Leaves and More Seashell Footed Plates and More

I am falling behind on posting my new work, but I'm going to try to catch up on my summer items before I start getting more Fall work finished.  So here goes with a set of leaf plates and such.

I made these plates since I had a bit of time and clay in between making the big gunnera leaves, and they allowed me to experiment with different glazes, before I committed to something for the big plates.  Unfortunately, they were not quite the results I had wanted.

All of the leaves were created from Willamette Yellow clay, which fires quite dark.  I was hoping the glaze would brighten them up a bit, but they still turned out darker than I had hoped.

(1) TOP : This Davidii leaf is probably my favourite of the batch, and it likely the approach I will take with one of my big gunnera plates.  It is unglazed, with Kingmill wash picking up the details of the veins, and the snake below.  The snake has Bamboo glazed eyes.
(2) BOTTOM : This is probably my next favourite.  The Hydrangea leaf is highlighted with Kingsmill wash, and then glazed in Ash Yellow.  It seems I brushed it on, which is why it has slight brush marks, and the glaze is fairly thin (thin fires brown, and thicker fires yellow).  The snake below is unglazed, with only Flambe glaze to make the eyes shiny.

(3) TOP : This Davidii leaf turned out relatively well, just a little dark for my liking.  It is Tam's Green glaze on top, and the snake is finished in Kingsmill wash, with Shino glaze for the eyes.
(4) BOTTOM : This Davidii leaf is even darker.  My notes say underglaze + Tam's Green brushed on top, but I don't remember which underglaze I used, and I suspect it was only applied on the veins, and brushed off elsewhere.  The bottom features 3 ladybugs seemingly in a meeting.  They are finished in red and black underglazes.

(5) TOP : This Davidii leaf is highlighted with Kingsmill wash, and then a Green overglaze/underglaze applied to the whole leaf.  This has been my experience previously, that an underglaze often needs an actual glaze over it, to get the correct color.  In the case of green, it seems to end up brown without the presence of glaze.  So a clear glaze over would have probably worked much better.  The snake under is unglazed with just the eyes glazed in Tam's Green.
(6) BOTTOM : This Davidii leaf was also Kingsmill wash with Green overglaze.  I wish I had been able to spray (or perhaps even brush) one of these with Clear glaze, to see whether I would have obtained green.  Or whether the clay is too dark to really end up with green.

(7) This is another one of my series of 4 footed plates with seashell designs.  See the previous two in this post.  It is made from my current favourite clay, the Columbia Buff with Grog, which is currently not in stock, so I am anxiously waiting for a new order to arrive.  Hopefully soon.  This one features a small starfish, handmade by me, in combination with the other shells from my sprig mould.  The starfish is finished in Flambé glaze, the seashells in White glaze, and then on one side it was dipped in Oatmeal glaze, and on the other side, probably 3 dips in Daly Blue, receding to create the illusion of waves on the beach.

(8) This is the final one in the series (for now, anyhow :-) ), it is again from Columbia Buff w/ Grog clay.  On the sandy part, I had applied white slip, and in the center, turquoise slip.  To the center, I finished it in Daly Blue (on top of the turquoise slip), and then Bamboo over the white slip.  So this one plays with darker shells on a whiter beach, compared to the previous one which is whiter shells on a darker sandier beach.  I think I prefer the result in (7), but it's always worth experimenting with different glazes and techniques, to get the one you look the most.

(9) This one is a pretty cool footed bowl I created by texturing a slab using a crocheted doily, and then draping it over a slump / hump mould.  The edges are rolled back, and the reclaimed clay (a mixture of browns and whites) was highlighted with Kingsmill wash, and then a Daly Blue glaze applied inside.  I really like the contrast between the bright inside and the dark textured outside.  The feet are textured to match.

(10) It is ironic that they look so big in the photo, as these little miniatures are only about 2" (5 cm) tall.  I realized this Spring that I don't have a good vase for lily of the valley or other little flowers from the garden.  So I made a couple of miniatures for that purpose.  They are both from Columbia Buff w/ Grog clay, and dipped in White and then Daly Blue glazes.