More Finished Ceramics from my Pottery Tools Course

Continuing on from the previous post, this is more of the recent finished items I hauled home.  All items made from P570 white clay, unless otherwise noted.  All bear my signature stamp somewhere on the piece, usually near the bottom :

6) I'm not sure what to think of this one, but it is starting to grow on me.  It started as a pot which was too ordinary, so I applied dots of white slip to it.  If I remember correctly, I dipped the entire pot in Ash Yellow Glaze, then just the top half and rim in Deep Blue.  Then for interest, I dribbled some Khaki glaze inside.  I like that effect, of the Khaki running to the bottom of the pot.

The following are 3 tea bowls I made, so I could try out my rope textured paddle.  All were glazed with Carbon Trap Shino.

7) This first one is my favourite.  I like the shape with the distinct high foot, so you can easily slip your hands around and under it.  I really like the shino magic : varying colours, from beige to gold to reddish-brown, to dark grey/brown.  The rim is especially nice, with a gold metallic sheen.  I like the little swirl inside at the bottom, as well as on the trimmed foot.  Unfortunately, this one has a small crack, so while it's still functional, I think I will be keeping it just for display.

8) This one also has lots of shino colour magic, a nice clean foot, and good texture on the sides from the paddling.

9) This little cup is also nice, but doesn't have the full range of colours, and is missing the metallic sheen.  But it's still sweet, I think, as long as it is not being compared with its siblings.

10) I formed this little coil bowl on our first day of class, when I didn't want to get a wheel dirty in the remaining workshop time, and finished during our second day of class.  I'm really pleased with the result, and hope to make more in future.  It was formed by a combination of large coils, and smaller plugs which were stamped with my own handmade coil stamp.  I was originally thinking to do something complicated, like stain it and then wipe off the stain for contrast, and only glaze the inside and rim and root...  But fortunately my classmate, Rob, suggested I just use a glaze which shows off the texture, such as this Amber Celadon.  I think the result is quite nice, the bowl has a good feel to it, and it certainly was a lot less time consuming.  I think I gave it an extra dip on the rim and foot, which is why the Amber Celadon is a bit heavy on the top, and almost dripping down.

11) This is the Warren MacKenzie inspired drop-rim bowl which I was able to manage on first try, although it did form a hairline crack on the back of the dropped rim while drying (which the glaze has covered).  I'm not sure I really love the result, and my teen commented that it looked like a dog bowl.  Hmmm.  What I absolutely do LOVE is the triple ringed foot.  I think that's a great foot, and something I will want to repeat again.  I also like the Amber Celadon on the outside / bottom of the bowl.  I was thinking dark so it would hide in the shadows, and help with that illusion of the bowl hovering over the surface.  But something is lacking in the Bamboo glaze on the inside / top.  At least in my opinion.  Maybe this one will find a good home somewhere.  Probably not at my house, since we don't even have a dog.  Not a real one, anyhow.  (Our little wooden dog, Cocoa, doesn't need a bowl.)

12) This is one of the two first attempts at making a twisty vase, before I figured out how to make them twist.  So I think of it as my untwisty vase.  I had a bit of trouble trimming this one, so I devised a pretty cool hybrid foot, partly trimmed on the wheel, and partly just trimmed away by hand.  The result is pretty neat, I think.  This one I glazed with Khaki inside (my dark chocolate colour!), and with iron oxide and a spray of Gerstley Borate on the outside.  It has a nice earthy, raw, textured feel to it.

13) This is my other "untwisty" pot.  It is finished in Carbon Trap Shino, which I gently wiped off (although I don't really see the effect of the wiping).  The foot was trimmed by hand into the squared off shape.  A nice pot, even if not what I was trying to achieve.

This is the end of the finished pieces so far.  I have another 5 twisty pots which I didn't glaze yet (partly since I ran out of time, and partly since I wanted to see how these untwisty ones turned out first).  I also have my carved pieces (the flower bowls and plates, and hole-punched sphere) which I am saving for the raku firing.  Although I won't be able to raku fire them all, so will need to decide how to glaze and finish them all.

Stay tuned.  I have photos from the first class, working with red stoneware, but am too tired to post now.  So far they are all planters or additional pieces for more garden totems.