More Totem and Other Garden Pieces from the Spring Ahead Course

I am still trying to finish up the new shelves in our office, to hold some of my ceramics, but in the meantime, I have unloaded my latest pieces onto the kitchen island, to at least take some photos.

I'll start with the remaining totem pieces for my garden.

18) This piece created from gray clay is not too beautiful, but will work fine for a garden totem.  I used a few of my handmade stamps on it, and then experimented with adding wax to some of the stamped areas.  The Tam's Green glaze shows the imprints quite well, so I think I prefer the unwaxed ones, but it's all a learning experience.

19) This one was thrown as a cylinder, and then altered with a wooden dowel.  I glazed it in Carbon Trap Shino, then highlighted the grooved parts with Deep Blue.  The colours should at least show up well from a distance, which will be fine for the totem.

20) I really like this little piece for the totem.  I think I'll repeat the experiment for some indoor pieces also, when I get an opportunity.  The light pattern was created by taping off those areas, dipping the whole piece in Deep Blue, removing the tape, and then spraying all in Celadon.  I continue to love the colour combination of Celadon and Deep Blue.

21) This was my second star / flower shaped piece for the garden totem.  It was sprayed with Sombright Green glaze (which is not food safe, but fine for the garden), which should have showed green in thicker areas, and brown in thinner areas.  At least I know I'm consistently spraying thinly !  :-)

22) This is the base for my previous totem base.  I've guessed the size, so the true test will be when I try to reassemble the totem.  It is finished with Iron Oxide stain, like the previous one, although it seems to have turned out a paler colour.  It cracked during the bisque firing, but since there is a lot of weight to this piece, I think it could still survive in the garden for some while, even with that crack.

23) This piece is an open-bottomed planter for the garden.  I will probably secure it to the ground with a stake or two, and plant it with an ornamental grass.  I think that will look pretty funky.  It was finished in Iron Oxide.  I am quite pleased with the result.

I have picked up more finished pieces for the indoors, as well as my rascally raccoon, but I will save those for another post.