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	<title>Michael Hamlin-Smith, Ceramic Artist</title>
	<link>http://hamlin-smith.com/blog</link>
	<description>fine artist creating distinctive ceramic art for your home or business</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Thu, 24 Mar 2011 14:05:05 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>Exhibiting at the Cornelius Arts Center</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve an exhibit installed at the Cornelius Arts Center.  The opening is Friday, March 25th.  All the work I put into this really payed off!  I had been stressing so much while making this work.  Too much coffee and too much worrying.  In the end it all came out well!
I&#8217;m [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://hamlin-smith.com/blog/inspiration/exhibiting-at-the-cornelius-arts-center/</link>
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		<title>&#8220;Chaos, Control, Chaos, Control.  You like?  You like?&#8221;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This is a line from the wonderful movie &#8216;Six Degrees of Separation&#8217;.  Donald Sutherland and Stockard Channing play art dealers selling a double sided Kandinski painting.  They flip it front and back repeating, &#8220;Chaos, Control, Chaos, Control.  You like?  You like?&#8221;
I&#8217;m trying some more free form shapes to see if they [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://hamlin-smith.com/blog/inspiration/chaos-control-chaos-control-you-like-you-like/</link>
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		<title>Looser forms</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m gradually playing around with more fluid, loosely shaped forms for the crater glazes.  This is a basic cylinder/funnel type form that was twisted towards the top 1/3.  I thickly applied the crater glaze so it would flow and be somewhat reminiscent of lava or hot glass.  My question to y&#8217;all is [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://hamlin-smith.com/blog/inspiration/looser-forms/</link>
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		<title>Volcanic vessel</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This form, for some unknown reason, reminds me of a volcano.  Maybe somewhat of a Mount Fuji against a lake so the bottom portion is the reflection.  I&#8217;ve had to refire this because the first firing the glaze was too thick and flowed onto the foot.  I filed off the overflow glaze [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://hamlin-smith.com/blog/inspiration/volcanic-vessel/</link>
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		<title>Flower bricks</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I love flower bricks!  Their origin, at least what I&#8217;m familiar with, comes from the Dutch.  They made vases shaped like a brick and about the same size, put some holes in the top to hold flowers, then glazed them with a majolica type glaze and decorated them with a cobalt pigment that [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://hamlin-smith.com/blog/inspiration/flower-bricks/</link>
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		<title>Mustard vase</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Here&#8217;s another angular styled vase that I used the textured glazes on.  So what do you all think about using simple shapes and forms for these types of glaze surfaces?  Do you think they are good combinations or do you think the forms ought to be more detailed and complex?  Enquiring minds [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://hamlin-smith.com/blog/inspiration/mustard-vase/</link>
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		<title>Another good piece</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Here&#8217;s a much taller piece that has a great color combo and good glaze flow.  I really like using simple shapes to compliment these glazes and colors.  Scandinavian design is the biggest source of inspiration for me when it comes to form.  The surface tends to be from natural sources-bark, lichen, moss, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://hamlin-smith.com/blog/inspiration/another-good-piece/</link>
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		<title>new colors developing</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve been working with color development this past month.  Combining color combinations to see if I can get depth and complexity in the surface.  I&#8217;m loving some of the results!  These forms are kept simple so the glaze can be enjoyed without having to compete for attention with the form.
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		<link>http://hamlin-smith.com/blog/inspiration/new-colors-developing/</link>
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		<title>New work emerging!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Here&#8217;s the latest in glaze firing successes!  I&#8217;m quite pleased with how this turned out.  I particularly love the pink/chartreuse combo and organic surface quality of this glaze!
I&#8217;m glaze firing daily now so more will come!
]]></description>
		<link>http://hamlin-smith.com/blog/inspiration/new-work-emerging/</link>
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		<title>Overly enthusiastic glaze application</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Sometimes I feel like Goldilocks at the three bears cottage.  I either apply my glaze too thin and it looks awful or I apply it too thick and it comes out looking like these three pieces!  No matter how many times I record the application process there&#8217;s always one or two kiln loads [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://hamlin-smith.com/blog/inspiration/overly-enthusiastic-glaze-application/</link>
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