Rascally Raccoon

Today was last class in my Spring Ahead ceramics course, so I glazed all but the two large pieces which need to dry slowly in the cellar, and one piece which was sent to bisque but hasn't come back yet.  It was a busy but fun day.  The highlight of the day was finishing my raccoon.

I finished him with a "Very Black" stain, and wiped it off with a sponge which had a bit of "Red Iron Oxide" stain still there (even after washing for a very long time), so it introduced a bit of brown with the grey.  I think he turned out perfectly.  I also added a glaze to his eyes, so they will turn out shiny.

Here's another angle, so you can see his striped tail.  Very cute.  My little "washing bear" will be perfect for the garden.  When ceramics starts up next term, I will need to make him a little platform, maybe one which looks like a tree stump.

I decided to finish my garden head (bottomless planter) with red iron oxide.  Once it's fired, it will be more brown.  I think this will look good for the garden.  Stay tuned, hopefully I will have photos of it "in action" by the end of the summer.

One of the pieces for my garden totem was too plain for my liking, so I created a pattern with painter's tape, for a two-tone glazing.

And finally for today's photos, here is my very large plate, I finished it with Deep Blue glaze which I wiped off, to reveal the spirally stamp pattern.  Then I sprayed the whole plate in Celadon.

Now the hard part will be waiting to pick up my finished pieces, once the go into the kiln.  It may take a couple of weeks, since there were a lot of people glazing today, and a lot of pieces on the shelves waiting for the glaze firing.