Ceramic time

It's time to talk about some of my ceramics. Mostly because I was not too bright and didn't take a lot of photos of my forged work. Which means I don't have any more photos to show, doh! But now I do take photos of my work and here are some of my latest ceramic creations.

These are from my Sagar class I took at Pottery Northwest here in Seattle, WA. These two containers were to of my better finished pieces from the class. I will have to take another sagar class sometime here in the future, once I have the time and money to do it.

forged part 5

All right, let's get back to our regular programming and continue were we left off at. Some of my blacksmithing work. This is just the beginning of my path to tying some metal flies. A basic hook. I did a few of these. Each one a little different, mostly at the barbed end. I created the barb on this hook by folding back the tapered end onto itself and then forged welded about a 1/4" to 1/2". All that was left to do was point up the end and bend up the barb.

The eye though I had to have fun with. I gave it a little flare with a wrap. Which I did with all of my hooks.

I'm Back

Well, it has been a long time since my last post. But there is a reason behind that, or an excuse depending on your view point.

I have been working on getting my Photography website up and running. Today I got it up and running. You can check it out here. To go right to some of the photographs click on these links
architectural residential , architectural commercial , architectural academic , product , personal , and published work . A few of the photos have been published here first but a majority of the images are new. So go and check it out, www.AsBrittonphoto.com.

Forged part 4

The series continues after a little web-blogging lag. This piece came about with the thought, what happens when you combine some of your favorite past-times. I was at the California State fair in 1994 or 1995 thinking about what to make next. When I was hit with inspiration, why not tie a fly!

I have been fly fishing and tying flies since a wee little boy. It is one of my favorite past times. My cousin and I used to sit around at the cabin tying the fly that was going to land that huge trout. Well, he never got to make one of these big flies.

These steel flies started out very simple and then I started to get requests. The one pictured here is an Adams pattern. But I have made royal coachman, basic dry fly patterns and a lot of hooks. I kick myself for not pursueing the creation of these steel flies. But maybe when I have my blacksmith shop setup again and can start tying some more flies.

Forged part three

Recently I took a basic tool making class at Pratt Fine Arts Center. The teacher was David Tuthill of Fire Horse Forge. You can find his website here. His shop is right down the Burke Gilman Trail from where I live. Which might not bode well for him, because I will probably be dropping by often to check it out :)

During the class/workshop's two days we got to make a couple of hammers and the tools to make them with. The photo is two of three hammers I completed during the workshop. The third hammer has a handle on it and I am actually using it in ceramics right now. David was a great teacher, being extremely helpful and knowledgeable. The best part was being able to finally use a power hammer, oooohhhh I want one.

The blacksmith facilities at Pratt were good, though I wonder how crowded it could get with a big class. Luckily there were only three of us in our class.

Now all I need is a place to work and I can start cranking out some hammers among other things.

Forged part two

Staying with the theme of opening devices, here is a wizard bottle opener. I think a majority of blacksmiths have a version of this bottle opener. But everyone seems to bring something different to the design.Through the years of blacksmithing at various fairs with my friend Mike Carson the wizard bottle opener is the only thing that has ever led to me being called a satanist. This happened at the California state fair, Mike was doing a little demonstration at one end of the booth while I was drinking some water. When I picked up these words floating from the crowd "Let's go, all of this satanic stuff is bothering me". I was stunned and outraged at the same time. Something in me just couldn't let that go, so I spoke up, which almost never happens. I asked "What satanic stuff". Where upon I focused on the lady who started acting all nervous and mumbled to herself, "You weren't supposed hear that". She then started pointing to the wizard heads and some meat turners with rams heads on them that Mike makes.

Again I was just stunned by the ignorance of this lady, to just assume we were satanists because of some wizard bottle opener or rams head. Of course my anger go the best of me and the only response I could must was "Well you better not buy a dodge" as she and her family scrambled away. By this time Mike was amazed that I got that mad, because I usually don't. Once I told him what happened and everybody else in the farm area, we were all doing the goat dance from the Dragnet movie :)

I miss blacksmithing at fairs.

Part one of forged items

I was talking with my friend when he commented on wanting to see some of my forged ( think blacksmithing) creations. The reason for this is he, family members and friends are interested in me getting back into blacksmithing so I can forge up some items which they can purchase. Unfortunately I don't have a place to work. And the worse part about this is I have all the equipment, though in storage sadly. But, if I was inundated with orders, I would find a way to get my special cork (maybe exchange that "r" with a "c") screw made for people.

Well I got to thinking and grabbed some smaller items I have hammered out and took a few pictures. Here is the first one. Guaranteed to be hard everytime you need to open that bottle of wine.

Florentia

Here's Florentia Clayworks! A studio for various ceramic artists. Located on the south side of the Fremont Bridge at 218 Florentia Street in Seattle, WA.

If you ever get the chance, I suggest just dropping by. Don't be afraid, just walk on in if someone is there. It will make there day.

My own pottery

After taking photos of Jamie's pottery, I had to go back another day and shoot some of my own pieces.

