Experiments in Pottery

I've been doing some experimenting in the studio lately, in forms, in glazes, and even in my use of clay.

This is something I have been wanting to do for a while, ever since I saw some examples that Peggy did - mixing both white and brown clay. I have been waiting until my skills improved before attempting it.


It looks complicated, but it's not. All you do is form two balls of clay of different colors, then cut them into quarters. Remove two opposite wedges of white and replace with two wedges of brown. Pat together and make your piece as usual. When you are finished, you have to skim off the slip (liquid clay), which is a light tan color, to reveal the pattern underneath.

dipped in clear glaze so as not to hide the swirly effect

Every piece is unique.

I made pump dispensers, too. I accidentally smooshed one of them and liked the effect, so I smooshed it even further to give it a different shape.


When you look at the bottom of the pumps, you can easily see the quartering.


I had it in my head to made tumblers (drinking glasses) one day. Unfortunately, the shape and size didn't turn out right. I am learning that form and function must work together. No one will use your coffee mug, no matter how attractively you glaze it, if it doesn't feel right to the hand and mouth.

So, what to do with my non-drinking glasses? I decided to make lids for them.

left, light blue shino
right, light green shino

Now, they are lidded vessels for storing - something. Maybe cotton balls or rubber bands.

I didn't know what to do with the dab of clay I had left after turning the knobs for the lids shown above. I messed with it until it became this little shallow bowl - for cat food, perhaps?

goldenrod shino on white clay
The stencil was done with jet black underglaze,
yet it came out brown.
I like it.

I got a tip from the ceramics art web site that I subscribe to. It suggested ways to increase your glazing repertoire by making test tiles and overlapping your colors to see what effects you get. This is one, made of brown clay


and here is another, made of white clay.


You glaze the horizontal rows with one coat of each color, in order, top to bottom. Then, you glaze down each column vertically left to right, in the same order. After firing, you can see what each glaze will look like if you apply it either under (horizontal) or over (vertical) every other color.

The diagonal, starting with first square in the upper left hand corner and proceeding to the bottom right hand corner, is two coats of the pure color.

(Is anyone following my convoluted explanation?)

This might explain what I was trying to accomplish.

Another one of my failed tumblers became an exercise in glazing techniques. After making my test tile, I decided I liked the color which resulted from applying chun plum over sunrise shino. (Square # 15)


I glazed the top two thirds of the piece in sunrise shino, then glazed the bottom two thirds with chun plum. Where they overlap, a third color is created. My only issue with this piece is that I didn't get the bottom one third covered like I should, so I am missing the full effect of that lovely chun plum color. I am trying to decide if I should make a lid for this one.

Finally, what happens when you least expect it may be a disaster or a happy accident. My best friend in the whole world happens to have been born 5 days after me. I wanted to make her something extra special for her birthday this year. I tried for a casserole dish, and failed miserably, so I went to bowls, because I can do those.

I made two, so as to have a choice, but one developed a fatal crack in the bottom. I planned to glaze the remaining bowl in my old favorite, blue rutile, since I could count on how it would look.

Since the bowl was large, I decided to dip it rather than trying to paint on the glaze, hoping for uniform coverage. I knew blue rutile would run if I applied it too thickly, so I gave it one quick dip, first one half of the bowl then the other half, overlapping in the middle.

What did I get? Not blue, but this:


One of the qualities of blue rutile is how the blue breaks to brown over an irregular surface or when thinly applied. What I didn't know is that if it is applied very thinly, you get browns and greens, instead of blues and browns.


After the first shock wore off, I decided I liked this surprise color, and especially the variations it created. I actually think Joyce will like this better than blue. I always think of her in earthy tones. Truth be told, blue is my favorite color, not hers.

Oh, I hope she likes it!

Edit:
She liked it, she really liked it!

Best of all, the accidental greeny-brown shade just matches the wheat pattern on her dishes, and she was actually glad the bowl wasn't blue.