Mug shot

I am making a series of mugs.  I've made seven so far and they are at various stages of completion.  They have a bulbous shape to it.  Small opening at the neck and the body is wider.  People at the studio that has seen them called them the "duck mug".  I think it is an appropriate name. 

The reason the neck opening is smaller is because I think that since the area (surface area of the liquid)expose to air is smaller, that the liquid in the mug would stay hotter for longer.  Just a theory but it seems to make sense to me.  Don't know if the same applies to cold liquid.  I have yet to test it out.

I am also experimenting with various slips and surface decorating techniques and can't wait to see the result.  Here's the first two!  Five more to come!!!!

 

This is the first soda bowl -- it warped a little in firing but the glaze and flame flashing is quite amazing.  I fired this at an angle so you can see the glaze actually pooling on the lower left.  The picture of the foot ring actually showed how the foot ring retarded the movement of the flame and so one side of the foot ring is actaully the actual color of the clay -- white.  I also applied slip to the outside -- orange and mustard slip -- and then combed through the slip to give the outside texture and interest.

And -- one more bottle.  This one has been carved with slip inlay.

Hope you like this batch -- I have three more vessels and five more mugs to glaze.  Will post pictures when they are done.  As usual, comments, advise, criticism, etc. are always welcomed.

Almost at the end of Winter 2010 session

The Winter session is quickly coming to an end.  As I am writing this, I am collecting my final pieces from bisque firing and getting ready to glaze them.  The new session, Spring 2010, will start the week of March 22, 2010.

The pieces above are a series of three conical bowls (bowls with straight sides) that I threw out of B-Clay.  B-Clay is sort of greyish when it is soft and pliable but will fire to a white that is almost like porcelain.  This si the first time I am using B-Clay and I am liking it quite a bit.  I only had two pieces back at the time I took the photo.  I glazed the three bowls the same way -- using Luster Shino on the inside and then I taped the outside with painter's tape and cut out the pattern.  The lower portion of the bowls are glazed in Coleman Apple Green and the top in the New Celadon.

This is a covered jar made out of Stoneware.  It is part 2 of a sugar bowl and cream pitcher ensemble (refer to earlier post).  I glazed the pieces with Matt Black and Waxy White in a checker-board pattern.  The glazes runs into each other a little so it does not maintain pure coloration but I thought the intermingling is quite cool.

Another bowl with stamp work around the rim.  Was going to get this to empty bowl but it did not get fired in time.  The glaze is Celadon over the whole piece and Josh Green around the rim.  It ran quite a bit and turned RED!!!!!

Another B-Clay bowl for Empty Bowls that did not make it.  Yellow Salt with Cohen Red around the rim (other secret stuff that cannot be disclosed at this time).  Message me if you really want to know.

One of the biggest plates I've made so far -- about 11" in diameter.  I used paper resists that I cut into a snowflake pattern then lay the resist into the plate and the back of the plate as well.  I had decided that I was going to glaze this in Celadon and so selected slips that would give me shades of green when glazed in Celadon and painted over the paper resists. I sort of like the outcome and will probably give this a try at a later time when I decide to make plates again.

One of the biggest plates I've made so far -- about 11" in diameter. I used paper resists that I cut into a snowflake pattern then lay the resist into the plate and the back of the plate as well. I had decided that I was going to glaze this in Celadon and so selected slips that would give me shades of green when glazed in Celadon and painted over the paper resists.  I like this pattern bette and will probably explore more of this type of pattern.  Reminds me of a chrysthemum bloom.

Probably my favorite plate so far.  Three shades of white -- Shaner, Waxy and Antique -- and a red square in Cohen Red.  Where the Waxy and the Shaner met, the glaze crawled.  I thought it really gave the plate a very interesting and unique appeal.

That's it for now.  The next posts will probably be the last pieces of the Winter 2010 session.  Really looking forward to the Spring 2010 offereings.

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.

More Pottery -- Week 6 Pieces?

