Extruded Containers from the Clay Sampler Course

In two of our classes, Linda Doherty taught us how to make items from extruded clay.  This was the first time I played with extrusion, and it seemed like magic to me, how the clay, with very little effort, could be shaped into tubes and other shapes.  The hard work was to refine and finish them.  This set of 3 containers / trays / boxes were extruded as a long piece, then the ends mitered and end sections added.  The extrusion already had the built in foot.  Pretty cool.  The resulting containers are 9", 13" and 18" long.

Here they are, one by one :

#7 - The 9" one I finished off as a simple rectangle.  I'm still not sure what it will be used for, but resisted the urge to make it a planter, since I wanted to decorate the inside.  The inside is dipped/filled with Matt Green glaze, then I sprayed the bottom with Tenmoku glaze, and also held down a fern frond, and sprayed with Tenmoku lightly.  It was very difficult to hold down the fern against the force of the sprayer, so the edge is not very distinct, but I like the general effect.

#8 - The 13" one I finished off as a rectangle also, and also with Matt Green and Tenmoku, and the outline of a fresh fern frond.

#9 - The 18" one I undulated the sides when it was leather hard.  I like the resulting effect.  In this case, I dipped it in Bamboo glaze, but used under/overglazes, sprayed with an airbrush attachment, to outline the fresh Japanese maple leaves.  First I sprayed some with Green, then another layer with Teal.  It was really hard to hold the leaves down, but they still provided great silhouettes.  I think this will be a technique I will try again.

#10 - Not being one to throw much if anything away, I ended up with this piece of extruded clay from building the long containers, and decided that this could be a plate stand, napkin holder, or business card holder, or something.  Anyhow, it is finished in Celadon and Matt Green.  Here it is, holding up one of the plates :

It seems to work okay, as long as the plate is not too heavy.