent the central image

or I'll simply continue the design out over the rim of the plate

the rest I'm going to put under the cut lol

it took me awhile to get used to considering and planning out the rim of a piece while I was sketching. oftentimes I would forget about it, and once I was finished carving the central image I’d suddenly realize the piece needed a frame to feel complete. sometimes it just doesn’t look right without something on the rim! this piece definitely falls into that category.

once it was carved it just felt too open without a frame

I really like decorating the rim with little things that relate to the subject of the piece. it might be my favourite kind of framing

(the violets relate to the pigeons because the sapphic flag is pink with violets, and this is a portrait of my pigeons, who are lesbians lol)

sometimes the framing design escapes the confines of the rim lol, despite my plans. the gum blossoms just really wanted more space in this thylacine piece

framing a design works on tiles too of course, but the raised rim is more fun imo

(both of the above tiles are from pretty early on in my sgraffito experiments, so the photos are unfortunately very bad 😬 I hadn't yet learned to take nice pictures)

sometimes a frame can act a bit like a stylized background for the subject, like these trees

or a more distant set of trees to indicate a forest

or I can use the rim's design more like a closer look at the environment around the subject, their immediate surroundings; the rabbits surrounded by thorns, the jackdaw surrounded by juniper

it's also interesting to bring the carving of the background of the piece out onto the rim when it’s a different colour, like in the (above) jackdaw plate, and the (below) red winged blackbird plate. it can show the subtle background carving in a more visible way and kind of tie the design together

sometimes a simple directional pattern is the way to go. I did this a lot in 2023 especially for some reason?

I've really grown to love carving imperfect patterns, and I find it relaxing to just kind of go with it and not worry about perfect spacing or lines

it’s really an exercise in frustration to try to make a pattern exact when it’s being carved on a hand built piece of pottery that is already an imperfect shape.

I’ve never been particularly intent on being exact with my art tbh (though I do admire that quality in other artists)

I am happy with a more relaxed method lol

this one below was done really roughly and I enjoy the way some of the underglaze remained after I scratched most of it off. it follows the shape of the piece really nicely, because I let my carving tool just followed the shape of the rim without much guidance from my hand lol

sometimes I experiment with using glaze to add a little something to the rims

and sometimes, the frame is just the perfect place to put a few words

but I'd never really used framing much in my art before I started making plates! so it's been a bit of a learning experience. I've enjoyed experimenting with new ways to decorate the rims of plates. some of them don't work out lol, but that's just the nature of making art

[maureen2musings]

Orchards & Mt. Adams, Washington

jones.pnw

[nwodwols]

[sir20]

Sous le Pont Neuf, Toulouse by sir20

[nicdoesntexist]

Arboreal Silence

[jensorensen]

Last week, Pete Hegseth declared that the war on Iran would be different from previous US military invasions. The Defense Department spokesmodel announced: “The dumb, politically correct wars of the past were the opposite of what we’re doing here. They had vague objectives with restrictive, minimalist rules of engagement. No more.” Now, anyone who remembers the Iraq War knows it was a bloodbath featuring “shock and awe” tactics followed by numerous atrocities against civilians and ghastly revelations of torture. We’ve reached the point where not committing war crimes is being ridiculed as “politically correct.” 

Longtime readers know I despise this phrase, and how its usage (as well as “woke”) has been deployed as a form of linguistic warfare that has successfully redefined morality, human rights, and democracy itself as “liberal” — and therefore weak, effeminate, and inferior.