Melinda Chan

This drawing was inspired by a game that I recently played. The game was a Telephone Pictionary type of game where a group alternated between sketching and guessing the previous player's contribution. I don't remember what word Pipe of Hope originated from, but it ended up being something memorable, so I decided to use it as inspiration.

When things seem grey, the Pipe of Hope is there to carry your worries away.

Took a little break from pottery while I was preparing for my trip, but now that I'm back and rested, I'm trying to get back onto the wheel.

These pieces were done before my trip. The one of the left still needs to be glazed and fired one more time. I had forgotten about it and it was only after I spotted it on the "last chance" shelf that I found it. Thank goodness it looked distinct enough for me to see it. That's one of the benefits of creating pieces that are easily recognizable. Handbuilt pieces are usually easier to spot than wheel thrown pieces, but I haven't done handbuilding in a while.

The bowl in the middle turned out fine. It has a simple shaped, so I balanced it out with a bold patter on the outside. I'm still experimenting, but I think I tend to enjoy using underglazes to paint on designs.

Recently returned from a trip to Europe, specifically Tallinn, Helsinki, St. Petersburg and Copenhagen.

Each time I travel, I complain about the effort it takes to prepare for a trip as well as the stress of coming back to an overflowing email inbox at work. I still feel that way and travel is not easy for me, but I still do it because it broadens my perspective and keeps from being stuck in a rut.

Some random notes:

1) Learned from our tour guide that many Russians don't smile because they consider smiling as wanting something from the other person. Not smiling is considered a sign of respect. We only visited St. Petersburg and I found that most people smiled.

2) The weather was perfect during the tour, but turned dreary toward the end while we were in Copenhagen.

3) The public bathroom in Nyhavn in Copenhagen was amazingly clean considering it's located in a very popular tourist area.

4) There are lots of Chinese tourists at the Catherine Palace in St. Petersburg.

5) Georgian cuisine is yummy. Lots of spices and new flavors.

6) Tried out a free 3 hour walking tour in Copenhagen (okay, not really free, more like pay what you think it's worth). I think that was a good idea because it gave us a good orientation to the city. Will probably do this in other cities in the future.

Many things can happen during the pottery making process. As I've documented in previous posts, one can never get overly confident as that's when things can go awry.

Pictured above is a bowl that I was planning to work on, specifically to scrape off some of the underglaze and reveal the texture beneath it a bit more. I was excited about this part of the process and looking forward to working on it.

Unfortunately the pottery gods had other plans in mind. While walking to my work table, I stumbled a bit and the bowl flew out of my hands smashing into bits on the ground.

I remember that moment when it left my hands, before it broke. It seemed like an eternity. Upon seeing the bits on the ground, I just stared at the broken pieces for a while.

I was disappointed. Another piece that got destroyed. Time wasted. Didn't want to dwell too long on it, so I swept up the pieces and threw them into the trash.

Although I'm disappointed at losing this bowl, I'm glad I took photos along the way and try to take comfort in knowing that I got practice out of it and the experience will help me get better at not being attached to specific outcomes.

Recently took an intro to screen printing workshop. It was valuable seeing the process from start to end. Though I had watched videos online, it doesn't compare to actually seeing it firsthand and doing it myself.

I'm interested in creating a setup at home, but I need to be careful that I don't just start new hobbies and abandon them. I'm still learning ceramics so I need to decide if I want to pick up something new.

These are the second set of prints I made in my screenprinting workshop. You may notice some blurriness at the bottom of the image and near the ladybug on the right. The instructor wasn't certain what caused it. It didn't bother me too much because I wasn't that invested in the image, but it was good to see what could happen.

I've been interested in learning how to screenprint for a while. I watched some videos on YouTube, but never quite understood the process, so I finally signed up for a workshop. Here my first prints. I hope to try out using two or more colors.

Ultimately, I'd like to do screenprinting at home, but to do that, I still need to figure out how to adapt my workspace.

Accidentally broke another of my pieces. I placed the vase upside down on the table too hard and the lip cracked into multiple pieces. It was too painful to look at. I knew I'd linger on the break if I stopped long enough to look at it, so I quickly picked it up and broke off what was left of the lip. Actually, I didn't really mind how the edge of the lip looked; the angles were interesting, but they would be dangerously sharp after firing, so it was best that I evened everything out and sanded down the edges. Yet again, another reminder to not get overly attached to the final product. Must remember to be more careful when handling these pieces in the future. They may feel hard to the touch, but they're very fragile and crack like a cookie.

Here's a pot I made during my high school days. I took one ceramics class while in high school. It was dedicated to hand building, not wheel throwing, but I remember wanting to try out the wheels. Because it wasn't a part of my class, it always seemed like a far off goal for me. It took many years, but I finally got a chance to try out the wheel in ceramics class. Handbuilding is easier for me, but I think I still try wheel throwing because of the fact that I didn't get a chance to learn as a teenager. Funny how stuff from the past still stays with you and influences you today.

I had been working on this bowl for a while, creating it on the wheel, trimming it and most recently, carving designs into it. So I was a wee bit disappointed when it broke apart just as I placed it down to rest my hands. It probably broke from me gripping it too tightly as I was doing the carving.

I'll see if I can salvage it somehow and attach the pieces together again. I have to admit, the second image of the "fixed" bowl slightly resembles some ancient artifact.

There's still a long way to go with this piece. Will it survive the first firing? We'll see. If not, I can take the individual pieces and attempt a kintsugi repair on it. Kitsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pieces of ceramics with lacquer and gold powder. The idea behind kintsugi is to highlight the breaks instead of hiding it, to embrace the cracks as part of life.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintsugi