Just a Few Clay Stamps

I am finally feeling ready for Christmas.  On the weekend, we got our tree (even if a small 6' to 7' one instead of our usual 12' to 14' beast), and even have lights on it.  I had some ladies in to help us clean the house today, my husband did his final (I hope!) Christmas shopping run, I've wrapped all the gifts, and I had the pleasure of listening to my two teens playing beautiful Christmas flute/sax duets together, in preparation for Christmas eve.

So I finally decided to indulge in a bit more playing with clay.  I didn't want to make a big mess, so I brought out my wooden board, and clay tools, and made some clay stamps :

The one on the bottom left, I got the idea somewhere on Pinterest, I think...  It is a flower on one side, and :

... a different design (in my case, a swirl), on the other side, and on the edges, it is a roller which makes lines and dots.  The round balls in the center are texture balls, which is something new for me.  The one on the very right is a first attempt at making a stamp / tool for creating dragon scales.  I'm not sure I have the shape right.  If I do, I'll follow it up with a few different sized ones.  If I don't, I'll just repeat until I get it right.  I could also try Fimo, it would be faster to see the results.  But I'm in no rush.  I'm not back in the studio until mid January.

Favourites from the Fall Term

I'm missing pottery already.  It feels like I'm going into a long dark winter, deprived of gardening and pottery (except I have some clay in the garage, so we'll see...).  So to cheer myself, I have assembled photos of my favourite pieces from this past term.  Okay, maybe just a photo recap of most of my pieces.  But I enjoy looking at them.  I hope you do too.

Where to start?  With some pieces which were not related to my course.  I was delighted to discover this new technique, which captures the beauty of real leaves, and get one of my pieces selected for a student display, also.  See more, including in-progress shots, here, and here, and here, and here.

My first really large sculptural piece.  Her name is "Sedna", and she has gone to live with Miranda Clingwall, who loved her at first sight.  I am really pleased with all the technical difficulties I overcame, just navigating on my own, and the result was pretty successful, even if not a sculpture I would love on my shelves.  See more, including in-progress shots, here, and here, and here.

One of the highlights of the term was a one-day raku course, which resulted in these three vessels.  I would LOVE to raku again.

I didn't make all or even most of the items demonstrated in my "Here's Mud in Your Eye" course, but I did get inspired by the idea of the Bartmann jug, and finished 4 of them, including one selected for a student display.  And I have one tucked away at home, which I will finish and fire at first opportunity in the new year.  I would like to make a few more of these, if I can find the opportunity.

The class which I did enjoy was the one where we made "wabi sabi" (intentionally imperfect) guinomi (sake) or yunomi (tea) cups.  I think a number of them turned out really sweet.  I hope I will have the opportunity to try a few more in future, and maybe make a small set of "matching" ones.

Finally, a few miscellaneous pieces which also turned out pretty nicely.

Final Finished Items from my Mud in Your Eye Course

On the weekend I picked up the remaining pieces, and these lil' babies were worth waiting for :

Here they are, one by one :

34) This was my practice pierced candle holder thrown from 1300 g of P570 white clay, before I switched to sculptural clay for the two pierced raku pieces (see them in this post).  Since we fire to cone 10, most of our glazes are pretty dark and drab coloured.  So I used underglazes to get some bright colours, and sprayed with Clear glaze.

Here is the piece in progress, adding underglazes, and using tape to create the sharp, neat edges :

I knew from previous experience that the purple would not stay purple, it would end up blue, but that was okay with me, although I would have preferred purple.

35) This little sake container (or vase) was thrown from 1300 g white clay.  It features an untrimmed bottom (something our instructor was encouraging us to try), and is finished in White glaze.

36) I really love how this little guinomi cup turned out.  If I hadn't kept such detailed notes on this piece, I'm sure I would have missed it, since I missed it the first two times I picked up my pieces.  It is thrown from approx 300 g of white clay marbled with the instructor's yellow clay, and then a lizard type texture rolled into the outside, and intentionally deformed to give it a "wabi sabi" flair.  I think I trimmed it just on the bottom edges, but the bottom is untrimmed.  It is stamped on the inside bottom.

It was dipped into Amber Celadon on the rim, and then sprayed Clear.  I love the textures and colours of this piece.  Particularly how the marbling came through very clearly, and is matched by the rich amber celadon rim.  And how there is a small ring where the Clear collected on the rim, when I sprayed the inside.  I would be really tempted to attempt a set of these.  I wonder if I could ever reproduce the same effects?

