The new favorite of my bulbous pieces - no texture on this one - it  has a red Amaco glaze called Deep Firebrick, which I have come to like more and more. It has a nice luminous quality when it's thinner and when thicker/more layers, it's much deeper, richer and redder.  The re looks really pretty next to the strip of Saturation Gold (also Amaco).  The base is just one dip of Creme Matte (Standard), which is currently a favorite.  I am nuts about the matt finish of the glaze, but also how it allows the manganese speckles in the Standard 112  to shine through.

















I also like how this one turned out - it's a Coyote glaze - Ice Blue, which is a really beautiful glaze, and Creme Matte on the bottom part of the pot.  The Ice Blue is incredibly runny, and despite being only around the rim, ran about 3/4 of the way down the pot over the Creme Matte.  It has a sort of wheat field in the summer dreamy quality to it that I like.







Here are the pots that are the most disappointing from this batch because of how the turquoise glaze came out. My pottery teacher, Linna, thought that the pieces probably didn't get hot enough for the glaze to mature, so the result is an off- putting, plastic like look.  I might not mind it so much, but the first two pots I made using that glaze came out perfectly, so these just look awful in comparison. The big one is currently being recooked as we speak.  Linna jerry-rigged something to try to simulate a shelf over the pot to get it hotter.  I also thought the pot was too boring for it's size - the texture wasn't really dynamic, the shape is nothing special, the color was a dead brown black, and with the turquoise a big fat fail,  there wasn't much to like!   It does have a nice strong presence, so I figured it would be worth trying to save.  So, I added 3x Obsidion and then 3x Firebrick on the body of the pot.  I'm not very hopeful as refires are hit or miss for me, but as we say in the studio, we shall see.

The smaller pot with the beetle topper also has a ring of under matured turquoise.  I didn't refire it, but might do so depending on how the big one comes out.   I do have to say that I love the beetle and how the gold matured on that part of the pot.  Hopefully re-firing will work on the big guy, and the little one will get a second bake.

Sodium Silicate

Loving how this sodium silicate technique creates such interesting, organic, textural patterns in the clay.  These pieces are on brown clay.   Can't wait to see how the others turn out!

I've been using a brown clay with manganese flecks (Standard 112):

Different sizes in the crackles:

This one I did in Deep Firebrick - Amaco glaze - which is very pretty, but it's a bit more opaque than I would have liked because you can't see the manganese flecks.  I'll try a different red next time.



Different shape - smaller crackle texture - probably because either not enough sodium silicate and/or didn't stretch it enough:

And here is the finished piece - the same turquoise as the first piece - just LOVE how the manganese flecks show through this glaze:

Unfortunately, we had an accident moving the pieces upstairs from the kiln room - bummer but that's pottery: (   The good news is that I can inspect my walls, which are not perfect - could be a bit thinner and a bit more even, but are not bad.  The inside of the pot is just glazed with clear, so it's the natural, warm brown of the clay and the manganese flecks.

This one started life as a tall cylinder - about 8" (tall for me). I incised the vertical lines and then painted the sodium silicate over the vertical lines.  So the texture is a combination of deep vertical lines and the crackle of the sodium silicate after the clay was stretched.  I am just getting the hang of stretching the clay in such an extreme way, so there are very thin spots on the wall.  This was also a big pot for me, and I almost lost it - had to hang it upside down for a couple of days to try to salvage it!  The organic looking rim was a way to finish the piece - with so many thin spots on this piece, I was afraid if I did much to it, it would crack - actually it did crack and I had to patch it up.  So, I didn't want to try to do much more to the rim because the walls were so fragile.  I finished the piece so you could still see the vertical texture of the neck, which is a nice contrast to the diagonal direction of the lines on the rest of the pot -and I kept the rim really thick to help balance out the rest of the piece, but left it organic to match the base of the pot.

So happy with how this guy ended up - I almost threw him away too!  The inside and rim are glazed with creme matt and the outside has black, which was rubbed off.  The neck has a little of the turquoise under the creme matt, but that didn't work so well.

S'more dip in a crazed brie baker...

S'more dip in a crazed brie baker...

   This s'more "dip" has been making the rounds on Facebook in my circles recently.  It is exactly what it looks like - browned, melted marshmallows over gooey melted chocolate - all ready for a graham cracker to dip.  It tastes just like a traditional s'more, although have to say I miss the smokey flavor of the marshmallows toasted over a camp fire.  But this s'more "dip" is easier to make, far less messy and you can make it regardless of the weather - rain, sleet, snow or sun (we often have all four on the same day in Cleveland ; ).  

(s'more dip recipe below)

     So the pot I used to make this toasted wonder is a wheel thrown stoneware plate with a nice, big rim that I carved.  The whole piece was glazed with a Coyote glaze called Crazed Copper, which I talked about a few blogs ago.  I was initially disappointed with the results of the glaze because it didn't craze as it was supposed to.   It was/is a beautiful, translucent celadon but without the  texture I was looking for.  

