and now, for something completely different...

Finished the underglaze "painting" on this one this afternoon.  I really enjoyed making it.  Really... there will be more of these.  ;)

Time...

This is what being on vacation looks like, I guess.  I finished the sgraffito decoration on this plate at around 11:30 last night.  Once the design was formed in my mind, it really didn't take very long to complete.  I've been on vacation from work this week (soooooo very nice), and that time away from all of that  has allowed me to clear away some of the clutter...  time to refocus some creativity.  And it worked, I think.  I made this plate several days ago, and once it got to the leather hard stage, I applied the underglaze, and from there the design just sort of happened.  Hopefully it will survive all of the trials to come.  I like this one.

Gold dust, maybe?....

When I got home from work this evening I was delighted to see a package resting on my front door.  My order from Big Ceramic Store had arrived!  Yippeee... just like Christmas morning (ha). 

This is my first experience with Mason Stains.  I'm thinking the main ingredient must be gold dust, because this stuff is kinda pricey.  Oh well... I've heard good things about it.  I will be using it to color earthenware slip.  I've read a few articles about how to use it, but if there are any experienced potters out there who wouldn't mind sharing a few wise words regarding this stuff, please feel free to share-away.  I would really appreciate it.  I'm like a sponge.  Thanks.

Why not now...

if we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin
Ivan Turgenev

When faced with a decision, choose the path that feeds your soul.
Dorothy Mendoza Row

Fly by Night...

Here is a new plate (or small platter) that I've been working on these past few days.  It's made of red earthenware, and slab built over a slump mold.  Once it was stable enough to safely handle (leather hard) I took it off the mold and smoothed out the edge a bit more, and then applied cut-out stencils for the moon and trees.  After that, I brushed on a generous coat of black Spectrum underglaze and then removed the stencils and allowed it to dry overnight.  This morning I went over the details of cleaning up the lines, added some extra branches to the trees, and lastly... I penciled in the bird and carved it through the underglaze.  After bisque firing it will get a clear glaze finish.  The fired platter should measure about an inch deep by 12 inches in diameter.  I'll be making several more of these plates with a similar design motif here in the next few weeks.  I will be using colored slip, instead of the commercial underglaze, for the others.

100 pounds of clay....

It doesn't look like much in this picture, but that's 100 pounds of clay sitting there on my work table.  That's the most clay I have ever bought at one time, and I am excited to get started making stuff.  I want to make enough pots here in the next couple of months (I actually have no idea how long this will take) to have a fairly full kilnload when I fire the Vulcan for the first time.  As I have noted before, my plan is to have the kiln hooked up and ready to fire before the end of the year...  And that would be a whopping three weeks away?  I'm sure that once I get it wired I'm going to be bursting to fire my first load.  But I will just have to pace myself.  It may go faster that I think, but if you've seen our kiln (there's a good look at it in my post from August 29th) you know that it is a monster.  No worries.  ;)   

they're back...

I picked up my glaze load yesterday on the way home from work.  I think it is safe to say that at this stage of my education in the making of pottery, every firing is going to be a lesson in accepting small victories, and hopefully learning what not to do next time.  ;) 

These pieces of pottery are OK, but overall I am just not very happy with the results of this glaze firing.  On every piece (almost without exception) the glaze appear thin, with long streaks of glaze dripping down in some spots.  And in other places, there are blotchy areas with almost no shine on the surface at all.  And I also had some bubbling or blistering on a couple of them.  Ugh.  The good news is, I am pretty sure I know why they turned out the way they did.  I made the mistake of thinning the glaze down this time, thinking that it was too thick last time.  Hmmmmm... It's just a guess, but everything seems to point in that direction.   Also, between the two glaze loads I've sent to L&R this year, both have had blistering; with the common factor between them being Amaco underglaze.  I used the Amaco on a few of the pieces from this load, and those were the ones that blistered.  On everything else I used Spectrum underglaze.  At any rate, these are not a total loss, but they do need to be better.  A lot better... especially if I'm going to start putting them out there for the world to see (and hopefully buy).  I will take another critical look at them, but I doubt any of these pots will make it to my Etsy site.  We'll see.  Nevertheless, every step of the way I feel like I am learning. 
Out of the dozen or so pieces from this load, these four jugs have kinda risen to the top of the heap.  Even with their flaws, I can find positive aspects in them, most certainly.  I like them, and I don't want to sound too down about all of this... I still think it's really cool.  I just need to keep moving forward with them... and try to make them better next time.

L&R Raku day 2011

I spent a good part of the day down in Nixa at L&R's 21st annual Raku Day.  It was fun.  This was my first time watching the Raku process in person.  I didn't have any bisqued ware (made from Raku clay) to fire, but L&R had pieces available for a very reasonable price... I bought a small globular vase for $5.00.  Everything else was free; the glazing and firing, and lots of good food to snack on!  You can't beat that, and it was such an enjoyable atmosphere.  You had to be patient, though.  The crowd was thick, and the process takes time.  After I selected the vase I wanted, I stood in line for a while just to get to the wax resist area.  After that, we moved on to the glaze buckets.  I chose a crackle white for the bottom half of the pot, with a turquoise blue rim.  The next step involved about a half hour (or so) of pre-warming and then waiting for a kiln to open up.  They had about half a dozen gas-fired kilns going.  The actual firing took about 20 minutes. When the vase was glowing orange hot, the top of the kiln was lifted off, and the guy working the kiln picked up my piece with tongs and moved it around in the air (and even blew on it) to cool the surface, in order to create the distinct crackle effect.  It was then placed in a metal bucket with some newspaper, and sealed for several minutes, allowing the smoke to permeate the clay body, and darken the cracks in the glaze.  It turned out really nice, I think.  I'm pretty sure that when November rolls around next year, I'll be back for the 22nd annual Raku day.  A good time was had by one and all.

Into the fire...

I took the rest of my mid-fire buff pieces to work with me this morning, and on my lunch break I drove over to Nixa and dropped them off at L&R, for bisque firing.  They should be done early next week.  As always, I'm looking forward to seeing the results.  I've got some jugs in that load that I am pretty excited about.  The plan is to have the Vulcan kiln wired and ready to fire by the time I have another load of pots ready to go.  Those will all be earthenware.  I could see that happening sometime this winter with any luck.  Right now, however, I do not have a single piece of earthenware pottery made.  Guess I better get busy.   Be the clay...... ;)

Creative momentum

Time.  Artistic pursuits require unfettered time to blossom, and grow.  Right now, my time for such things comes in fragments.  An hour here, a couple of hours there.  That's just the way it is.  I'm not complaining, but it can be very frustrating sometimes.  Many artists speak in glowing terms about creative momentum; about those times when there is no time... just you and your craft, with little or no awareness that hours are passing.  When I read articles about artists, they will occasionally make a casual comment about being so caught up in the creative process, that they forget to eat.  Funny.  I don't have that problem.

I got home from work yesterday, and after goofing around with Gabriel for a few minutes and getting some other things done around the house, I went down to the basement to get started on a piece of pottery that I've had rattling around in my head for the past couple of days.  We had band rehearsal last night, but I thought I could at least get started on my idea before I had to leave.  Unfortunately, my mind just wasn't in the game, and the slab of clay that I had neatly rolled out for my new piece of pottery, quickly turned into a mashed up pile on my work bench (with a very nice impression of my fist in the middle).  Things didn't go so well.  So much for the creative process.  There's always tomorrow.  An hour here... a couple of hours there.  Peace.

When things finally get rolling...

I need to remember this.  Some day when I'm an artist I can make a copy of it, and hang it in my studio.  That would be cool.  Some day...  ;)  

Something new...

I still have some mid-fire buff clay left in the recycle bucket, and I wanted to try a few different ideas out before I get these fired.  I haven't decided if I want to wait until I get my kiln wired and fire them here, or just go ahead and take them down to L&R for the bisque firing, and be done with it.  The longer these sit around green, the more likely something is going to happen to them.  Once all of this mid-fire clay is used up, my plan is to switch to earthenware clay for most of the pieces I will be making.  I think it will be a more economical choice, and easier to focus on one type of clay and learn all I can about it here in the next few years.  Best laid plans, as they say...

This is a lidded jar I made with the buff stoneware this past week.  It's slab built, with Spectrum black underglaze.  This time, instead of a sgraffito decoration, I cut out paper stencils... moistened them with a little slip, and applied them to the leather hard pot; then I brushed the underglaze over them.  Once the underglaze was slightly dry, I peeled the stencils off.  Later, I lightly wiping down the jar with a damp sponge to soften the edges of the design. I also took a toothpick and lightly scratching the trees to give them some depth.  I thought it turned out pretty good.  As with all of these, I can't wait to see the finished pot.  It will get a light, clear glaze on the exterior, also.

417G. The G is for giant.

