Plate in progress ("Babs and Kent visit the seashore")

A large plate plus people pieces-parts

equals "Babs and Kent visit the seashore."

I plan to do a bit of painting on the plate, but if anyone used the plate for food, Babs and Kent could critique the meal.

Incidentally the plate itself is really nice and balanced. And I'm hopeful that a better title will present itself.

Ryukin jar (in progress)

A friend for Bubba and Junior... I wonder if those two found homes yet?

Rainbowfish Bowl

Or Rainbow Fishbowl.
It's finished a little too late for "Fins and Fur." Better luck next time!

"Fins and Fur" now through November 22 at the Gallery at Lighthouse

A few photos from opening night...

Lori and Me

My family! (Mom, Dad, and Brother Ed were able to make the trip to Connecticut)

All my fish fit in my hatchback admirably.

This was a vacation for me, too!

I stayed 3 blocks away from Long Island Sound...

... and I visited the Mystic aquarium and a couple of Connecticut State Parks.

Red eyed vireo with garden spider

Slightly botched vireo

Plate hangers

Okay, "Fins and Fur" is ready to hang. Some of the irregularly shaped plates had to be wired in an unorthodox way (note the wrong-way plate hangers and wire on the walleye, trigger, and angelfish), but they seem really secure.

I cleaned the Westlake Pat Catan's out in terms of plate hangers, and I still need 8 more...

Slow motion

Here's the rainbowfish bowl all painted. Took me long enough.

Lettuce coral (in progress)

See the little fishes? They'll be brilliantly colored, while the coral will be a muted green. At least that's the plan.

Painting a bowl

I'm trying a new product: "Incredible White Mask" liquid frisket.

Contains natural latex and ammonia. Yummy!

Made in the USA: by a Cleveland company, no less. Believe in Cleveland.

A bowl in progress... those are Rainbow fish. The frisket helps me paint light dots on a dark background more easily.

The latex seems to remove cleanly, but I won't know for sure until I glaze the bowl. Stay tuned....

Tubby (in progress)

Meet Tubby. He's a Ryukin goldfish (note the humped back).

His body was built using a party balloon for support.

Awwww, look at that face!

Fins (and Fur)

Okay, that's it for me... Here are all my "Fins" for "Fins and Fur."

Happy Boxfish Family

Bubba and Junior

Butterflyfish

Tableware

Wall of Fish

Puffers

I love the library!

I found this beautiful book today: the "lettuce coral" on the cover hooked me. Look at the little fishes swimming around it! Where's my birdbath mold? I've gotta make something like this.

Coral vase (in progress)

My aim was to make something that "suggested" coral, but that idea didn't pan out. Better put a fish on it.

Tiny little boxfish

I especially like the pink one.

Butterflyfish vase

Coral Reef Plate

All finished! After firing it again, I'm happier with the glazes. The spotted fish is a Pixy hawkfish.

Anemone bowl

Love this one! Those are pink anemone fish.

Coral reef plate: still a work in progress

I'm not sure what I wanted from this piece, but this isn't it. I've added some more glaze, and we'll see how it looks next time around.

Cups and bowls

Some pieces to paint on...eventually. I decided to go with extruded handles: they have some nice heft to them.

Meet "Spike" (Shaw's boxfish jar)

Shaw's Boxfish, 12 inches long. Various Laguna and Coyote glazes (a real mish-mash).

Mmmmmwah!

Spike's lid is a very tight, precise fit. Ordinarily I would fire the lid separately so as to have more glazed surface. In this case, I fired the jar and lid together even though there was a risk the lid would stick. It seemed preferable to the lid not fitting at all.

Upon removal from the kiln, Spike's lid was indeed stuck, but not fused. I tried heating and cooling the piece to see if the clay would expand or contract enough to allow the lid to come off. I could feel an infinitesimal amount of give... Finally, with the help of a bread knife, the lid popped right out. Hooray!

Black Hawk and the Orange Crusher

Freshwater angelfish plates

I love the Amaco Potter's Choice "Saturation Gold" on the smaller plate.

Hello, ladies! (Anglerfish cookie plates)

Bearded anglerfish (top) and White anglerfish (bottom)

The Bearded angler you've seen before, and the White angler is fresh out of the kiln. I know, I know... She's lavender.

Vicious fish

It's a Mustached Triggerfish, about 14 inches long. These fish can grow to 30 inches and are aggressively territorial (they have well-developed teeth and don't hesitate to use them)!

More boxfish

Here are some more boxfish, fresh out of the glaze kiln:

Turretfish

White-barred boxfish. (Where's the white? Um....  the Chun Plum got a little thick.)

The growing family: assorted species of boxfish