37) These 13 ceramic leaf beads/pendants have been waiting a long time to be completed.  I made them in the Spring, I believe, and was waiting for my order of high temperature wire, and then I built a rack to hold them.  They were decorated with underglazes in red, yellow and green.  I then sprayed them with a light coat of Clear glaze.  I'm a bit disappointed in the result, the colours really seem to have faded away.  Especially the yellows, they are pretty much gone.  I'll know for another time, either I need to raku fire them (the yellow underglaze survived beautifully in the raku firing, as seen in my fish bowl from Nov 1), or just stick to the reds and greens.

I would love to leave these stained and unglazed, but in my previous experiment (see the leaf pendants in #19 in this post), the underglazes which were sprayed Clear retained their bright green colour, and the ones which weren't glazed ended up going brown.  Tricky stuff.  I'll keep experimenting, until I get these to behave the way I like.  I am still thinking to collaborate with my friend Shelley for some hand made jewelry, such as in her beaded bracelets.

More Finished Vases and Vessels from my Mud in Your Eye Course

Continuing from my previous post of Bartmann jugs and my leaf imprint vase, here are a few more of my finished items from this term (both from the course, as well as my own projects from the open workshop).  Starting with three vases, which were similar to my beloved spherical shapes, but I decided to finish them with a straight neck :

One at a time :

26) This vase was thrown from 1200 g of Plainsman 570 white clay.  I finished it with a swirl of throwing lines on the outside.  It is trimmed and stamped, and glazed with Celadon inside and on the rim, and then sprayed with Clear.

27) This vase was thrown from 1300 g of white clay, accenting the neck with throwing lines, then trimmed and stamped, and glazed with Amber Celadon inside and on the rim, then Deep Blue on the bottom.

28) This vase was thrown from 1500 g white clay, accenting the neck with throwing lines, trimmed and stamped.  It is glazed in Amber Celadon inside and on the top part, then overlapped with Deep Blue at the bottom.  I like those deep, rich colours.  I also like the rotund shape.

29) This vase was thrown from 110 g of sculptural clay, since I was originally planning to make some pieces for horsehair raku firing.  But then I found out that the raku firing would only be for glazing, at which point I changed my approach, and ended up making these pierced and carved pieces for raku instead.  Anyhow, this one has a double rim which I then pinched, to create a pleasing result.  It is trimmed and stamped, and glazed in Deep Blue on the rim, Amber Celadon on the outside, and then sprayed Clear inside and outside.  The colour is a bit more vibrant than what appears in the photos.

30) When I threw this from 1100 g sculptural clay, I was also thinking some sort of raku firing, and testing the limits of the clay, how far I could flatten the top part before it collapsed.  Then once it had firmed up a bit, I pulled up the clay and made the undulating / ruffled top.  It is trimmed and stamped, and finished with Deep Blue inside and on top, and then Amber Celadon on the bottom (can you say favourite glaze combination?)

31) When I threw this piece from 1800 g sculptural clay, I was trying for a double walled vessel which I could raku fire.  I got pretty close to bringing the two walls together, but then it started collapsing on me, so I instead pulled in the outside wall and decided to salvage the whole thing by making it look intentional, adding a cord (the ends of the tie broke off) tied loosely around the sack.  I can't say I really like the final product, but it was an interesting experiment, and who knows, maybe someone will find this interesting...  I have a note that it was trimmed, although it must have only been to lighted up the edges, and was glazed in Carbon Trap Shino.  I like the colours.

32) Of all the pieces which I experimented with, marbling the iron oxide rich Yellow clay into my P570 white clay, this is the one which yielded the most interesting and satisfying result.  I love how those bands of iron oxide seem to bubble and burn through the Carbon Trap Shino, and give not only a colour but texture to the surface.  It started as 800 g of clay, and was thrown pretty similarly to my weisen cups (see this previous post), but then I decided to try the "medieval" base which our instructor demonstrated.  It turned out pretty nicely, so I decided to undulate the rim to match the foot.  It also has a sprig of the yellow clay added.  Love this rich iron oxide.  Almost looks like rust.

Here are a few more angles on this little beauty :

I like the cross formed on the bottom by the yellow clay.  It has turned a very beautiful rich brown.  Did I mention that I really like the colours and textures of this piece?

33) Finally for this evening, this little piece was my second and successful attempt at throwing a double-walled vessel, this time from 1000 g sculptural clay.  The double walls allowed me to cut the heart shapes from the outer wall, while allowing this to still be used as a vase (or candy holder, or whatever).  I like the effect.  It is trimmed and stamped and glazed in Bamboo.