   
                                    (Baked brie with honey and rosemary sprinkled on top)

    Fast forward, in the last year or so, I've used this plate occasionally as a brie baker - it's the perfect size and shape for that purpose.  It was also the perfect size for the s'more dip.  After we demolished the s'mores and I was cleaning the plate, I was surprised to see that the crazing was now pronounced and has the look I originally envisioned.  This, I have now learned, is due to something called "delayed crazing" and "it occurs as the clay body and glaze adjust to their newly formed state after the firing." (IS IT FOOD-SAFE? Thoughts on Ceramic Safety by John Britt, great article that can be purchased here: http://johnbrittpottery.com/shop/844/).  There is some controversy about whether crazing is safe - it's considered a flaw, and generally I have been told, represents a problem with clay body and glaze compatibility; however, there are those, including glaze engineers, who have also said that no one has ever been hurt by eating from a crazed ceramic surface; as long as good hygiene practices are used, there should be no issue of unsafe bacterial growth.  I'll go with that. Here is a close up of how the now visible crazing looks:

S'more Dip

The recipe I followed said to use an iron skillet, but it's just as easy to use a 

ceramic pot - or a glazed brie baker!  

Oil the skillet/dish up to the rim (to prevent chocolate and marshmallows from sticking), and preheat the dish in the oven for about 10 minutes at 450.   (If you are using a ceramic dish, be sure to place it in a cold oven and then turn the oven on to preheat - it's best not to put a room temperature ceramic dish into a hot oven unless it's made of oven tempered ceramic)

Remove the warmed, oiled pot from the oven and add semi-sweet chocolate chips. In this smaller dish, I added about 1/2 - 3/4 a bag of chips, so about 6 - 8 oz of chocolate.  (my daughter likes the addition of peanut butter cups on top of the chocolate chips). The chocolate will start to melt on the warmed plate.   Cover all the chocolate with marshmallows that have been cut in half.  Return pot to oven and heat for about 5 - 7 minutes.  The marshmallows will puff and brown.  Keep an eye on them to be sure they don't burn.  

Serve immediately with graham crackers. YUUMMMMMY! 

Abby's Doodle Illustrations

My daughter is an incredible talent - very detail oriented - and she creates amazing, wonderful images.  She has done most of her work in black and white, but just recently she started working in color  - she did the "All You Need is Love" heart in honor of the 

Supreme Court's ruling on marriage equality. 

Enjoy some of her amazing work : ) 

Sodium Silicate

Sodium Silicate

      I love texture on pots, and I've particularly admired the textures that you can get on thrown pots with sodium silicate.  I've been reluctant to try this technique because I didn't feel confident enough in my throwing skills - the trick is that you have to be able to expand/stretch the pot from the inside, without any hand support on the outside of the pot.  But we recently got some sodium silicate at the studio, and I decided to go for it.  

     This was one of two small pots I made using this technique - I tossed the other one, but I liked this one well enough to keep.   I really like the organic, dry, cracked earth effect from glazing with oxides; I used red iron oxide on the texture on this pot - the rim and interior were glazed with Cream Matt and Green Tea.

The elusive 10" cylinder

The elusive 10" cylinder 

2015 was the year I was supposed to be practicing throwing tall - 10" cylinders.   I can throw bowls of many shapes and sizes, and I'm pretty good at throwing platters.  But tall pots - even tall mugs elude me.  Right now I'm lucky if I can get over 7", and in my mind, the sign of a good potter is being able to throw tall - hence my quest.   

This finished pot is about 13" tall - impressive, no?  Well, here's how it happened.  

I started with a lot of clay - about 6 or 7 lbs - and threw a cylinder - my usual of about 7 1/2".  I left a thick rim thinking that after I opened it up to create a wide, full shoulder, I would cone in and throw a tall, narrow neck.  But when I tried to cone it in, I lost it and had to cut off all the clay I had left to throw the neck. That left me with a 7 1/2" pot - not tall enough.  Grrrrrr.

So, I coiled a neck onto the pot, which gave me the shape I was going for. 

At that point, I liked the contrast between the volume of the shoulder of the pot and the narrowness of the neck, but thought that the pot was too squat - it was bottom heavy and really needed some lift.  So I threw a base/foot and attached it to the bottom of the pot.   That added the lift I wanted and some height - about 2" - 2 1/2" and gave the piece more of a lightness and little more elegance at the bottom of the pot.  

But then the straight neck piece looked way too flimsy and prissy for the rest of the piece.  So I threw a thick rim - about 1" or so tall -  that curved out to balance the foot.

And voila - a 13 1/2" pot - 10 1/2" of which were thrown - OK in pieces but I'll take it ; ).

Way out of my "normal" 

Molded scallop shell platter - about 11" by 9 1/4".  

The impulsive urge to make this piece came when I walked into the studio, fully intending to have a few frustrating hours of attempting to throw10" cylinders, and spied the dusty plaster mold Linna made sitting in a corner of the studio.  I've never had that urge before, and don't know if I will have it again.  But, while the shell is uncharacteristic of my usual style (I would likely not consider buying it if I saw it in a shop) it makes me happy.  I especially love the glaze combo, which ended up with that iridescent, mother-of-pearl looking glow, which I really like.  

I used Coyote glazes on this piece - Archie's Base and Eggplant - both favorites of mine - 

and I think they flowed together beautifully.

Here's a detail of the scallop shell platter - there is a lot going on in this cone6/oxidation gaze combo.

So continuing with the nautical theme, I made a couple of press plates using a starfish stamp that Linna carved and suggested as companion pieces for the scallop shell platter - again - much more Linna - but I really like these happy little starfish.  These are made with Cream Matt and then two new celadon glazes.

And last but not least, the finished cockroach - the antennae fell off, but I baked him anyway.  Abby told me that it doesn't look at all like a bug, and from an anatomically correct perspective, she is right - but I guess I don't really care.  I love the warmth of this brown stoneware and also the way the manganese in the clay shows through the glazes as dark speckles in the finished piece.  This is Creme Matt with Green Tea on the wing shells.