Dots

Hey look! The dotted mugs turned out much better than I expected. I'm hard at work glazing some more of the brown pieces.

I'm applying iron oxide to the pots first, which gives them that nice purpley-brown background. I'm glazing in my kitchen, but I really need to give some more thought to studio safety and not contaminate food surfaces with dust and chemicals. It's funny how many kitchen appliances and utensils get commandeered for the greater good (like Erin's Foreman grill and cake pan). And now I've sacrificed my whole kitchen.

Here's the finished bluegill bowl. I don't remember making the fish so yellow, but there it is. The clear glaze pinholed a bit, which is a bummer. Either the surface was a little dusty when I applied it, or it's applied too thickly. I seem to have the problem more often when I use sage glaze on the outside.

Lastly, here's Karen's jar. I'm not ready to be finished with the project. There are some parts and color choices I don't like (I wish I'd used a darker green for the background), so I'll fuss with it some more and make another.

I'm still here!

Hello everyone from the invisible co-artist! I promise I am still alive and kicking, but have been working on a few non-small-good-things peices for other shows. Sorry sorry sorry!!

Here is an example:

This is a self portrait. See how sorry I look??
I'll be back soon with some fun stuff. Don't worry!

Bluegill bowls, Karen's Jar, and polka dots

I finished the above bowl last month... I wasn't happy with it at all: the fish looks stiff. I should have washed the painting off and tried again, but I fired the bowl instead. There are no "backsies" in pottery.

Here's a second attempt on a new bowl (in progress). I like this one much better!

Karen's Jar is all ready for its glaze firing. I wonder how it will turn out? I wish Karen were here... I would have asked her for advice about glazing.

I've started to glaze the brown dotted ware. I'm concerned about the clay body: it contains rather large iron specks which may compete with the dot pattern. The dotted ware is quick and interesting to make, but I don't feel as emotionally invested in it as I do in the painted ware. Might be nice to take it easy for a little while.

This week's odds and ends

I'm decorating and glazing Karen's Jar this week...

I decided to paint iron oxide (the brown stuff) on the surface of the figure so that the glaze will have some life to it and show off the textures. I'll treat the flowers in the same way.

Here's a successful cup and saucer. I'm still not thrilled with the "green shino" glaze, but this cup is better than the first attempts. Incidentally, my reglazing plan didn't work out... The brown cups were unchanged, but at least I didn't ruin them. I'll make more.

And lastly, here's a butter dish in progress. I think Mr. Crayfish will make an appearance on it. The big question is: inside or outside?

Bummed about the fish cups

The glazing didn't work out quite right on these cups... The glaze is called "Light Green Shino," and it should appear pale green where it's thick, and reddish brown where it's thin. The saucer on the upper right is perfect! But the cups are a uniform brown color because I didn't get the glaze thick enough.

I'm going to try applying more glaze and re-firing the cups. It's a risky move and may wreck them... We'll see. I can always make more, but it would be really nice if I had some pieces where the throwing, decorating, AND glazing all worked out.

Karen's Jar

I'm working on a piece in memory of my sweet pottery friend, Karen. She was kind, and compassionate, and genuine. And also a talented artist, although she was too humble to have agreed. This sunflower bowl, about 14 inches in diameter, is one of her lovely hand-built bowls. She also made delicate little figurines.


I wanted to incorporate some of her techniques and motifs in a large jar.

It's about 11 inches tall, not including the lid.

A figure of Karen holding one of her bowls is on the lid of the jar, with sunflowers and smaller flowers adorning the jar's surface.

The jar survived its first firing, so I've begun painting and glazing it. The inside will be the same blue color that appears on her sunflower bowl, and the sunflowers will also be glazed in a similar way. I'll make the smaller flowers purple, because that was Karen's favorite color. She once showed us a photo of herself from her "hippie" days, where she's wearing a calico granny dress and standing in a field of wildflowers. When I think of her now, that's how I picture her. I feel so fortunate that she was my friend, even though it was for only a few years.

Figure Painting in Progress

From today's 5 hour long figure painting session. This model did an incredible job holding this very long pose.

 Can't wait to finish this painting at the next session in March!