Melinda Chan

I rarely cook or bake, but I decided to try making blueberry scones as part of my ongoing creativity practice. This was my second attempt at making scones. I can definitely see overlap with my more traditional art projects. It can get quite messy and I used hands to shape the dough into small discs. But the best part is that I get what I make.

I recently entered a mask-making contest. Because of my lack of sewing skills and limited time, I decided to make something using that was readily available at home. For me, that was used coffee grounds.

I ended up creating a DIY coffee mask. Not too long ago, a search online for coffee face mask would've turned out with a very different search results about skin care and beauty tips.

Unfortunately, I didn't win anything in the contest, but the experience of entering the contest brought back fond memories of my youth when I used to enter all sorts of drawing contests.

After carving in the design, painting it with underglaze and then scraping off the excess underglaze to reveal the lines of the design, I'm starting to work on the long process of painting/filling in the design. All very labor-intensive and detailed, but I guess that's why I enjoy it. Great way to practice being present and focused. 

There was a more finished photo that I had intended to use for this post, but I thought this one showing the scoring from the needle tool was actually more interesting.

There's something about the rough, sharp marks that makes it intriguing. Someone remarked that it reminded them of Frankenstein's head, which I think perfectly describes it.

Maybe this will inspire me to do a more textured piece in the future. For now, I'm still not sure how this one will end up looking like.

With all that's happening right now, it's been hard to focus. It's easy to get distracted when there is so much uncertainty and fear in the air. Still, I'm trying to stay creative as a means to stay sane and centered during these strange times. Here's the start of a vase project. I decided to go with handbuilding because it's much easier to clean and I have more control of over the final result. I don't need to add to my stress levels at this point.

This is my first attempt at making a mug. I didn't quite get the timing correct on the handle and was impatient, so as the mug dried, a crack formed where the handle was attached. We'll see if this survives the firing in the kiln.

It's all about process when dealing with ceramics, so I decided to show the process I went through to decorate this cylinder. Though I didn't really like the end result, there's a lot to be learned from the process. It'll give me a chance to see what worked well, what I could do better, find out the cause and effect of each step.

Step 1: Throw a cylinder on the wheel.
Step 2: When it's at the right stage of dryness, carve a design.
Step 3: Apply three layers of underglaze
Step 4: Scrap off the underglaze, leaving outlines.
Step 5: Put into kiln for the first firing.
Step 6: Time to color in the outlines using underglaze. This was the tricky part because you usually apply three layers to make sure it shows up, but I didn't want to hide the outlines. This was mainly a test.
Step 7: Apply a layer of clear glaze.
Step 8: The final product.

It had been over a year since I last did any clowning, so when the opportunity came up recently to put on my red nose and get in touch with my inner child, I said yes. Having the ability to let go and play with abandon was great. It was just what I needed after a long day at work.

I had planned to give away some of my ceramics to some friends, but as I was bringing out the box, I accidentally dropped it. Some pieces survived the drop, but many did not. So glad that I still have photos of the originals.