I've fallen behind in posting lately, due to a combination of having a particularly busy life at the moment, and being too tired at night to post, and the weather being very dark, so I am finding it hard to take photos with any decent lighting. But enough excuses, I brought some finished pieces home recently, and will post a few, since I hope to be picking up more this coming weekend.
Let's start with some plates :
1) This plate was thrown from 1700g of BMix clay, and textured with my handmade stamps. The stamps were highlighted in Deep Blue glaze, before dipping in White and Daly Blue glaze. I am liking the soft purple which results from the overlap, and will have some upcoming pieces featuring more of this glaze combination.
2) This plate was thrown from 1900g of BMix clay, and carved to give it that rough texture. It is glazed in Amber Celadon and Deep Blue glazes. I like this strong glaze combination, although the visual texture comes through so much more on the Amber Celadon side.
3) This cute little mug was thrown from 700g of H440 clay, and decorated with one of my handmade stamps, to which I added white slip dots. It features a wiggle wire cut bottom, and is glazed inside and on half the outside with Bamboo glaze, and then dipped halfway into Daly Blue glaze.
4) I'm not sure if I should call this big boy a mug or a soup bowl, or what. It was thrown from 900g of H440 clay, and since it was so large, I gave it two handles. It also features a wiggle wire cut bottom, and my notes indicate that I glazed the bottom part of the mug in White glaze, then Matt Green, and used Deep Blue on the inside and top. But I hardly see any White at all. That H440 clay is quite dark and speckly.
5) This little guinomi or sake or whiskey cup, was thrown from BMix clay, and then while soft, I pressed into it trimmings of Willamette Yellow clay. For the most part, the trimmings stayed. Although if I tried this another time, I think I would add some slip before pressing in the trimmings. It is glazed in Malcolm Davis Carbon Trap Shino. Shino is a difficult and unpredictable glaze, but this time it really performed. I love the contrast between the deep orange inside and at the foot, and the creamy light outside, and the almost metallic rich brown/gold highlights on the iron-rich trimmings.
6) This lidded jar was thrown from H440 brown clay (1300g for the body, and 700g for the lid) and decorated with handmade stamps, and roughly brushed BMix slip. I threw it back in October 2017, but I was saving it, waiting on the Daly Blue glaze becoming available, and also toying with the idea of saving it for a soda firing. So I've finally glazed it in the Daly Blue, both inside and out. I am very pleased with how it turned out.
7) This set of stacking containers with lid, was also created back in November 2017. It was built from slabs and extruded Willamette Yellow clay. It is unglazed outside, displaying the natural beauty and brown colour of the clay. On the insides, it is glazed in Bamboo, which has become one of my favourite glazes over the darker clays. Each side is stamped with a different handmade stamp, and the impressions are glazed to highlight them : the trees in Matt Green (with stars in Bamboo), the swirls in Deep Blue, the celtic knots in Daly Blue, and the sun in Bamboo. The branch on top was darkened with Kingsmill Wash, which I applied and then sponged off, to leave the stain in the crevices.
8) These are two hydrangea leaf plates, formed from BMix clay back in November, when we still had leaves available. The larger one features two ladybugs, and the smaller one only one ladybug. They were glazed in Tam's Green, which is a very natural leaf colour, and also shows the texture beautifully. The ladybugs are detailed in Red and Black underglazes, and then glazed in Clear. The are time consuming but very satisfying to me.
9) These two BMix plates are formed from leaves of my beloved Davidii involucrata (dove or handkerchief) tree. They each feature two ladybugs, and are glazed in Tam's Green.
10) When the weather improves, I can't wait to get outside and build another totem from all the pieces I've been assembling throughout the winter. These are two more leaves for my totem, both glazed in Tam's Green. The one on the left with rounder edges is from a fig tree. The one of right with the pointy leaves, is from an oakleaf hydrangea. I only added one ladybug to this set.
That's it for photos. I hope to post more as soon as I find suitable conditions, and am not too busy.
I also just finished a raku firing on the weekend, and I hope to get better photos of these soon, but here is a quick shot of the four pieces I fired :
I hope to start some pine needle weaving on at least one of them this weekend, as I will be attending a weekend class with Lynette, Linda Doherty's sister, who does some beautiful pine needle weaving in collaboration with Linda (who makes the pottery). I am excited for this opportunity.
