Small and detailed

These small pendants get a loop of Kanthal A1 annealed 16 gauge wire shortly after they are formed. This allows me to hang them for glazing. I started making little things when I first got into working in clay and I like to return to it. Even though it is 90+ degrees F outside, I do need to start working on Christmas items. Difficult to wrap my mind around that.

A few more cobras

I had made a few more pieces just in case of a failure of some sort. There are so many stages where a piece can go wrong, ie ...cracks at bisque firing, or even exploding or someone else's piece exploding and taking yours with it or multiple ways glazes can fail with blisters, crawling, dripping and fusing to the shelf, it's amazing we keep at it at all. But when all pieces come out better than expected, and no matter how thoroughly I examine the pieces, I wouldn't change a thing, it makes my week, maybe month! And that's the hook that keeps me and my pottery pals, making and creating.

Cobra mug

I think this is the best mug I have made so far. It is large but light, a strong and simple shape but enough detail on the lip and foot area to keep it interesting. (I did use a rib this time when shaping on the wheel). The black glaze has lots of depth with additional colors breaking through and the inside rim dripped into the Mayco shino glaze better than I had hoped. The black glaze is a Seattle Pottery Mottled Brown with added cobalt carbonate and red iron oxide. And most importantly, the glaze on the cobra stayed put. I am happy that it has a new owner who is very pleased.

Cobra stamp for mugs

I've been working on a project for a friend. I made the cobra stamp from an impression I took off a car medallion. If you know your cars, you'll know which one. The details came out better than I expected. A little corn starch, dusted on first, helped the clay release. Applying the cobra to the cylinder was more challenging. The clay had to be soft enough to bend to the curve of the mug, but hard enough to maintain the detail when attaching. Tomorrow and the next day, I glaze and fire.