The 417G Vulcan kiln has a new home now, in our garage!  I borrowed my brother-in-law's truck last weekend and Pam & I went up to Bolivar to retrieve the last, and largest, section of it... the base.  We had a nice visit and a great afternoon meal with Debbie and Ken, and then loaded it up and headed south.  I think it came with a year's supply of gravity.  Heavy... very heavy.  This past week I built a dolly for it to sit on, with a heavy-duty frame and multiple casters, so I can store it against the wall, under the storage loft.  When I want to use it, I can move it out away from the loft where there are no obstructions overhead, and nothing that can get overheated around it.  That's the plan anyway.  As soon as I get the garage straightened up and get a spot set up for it, I will call an electrician and hopefully get it all wired up and ready to go.  I'm not going to rush things.  When I lift the lid to the kiln, this is what it looks like inside.   ;)

I think I need to go downstairs now and make more pots.  A lot more pots... Cheers!

Little corker...

Hmmm... it's probably going to take quite a few of these to fill a 16 cubic foot kiln.  I guess I better get busy!  ;)   This is what happens at 11:00 at night when you have a little extra clay left over, and you feel like maybe making one more thing before heading off to bed.    

WhooooHoooooo!

We got our kiln!  When Pam went up to Bolivar at the beginning of the week to start her prep work and meetings at school, she found out that a good friend and fellow teacher had the kiln in her garage.  Her husband had also bid on it (and won) with the intent of selling it later.  And he did... today!  Pam brought home the lid for this monster after school and it is, in a word, large (ha).  The ruler in the picture is 36" long.  Not a problem, though... hopefully.  It looks like it can be broken down into sections, so that is how we are planning on getting it to the house over the course of the next few days; piece by piece.  Wow.  My summer has just taken a very interesting turn, full of possibilities!  As I said in a previous post... it's going to be like a 15 year old learning to drive in an 18 wheeler.  Oh boy.... 

Flora

As you can see, I am really enjoying making these jugs.  This one is from last week.  I decorated it a couple of nights ago.  It doesn't look like it right now, but when it is fired it will (hopefully) be dark blue.  I used a navy blue underglaze over mid-fire buff stoneware, with a scratched (sgraffito) floral design.  You can't see it in these two pictures, but there's also a bunny in there.  All of these jugs will be clear glazed inside and out, also.  I'm excited (and a bit anxious) to see how they all come out.  I will probably end up building at least one more of the jugs before this batch is off to the kiln for bisque firing, but right now I'm thinking it's time to make some mugs.  Fun... jugs and mugs.  ha

Dirty Deeds... Done Dirt Cheap!

Gato

...Is it you again outside, just bangin' on the front door? You said you had enough, now you're comin' back for more,
but that's alright, I said that that's alright...  zz top

Old Crow...

Here is another stoneware jug I made last week.  I am still working out the finer points of making strap handles with these.  I have a bucket of reclaim clay that I am trying to use up, and so I decided to make jugs out of it.  I figure I've got just about enough clay in the bucket to make two more of the larger jugs or maybe three small ones.  I also did some sgraffito on the other jug I posted below, which turned out pretty good.  This has been another busy week and weekend, capped off with a two night gig with the band, and birthday celebrations for my wife and my sister (a very happy birthday to both of you!).  Next week is looking like it may settle down a bit... maybe.  Busy or not, I be makin' some stuff!  ;)            

getting my hands muddy again!

Well... no big kiln for me.  Too bad.  The auction didn't come through, but that's OK, I guess.  I admit that I was already thinking about exactly where it was going to sit in the garage (ha) but it was not to be.   But on a higher note, I am finally getting things back in place in the basement; and last night I made my first piece of pottery in probably two months.  It felt good to get into that state of mind again... to get drawn into the creative process.  I've had a much needed vacation from work this week, but a lot of it has been spent whittling away at the long list of projects that have needed to be done around here.  And the 4th of July festivities always eat up a lot of time... but we enjoy that, and I don't mind it at all.  It's a good time.  We also went to Silver Dollar City Wednesday, so it certainly hasn't been all work and no play.  This weekend I'm hoping to finish getting everything back in the basement, and situated.  I'm getting very close, but the process always seems to take so much time.  Mid summer is always a busy time of the year, but hopefully things will settle in soon, and I can get back into the groove.  The new jug is slab built, made of mid-fire buff stoneware, and measures just under 9 inches high, with a diameter of 5 inches.  I think it turned out nicely.