According to my notes, there are 4 more items to be picked up from the next glaze firing, at next opportunity, which should be this weekend.  I also have another 5 pieces which I set aside for soda or raku or other reasons.  So I was very busy and productive this term!  I'll have to start building more shelves.  :-)

Finished Bartmann Jugs and Maple Leaf Imprint Vase from my Mud in Your Eye Course

Continuing from the last post, which showed my guinomi cups and a few other items, one of the highlights of this firing (although not from the course, this was my own project in the open workshop sessions) was another of my leaf imprint vases, this time with maple leaves :

Here's a few more angles on this little beauty:

22) This sphere was thrown from 1200 g P570 white clay, trimmed and stamped, and imprinted with fresh maple leaves, as captured in this prior post.  The stain is the Bob Kingsmill mix (iron oxide based), and the glaze inside and on the rim is Matt Green.  i am really liking that combination.

Next I want to introduce 3 of my Bartmann (Bellarmine) jugs :

You can see all 5 of them, and information about the Bartmann jugs, in this prior post.  One of my Bartmann jugs was selected for a student exhibit which is running now at Shadbolt Center for the Arts in Burnaby BC.  Another one I thought I'd save for a future soda firing, but I'm rethinking that, and will probably glaze and fire it as soon as the studio re-opens in January.

One of the reasons to rethink this, is that I had some issue with bottoms cracking this term.  In particular, with bottoms which our instructor was encouraging us not to trim, but rather just to tap up (so not completely flat) with our hand.  I think my bottoms may have been a bit thin and perhaps not compressed or dry enough, and the edges of the bottom a bit thick (I think I don't draw enough clay up when I'm throwing), so they didn't suit this technique well.  But then again, a number of students were noticing cracks in their work, some in very unusual places, like on the sides of a bowl (!!), so I personally believe that there was a crack fairy in the kiln shed.  I hope she's gone now.  It's always so sad to see your work crack.  Some of mine are still functional, since the crack was not deep, and the glaze filled in.  But some can't even hold water.  Sad.

Here they are, one by one :

23) This was one of my first Bartmann jugs, thrown from 1700g of P570 white clay.  The face and other decorations are made with white slip.  I added a touch of Bob Kingsmill stain to the facial and other decorative features before glazing it in Ash Yellow, but the stain just barely shows through.  It is stamped nicely at the back, but it also has a deep crack through the bottom, so he'll only be a decorative piece - no whiskey for this jug.  A friend remarked that these little guys look like Santa.  Yes, that would be our modern association.  It would be fun to finish one in red and white, and see how that looks.

24) I think this Bartmann is even more handsome.  I created a disk of clay and shaped a face, before adding hair using white slip.  I like the more pronounced nose and facial features.  This one was accented with Bob Kingsmill stain (which shows through a bit) and is glazed with Carbon Trap Shino, which turned out really well, with a range from beige to salmon to grey to near black.  The orangy color I usually think of as Shino only appears on the bottom and inside.

There is a small hairline crack on the bottom, but it still holds water.  Yay.

Here's a closeup of this handsome fellow :

...and finally for now:

25) This mini Bartmann jug started as 1300 g of white clay.  The face was a green man sprig from my instructor, which I then added additional hair and beard to, using slip.  I also added the crest with clip.  I really like how that turned out, it almost looks like a sprig.  The jug is a bit wonky, but I worked that to the benefit of the Bartmann, giving him a more rotund belly.  The face and crest were accented with Bob Kingsmill stain, then glazed in Bamboo.  The stain shows through quite well.  This one was trimmed (at least on the sides, then the base tapped up) and stamped.  It doesn't have any bottom cracks, probably because I trimmed it.  Maybe also since it is smaller.

Stay tuned for more pieces when I have a chance.

Guinomi Cups and Other Finished Items from my Mud in Your Eye Course

I was happy to pick up 20 more finished items today, and even happier to share the experience with my fellow "potter" and good friend Mariana :

As it has already been a long day, I unwrapped and took photos of the guinomi cups (on the left side of the photo above), as well as the carved piece on the top right.  The remainder will need to wait for another night.

Some of my favourite pieces started as mistakes or vessels which were not quite the shape I was hoping for, or satisfied with.  This one started as a vessel with a wonky shape, which became a great piece for carving :

14) This piece started as 2600g of Plainsman 570 white clay, which got a bit away from me while throwing. I trimmed the base only to lighten up the sides, and stamped it.  Then I carved it into a trio of leaves swirling around to form a vase.  It is glazed in Ash Yellow, which has a beautiful range of colours, from red to brown to yellow to green.  It has a very autumn feel to it.

