Finished Mugs and Vases

I was very pleased to pick up some finished pieces on the weekend.  As it is late, I will post some of them tonight, and the remainder another time.

1) This is probably my favourite of this initial batch.  It is a mug thrown from approx. 900 g of B-Mix clay, stamped with my handmade clay stamps, and imprinted with real grape leaves.  The stamps and veins of the leaves are highlighted with black stain, and then it is glazed in Ash Yellow, and the glaze wiped off the grape leaves.  Another time I'll use wax resist on the leaves, but this wiping off worked fairly well also.

2) This mug was also thrown from approx. 800 g of B-Mix clay.  Since we don't have any glazes which actually run, I glazed it outside with Ash Yellow, then inside with Deep Blue, and simulated Deep Blue drips on the sides.  I'm pretty happy with the results.

3) Also thrown from approx. 700 g of B-Mix clay, and glazed in Ash Yellow, but prior to that I highlighted the handmade stamp imprints with black stain (top) and Deep Blue (bottom & buttons on the handle).  Nice result.

4) This little guy was thrown from 700g of B-Mix clay, and it is a bit shorter and wider than the others, so I finished it more like a deep bowl or vase, with no handle.  I glazed it with Deep Blue inside and on the top rows of stamps, and with Tenmoku on the bottom row of stamps, and then dipped all in Clear glaze.  The photo on the bottom left doesn't show it well, but the inside is very complex and beautiful.  This photo shows it more clearly :

5) This is the first finished piece in the chocolate brown H440 clay which I have been working with recently.  It is an iron rich clay, and the iron comes through as reddish spots in the unglazed parts (see top right), and as the rich freckling in the glazed parts.  This one is glazed in Bamboo, and the stamped parts were highlighted with black stain (overglaze) before glazing.  I am impressed by how much the black stain shows through the Bamboo.


I look forward to experimenting more with glazing this brown clay.  I want to leave some of the pieces as partially glazed and partially unglazed.  I think the contrast will be quite satisfying.

Slabs and Mugs

On Wednesday, our class will use our new hump moulds to create beautiful platters.  So in anticipation of 7 people lined up at the slab roller, I decided to roll my slabs today, and then in class I can jump straight to creating the extruded rims and feet.  But before I did that, I soaked up Fredi's demo of an oval container with pillow lid.  I found the pillow lid process fascinating, and will need to try that some time.  Or perhaps just use her idea of adding a clay bead, and make some clay shakers.  I've been thinking of that, so maybe I'll try some day soon.

Before I left to roll slabs, I threw 4 mugs, but they really ended up huge.  So they will be very big mugs, maybe more like beer steins.  Then I rolled my slabs.  The first one I textured with my handmade clay stamps, including some which were hot out of the bisque firing.

Mesmerizing, isn't it?

The second slab may be a surprise for someone for Christmas, so I can't say, except that it is textured, and then I applied black slip to it, and will scrape it, to reveal the pattern.  It wasn't dry enough at the end of the day, so I will continue this pattern Wednesday, before draping over the hump mould.

In between working the slabs, I stamped my mugs.  Once the slabs were done and textured, it was time to finish off the mugs with handles.  Here they are at the end of the day :

One by one...

This was such a huge mug, that it didn't seem a normal handle would suit it, so it is a funky double handle.  I'm not sure if a finger would fit in that lower loop, but it looks inviting.

Again, a very big mug.  Fredi made a comment in passing that it looked like a soup mug, and perhaps could have two handles.  So I decided that would be fun.  Although when I googled "soup mug" I don't think any of them came up with double handles.  But I like the balance it provides.  It has a bit of "attitude", almost looks like hands on the hips.

This one I stamped before it was dry enough, so the stamp marks turned out a bit mucky.  And then I dropped slip onto them, but was too lazy to find (I might have taken it out of my bag) my narrow slip trailer, so I ended up squeezing out larger slip dots than I would have preferred.  But it could still turn out okay.

This one's a beauty, and probably a very good size for a coffee mug.  I love almost everything about it.  I hope I will do it justice when I glaze it.

I am waiting on my first few pieces, which should be glazed tomorrow, and I'll hopefully see them Wednesday, but if not, then Sunday for sure.  I'm really curious to see how the brown clay fires, and also some of the glaze combinations I tried.

Styrofoam Hump Moulds, More Plates, Some Glazing

Today was a productive day.  We had class #1 of our 2-class Styrofoam Hump & Slump Moulds course.  I didn't see the advantage of making the slump moulds at this point, so I made only more hump moulds (as I have 4 wonderful hump moulds from the course I took previously).

Linda suggested we try for 1 or 2, but I ended up making 3 hump moulds.  Two are a 2" deep oval, such as the one Linda used to make this deep casserole dish (with the beautiful glaze combination of Copper Red over Tenmoku):

The two ovals are sized so that the casserole dishes should easily stack together.  I didn't remember to take a photo.

The other one is a 1.5" deep soft round rectangle, which will make a wonderful sort of serving tray / platter.  I am pretty happy with this one, too.  Again, I didn't remember to take a photo.

That was my first 3 hours.  The next 4 hours or so, I did some trimming and glazing.  I am super happy with how these trimmed plates turned out :

The top one, I had stamped the rim on Sunday, but when I trimmed it, I also trimmed a spiral into the center.  I like how that looks.  I hope I can find a glaze which will do it justice.

The bottom one, I had made it Sunday with the spiral inside, and was planning to stamp the rim also, but I let it dry a bit too much, so instead, I used my trimming tool to carve the rim.  I really like how it turned out.  So much movement in the piece.  Again, I hope the glazes will do it justice.

