Sunday, September 3, 2017

100 Days of Mudbird Ceramics, 2017

Hello, hello!!
I've just run the feather duster over my blog and she's back up and running!

If you've been following along on my Instagram you'll be familiar with my 100 day project #100daysofmudbird ... If not, please let me introduce you!


Christchurch, New Zealand 100 Days Show!

On the 22nd May 2017, I started on my 100 Days Project with the idea to create a ceramic tile every day until the project finish date on 29th August 2017. I had every intention of completing, and apart from a few days around day 76 (where I wasn't able to make tiles) I made one for every single day. I wasn't sure how I was going to manage after having such a long break from making Ceramics. After the first week, the 100 days seemed very daunting but I took the attitude of just doing it one day at a time! I had to say goodbye to my custom built studio when we sold our home 2 years ago, so am back making on my kitchen table... right back where I began in 2008. Thankfully our little old 80sqm house has doubled in size here so much more space to be creative!

Day 89 /100 Echinacea/ Cone Head flowers
I've had lots of questions along the way about my tiles so I'll try and answer them here:
 
Day 60/100 Peony Rose

  • The designs are mainly inspire about what was around me, things that I love & collect, meaningful details of the stories of the day ( like making heart quilt blocks for a friends quilt and my 7 year old son's birthday) or just random ideas that came as I fell asleep. I have a huge collection of indoor plants ( it's a bit of a jungle in most rooms!) so plants feature a lot. I also love feathers, birds and the outdoors.  On day I put out a challenge on Instagram and got some really great ideas... like an Octopus 71/100 and a Kiwi Retro Caravan 42/100 and the Canterbury Plains 99/100. Great minds think alike as nearly all suggestions were already on my list.
    Day 8/100 Wall vase/pocket/planter
  • Yes its true! I made a new tile every single day, I didn't stockpile a whole lot and then post the photos each day.
Day 97/100 Sugar Skull


  • They are made from a white NZ midfire Porcelain clay, when the clay is cut the squares are 10cm square and then after drying and 2x firings they shrink down to approx 8.5cm square. They are photographed immediately after making so are still wet and grey ish.
Day 38/100 - Kowhai, off old NZ .2c coin
  •  Each day I rolled out the clay slab with no particular idea in mind. Some days designs came easily, some days I spent quite some time deciding on what I wanted to do before I could even start. For a few days I started a tile only to ditch it, have a cuppa then come back to start again.
Day 21 /100 - Southern Cross Stars
  •  I wrote down a list of ideas that I really wanted to make and added ideas that came to me and other's suggestions. I didnt have a daily plan, but I knew I wanted to finish on the Fantail tile. If the idea didn't speak to me I just couldn't make it. I saw the clay slab as a blank canvas and often after gathering all my tools and playing a bit, the vision of the tile would just jump out at me and I was off!
Day 20/100 - Cactus ( I added a flower afterwards)

  • Some days the tile could be made in an hour (which was great if I was pressed for time or it was a work day),  the average was 3.5 hours but I do have to admit I did spend the most part of the day on a fair few tiles. Thankfully I was mostly flexible with my time so could fit that in. I made them all during the day as I needed to photograph them in daylight. You can see the seasons change in the photos as the colour changes with the weather and the low light darker winter days made it harder to photograph.
Day 27/100 - Matariki / Mt Cook

  • The project will be fully completed when each tile has been hand-glazed. This will take some time as I'll be hand painting them all before their final firing in my kiln.
Day 93/100 Sea Urchin / Coral

  • Yes I'd love to exhibit them when finished... was hoping that would be during the 100 days collective group, so now I'm trying to figure out how to do it on my own. 
Day 100/100 Fantail

  • YES! I'd love to sell them and thank you all for your interest and telling me your favourite ones. An Auction will probably be best to determine the value. All details will be made available with a list of the tiles being sold closer to the time. I estimate mid-late October. Please email me if you'd like to be added to the contact list with 100 days tiles in the subject line.


Day 95/100 Agee jar from my custom made mold.
So here's the next part!! What's most exciting is I'm taking part of the Christchurch 100 Days Show and the opening is in 2 days! Due to the ultra short notice of it, I've been unable to glaze my tiles as planned, which is very disappointing ( as its really how the final project should have be viewed) but with some encouragement of 2 other great 100 dayer's Sigrid & Miriam I've printed the photos I posted on the 100 day site and they are already displayed ready for opening night!

88 of the 100 tiles, bisque fired.

 I'll be sharing more over the coming days especially images from the show. Thanks SO much, it means the world when you comment on my photos, send a message or come up to me to mention how much you like the tiles.


x Gill 


5x7 Photos ready for the show.