Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Remainder of my Spring Ahead (Garden) Pieces

Before I continue with the raku pieces, I want to post the Spring Ahead pieces and some pieces which I created during open workshop prior to my raku course, which I finally picked up today.  I had already forgotten about a couple of these (although my book of notes hadn't), so it was a nice surprise to be able to pick up so many today.

Large ceramic pottery bowl with swirly hand stamp pattern and thrown pedestal foot.
32) This big boy is similar to the big swirly bowl which is currently on display at Shadbolt.  Except this one has a thrown pedestal added to it, I finished the swirls in Tenmoku as well as Deep Blue, and I glazed in Clear instead of Celadon.  I like how it turned out, although I don't know what I'll end up doing with it.  I don't want a birdbath for the yard.  It may end up as a large fruit bowl on my counter, just like the other big bowl.

Large double-walled bowl with thrown pedestal foot.
33) This may not be as big, but it is a really weighty piece.  It was the one which was thrown upside down as a dome, then flipped over, and what used to be the bottom is slumped and formed into the nice concave curve.  Then I threw a base for it.  I glazed it in Tenmoku, then Copper Red on the top.  I like the glaze combination, and how the Copper flows and interacts with the Tenmoku.

I see in my previous comments that in future I may want to carve the outer wall, since it is double-walled.  I'm glad I recorded that thought, since it seems like a nice project to try one day.

Colorful glazed pottery ceramic vase.
34) This is one of the vessels I tried to deform so I could twist it.  The twisting was unsuccessful, but the shape of the vase wasn't.  It is quite bottom heavy, since it was hard to trim after deforming the sides, so it has a crack in the bottom.  I don't believe the glaze has filled it in, so it will not hold water, but would be fine for holding something dry, or just for display.

The glaze is quite a combination of colors, so it has lots of character.  First I glazed with Copper Red inside and Bamboo outside.  Then I dipped in overlapping Tenmoku, Matt Green and Deep Blue.  If I study the results more carefully, I'm sure I'll learn a lot about how those glazes interact.

Colorful glazed pottery ceramic stoneware vase.
35) This is the other piece I tried to deform, unsuccessfully, but ended up with an interesting shape.  My glaze notes are as follows : "Copper Red inside.  Deep Blue top.  Matt Green bottom.  Clear over Matt Green.  Drizzled Tenmoku inside and outside."

Ceramic stoneware sushi plate in deep blue and brown colors.
36) This little sushi plate uses one of my favourite glaze combinations, with a twist.  I added Copper Red to the top and then wiped it off, leaving it only in the recesses, then glazed with a barely overlapping Tenmoku and Deep Blue.  Now that I read the notes about the Copper Red, I can see little bits of red in the Deep Blue.  But on the Tenmoku side, rather than making the color a richer chocolate, it is surprisingly more clear and glassy in those parts.  As if it caused the chocolate to melt more in those places.  Maybe something like the "conching process" in forming quality chocolate - read more about it on the Lindt website.  :-)

Colorful ceramic cube for a stoneware / pottery garden totem.
37) There's a lot going on with this piece.  It is a cube I built from some extruded rectangular sections which I didn't know what to do with (I had decided not to build the demo project).  It will form part of another garden totem.

The opposite sides are glazed in Deep Blue, Celadon, and Tenmoku.  But there are other colors from my underglazes, in Yellow (flowers), Red (squiggle pattern), Greens (leaves).  I experimented with waxing those parts which were colored with underglaze, and they resisted the glaze nicely.  So other than being a time consuming process, I think it is a promising one.

Colorful ceramic cube for a stoneware / pottery garden totem.
38) This second cube, I decided to give it a "weather" theme.  It is glazed on three sides with Celadon, and three sides with Deep Blue.  There is Yellow underglaze on the stars and sun, otherwise the other parts were left uncolored (so just the natural grey clay), and again, I waxed the designs before glazing.

For both blocks, I had glazed all 6 sides and then realized I wouldn't be able to put these on the kiln shelves.  So I added 4 balls of wadding, but should have removed the glaze from those spots before attaching the wadding, since they of course stuck, and I needed to bang them off with a makeshift hammer.  If it were an indoor piece, I would need to file them also (too much work!) but since they will be in an outdoor totem, I'll just leave those funny white bits of wadding as a conversation piece.  At least I learned for next time.

As I look back in my previous post from my Spring Ahead course, I realize I may not have posted this little plate, which I think I picked up later than the other pieces (it was hiding under someone else's piece), so I'll post it now.
Ceramic pottery bowl with marbled inside / top.
31) This plate was thrown with the assistance of a "cow's tongue".  Then I tried to marble with Turquoise and Black slip, except I remember the slips were too dry, and wouldn't cooperate, so I added extra slip a couple more times, until I was satisfied enough with the result.  Then it was finished in Celadon glaze.  Cute little piece.  I like the foot with the spiral center.  That is not quite yet a trademark of my trimming, but I use it quite a bit, with satisfaction in the result.

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