Thursday, November 28, 2013

Glaze combos

I have come to the conclusion that a successful glazed pot seems to involve at least three glazes. Even a thin line of an accent glaze along the edge of a rim is enough to make a positive difference in the result. The body of the vase is actually a scrap glaze, the darker brown bands are an iron red glaze and the rest is the result of a dip of Colonial White.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Job completed

Here's my random collection of stoneware pendants. They are fun to make but some are surprisingly time consuming despite their small size. I put a high temperature loop of wire in each piece at the greenware stage. That makes the glazing much easier since an s hook through the loop can be hung on a rod. All high temperature, of course. The drippier crackle glazes require a trivet, however. I hope the recipients enjoy them.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Great day for soup and bowls

The day was cloudy and cold and beginning to drizzle/snow...in other words, a perfect afternoon for soup. All 50 plus (I lost count) soup bowls were purchased and filled with delicious soups that were generously donated by local restaurants and a friend of mine. It was nice to see how happy people were with their pottery purchases and to hear how they were drawn to certain bowls. So does this mean I need to start making bowls for next year? I'll find out soon.

Last of the bowls

Just wanted to post photos of the completed slip-decorated bowls. Some of the dark slip burned away in the cone five firing which I think was a happy accident. Dark slip, white slip, oak leaves and a clear glaze....does it all.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

The date has been set

The date for the Draper Senior Center fundraiser is Saturday, November 16 11:00 AM -- 1:00 PM. Purchase a fabulous soup bowl made by members of the Clay Class. Fill and refill the bowl from a variety of hot soups, plus green salad and bread sticks. Keep the fabulous bowl--all for only $10. Such a great deal. All ages welcome and all proceeds support the activities of the center. Here is the address for those Utahns who haven't visited the center yet 1148 East Pioneer Road, Draper Utah 84020. The building is right behind the library, across the road from the IFA store (look for the landmark corn silo) and walking distance from Draper Town Center Trax stop which is the last stop on the Blue Line. Hope to see you there.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Another new glaze

Look at that mirror finish on the center of that bowl. The glaze is Shadow Green from Seattle Pottery Supply. You get a fluid green with brown speckles if applied thinner and a metallic silver mirror finish where it pools. The "rust" on the rim is an iron red glaze that melted-in better than I had hoped for. After the bowl had cooled, took it out of the kiln and took it home, I kept hearing little ticking, tinging noises coming from the bowl!  This bowl was actually noisy and clearly not done with "business". I worried that the glaze might crackle and even crack apart! A day later it quieted down and the glaze is still beautifully intact. But should I be listening to my pottery now?

Monday, November 4, 2013

New glazes on a soup bowl

Another Senior Center bought some glazes to test. Seattle Pottery Supply glazes seem to paint on well even when mixed from dry powder. Here we have Burnt Orange and Turquoise. My favorite color is where the two colors combine in the grooved lip.

Lots of glazing



We have completed our soup bowls for the fundraiser. We've got quite a nice collection of bowl with some pretty glaze surprises. The top two photos are of one bowl that gave interesting results due to circumstances. I shall explain. This bowl has two layers of Celadon Froth and then a somewhat thick layer of Colonial white that was poured when everything was quite damp. Since that bowl seemed to be taking forever to dry, I moved it over to an adjoining table not realizing that a friend of mind would be kneading her clay. As the table shook, so did the glaze. But as the glaze slid down inside the bowl, the little green spots of glaze worked through the white layer. It was cool how it became immortalized in the glaze firing. I will have to try that again and see if I can repeat it.

The bowl with the leaf resist shows more green of the Celadon Froth than I had expected. Also, I am surprised how much of the dark brown slip burns away in the cone 5 firing. The result is attractive, none the less.  I will post the finished glazed results of the bottom photo next time.