More Finished Items - Including the Rascally Raccoon - From the Spring Ahead Course

I haven't finished and received all my pieces yet, but these are the remainder of the ones which I have finished and brought home recently.

This set of four tulip-shaped (or maybe honeysuckle-shaped?) vases was inspired by the beautiful vase I purchased at Christmas time, which was created by Linda Doherty and then carved and finished by Sharon Reay.  I have been thinking about that shape for some time, inspired to try it myself.  So when I ended up extruding some hexagonal pieces from recycling clay during the Spring Ahead course, I was happy to chop them into pieces, and finish them as these floral vases.  Here they are, in ascending size order:

24) Piece 24 & 26 are finished by dipping in Bamboo glaze both inside and out.  Then for both, I sprayed a bit of Celadon on alternating panels on the outside, for additional interest.  The Celadon shows up faintly, and you may be able to see it in a photo somewhat.

25) Piece 25 and 27 are finished with Celadon inside, Bamboo outside, and then the alternating panels on the outside sprayed lightly with Celadon.  In future, I think I can spray a thicker layer, and it may have a better effect.  But I can see the Celadon faintly.

26) Again, Bamboo inside and out, and then Celadon sprayed on alternate panels outside.  I'm not sure why all the drippiness (ha ha, is that a word?) in the glaze.  Usually I'd love this effect, but for this vase I'm not sure if I like it or not.

27) Again, Celadon inside, Bamboo outside, and then Celadon sprayed lightly on alternating panels.

Which vase do you prefer?  The one with Bamboo center, or Celadon center?

28) This large pot / vase turned out pretty nicely.  The speckles sure show up from the gray clay!  I had made two indents on the side, which I glazed with Deep Blue and Tenmoku.  Then the whole piece was sprayed in Celadon.  The spiral pattern under the foot shows up really nicely, even when glazed.  For this one, I ended up stamping in the inside bottom.  This seems to work well for these bigger open vases, especially when I carve the foot.

29) I really like the shape and feel of this large pot / vase.  It has a nice weight to it, and has an antique look to it, so the Bamboo glaze seemed the best fit.  I was tempted to play a bit with Iron Oxide stains to antique it a bit more, but decided to stay simple, and I think the effect is good, especially since the gray clay is so heavily freckled anyhow.  I really like the foot on this one, and the spiral pattern I added to it.  It is also stamped on the inside bottom.

30) Finally for now, my rascally raccoon.  I love this little guy.  I plan to eventually put him into the garden, but I will be scared that he will run away on me out there.

Here are some more views of this little raccoon :

The raccoon is finished with "Very Black" stain, although there was a bit of Iron Oxide also on my sponge.  His eyes are glazed in Deep Blue, just to give them life and make them shiny.  The hole in the bottom is so that he can be secured in the garden.  There is a small crack which seems to have been created by his snout drying and pulling away slightly, but it should be pretty solid, even with that small crack.  Originally he was going to be part of a totem, but I think he either needs to be the topper for one, or maybe he'll just sit on top of a small stump.  I'll need to make a stump for him now.