I am starting to loose count of what pieces are from which weeks. In any case, I think these are from the same batch and were glazed about two weeks ago. This first one is an attempt at a cyclinder. The cyclindrical shape is there but the base is a little wider than the mouth. Also, I did some intaglio (craving) work on the surface. The piece is glazed with Coleman Apple Green at the bottom, Temoku on top and the lip and the inside is Yellow Salt.



Did another piece in a cup shape that also utilized the intaglio technique. This piece was carved with a lotus pattern. I think I scratched too deep and the piece has a slight crack from the top to the tip of the lotus pattern. Have to experiment some more with this. The piece is glazed with Shaner White in the lotus pattern and on the inside of the vessel and then Temoku on the outside.



The final piece is a bigger version of the bowl I made earlier. The form is the same except it is bigger. I glazed it with Shaner White and . . . no, not Temoku, Waxy White. I really like the effect it has on the piece. See for yourself . . .




I just glazed the Week 7 pieces yesterday. There were 7 pieces in all. 2 more pieces are waiting to be glazed. I could have glazed them last night but it was a quiet night and someone rang the buzzer -- which caused me to jump and dropped the whole piece into the vat of glaze. So, I had to wash it off and let it dry before I can glaze again. You see, when a piece it wet, it doesn't absorb the glaze into the bisque fired body so you have to let the body dry. The Week 8 pieces are waiting to be fired for the first time (bisque firing). Last Sunday was Week 8 so I have two weeks off before the Fall term begins. I'll still be glazing in the interim but no wet work allowed during the break and so, no new pieces. As always -- comments are welcomed.

Pottery Week 2 and 3 Pieces -- Glazed

Some of the pieces I threw on the wheel in week 2 and glazed in week 3 (I think -- don't really remember) are finally ready. Take a look -- comments welcomed. By the way, if you're reading this on Facebook, you will have to click on the link and read the actual post to see pictures (the summary does not show pictures).

This is a very interesting piece. It is a twisted bowl and I painted (with a brush) all of the twists and turns with Aviva's Blue, Red Iron and Temoku. Then I dipped the whole piece in Shaner White.




This is a bowl shape that is glazed in Yellow Salt and some other glaze that I cannot remember right now. I didn't really like the effect of the dribble because it pooled at the base of the bowl and wasn't very attractive. Gotta try this again with less glaze.



This is a tea cup shape that I embellished by putting grooves on the outside. I then glazed the whole piece in Shaner White and attempted to put Aviva's Blue into the grooves on the outside. I wasn't very successful and I think I need a banding wheel (turntable like device on a stand) to easily work on spirals.



This piece is also a tea cup shape and will probably work better as a tea cup. The glaze on this is Shaner White on the outside and Celadon on the inside. I am discovering that I really like Shaner White. The red part that you see if where I wiped off too much glaze and the raw clay is showing through. An effect to be explored further in future pieces.

This piece is a tea cup shape (I think I can only make tea cups -- LOL) but I don't know if it will be very effective as a tea cup. The lips are curved inwards. I guess I would have to give it a try and see if would cause water to spill out the side of the mouth. This again is done in Aviva's Blue on the outside with Red Iron on the inside and around the lip on the outside dripping down into the Aviva's Blue.

I sort of ran out of ideas for glazing so dipped this whole piece in Aviva's Blue. I thought I would really like the deep blue color of Aviva's Blue but after the piece came out, I thought it was sort of flat and boring compared to the other pieces.

This is my favorite piece (and I can make more than tea cups). This piece is a bowl shape. It is a little small (I am still quite surprise by how much the pieces shrink after they are fired twice) but I love the shape, the elegant curve at the bottom and the little foot. I also really like how the glaze turned out. The glaze is a Temoku that is overdipped part of the way with Shaner White. The interaction of the two glazes causes some sort of spotting effect and the color combination also causes some bronzy/gold color to appear. I will definitely have to try this combination again.