Andy Romero Ceramic Arts

Hard to miss his magnificently humongous pottery. We met at the Draper Senior Center where he is there to teach a Saturday class. It was great to see him and his work.

First annual Draper Arts and Crafts Festival

It was a beautiful day for the event. Of course I was scouting out for some pottery.

Pavilion at Draper Arts & Crafts Festival

Details of the previous

I was very pleased with the results of this firing. I do consider everything an experiment no matter how many times I've used a certain glaze. So I have made flat bisqued shapes to put under the hanging pendants. Those commercial glazes, especially the new Mayco stoneware, seem very forgiving but since we are layering and blending glazes, I thought I would be extra careful. A little sagging went on with the longer, thinner wire, but doesn't that happen to the best of us, lol.  Next time I will put a post in the middle, but I am liking the thicker high temperature rods with little hooks to hang the pendants. The pyrometric cone on the left is for cone 5 and was at the top shelf of this Skutt digital kiln; the one on the right also being cone 5, was on the bottom shelf.  For this firing, I added a 15 minute hold so that the bottom of the kiln would reach cone 5. Since the glazes are for cone 5/6, this worked out.

Pottery pendants hot out of the kiln

Bisqueware and waxwings

   

The other day I saw a flock of Cedar Waxwing taking over our backyard birdbath. The Robins were not too thrilled but they were out numbered. I only managed to photograph half of the flock before they regrouped in a tree and then flew off. There are many crab apple trees in my neighborhood which have the last of the dried fruit on their branches but I think water was more desperately in need. I've only seen them once before, so it was a real treat to see them again and I had to share. The clay pieces above have been fired. Now. . . how to glaze them???

Fred Flintstone's bowl

I've been working on some projects that would help a clay novice, get a "feel" for the material while still making something of merit. My Fred Flintstone bowl is an idea I borrowed from a library book on clay but, of course, added some of my own touches. The clay coils are built on a plaster mold. If Utah had even a miniscule amount of moisture in the air, it probably would have been okay to work on the plaster alone. But I discovered, as I was working on it, the coils were drying and stiffening too quickly for my liking. Next time, I shall work on a dome wrapped in plastic wrap with a water spray bottle at the ready. After I smoothed the coil, the back of a spoon gave the bottom of the bowl a nice hammered affect. While it is still gray and stone-like in appearance, I can't help but think of Fred Flintstone eating his Pebbles cereal out of it.