Hi guys and welcome back to my channel Blue Nose Trading. My name is Tori Solis and today I am going to be working on a project to display my test tiles.
I am going to hang my tiles along my fence with some copper weather strip nails. The nails I picked are ¾ inch copper plated steel. I picked these for their weather resistance, and let’s be honest, copper is super pretty. I would guess that in time these are going to turn green on the fence from oxidation, and that’s cool with me too.
Up until this point, I have been tossing all of my tiles into this shoe box. This method has quickly gotten out of control, and it's kind of heavy to be honest. Digging through this box and trying to find something at all is such a frigging pain.
I am the kind of person who needs to be able to see everything in front of me, all at once. If I can’t see something, it pretty much stops existing for me. Setting up my tiles in this way, I can see all of them more or less at once. This allows me to play some mental visual gymnastics in my head where I can pull, create and visualize different ways to use what I see in front of me.
The tiles are going to be organized into sections by clay body. I am also more or less putting some of my favorites at eye level for quick reference. When I need inspiration or ideas for colors, for a sculpture or for other projects, I can come outside and walk down the fence, and meditate on all of my known color choices.
I don’t have a whole lot of wall space available inside my house, but I do happen to have a whole lot of fence space in my back yard. Because I have so much fence, and I am so addicted to testing out glazes and clay bodies, this is something that's going to continue to expand and grow in time.
I am certain I will be posting periodical updates on this project as shorts on my channel. I have been trying to post a short every day. They are a lot of fun to make. I usually like to show a quick clip of my process, or a close up look at one of my completed pots. I also love the opportunity to quickly catalog and save whatever music is happening in the moment of time that I'm in. I think my shorts playlist will one day be a musical walk through my time here, and that is pretty cool. If you want to see my daily shorts, be sure that you subscribe to Blue Nose Trading.
Another interesting side effect of this project is that I will get to see how each of these clay bodies and glazes behave when exposed to the full force of North Texas elements and weather. This happens to be extremely helpful information for me, as outdoor bonsai planters are one of my favorite things to make.
I am very excited to see how this project grows in time. I love testing glazes, and I have lots of ideas. There are endless glaze possibilities to test, and I keep finding more and more clay bodies that I want to experiment with. I love to gather the data. I love having access to so many possibilities and options in my mind that I can use to form the synthesis of my artwork in my mind’s eye. I find experimentation to be inspirational.
I hope I was able to give you some inspiration, if you happen to be trying to figure out what to do with several hundreds of test tiles. I am going to have to guess that not too many people are going to be in this situation. But hey, if you are here, this is one option you have. All of our minds work differently, and there are endless ways to creatively catalog information like this. Maybe even if you don’t like how I am displaying my tiles, your dislike for my work gave you an idea for what you think would work better for you. Do that, do you, like, this isn't the solution for everyone. It's just one idea that I am sharing.
I’m just here to share my experience in the hope of creating inspiration and a net positive impact.
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Remember that you are very important and that you are here for a reason. Go out and hug your friends. Drink lots of water, and I will see you next week.
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