this week

This week Mike finished carving his giant block of plaster, made a mold, and then started casting. A pretty impressive feat - and his shoulder is feeling it. Steven started milling out background tests for an installation in the works - more to come over the next month as our show gets closer.

After

We posted a picture a while ago of an Eames chair that was found in a nearby dumpster. It was covered in paint - almost a half inch thick in the dip alone! After many hours of clean up, and a giant jug of paint stripper - we decided it would never be fully restored - so why not tile it?
It is now covered in hundreds of porcelain buttons -- giving the chair a strange new thickness. It is definitely different than before - but we just had to give it a try. Here are the before and after shots.

Turkey Pigeon

Just in time for the holidays.... Our Turkey Pigeon is bearing meat for you - in the form of a floral chicken drumstick. Pigeons were originally domesticated as a food species, with different breeds being developed for their food bearing qualities.
Slipcast and hand cut vitreous porcelain, combined with hand applied floral pieces, 18" x 9", 2008.

Wolfie

A new project. We picked up this chalk dog head in Dewey, OK this summer, and have been staring at it for the last month. So - last week we 3-D scanned it and printed it out nice and tiny. This will definitely be part of our next 10 times piece, and who knows what else....

Gold Formula

Our newest batch of studio porcelain. Slipcast tumblers with silk screened images of invasive species and the chemical structure of kaolin - plus luster.
5"-8" tall. 2008.

Rattus Norvegicus Rex

"Rattus Norvegicus Rex" - aka The Brown Rat King. The finished version.
Rapid Prototyped rats cast in porcelain hang by their tails with red glass berries in their mouth. Surrounded by a ring of acorns, leaves, and glass.
7" x 14", 1250.00 for this prototype.
Finished version (where the tails are looped) 1400.00

SEAMS

We are super excited to have two pieces in "SEAMS" - taking place this weekend at the Jersey City Artists Studio Tour, Canco Lofts. Curated by Colleen Grennan and Joshua Erb, of Mahan Gallery fame. From the press release...
"Assuming the artist decides ultimately what is worthy of public display, those chosen for SEAMS have undermined this responsibility, placing a fluctuating form of paraphernalia into the public realm, demystifying ideas of conclusiveness and truth and exalting production quality objects. "

"Formulations on the Two Principles of Mental Functioning" an idea for a light - and a work in progress...
Slipcast and rapid prototyped porcelain and terra cotta, plastic, marbles, tape, hot glue, wood.

Publication is okay

Our Invasive Species Fire Ant plate is featured in Bust Magazine this month! Check out the Page O' Shit (yes, the actual page name, 037) to see it and several other artists with a bug addiction.

little flowers

My new obsession.

Ikea Hacker

Our termite light - part of our ten times series, where we make ten objects ten times better - was featured on Ikea Hacker - as one of their favorite hacks. I would like to officially say that we are honored.
Our next ten times piece will be debuting soon. It is good.

Fancy Rat Light

PROTOTYPE #1. studio lights on...
studio lights off....
Our newest light - The Fancy Rat Chandelier with the first ever (to my knowledge) rapid prototyped porcelain rat. Four hang by their nasty little tails surrounded by acorns.
Biscuit fired porcelain, 12" x 8.5", 2008.

From the studio

Fresh from the studio - a new version of the Protobirds. I love how the luster looks like gold foil!
7.5"x 5.5" individually. Porcelain with luster, 2008. $500.00 for the set.

studio porcelain

I realized today that we rarely show (on the web) our studio porcelain.  It is made in house, from the molds to the hand painted details.  Each piece is different - and we are constantly making them - printing imagery, adding new layers, firing over and over, trying new shapes, ect. So, here are just a couple pictures of some pieces.  

Slipcast porcelain cups and bowls - ranging from small to pretty large.  25.00-60.00 a piece.

The Before

We are all back in town - and we have big plans for this sad Eames chair in the next few weeks. Stay tuned.

Old School Exhibition is on

We are a little late in posting this - but the Old School show is up and running - and looks amazing! You can go here to check out the show. All the work is for sale through Uppercase Gallery as well as through Poppytalk Handmade.
You can see our piece here - in the bottom right corner next to the globe. And here, a little bigger.
"Words with OA" porcelain, decals, wooden bOArd, marbles, 24" x 5.5", 2008. $625.00

Prima!

