Diana Fayt

The Clayer: Online Ecourse

2012-01-17T07:58:00.000-08:00

I've been mulling this idea over for a while now and am SO excited to be finally announcing that it has become a reality! I will be teaching an online e-course, The Clayer: Part One: Surfacing, form February 27th to April 8th. This is an intermediate course and will cover surface applications on ceramics as well as a couple of basic handbuilding techniques.

You can find out more about it here

I hope to meet you in class!

Royal Winter

2011-11-11T14:57:00.001-08:00

Each season I work together with Heath Ceramics and we come up with a unique palette for me to create my pieces in that compliments their seasonal collection.

This winter we are going royal.
Violet, sapphire blue, rich chocolate brown and cool grays.

Hand Dipped

2011-11-02T14:40:00.001-07:00

chocolate (clay) spoons.

Autumnal

2011-11-01T10:52:00.001-07:00

Sampler

2011-10-28T10:22:00.001-07:00

I am still at it with the red.
Now with my new block prints.
I like.

Patterning

2011-10-25T16:44:00.001-07:00

What I am doing when I am not drawing on pots.

Spooning

2011-10-19T15:01:00.001-07:00

I am not sure why, but at this time of year, I am compelled to make spoons.
This years' spooning is happening with rich brown clay that looks and feels like smooth chocolate.

It's taking all of me not to take a bite out of the hunk of it sitting on my table

Raven to Raven

2011-10-10T16:01:00.001-07:00

This piece began as demonstration for one of my workshops.
The green part was supposed to be white.
Not sure what happened.
Either way,
I kinda like it.

Weeping Pods

2011-09-29T08:43:00.001-07:00

and critters.

~On view~
Blue Spiral Gallery
38 Biltmore Avenue
Asheville, North Carolina

October 6th ~ December 31st

Clay As Canvas

2011-09-27T07:40:00.001-07:00

I am one of twelve ceramic artists participating in the Clay As Canvas show
at
Blue Spiral Gallery in Asheville, North Carolina.
The show opens October 6th and runs through December 31st.

Squam

2011-09-26T20:45:00.000-07:00

Welcomed by the rising sun in the east.

Shacked up with some incredible talent.

Jumped off this dock butt naked with five other women.

My one minute alone.

How do you say cheeky sausage in Hungarian?

Making friends with a fellow cheeky sausage.

Even the mushrooms were being cheeky!

Talented singer songwriter who photographs her mother's nose.

My other minute alone.

Warmth, Joy, Friendship, Laughter on every path.

- Posted by Diana Fayt copyright 2011

Workin' the Workshop

2011-01-18T20:54:00.000-08:00

Well after two weeks of working behind the computer I am happy to announce that something has come out of it.

Unfortunately it's NOT my new website. Yet.

It's almost done. I promise. But dang it sure is a lot of work.

I've been wanting to host a lighter style workshop in my studio for the past year and a half in a more regular way but I always seemed to get derailed by other projects. So before the year became over scheduled I decided to block out dates and make them happen.

I am happy to announce that I will be hosting three workshops out of my Bayview studio.

One in February. One in March. And one in April.

We will work on tiles and focus on various surface techniques. The workshops are designed for all skill levels in clay so if you have no idea what a cone or quartz conversion is you'll still be good. I do want to mention that these are not the same as my longer workshops that will be I teaching in July and September here and here. I will not be teaching my etching techniques as the process is quite extensive and takes more than one day to teach. I promise though, you'll come away from your day in the studio having learned some inspiring new ways to work and that can be translated to any clay surface.

Here are the details.

Cheers!

Properly spiced & Ready to go

2011-01-10T18:54:00.000-08:00

It's chilly out.

Even here in California.

Cold. Dark. Rainy.

I am hunkered down enjoying the quiet of January. Everything has slowed to crawl giving me some much needed time to re-do my poor neglected website. As I rummage through my thousands (this is not an exaggeration) of photo files and write copy I find myself wanting

to sip on something to warm me up.