One of our classes focussed on making small whiskey or guinomi (sake) cups or mini tea bowls in the "wabi sabi" or natural, imperfect style.  It was fun, to start with a well thrown form, and then intentionally push it out of shape.  This post shows the pieces when first thrown.  I am pretty pleased by the results, and would make these again, even if for the therapeutic value alone.

Pleased by the Ash Yellow glaze on one of my early guinomi cups (#7 in this post), I decided to make it some matching friends (Rose - The second arrangement of these bowls/cups is for your amusement) :

This is the large bowl :

15) The bowl started as 1000g of sculptural clay.  It was hand trimmed (off the wheel) to stay with the "wabi sabi" style, and simply because it was faster than trying to stabilize and center this piece to trim the bottom on the wheel.  I like the range of colours in the Ash Yellow glaze, as it picks up the intentional ridges and bumps of the piece.

16) All the little cups, including this one, started as 250g to 300g of white clay, thrown then pushed out of shape and dented on two sides with a corner of a stick.  Which gives it a really comfortable place to grasp it.  This one is finished in Ash Yellow glaze, and then bears what can be referred to as a "gift from the kiln Gods", a blob of who knows what on one side.  This one is wheel trimmed on the bottom, and bears my stamp on the inside bottom.

17) This one was created in much the same way, but then glazed in Tam's Green, and then given a dip in Bamboo on this rim.  I think I prefer the Ash Yellow.  What do you think?

18) This little guinomi was finished (with a swirl inside :-) ), and then a groggy slip applied on the outside.  It is almost too rough to feel pleasant to hold, but the depth of the colours are really beautiful (much nicer than it appears in the photo).  It is glazed with Amber Celadon.

19) This guinomi was an experiment with texturing via roller, while it was still on the wheel.  Then it was intentionally dented on both sides.  Again, I really like the feel of that, for holding the cup.  It is glazed in Carbon Trap Shino, which I've avoided in past, since it can range from the deep orange (as you see inside the cup) to a pasty white when applied thickly.  But this time, the result was magical.  It has a beautiful range of orange to gold to green on the outside.  The gold is almost metallic.  Quite beautiful.  I hope to experiment a lot more with this Shino in future.  Again, this piece is "hand trimmed" on bottom, but I think it looks pretty good (and saved me time and frustration).

20) This one was also textured with a roller while on the wheel.  It is wheel trimmed, and I did a funky little pattern on the foot, and a bit of a swirl inside.  Here, we're back to the Amber Celadon glaze again, with good results on highlighting the textures.

21) My notes say that this sweet little cup was thrown from clay that was white, marbled with the yellow (iron oxide rich) clay, but I don't really see much if any sign of the marbling.  It was textured with a roller while on the wheel.  I think of this one as "lizard skin".  It has a cute trimmed foot and a nice swirl on the inside bottom.  Funny, but I can't seem to find my artist's stamp on this one.  Probably because I didn't want to destroy the swirl or the texture, so couldn't find a spot to stamp.  It is glazed in Khaki, then sprayed clear.  It has that funny brown to white range which I usually negatively associate with Shino.  But in this case, it works quite well with highlighting the texture, so I think it was a success.

I see from my notes that I have one last cup to pick up.  So either it is in this next firing, or I didn't recognize it on the shelves.  That happens often enough, which is one of the reasons why I keep detailed notes - and photos - of my pieces as they progress.

Pottery on Student Display at Shadbolt Center

I was honored to have my little fern imprint vase (#9 in previous post) selected for a student display in the outside display window of the pottery studio.  It wasn't there last weekend when I checked, but I was pleased to see it today, and surprised to see that a second piece was also on display, one of my Bartmann jugs.

Here it is with the setting sun on it :

...and then later in the evening, illuminated only by artificial light :

13) This small Bartmann jug (see them in progress here) was thrown from 1200g of P570 white clay, and then embellished with extra clay and slip.  Unfortunately, the poor fellow has a cracked bottom, even though I trimmed him somewhat (and stamped him too).  His beard and facial features were touched with a bit of "Bob Kingsmill" iron oxide based stain, before glazing him with Amber Celadon.  I love the deepness of the color, and the way the glaze breaks nicely on the leaves and other embellishments.  Fortunately, I had already glazed and picked up my decorative goblet (#12 in this post), so I knew the Amber Celadon would be a great choice.

