The Last Batch

These are the last batch from the last class -- well, almost. I still have two more pieces to glaze -- a plate and a cup. I want to try something fancy with those. The pieces below are done with the white stoneware that I was trying out. I still am not quite sure I like white stoneware for throwing but the glaze looks stunning on it. Maybe I have to try white stoneware again but throw my pieces with thicker walls.



This piece above, I played with the from after I threw it -- collared the neck a little, flared out the lip, etc. I brushed the nooks and cranies with temoku and dipped the whole piece in Red Iron.




The two bowls in the back in above picture is what I am referring to. The while bowl was another white stoneware piece. Before bisque firing, I incised a filigree design on a band arond the bowl. At bisque, I filled in the filigree design with temoku and dipped the piece in Shaner White and Waxy White. The filigree design didn't show up too well and the Shaner White/Waxy White combination did not yield the same result as the last bowl so more experimentation is required.




The second larger bowl is dipped in Celadon and then the rim/lip is dipped again in Coleman Apple Green. I really like these tone-on-tone combination. As you can see, the Coleman Apple Green sort of pooled at the bottom of the bowl in the inside. I think this is quite interesting. Of course, I have to experiment more.




The above three pieces are what I like to call my "Nesting Bowls" -- they do fit in each other. I was trying a wax resist glazing method with limited success. I first dipped the whole piece (all three) in Matt Black. When it is dry, I applied wax to the rim/lip and the base. When the wax resist is dry, I removed the unwaxed area with a damp sponge and the dip the piece in Shaner White. The plan was for the wax to prevent the white from getting into the black part. I think it worked out quite well but I think I have to give the wax more time to set up and try and maybe do a better job at resisting. Also, the black might have ran into the white a litte. Of course -- MORE EXPERIMENTATION!!!!




This was a happy surprise for me. Remember how I said that I thought that Aviva Blue was kinda boring since it is so two dimensional -- rich color with no variation? Well -- SURPRISE!!! I dipped the piece in Shaner White and when that was dry, I used a squirt bottle and squirted Aviva Blue in a sort-of diamond shape around the bowl. I really like the "gentler" Aviva Blue. Got the idea from when I was brushing Aviva Blue to the twisted bowl from an earlier class.

In an attempt to use up all the clay (you can't take it out of the school -- policy), I formed the piece below on a mould. Hand building is really not my thing but in a moment of "weakness" and wanting a bigger piece to show, I did it. Yes, I am weak! Anyway, I also wanted to try one of the "RED" glaze combination -- i.e. glazes that run all over the place and should not really be attempted by newbies. When I did this piece, I put tall feet below the bowl so that it would be allevated above the kiln shelf. Then I try the Temoku/Yellow Salt combination. Check out the running -- now you know why it is a "RED" combination. Love the run.