Chai.

Not the overly sweetened weak oddly spiced kind you often find
at coffee shops or in a box at the grocery store.

But a simple five ingredient chai.
(All my favorite recipes have five ingredients.)

Warmed with ginger and a hint of cardamon and brewed with a strong straight forward black tea. I like to to add milk to soften the tea

and drizzle some honey in it for a touch of sweetness.

Here is how I make it.

Ingredients

5 or 6 1/4" slices of fresh ginger

approximately 15 whole green cardamon pods

3 bags of PG Tips black tea

6 cups of water

milk to taste

(soy, nut or coconut milks are yummy too)

honey to taste

Place the water, ginger and cardamon pods in a two quart heavy bottomed saucepan and bring it to just under a boil. When it begins to boil turn the heat down to a low simmer. Cover the pot (otherwise a lot of it will evaporate) and simmer slowly for about 45 minutes. Do not cook too long otherwise the ginger will be too strong and overpower the balance of the chai.

Once the cardamon and ginger finish simmering add your three bags of PG tips.

(I sometimes use loose leaf black tea from this company if I want a stronger brew.)

Let the tea steep in the infusion for about 3-5 minutes

depending on how strong you'd like it to be.

Then remove the tea bags.

Let the chai cool a bit then pour it through a strainer into a pitcher for storing in the refrigerator.

I use this ceramic teapot to store mine.

When I want a cup of chai, I take my pitcher of brew out of the refrigerator and pour some into a small enameled pan, add some milk and honey, warm it up and then it's ready to sip while I continue uploading photos to my website.

Of course, I like to drink my chai out of one of my new tumblers. If you can't make your own chai yourself, my tumblers are made to go (they fit in a car cup holder) so you can take the tumbler with you to your favorite cafe and order a coffee. ;-)

Here's to staying warm, properly spiced and ready to go.

The Year Is Already Ending...

2010-12-20T22:42:00.000-08:00

And I barely said much here.

spoons

Honestly it has been an effort to keep my head on straight with all the things I have been working on these past months. That is a good thing. I think. And now here I am sitting still for a moment and I remembered I had a blog. Ha! Anyhow, I'd like to begin sharing again. Even if it is sporadic.
Oh and I am gearing up for my holiday baking fest. Those of you who know a little about me know that my family is Hungarian. Every Christmas I bake beiglis (pastries eaten in Hungary during the holidays) and bring them to gatherings hoping my American friends won't be freaked out by eating rolls filled with a thick paste of poppy seeds. And that they won't have to go through any job related drug testing for few weeks if they do eat the beigli.

my 2009 beigli on one of my plates with my S&P cellars

I can't give away my secret recipe which really is a combination of a recipe from a cookbook and two other people's secret recipes. But if you are so inclined and would like to make them yourself you can find the recipe here.

boar pig quail

I ended the year making some pieces that were inspired by the warm yellow country ware you see in rural parts of Europe. I kinda love them for their homespun ease.

And who doesn't love a fat pig?

If these guys don't sell at my final sale I will load them into my shop toute suite!

*Happy Holidays Friends*

Yogurt

2010-03-09T00:03:00.000-08:00

I make yogurt about once a week.

I usually make it at night before I go to bed.

Then, when I wake up in the morning, I am greeted by the most

perfect, smooth, not tart, creamy, yogurt known to humankind.

Okay, maybe a bit of an exaggeration.

Well, not really.

The first bowl of homemade yogurt, fresh from the oven
is like nothing else you've ever had.

I like to eat mine with sliced banana and a few slivers of almonds.

Need I say more?

Okay, I will.

Heaven.

Here's how to make it yourself.

Utensils

Large ceramic (or glass bowl)

Wire whisk or fork

Heavy bottomed sauce pan (I use my 2 quart)

Oven

(gas oven is preferred but if you have an electric oven no worries, there is a way)

Lidded glass container for storage
(A ball jar or recycled glass jar works nicely)

Ingredients

1-2 quarts milk

(can be lowfat or whole milk)

I usually use organic milk but any milk will do.

