Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Do you want to see more pottery?

Sure you do. Even if you don't, I'm showing you anyway.

First of all, the "dragonfly plates."
There are four of them, and they are all the same size, 7.25" in diameter. They all have the same dragonfly imprint in the middle, and so that makes them a set. They survived bisque firing without any major flaws, but the rims are, shall we say, not the best.

This one is the best of the bunch, the last one I threw and the last one I trimmed. I'm very happy with it, except for one thing.


During the firing process, it developed a crack in the underside. It doesn't go all the way through the plate, and it is on the bottom where it is less noticeable. I am going to glaze it anyway; sometimes the glaze will fill in cracks and hide them.


Here is a close-up of the dragonfly imprint. I used a rubber stamp and pressed it into the wet clay.


I am going to experiment a bit with the glazing, painting each plate a different solid color, and then applying a thin wash of "Saturation Gold" over the base glaze in an attempt to recreate a dragonfly's metallic shimmer. Wish me luck!

Here are the dragonfly plates with the base coat of glaze applied. Hmmm..... One thing I didn't count on was the glaze filling in my imprints. The dragonflies are much less visible now. Well, I will let these dry and reconsider the gold overglazing.

glazes, clockwise from upper left:
Grape Jelly, Blue Rutile, Forest Satin, Chun Plum

Here are some finished pieces:

This little tumbler is only 2.5" high, but it is the perfect size
for a drink of juice in the morning. Yup, it's "Blue Rutile" again. I never tire of this glaze.


I like seeing the throw rings inside.


Another in my series of pump dispensers, this is "Forest Satin.


I don't know what this is, perhaps a handless mug for hot cocoa, but the glaze is "Hot Tamale."


A sugar bowl in "Grape Jelly."


and a matching creamer.


This bowl is done in a low-fire glaze called "Snapdragon." Initially, it is white with white crystals in the liquid glaze. When it is fired, the crystals turn red and green.


I like it!

Finally, my sister's Christmas present. I have been working on it for a while, nervously waiting for something to screw up in each stage of the process. It is back from final glazing, and I must say, it came out pretty well. I am going to show it to you, but you have to promise not to tell her what it is. It is a secret until Christmas, OK?





Seriously, don't tell her.





I'm not kidding. I'm trusting you all to keep this quiet.





OK, here is it:


(She reads my blog.)

9 comments:

NCmountainwoman said...

I am really impressed with your skills. I just might take some classes this winter. I love the pieces you have made.

And YES! We are always interested in seeing more of your pottery.

Lisa said...

I have to confess - I peeked under the brown paper bag. What I saw was sort of two-dimensional, tho', so I'm not sure what it was...

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

I love seeing what you've been working on. I like those speckled glazes.

Hmmm...I notice you haven't been to Minnesota...we've got GREAT boreal birds here in the winter...

LauraHinNJ said...

Wow! I love the little flaws and think that's what makes pottery so interesting and fun to use.

BTW: that Fine Frenzy song in your sidebar, thanks for the link. What a great, sad song.

Kathi said...

Lynne:

I'd love to visit Minn. & N. Dak; fill in that part of my map and see your northern birds. (Wonder if I could bring you some Carolina Wrens???)

Laura:
If you like flaws, I'm your potter! It is getting so that whenever I give a piece away, I include some statement about "The small defects are part of the unique charm of this hand-made item."

Isn't that song wonderful? It is my current mantra. The whole CD, "One Cell in the Sea" is terrific. I will bring it to NJ in Oct.

Lisa:

No peeking!

~Kathi

Dog_geek said...

I just love hand-thrown pottery, and all yours is beautiful - I don't see any flaws! I really like the Blue Rutile glaze. (But I can't believe you would do that to your sister!) :o)

Susan Gets Native said...

Perfection is boring. I'd buy your stuff.

Anonymous said...

Love your blog. I too am a potter. I find that stamps are most successful on the vertical rather that the horizontal. Your rutile blue is very much like our floating blue. If it is not dipped for long enough or poured heavy enough the brown will be the dominant tone showing up. I like how it separates over a stamp or carved area. I belong to a pottery club and we make our own glazes. We never brush on our glazes because of the non-uniformity of that process. We might use a brush when adding a second glaze to a rim, for instance, but never drag the brush, only tap it around the rim. You may get 2 or 3 taps and then have to dip your brush again to continue. The biggest mistake is not adding enough glaze when doing this. Great work. Keep it up.
Andrea in Wynyard

Kathi said...

Andikay:

Thanks for visiting and commenting. I don't consider myself a potter, yet, just a pottery STUDENT.

I haven't even begun to think about mixing my own glazes yet, I'm having enough trouble understanding the premixed commercial products. We have some dipping glazes at the studio, but some of these more unique colors I buy in small quantities. I will have to try pouring instead of painting to avoid the brush marks.

~Kathi