had some studio time today. It felt great to get back in the swing of it and get some dirt under my nails. My clay is really wet and I ended up cutting and weighing out all the clay I'd need for the day and letting it sit out to dry while going to visit my Mom. After a couple hours (about as long as I can take due to her dementia) I came home to clay that was just about the right consistency for throwing. After making several medium size bowl shapes, I made a large platter.
While using a rib to lay down the rim, the rib started to chatter and created this awesome texture on the rim. Not exactly something I was going for, but I think it will look really interesting when the piece is glazed.
Have a Merry Christmas everybody!!
In my last post, I showed you an oblong platter I'd made using a wooden bowl as a mold. The shape and process have really been speaking to me and I've made several more since that last post. They measure about 13"l x 9"w and about 1" deep. The process of decorating them with trails for slip (thick liquid clay) is something I really enjoy. And if you don't like how it's turning out, you can just wipe it off with a sponge and start over. Here is one glazed in a rutile green glaze.
And the one below is glaze in deep iron red with one end dipped in sapphire blue which creates a mottled black appearance. The black end is also incised with a ribbon tool creating the subtle lines after it is glazed. I've also added three slip dots on the red end of the platter.
Right now the kiln is full of bisqued pieces and I'm waiting patiently for it to cool to an acceptable temperature so I can unload it. Patience is not one of my strong points. I'll unload tomorrow and then will begin a weekend of glazing pieces from my last couple bisque loads. And then the cycle begins again. Throw, bisque, glaze, sell.
Take care and thanks for visiting.
I unloaded the kiln last night and was very pleased with some of the results. It’s always a mystery which pieces will turn out as I’d hoped and I’m sometimes disappointed. This opening, I was please with 
nearly everything and very excited about a new design I’ve been working on. I’ve began making some oblong platters using clay slabs made with a handy piece of equipment called a slab roller. It works a lot like an old wringer washing machine. (Am I old or what?!). The clay slab is draped into a carved wooden bowl/platter shape I purchased while in Virginia a month or so ago. Here is a picture of the carved bowl. The wood draws the moisture out of the clay aiding in the drying process. When the piece is leather hard, I use slip to decorate the inside of the platter. And here is a picture of the piece I took out of the kiln last night. It is glazed in a rutile green glaze which flows nicely over the slip texture. I’ve got several other platters like this to glaze and fire and I can’t wait to see how they look.
I unloaded the kiln bright and early this morning to see what wonderful surprised might have occurred during this firing. While glazing each piece I have a mental picture of how it will turn out. Each time you open the kiln you discover things that turned out how you expected and things that didn't. Sometimes the ones that didn't turn out become really good examples of what not to do again. But my favorite are the ones that didn't turn out as expected, but are so much better. The platter shown here, which measures 16" across, turned out better than expected, but still not really good. The blue/green glaze on the rim ran into the spiral pattern more than I had hoped. Something for me to work on next time I guess. Thanks for reading.
In my last post, I showed you an oblong platter I'd made using a wooden bowl as a mold. The shape and process have really been speaking to me and I've made several more since that last post. They measure about 13"l x 9"w and about 1" deep. The process of decorating them with trails for slip (thick liquid clay) is something I really enjoy. And if you don't like how it's turning out, you can just wipe it off with a sponge and start over. Here is one glazed in a rutile green glaze. 
I unloaded the kiln last night and was very pleased with some of the results. It’s always a mystery which pieces will turn out as I’d hoped and I’m sometimes disappointed. This opening, I was please with 
nearly everything and very excited about a new design I’ve been working on. I’ve began making some oblong platters using clay slabs made with a handy piece of equipment called a slab roller. It works a lot like an old wringer washing machine. (Am I old or what?!). The clay slab is draped into a carved wooden bowl/platter shape I purchased while in Virginia a month or so ago. Here is a picture of the carved bowl. The wood draws the moisture out of the clay aiding in the drying process. When the piece is leather hard, I use slip to decorate the inside of the platter. And here is a picture of the piece I took out of the kiln last night. It is glazed in a rutile green glaze which flows nicely over the slip texture. I’ve got several other platters like this to glaze and fire and I can’t wait to see how they look.
I unloaded the kiln bright and early this morning to see what wonderful surprised might have occurred during this firing. While glazing each piece I have a mental picture of how it will turn out. Each time you open the kiln you discover things that turned out how you expected and things that didn't. Sometimes the ones that didn't turn out become really good examples of what not to do again. But my favorite are the ones that didn't turn out as expected, but are so much better. The platter shown here, which measures 16" across, turned out better than expected, but still not really good. The blue/green glaze on the rim ran into the spiral pattern more than I had hoped. Something for me to work on next time I guess. Thanks for reading.
