Glaze experiments

The blue-eyed fish was glazed with chun... It's red where the glaze is thick and greenish where it's thin. The fish in the back was an experiment:

I used "Georgie's Sculptural & Textural Glazes": Copper Patina over Ohata Red. Love it! I'll try the combination again on a larger lantern.

Happy fish

Here's the large fish lantern. I had a close call with the glaze... it got pretty thick and runny. I'm lucky it didn't fuse to the kiln shelf!

Erik loves his new cave! Can you see his little face peering out?

I'm really happy with the kingfisher tile...

...especially the water texture.

The Bird Factory

I'm building birds!

They are made out of illustration board.

At the show, they will fly across the ceiling of the gallery.

I am going to cut out a whole flock with this template.... when I can figure out a way to do it without hurting my hands.

OUCH!!

Anyone have a laser cutter I can borrow? Or maybe a robot?

Tiny box turtles

The first turtle is average-size, but the 2 on the right are tiny! How tiny?

This tiny.

Four completely finished fish lanterns!

Fabulous

These two are my favorite. Their eyes resemble Froot Loops cereal.

...and more bowls and plates for the "dotted" set

Three fish lanterns

Here are this week's fish lanterns... The one on the right is made with white clay.

Happy fish are a small, good thing

I took a break from pottery this week to work on an issue that's troubling one of my aquariums...

The pygmy gourami are fine, and so are the dwarf rasbora. They're delightful little fish.

The problem lies with Erik, a Chinese Algae eater. He deserves his species' bad reputation as a digger. He's uprooting all of the plants!

Here is Erik, studying his reflection in the aquarium glass. According to various sources, he's trying to excavate a cave for himself. The only solution is to present him with a fabulous hiding spot. Luckily, I have the skills and technology.

I made a cave for Erik, and also one for Ani. Who's Ani?

Ani's a beautiful bristlenose catfish. Thank you for asking.

(S)he lives in guppy central, also known as the "South American Tank."

The caves, when finished, will be partially buried and covered in aquarium gravel. There are dips in the roofs for plants to grow, and I'll glaze the insides a dark color so Erik and Ani feel secure. I hope the caves will make my bottom feeders happy!

Erin gets a gold star!

Erin submitted two of her encaustic paintings to BayArts' 49th Annual Juried Show, and they look great!

The judges thought so too... First place... way to go Erin!


I glazed my first four fish lanterns on Sunday. First, I glazed their eyes yellow, orange, or turquoise... I also pencilled the glaze color I planned to use on their foreheads. Have to make sure the correct glaze goes with its complementary eye color!

Easy peasy, compared to some of the other pieces I've glazed.

And here's a not at all bad tureen, ready to be bisqued.

Little turtles, little fish

Hi, guys!

Three successful tiles!

LOVE this one! It's the best of all of the tiles.

I'm determined to make ONE large bowl that works out.

Here's a couple of medium-sized bowls. They can do a trick: look!

I like when pieces can do double-duty.

Lots to blog about

I'm continuing to glaze tiles... Below are some finished pieces that came out of the kiln yesterday:

And the bird plates:

I'm not crazy about the bluejay... The plate is a bit heavy, and I botched the glaze on the back.

I'm not thrilled with any of the backs, actually. But the fronts look okay.

Here's lantern number seven: it's tiny!