1 small 6 ounce brown cow plain yogurt
(I tried this with other yogurts as a starter and though they worked,
the brown cow starter produces a milder yogurt, which I, personally, prefer.

(The brown cow is only necessary the for the first batch of yogurt as a starter.

After you make your first batch of yogurt you will use

some of the yogurt from your last batch as your starter for your next batch and so on)

Process

Pour milk into sauce pan and heat until a

frothy foam forms on the top of the milk.

Don't let it boil. You want frothy foam. It's very recognizable. Don't worry you'll

know it when you see it.Transfer the heated milk to a glass or ceramic bowl

and let it cool until warm. Like perfect baby bottle warm. Not hot and not very warm.

But softly warm.This is very important because if the milk is too hot it will result in a curdled lumpy mess. Don't make the same mistake as me. It's not necessary. Plop (it plops out of the container, you'll see) your plain brown cow yogurt in a small bowl and take a cup or so of the softly warm milk and whisk it together with the yogurt until it is completely combined. Then add the milk and yogurt mixture to the rest of the milk and do a final quick whisk to move all those active cultures around so they can have a party in warm milk.

Then

*Place the bowl in your oven (don't turn it on) and close the door.

Go to bed.

When you wake up in the morning remove the bowl from the oven and dip a spoon the perfect creamy mixture.

Go on taste it!

You will be so proud of yourself for creating such perfection.

I promise.

A few added notes

I've found if I turn my oven on and let it warm up then turn it off and open the door to let it cool and place the yogurt mixture in a slightly warmer than pilot light warm oven it produces a firmer yogurt.

Also, I once boiled the milk in my sauce pan right after had cooked ginger and cardamon pods for chai. The cardamon and ginger residue from the pan, ever so slightly, infused itself into my yogurt. The result was wonderful. I think this could be mimicked by adding one or two cardamon pods to the milk while you heat it then removing them before you place your yogurt mixture in the oven.

*If you do not have a gas oven simply warm your oven up as I've describe above and then let the oven to cool until just warm, put your yogurt in the slightly warmed oven and close the door. But NO peeking. You need to keep the heat in if you don't have a pilot lighted oven.

P.S. If you would like some handmade bowls to eat your yogurt from, you can find them here.

P.S.S. Thank you, Amisha for sharing your recipe with me and for bringing this perfect thing into my life.

I have been changed forever because of it.

The Journey

2010-02-23T00:23:00.000-08:00

Smeared. Scarred. Hopeful.

Welcome

2010-02-21T23:37:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,

I have finally had some time to tool around and get this new blog up and running. As much as I enjoyed the reprieve from writing and posting, I did find that being without a space to announce news and share new work started to feel odd and incomplete. So, here I am. Again! Honestly, I don't really have a plan. Who knows what will happen in this space? I am thinking; Things that inspire. Meanderings. Process notes. Photos of things totally unrelated to clay. Maybe a recipe here and there. I am still in the process of getting it all situated so some of the links may be wonky. Please bear with me. Also, I've decided to not have comments as I just can't keep up with the correspondence involved with having an open forum. But,PLEASE, feel free to visit anytime and wander about.

It's nice to be back after my long slumber.

Diana

Carbon & Clay

2010-02-21T22:08:00.000-08:00

San Francisco's, Modern Relics, owned and operated by jeweler Alix Bluh,

is a little gem of a store tucked away in the foggy avenues

of the Richmond District.

There, I've installed a collage of my scrimshaw inspired works on clay.

Scribed onto them are stories of love:

Seahorses stare lovingly at one another.

Whales intoxicated from the opiate of love.

Rivers of gold traverse terrains of the heart

A wren perches atop love itself.

The pieces in the show are available though Modern Relics.

Please contact Alix Bluh for details.

The show will remain up until mid March.