I intentionally glazed one of my dark brown clay pieces, and hopefully it will be fired soon, so I will see it before I need to decide on these plates.  If the results are not spectacular, I should really do some test tiles, or create a piece which I can sacrifice to a number of glaze experiments.  Here is the brown vase, with a bit of black stain in the stamped pattern.  I want to see if it will show through my selected glaze.

I then glazed a few of my stamped mugs, which have been waiting patiently for me since I finished them in July!  I look forward to having a few finished ones for Hemlock Coffee Co.  (Hmmm, I thought I posted about them previously, but anyhow, they have some of my pieces for sale, and I have a feeling the mugs will be something their customers may enjoy).

Here are a few of the mugs, glazed, and awaiting firing :

The weather was really dismal today, raining heavily, so it was really good to be in the studio with good people and busy with so many items.  I can't imagine a better way to spend a rainy day.

More Lids

Every class with Fredi is so packed with new ideas and approaches.  I am really pleased with how much I am learning and exploring.

I tried out another method for making the smooth-profile lids which I am currently fascinated by.  Last week we learned to start from a closed form.  Today it was thrown in two pieces, and then fit together.  Mine actually fit fairly well :

After a bit of trimming, I had this :

I then did a bit of decorating with white slip, but forgot to take photos - and even forgot my pot outside (I was letting it dry in the breeze), and was lucky that when I phoned my instructor, she hadn't left yet, so was able to pull in my pot for me.

I am enjoying the challenge of making plates, so threw 2 more.  This one dried enough to decorate :

Since there are no finished pieces - or test tiles - with the H440 clay, I hope to glaze and fire a couple at a time, so I can learn what works and what doesn't.  I even considered making some test tiles, so I can try out more glaze combinations.  Maybe Wednesday.

While the leaves are still on the trees (not for much longer!) I have also made a few more leaf dishes and totem pieces :

I am hopeful that my 2 day course on making hump and slump moulds will go ahead this week and next week.  When I checked on Sunday, only 5 of the 10 spots were filled.

Finishing Up those Lids and Plates

I am really pleased with what I've been learning in my Lids class.  This Wednesday, I finished off the pieces I started on the weekend.  Due to Thanksgiving holiday and plans to be away, it would otherwise have been 2 weeks before I get to the pieces, and they may have been too dry. 

The new lid method I learned was a success, and I was able to cut and coax those pieces together, and then trim them so they fit seamlessly.  It was my friend Roma's idea to add a small stamp, which also helps in case there is a position of the lid which fits best (which seemed to be the case).

I'm really excited about this method, and can't wait to make some more closed forms to try it out again.

I trimmed the marbled vase.  I like how the cross comes through clearly on the bottom :

For the plates I threw, I stamped the third one :

I finished all three plates with a simple foot.  Although I hope to throw some more which I will finish with a pedestal foot.

This little pot, I threw from the clay which I was using as a chuck for trimming my brown plates :

And this pot was too plain, so I flattened out the front surface, and Roma lent me one of her stencils, which worked out perfectly, I think :

I think that's about it.  When I get back to the studio, I will be throwing more but also hoping glazing a few pieces, so I will have a few finished items to look forward to soon.  Stay tuned.

Learning to Put a Lid on It

It was very sad that our raku class was cancelled today, especially after I rushed to get my pieces made and glazed last week.  Apparently I was the only one.  So now I will need to wait until November, to fire them.

On the positive side, I was able to attend the 2nd class with Fredi Rahn.  The course name is "Lids, Caps and Covers", but I like to think of it as "Put a Lid on It".  I have been learning so much, I can't believe it.  Last week she showed us various types of lids, and various types of containers which could receive those lids.  I learned one which I have never seen before, which I was very excited to try out.  So last week I threw one container with two different styles of lid :

Then I tried to throw a closed form, but didn't quite manage to close it, but created a very pleasant shaped vase anyhow:

This week I trimmed and finished those lids, and was very pleased with how this one turned out :

It was difficult adding those texture lines, as my profile tool was wider than the lid, but I somehow managed.

I knew I wouldn't like the sunken lid for this pot, but since I followed Fredi's advice, and recorded the measurements, I could at a later time go back and threw another pot for this lid.  I think it would work well in a tea pot.  Although I've made a few tea pots before, and I know how much work they are.  So unless they are in the shape of a dragon or have dragons climbing on them, I don't think it is worth my while.

After that, I threw that closed form which I was attempting the prior week, and pushed in a groove with my sanded-down popsicle stick.  This was the method I was very excited to try, as I love that shape and low profile lid which looks like it is integrated with the piece.

Just before class ended, I cut along the bottom of that groove, and tweaked both pieces a bit so that they fit together.  Next time I'll trim them on the outside so they meet seamlessly.  I am excited at how this may turn out, and with this possibility.  I think I see a lot more of this lid method in my future.

After that, I decided to throw a few plates (it was open workshop, not class, at that point), since I had made a few nice ones recently and then tossed them off the balcony.

I threw one with the grey clay, and then switched to this beautiful brown H440 clay, and threw two more.  I was really happy with how they turned out.  But then the real magic happened when I decided to stamp the rims :

I don't know how that brown clay responds to glazes, so unless anyone has any glazed already, I made need to actually do a few glaze tests to decide how to glaze these plates.

My friend Roma wanted to trade for a bit of my brown clay, so she could threw some marbled pieces.  Look how beautiful they turned out :

Mine was a little bit of white marbled into my brown, but much less successful.  I guess I was pretty busy working, so didn't even stop for a photo. 

I am exciting about all I will learn in this course, and about the many ideas I have swirling in my head, which I want to explore also.