Slip Swirl, Slip Scroll

A little slip decoration on these soup mug bowls for the Draper Senior Center fundraiser coming this Fall. The blue mug has some raised terra cotta slip scrolls covered with clear glaze. The other has a swirl of terra cotta slip painted onto greenware, also with a clear glaze finish. Some of the terra cotta color burned away and it gives the impression that the mug is already a gourmet cup of java.

Tiny and Fun

I made some very tiny pots, about the size of a thimble,  just for fun. A friend of mine saw them, exclaimed how cute they are but wondered how they could be used. Well, another friend of mine, a gardener, brought in the cutest miniature tomatoes. Perfect fit....just for fun.

I Like All Kinds of Bats

The upper photo is of my favorite North Star blue bat. Easy to mount on the wheel head pins and mmmmost importantly, my favorite color. The lower picture is the little animal that has been leaving little black pellets on the ground about a foot from my front door. Every evening, there are several bats that emerge at dusk, swooping around and about my front and backyard. Around 11pm, this little bat needs a break and hangs itself on the bricks. Good location; protected from the rain and the wind. Glad to have both.

More Minis

My mini lidded pots, also known as Petite Pots, are still my favorite things to make. No two are alike and all are "sooooo cute" say my customers. I started with small pots when I was practicing fitting lids, moved onto larger lidded jars and then, overtime, came back to my little ones. I like that they get a smile out of people everytime.

From Worst to Best

Petite pots are still my favorite thing to make. I took a quick photo of this little gem when it came out of the kiln, just before it was purchased by someone in my class. The funny thing is, the lid was initially too thick and quite flat and boring. I figured I could lighten the lid and jazz it up with some simple loop tool carving. The glaze did the rest. From worst to best.

Good News and Bad News

The top photo of a pot that is only about 1 inch x 1 x 1 made it through a cone 5 firing. It's a 50/50 mix of local clay and Laguna's B-Mix with grog. Being very symmetrical with a flat bottom made for a good result. Then I made a tea cup [normal size] with a good handle with the same mix of clay. The handle pulled the cup over in the firing. I kind of like it because it is so weird but it shows me that I am pushing the temperature limits of that clay. Next test, I'm adding more B-mix and I'll see what that does. I don't want to lose the color of this clay by adding too much B-mix. The photo doesn't do it justice. The cup has a white glaze inside and clear outside; the little pot has just a clear glaze, but the best look, in my opinion is no glaze. More test pots to follow.

Playing With Local Clay

There has been a lot of construction in my neighborhood and mountains of clay have been sitting on a property nearby after they dug a huge hole for a foundation. Well I had to check it out. I got a bucket of it, soaked it, mixed it, strained out a few pebbles and roots, and let it sit on heavy cotton cloth [actually old blue jeans] in a bucket, to wick out the water. The first batch resulted in a very stiff, unplastic but clay-like substance. So in the next round, I added one to one amount of Laguna B-mix with grog slip to the Draper clay slip to make it more plastic and workable on the wheel. The next post will be my test results.