Rebecca McClure Studios

If you’re sad I stopped making blue pots, I’ve made it to the big time of Facebook Marketplace. Some plates and mugs for sale. If the link doesn’t work for you, check out the photo in the comments for the listing title.

www.facebook.com

I made a little pottery treasure hunt for the people who live in my neighbourhood. There are seven of my teeny bowls hidden along a path in the forest. Wishing them happy hunting!

Save the date! My first post-injury sale.

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Crazy fungus finds in the garden today. And no, there will be no taste tests! 🤢

In the middle of making a tea set with fun and funky circles in some of my favourite colours. The tea cups are made but need to be bisqued and then glazed. And I will make more of the plates as well as a larger platter.

Ooooo these are kind of fun! Just out of the bisque and I’m hoping to have a glaze firing this weekend! If these work out well, they’ll be going to the gift shop at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.

Fun platter decoration.

My kind of tea party. Our flowering cherry and plum trees are so inspiring!

This vase was supposed to be a maquette for a larger piece I want to work on. However, it’s turning out to be a real exercise in learning. I’m attaching sprigs to it and as I look at the photos, I’m realizing I need to commit further. More sprigs, more surface coverage. Just more.

I’m also realizing that I need to rethink my sprigs. I need them to be thinner than they are. Part of that is trusting that the molds will release them after I press clay into them. Part of it is making the sprig molds shallower to begin with.

Also, there is a tension for me between planning meticulously and being spontaneous with sprig placement. At this point, it’s 💯 spontaneity.

Excited, however, to be finally playing with this process.

Hello friends! I have taken a wee hiatus from posting my work on the Insta, but rest assured that things are happening in my clay studio!

I finished a fabulous year with under the mentorship of the incomparable Lisa Orr. For 2023, I have joined the Continuum part of the program, which allows me to continue the journey of self-critique with a group of fabulous women potters who have also gone through the Cohort program. In addition to a group meeting once a month with one of the Cohort instructors, we also gather electronically on Friday mornings to keep each company in our studios. I love this network of support that we’re building.

I am also fortunate to continue with Lisa Orr as my mentor. Her willingness to share from her vast pool of ceramics knowledge is so encouraging and motivating.

Stay tuned as I’ll be posting more about my process and work in the near future.

I am not a fan of making glaze. Or, to be precise, I’m not a fan of making a bunch of glazes and then testing them. And I can turn myself inside out to avoid it. But now that the foot can manage a few hours in the studio per day, the time of reckoning is upon me and I 💯 need to find my perfect transparent, shiny, tough-as-nails glaze.

This is the first batch of five test glazes. They’ve been painted on my “pizza” test plates and now it’s just a matter of waiting for the kiln to cool. The next few months will build on these tests as I take the more successful glazes to the next step of trying them out on test pieces (tiny bowls vs. the typical test tiles).

Well, a small stone took me down at the end of walkies on Thursday. I stepped on it funny, went over hard on the side of my foot, twice, and fell, not only breaking my fifth metatarsal, but also injuring my hand and shoulder. Six weeks of the walking boot and no surgery, which I’m grateful for. Making a list of studio-related tasks that don’t require my right foot (or a lot of standing). Ideas welcome!

Making round vases.

A teaser of teacups.

From my garden. These really are just this beautiful.

Starting another test “pizzas” assignment from using US Pigments and Betty Woodman’s engobe recipe. I get a whole lot of satisfaction from painting in these little wedges. 😂 Next step, after these are bisqued, is painting concentric circles of clear glaze tests to see how they compare. I have about 10 recipes to test, but I’ve run them all through Glazy and will choose my top five to start.

I have 4 pizzas, each in a different clay body. This accounts for only 17 of the pigments plus one Mason stain. I have 11 more pigments to test and several mason stains. Phewp!

This week I’m hosting the Shore to Shore Studio Tour social media accounta. Hope you’ll mark you calendar for the first Saturday of October (which is the 1st). ❤️

Rebecca McClure Studios here with a little background info on me!

I began working with clay over 30 years ago in Calgary. I had spent a couple of years in the Faculty of Fine Arts (theatre) at UofC between a couple of other degrees and was able to fit in some visual arts classes—I loved them!

I have worked on my skills and artistic knowledge since then via a variety of formats: community art classes, post-secondary courses, summer art programs (like ), and mentorship programs. I took a huge chunk of time off when my son was born, but I’ve been actively making again for the last nine years, the past five in my own studio. In addition to private sales and tours, I currently sell my work at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria gift shop.

Over the next week, if you have any questions about my work, please feel free to ask in the comments. I’m thrilled to talk about my work and how I do things!

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Update: Coco is now a year and a half old! She’s a darling with her family and we’re working on her reactivity with strangers. Our trainer is awesome and we feel so fortunate to have her .

I took some prom photos of the tea sets before I boxed them up to ship to their new homes. I’m glad that I took the time to do this.

I'm guest hosting the Clay Cohorts () Insta-feed this week. Please come on over and check it out!

In this clip, I show you my studio (it's a bit untidy 😬) and some of my favourite making tools.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CeCHv44jMYY/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Watch this reel by claycohorts on Instagram Vince Guaraldi Trio • Baseball Theme | Doodle Heart Effect

If you're an art geek, you'll love this little talk by amazing ceramic artist and educator, Pete Pinnell. He's talking about the cup, but also about the intimacy of ceramic art. It's great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WChFMMzLHVs

Pete Pinnell: Thoughts on Cups An interview with renowned ceramic artist Peter Pinnell produced in conjunction with the Cup: The Intimate Object V exhibition at the Charlie Cummings Galler...

I made this crazy pedestal vase years ago now, and it’s been gathering dust in my studio. I decided to use it to host a spray of lilacs and I think they really suit each other.

Almost finished the Tea Party series! Love this top-down view of Pretty in Pink.

Confetti teacups.