I also got a better photo of my fern imprint vase (#9 in this post), this one golden from the setting sun:

I then picked up 20 more of my finished items, nearly all of them now.  Next post.

More Finished Items from My "Mud in Your Eye" Course

I have glazed all the items from my course (and drop in workshop) except a few which I thought wouldn't be bisqued in time, which I brought home, and will take in during the Spring session.  So soon I will have all the remaining pieces - there are a LOT of them.  But in the meantime, here are a few more which I brought home last class :

9) First, this little beauty, which I didn't bring home.  I didn't even get a good photo of, since it was selected for a student exhibit at Shadbolt, so I left it with them.  It will be in a display case on the outside of the ceramics building for the winter.  I'm pretty excited, both at being selected for another exhibit (it is my 4th time now), as well as how well this little piece turned out.  I am really loving this technique, and hope to make many more in the Spring once pottery starts up again, and there is a good supply of fresh leaves.

My notes say I started with 1500 g of sculptural clay, but lost a lot while centering.  Anyhow, it is a spherical vase, with a trimmed foot, and finished with an oxide-based stain formulated by Bob Kingsmill, and glazed Matt Green inside and on the rim.  It is decorated by the imprint of four different types of ferns from my garden.

10) I was glad to bring this little beauty home.  It was created from 1100 g of sculptural clay, and also imprinted with leaves, this time from my viburnum bush.  It was then stained with Red Iron Oxide.  I left the opening at the bottom, so I could use it as a garden totem topper.  We'll see.  It also looks great on display inside the house.  The photos turned out a bit dark; it is really more beautiful in person.

11) I missed this weisen mug when I picked up my items which made it to the first glaze firing.  It was thrown from approx 600 g of Plainsman 570 white clay, and then a piece of black glaze pushed into front and back.  The glass melts during firing, resulting in the big drip down the side.  I'm not sure I'm crazy about the effect, but wanted to try it out.

It is glazed Deep Blue inside and on top.  Celadon on bottom.  It is stamped on the bottom, and also ended up with a crack during firing, although once glazed, it is still water tight, so can function as a beer glass, although a bit small for that use.

I had 4 or 5 of the bottoms of my mugs and jugs develop a crack, which is unusual for me.  Maybe because I was trying a new method of finishing the pottery without trimming, and it may be a combination of bottom too thin, edges too thick, or when I tapped the bottoms so they were not flat (to prevent cracking), I may have weakened them.  But funny enough, I spoke with two other students who also had unexpected cracking on their pieces.  So we surmised that there was a crack fairy who was active in the kiln shed this session.  I hope she's gone by January.

12) This is my first goblet.  I'm really pleased by how it turned out.  It was created in 3 sections, then combined together and decorated by slip trailing and adding the leaves from a sprig mold.  I learned something, though.  Some of the slip trailed sections were a bit rough, and the Amber Celadon glaze is almost sharp in a few areas as a result.  Next time I will sand down those spiky or rough areas before glazing.  But it still has a pretty nice feel in the hand.  It feels like a goblet.

More Playing with Clay

The studio was closed today for Remembrance Day (the Canadian equivalent of Veterans Day), but I had a bit of fun playing with clay at home this morning.  I had two goblets I had assembled, and was thinking to finish them with the twisty vines and leaves like the last goblet, but I was not as pleased with their shape, they looked a bit clunky.  So I decided to carve them instead, so I could lighten up the parts which looked too heavy.  I think they have the feel of rough hewn wood (or stone).  They could look pretty cool, if I don't ruin the effect with my choice of glaze.  I may even try one in iron oxide, and only glaze the inside and rim of the cup.  We'll see.

...and in sunlight (it was beautiful weather today!) :

I also have my first pierced sphere (see this post and this one also), made from white clay, which I will glaze and have fired to Cone 10 (rather than raku fired, like the other two pieces).  I decided to decorate it with underglazes, and then will spray with a Clear glaze.  So I first taped it off, so I could get some nice clean lines :

Since I won't get the beautiful black lines which I do from the raku firing, I decided to paint a section in black, and the other with a bright red :

Then I used Forest Green underglaze near the base, and Purple (although I'm pretty sure it will be Blue when fired to Cone 10) on the sides.  Here it is, upside down :

...and then right side up again :

I think it could turn out pretty nicely.  I can't wait until next week; it is our final class, and opportunity to finish glazing all remaining pieces.  Then sadly we will be locked out of the studio for a couple of months, until pottery classes resume in late January.  I don't know what I will do during that period.  If I don't play with clay on my kitchen counter, I think I will go crazy.