Finished Dragon and Final Items from Clay Sampler Course

Today I picked up my dragon (#24), as well as the final items from the Clay Sampler Course.  Here is my dragon, "Shadow Splash", from a couple of different angles...  Straight on :

From the side :

...and in "moonlight" :

She is a very special girl for me.  I was very pleased to be asked if I would lend her to a student exhibition at Shadbolt in Sept/Oct 2014.  Of course I would be honoured.  I hope she will actually be displayed, since she is quite large, some 3 to 4 feet once set up.  Stay tuned whether this goes ahead.

Here are some views of her head.  I am very pleased with the result :

As you can probably see, she is finished in Very Black stain, which gives her a semi-matte finish, with a little metallic sheen to her.  Then the horns were brushed with Amber Celadon, and the fins were brushed with Deep Blue glaze, so they have a nice dark shine to them.  The eyes were finished with the Green slip and Celadon glaze, which makes them look watery.  Lovely.  I can't imagine what I would change on her, at all.  She is perfect, in my eyes.

My other pieces from the course are not nearly as spectacular.  But I was happy to pick them up as well.

#25 - This little mushroom fairy house was dipped in Bamboo glaze.  I have in my notes it was a "big messy dip in Bamboo", since I remember trying to plunge the whole mushroom in the glaze, but then the inside filled up, and ran out of the holes....  I can't remember if I then dipped the top again, but it looks like it has another layer of glaze which has run down.  I like how that top looks creamy, and the stem is a bit darker and woodier.  It has a hole in the base (and a small cylinder in the inside top of the mushroom cap), so I can sit it on a post to anchor it in the garden.

#26 - This is my second attempt at a Davidii involucrata (dove tree) platter/bowl.  The first one is #28 in my previous course.  I learned from that one to set the button feet further apart, so the bowl won't slump onto the kiln shelf.  I also spent more time smoothing the rough edges of the Davidii leaves on the outside edges.  But the colours turned out pretty similar.  I again used Matt Green glaze.  This time adding Deep Blue into the bottom part also, although much of it appears to have sunken into the Matt Green, leaving only hints of the blue behind.  On the back of the bowl, I pressed cedar branches, and highlighted these with Khaki before dipping in the Matt Green glaze, but this also shows up only faintly.  But it does create an interesting, if not recognizable, colour pattern on back.  I'm not sure which one I like better.  Both are fairly good, but still don't capture the essence of the Davidii leaves, because the texture is lost in the glazing.

#27 - I am not one to throw away much, so when I started making a stand for one of my earlier sculptures out of a remnant of extruded clay, and changed my mind, I made it into a rough mini planter instead.  I can visualize it with Sempervivum (hen and chicks) or another rock or alpine garden plant bursting from each of the holes.  It was glazed in Amber Celadon then Matt Green on top.

I also picked up the first 2 items from my summer drop-in sessions, which were finished and unloading from the kiln today.  I'll post photos soon.