These sake cups and bottle are from my two wood fires, one back in December 2008 and the other in March 2009. All of these pieces were supposed to be fired in the first wood firing but we ran out of space. Luckily I was able to get some of my left over pieces in the kiln in March. Now I have a set of 5 sake cups (they are really being used as shot cups though, heh).

I am enjoying the cups immensely, what with the way they feel in my hand to the pleasure of just viewing them.

Jamie Kirkpatrick Pottery

A couple of weeks ago I was over taking photos of my friend Jamie Kirkpatrick's pottery. He is a ceramic artist with a studio over at Florentia, located on the Queen Anne side of the Fremont Bridge.

We were having fun taking pictures while trying out his new light table. I think the light table helped in showing off his wood fired pieces, especially the tea pots. The reason for this is because you can get a better sense of what the whole piece looks like through the photo. Without the illumination from below you wouldn't see all the detail on the bottom side of the teapots.

I have to say I am torn between his teapot (the photo with the three views in it) and the cup (the photo of the single cup) as being his best pieces out of this last wood fire. The flashing and ash deposits are outstanding. All of Jamie's teapots come with a hand built and drilled sieve built right into the teapot, just look at the detail shot of one above. And they work great, I have tried it with the last teapot below, which I bought from Jamie.

If you are interested in any of these pieces by all means stop on by his studio or check out his website. He needs to update his website, which he will be getting too sometime here in the future. In the meantime keep coming back here, you might see some more of his ceramics after his next firing.

Using the G1 for interiors

I was reading in the GetDPI.com forum about someone testing the Panasonic G1 with the Canon 5d. To show what the G1 can do in interior shots were the shutter speed is slower (anywhere from 1/5 of a second to 8 seconds) I decided to post a couple of photos. These photos are from two different shoots. One is for the furniture and the other is of a Kitchen. I think that the G1 might need a little more processing, but I have set this up to be done in an action within photoshop, so really isn't that big of a deal. The only thing I really add is to sometimes run a very light noise ninja action.

I think the images speak for themselves.

sunset on the fremont bridge

Walking over to Florentia (pottery studio just on the other side of the fremont bridge here in Seattle) to take some photos of Jamie Kilpatrick and my own ceramics (which will be in my next blog), I noticed this nice sunset color. What is funny about this is the color is happening in the east and not the west. Still worth a couple of pictures.

view from the Seattle Asian art museum

My wife and I visited the Asian Art Museum here in Seattle. They are currently showing Garden and Cosmos: The Royal Paintings of Jodhpu. This is a very cool exhibit. I highly recommend people going to the show.

While walking away from the museum this view caught my eye. I am sure it has been photographed before but I had to try taking a photo too. Hope you enjoy.

West Lake building

While walking down West Lake the other day, I just felt compelled to take this photo of a run down building. I was drawn to the many posters and stickers all over the building and the patterns the old paint created.

Photos in Metropolitan Home april 2009 magazine

Metropolitan Home printed a couple of my photos in their latest April 2009 issue. You can see the pictures here (uncropped) or on pages 100-101 (two page spread) and 105. These are photographs of a Place House located in Kirkland, WA. I took the photos back in August of 2008 when I was still working for Place Architects.

There are a couple of interesting events about these pictures being published in Met Home. First they are only 5 megapixel images and on top of that the 2-page spread image has been cropped. Second, Metropolitan Home had their own photographer go out to document the whole house, but they preferred my exterior photographs. Last, the photographs have been printed terribly. What I think has happened is my images were left in an RGB format but then printed in a CMYK format. Which would cause the extreme color change and loss of dynamic range seen in the magazine. There is no reason for this though. The images should of been converted in photoshop first to CMYK before sent to the printers. Of course this is all conjecture, but from my expereince these seems to be the likely culprit.

Still it is fun to have some more of my photographs published.

Sooke, Vancouver Island

After our stay at the Brentwood Spa and Lodge we drove down to Sooke. On the way we stopped at the Red Barn Market so I could take some pictures of the swans on the lake behind the store.

First we went to the little historical museum. They had a couple of nice structures on site, a old logging house andMoss Cottage (the oldest standing building in Sooke).

After the museum we were able to walk out on the pennisula there and check out the water and wildlife. I got a few interesting photos of the different birds, a couple of cormorants and other water birds (I don't know the names of them, but hopefully will find out and post here in the future. My wife and I had to cut our time in Sooke short because we had to drive back to Victoria to catch the ferry ride back home to Seattle.

Brentwood Bay Lodge & Spa

On our trip to Vancouver Island we stayed at the Brentwood Bay lodge & Spa. This lodge is set on the coast of Brentwood bay, has a spa, fine dining, sushi bar and a pub. During the spring, summer and fall you can do kayaking and scuba diving from the Lodge. It is a very nice piece of architecture with the room we were in being spacious and having an excellent bathroom with seperate shower and large 2 person jet tub. Why can't our apartment in Seattle be like this.

My wife got a great deal on our room, because it is off season currently. But who cares, the area is still lovely to visit, the room is outstanding and it is a lot cheaper.

I had fun talking to the sushi chef, especially on a slower night when he had time to actually talk back. He was able to make us some special dishes, which were beautifully made and delicious too.

If you get the chance I highly recommend the Brentwood Bay Lodge and Spa.