hodge podge

I was back to my old tricks with this kiln firing.  Had a lot of different items that required different glaze treatments so I took a long time getting this kiln load ready.   

 I'll pass these on to a jewelry friend down at the farmer's market.  I have no talent in this area.  She'll know what to do with them.  I'm interested to see what she thinks of the bird pendant.

 I almost cannot do a firing without putting in some tests.  On the left is a black slip using a mason stain for color.  Top line is under glaze, bottom over.  I was interested in getting a nice sharp line for drawing black over white.  This does it, but it's really dry.  The other is a glaze (the green) I've used before, but this test tile is a lighter clay than my usual.  Tested it with an Albany slip glaze I've had around for awhile.  I tested this Albany slip glaze a couple years ago but hadn't used it on any pots yet.  It was fine then, other than it was supposed to be tan, but obviously is much darker.  I wanted to see what these two glazes looked like together.  I was envisoning a dark glaze on the outside of a bowl, the light green inside.  You can see how it shivered off. I also used it on the rim and inside of a vase. Upon opening the kiln I saw the rim of the vase had shivered.  That was yesterday. This morning I went to pick it up and saw it was cracked all over.  I suppose it was caused by the tension of the poor fitting Albany slip glaze inside the pot.    

Better. I refired a couple of candleholders that looked a little flat to me.  Brushed on a little rutile and clear glaze here and there.

 Something a little different for the acorn finial.  I like it , but realize this may have been better to come out with a couple of months ago.  Kind of fallish looking.

 I had quite a few tiles in the kiln.  This darker clay can stand alone nicely.  My regular throwing clay has some color, but looks bland next to this clay. I might try getting the hangers on the backs of these tonight.  I still have a table full of bisque ware waiting to be glazed, though. This morning when I went downstairs to the basement where I work I could only stand and stare for a few minutes- so much to do I couldn't decide where to start. 

Still need to work on photographing this flat stuff if I'm ever going to put it on Etsy.