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Happy Belated Birthday

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Warren Mackenzie had a birthday on the 16th of this month.  I usually try to remember it and write a post about Warren.  Well, I forgot this year again.

The small grayish bowl in the center of the picture was made by Warren.  We have a couple of these and they are handy little prep. bowls, also good for condiments, or nuts.  I think they are funny pots. Just look at those handles stuck on there!! Ha. Great.


So I had to make a few to pay homage to my pottery hero.  Mine are a bit shallower but I stuck with the odd handles.

Happy late birthday Warren (not that you'd ever be found wasting time on the computer).  It's the thought that counts.

Knobandall Pt. 2

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As promised here is the knob and all being finished.  It's best to cut these when they are leather hard.  The one in the video was still a bit  soft.  The lid will release from the body better if it's leatherhard.  Use a sharp fettling knife or Exacto knife to make the cut.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXP__mshJ1Y

The Knobandall

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This video shows me making a knobandall.  That's knob and all, a small jar thrown in one piece.  Body, lid, and knob.  Part 2 will show how I cut the lid and finish it off.  Enjoy.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAZZr_DXzj8

Some New Pots

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httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GifjvQ-QiY

Not  so great quality.  I don't have a very good hold on this whole video thing.  This was a 230 MB video and I used some software off the internet to knock it down to 14.5 MB. Can that be right? I guess so.  Anyhow at 230 it was taking over 2 hrs to download. Now it's less than 10 minutes.  Anyone have any suggestions (Thanks for yours earlier Michael)

On to the pots.

I forgot to mention in the video that I had pinholing problems with the honey glaze. Bummer.  That can be worked out but after seeing a few pots I'm not sure how far I'm going to go with it anyhow.  I do really like the clear. Ha. So for now the honey is on hold.

I am going to post some pots to Etsy soon!!  Stay tuned.

Slipping. Setting it Up.

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Slipped these 12 plates this morning.  I went ahead and combed most of them.  This will set up the next part of the decoration which will be sgraffito.  The back 3 are an order for  clothesline patterns so they got the standard (for now) pours.


Pots out of the kiln in the next couple hours.  Stay tuned for pics.

Glazing. And Pots from the Philadelphia Museum of Art

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The photo below shows a cup with my clear glaze applied.  Since the clear goes on in a thin coat and doesn't contain any oxides or stains I can easily see the sgraffito drawing under the glaze.  That is nice if I am going to come back on top of the glaze with another glaze to color the leaves or birds or whatever. (Which I did, but didn't take a picture).



The next image shows the new honey glaze which now has 4.5% burnt umber in it.  I feel like this glaze needs to go on thicker.  If the glaze is too thin the color will not be right.  I dipped the first cup( no image) and could not see the drawing on the pot. Oops.  So I thinned out the glaze a bit so that I got this result on the second cup.



The imagery showed up fairly well as the glaze dried and I was able to go in and add some green glaze on the leaves.  I won't know until after the firing if this is thick enough for the burnt umber to give me the honey color I want.

This got me wondering if makers in the past had this same issue.  I have seen historical  pots where the green glaze seems to be applied in a hit or miss fashion.
Example Here

Although after looking at more pots from this same period I think the green was applied with the intention of adding another color, not necessarily highlighting the foliage or other parts of the image.
See Here and Here.

I think this pot would have benefited from George holding off on the green. Click.

Other times the glazes are applied quite nicely.
Here and Here.

This pot is one of my favorites at the moment.  I plan on making some jars this week.  Look for that shape to show up.

If you're going to NCECA this year you'd better get over to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to see some of these pots.

Tweak

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After seeing this new glaze on a bigger tile I've decided to add more burnt umber to it.  It's not quite the right color.  I  think this tile came out poorly also because the glaze was not thick enough.

So the glaze firing is going to wait until tomorrow.  Sarah and I are off to a chocolate tasting!! Yum and then out to our Valentine's Dinner later this evening.

Sunshine!

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Sure the wind is howling and it's a bit cold but the Sun has been shining all day!! Hurrah!!

Honestly I've been in a poor frame of mind for almost 2 months now.  Today has been the best day I've had, all day long.

I finally got all caught up on pots I had made last week.  These little  bowls got handled and slipped today. ( I had an extra handle and didn't want it to go to waste)(Which gave me a bit of a Virginia Scotchie moment).

I made plates and mugs and serving bowls today.  Also made up some Lists for what I have coming up and need to get snapping on.


There are no pots listed on my Etsy site.  How can I expect to sell anything with an empty shop?  That will be resolved soon.


Cider Report:
The Autumn Gold from Eve's was soooo good.  Yes, it was a Tuesday night but who cares?  Sarah and I enjoyed the whole bottle last.  It looks like I'm going to be ordering a case in the next couple weeks.  We'll try the Bittersweet this weekend (if we can wait that long).

New Video

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A quick video of some pots that have been hanging out in the studio waiting to be drawn on.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdtB2_VXZ2U

I mentioned  Toft slipware in the video. Here is one of Thomas Toft's famous slipware dishes.  Notice the trailed hatching on the rim.


I also mentioned  Medieval Italian majolica. Below is a bowl with cross hatching. I really love these.  This pot came from Orvieto and was made in the late 14th century.



I really must get some pots made tomorrow.  Until then...

Catching up.

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No potting since Thursday.  I met up with my clay pals, Julie, Amy, and Jen on Friday for a bit.  We talked about what each of us has been working on.  It's good to have this stable, local base of potter friends who I can get together with for support and encouragement.

Sarah and I have been painting our upstairs all weekend.  We are practically finished. Just a bit of touch up to do.

I've been thinking about my influences.  Most of them are potters or historic pottery, esp. Oribe ware and English Slipware.  But I also try to look at other things.  Recently I've been looking at woodblock prints.    Here is one by the famous Japanese printmaker, Shiko Munakata.


I'd like to do a post this week on something I've been struggling w. regarding influences and where my current work is going.  Until then I'd like to recommend this post by Kristen Kieffer.  It's titled 'Signature Style' and Kristen did an ace job writing it.  Be sure to visit the comments there too, because there's lots of good insight there too.

Well that's all for now.  I'm off to do some cooking at a Super Bowl party.  I don't care too much about the game, but I'll help keep some folks fed so they can make it through the big game.