Our firing was a success - everything - seriously everything, turned out for the most part. We spent the last day and half of our time in Germany packing and repacking everything to make the long trip back to Ohio. We have a couple shows lined up for the work - first being our solo show at The Clay Studio in Philly this winter... (more to come soon)

Not Pictured: Steven's final images

short north art al fresco

Rebecca has been holding down the fort in Columbus - and recently participated in the city's first outdoor art show - a one day event featuring installations all over downtown.
"Rats in Trees" (from the book Rats by Robert Sullivan - there is a section where an exterminator sees rats in trees, and by seeing that has in effect seen everything)

200 die cut rats laminated with vintage flocked wallpaper. Lovely.
Also - here is a little video of the rats in action...

Good Luck...

The last bits

This is the last wet work posting - as of today we are done making. All the work will be loaded into the kilns - and we will see what happens...
Mike's epic battle between the protoRat and the Dresden Porcelain Swan
Mops with flower eyes - all the 3-D flowers are hand pressed and pulled in the factory - we met someone who has been making them for over 20yrs. I tried this process and ended up giving up after 5 minutes. A lot harder than it looks.
Examples of the flowers...

Week Three - ahh!

Okay - this is the last week to work in the factory - and Steven has kicked in to high production mode. Check out the drilled mops, rooster, and swan.

Some lovely candelabras for Non Fiction... Also, looked at the pierced swan in the far left of the picture.

Mortizburg

We went to Mortizburg this Sunday - the hunting lodge/getaway of Augustus the Strong. Pretty amazing place - with several other small residences/castles around back in case he got tired of this one.
All of Augustus's antlers are displayed throughout the palace - there are probably more than 500 sets. One of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Lucky guy.

the line up

It is the end of week two - and we have all made a TON of work. I have no idea how to get this all back to the US - but - can't really think about that right now.
Steven has made a couple amazing swan candelabras/lamps - depending on if they are wired up or not... The swan is the most graceful yet grotesque animal of the group.
The Buckminster Rooster vase - applying the little flowers gets addicting once you start. Suddenly it seems like everything needs a few.

more work

Steven has been casting for the last week and half - and has about 20 animals ready to be altered and drilled. It is pretty exciting to see them open up - and how the holes create patterning onto and into the surface.

After the trip to Meissen, Mike has been wanting to add chains to Mops (the dog) - so here are a pair of Mops dragging rat heads on floral chains. Very nice.

Behind the Scenes

Last weekend we headed over to Meissen, Germany - home of world famous blue crossed swords. There we were able to see three hundred years worth of porcelain - from Kaendler to the present which was amazing. Here is the finest thing they had:

We were also able to take a tour of Dresden Porcelain and see the room with all the pieces from the start of the factory. I could have stayed for hours. Everything is handpainted onto the white porcelain - it is amazing to think about all the time and skill involved with producing the work.

And - the group favorites...

The halfway point

We are halfway through our residency here at the manufactory , and we are starting to work faster. Here are some images from last week...Mike is making mounts using all the animals - duck and rat seen above.


Katie is making more candelabras, lamp bases, and small scuptures using the pug in particular. (it is nice and meaty looking)

images from the factory

Our workroom - pictured are Steven and Olaf (our gracious host)


Mike is making a series of monuettes - a rooster conquering a rat- very allegorical...


Katie is working on some lights - pictured here is a swan candelabra


And, after a hard day at the factory, we still find time to blog! (sitting against the wall at the Dresden mainstation - the ONLY place we have found free wi-fi)

First days in the factory

We are here - and they sure do love Augustus in Dresden. Here are a couple of shots - a giant gold statue, and his place in the procession of princes - a tile wall one block long made by Meissen porcelain. Pretty amazing.

We are also hard at work in the factory - 9 to 5 everyday of the week (to the minute actually). So far we have a Royal pug lamp going, and a swan statue is in the works. More work coming soon.

And we are off...

To DRESDEN Germany - for three weeks of hard factory labor. We are going to Dresdner Porzellan to make some amazing pieces using their molds and local clay. It is also the 300th year anniversary of the discovery of porcelain by Bottger, so we will be participating in the jubilee and events around the area. We will be posting pictures of the factory and our pieces while we are there...