a week later

Well, here's what I was going to post last week but didn't since I had that little memory problem with my camera. 

 Fun with wax resist.  This is Randy's Red on top of a Grace's base with gray stain. I used this combination on an acorn finial and wanted to explore it a little more. These are soup/cereal-size bowls.  I have these at the market right now.

 A larger, serving bowl.  The rims are plain Randy's Red with a little of my clear w/iron oxide brushed on to get that fluxing action.

Decided some pine branches painted on these plates might be Christmas-y.

One went to a woman who used to live in Maine and said it reminded her of the piney woods there. She bought something else too but I remembered the plate because it seemed to make such a connection with her.

  I had these bisqued plates left over from a commisson I did a while back.  I had been avoiding making plates, but a customer tricked me into making them.  First, she asked for mugs in a certain glaze. Then she wanted cereal bowls in that glaze.  When those were delivered she wanted plates.  So how could I refuse when she was two-thirds on the way to a matching set?   Anyway, after years of plate avoidance, I was feeling insecure and made many more than needed.  You know, just in case.    

 Um...oops.  Thought there was p-l-e-n-t-y room between that cone pack and the star.  Luckily, I was able to snap them apart without any breakage.  More pendants.  Today at the market Kate (the jewelry vendor) was wearing the one I first fired, which she did her jewelry magic on.  I should have thought to take a picture, but it was pretty busy at the market so that's my excuse.  She was going to post it on a jewelry website so maybe I can get the link. 

 More stars. These sold like hotcakes.  I only made a couple dozen.  Guess I'll know to make more next year.

I get nagged at occasionally to make new designs for cookie stamps. They're not really what I like to spend my time on pottery-wise, but once I am actually making cookies with them I feel like I'm sort of providing a service to the community by making these available.  These cookies are good!

Samples last week at the market.  The plastic wrap doesn't look so good- wanted to be able to lift cookies in case a customer wanted to see the plate.

The market is open on the 24th but I won't be there.  I'm pretty sure it would be slow for me.  Not that may last minute pottery shoppers out there.  So if you're a market customer I'll see you next year!

fresh from the kiln

We've had a couple of gorgeous days with cool nights.  Perfect for firing the kiln, which I did yesterday.  Here's a peek of the kiln opening:              

Some nice summery colors.  There's not even any brown, unless you count one of the glaze tests- unusual for me.

A "before" of some test tiles.

And the "after" fired a hard cone 6.

This Temmoku glaze has gold flecks in it.  Doesn't show up so well in this photo.

A Chun glaze over the Temmoku. I used some different materials in a couple of glazes this time.-  I had never heard of Epsom salts or borax as glaze materials before.  I may go into more detail about these glazes at another posting. 

Yeah, berry bowls!  I still have a few left to fire, as I couldn't fit all in the kiln this time.

The fence-sitting birdbath.  I was really worried about this.  I only made one because it was so time consuming to build.  I knew it would be a bit risky with all those seams, even though I let it dry very slowly and as evenly as possible. There are a few surface cracks.  A small one inside at the far right ginko leaf, and a couple more along the bottom outside seam.  Because of these, I may offer to let the customer try it out for the summer before paying me.  I think it will hold up fine, though.

I was just having fun with my camera because it is such a beautiful day and I bought a tripod for myself this morning.  Previously, I had been borrowing the one I bought my son for Christmas.  But it often gets left at his friend's house when they video their band practices.  So, time for my own.

This green glaze is nice over the white. I don't think the rutile over the stamped design is really adds anything, though.  Will probably leave that off next time.

Just did these two mugs in this glaze combo- same base glaze with cobalt in the blue and rutile in the yellow.

Little wall piece.  Will add wire for hanging.  Click on this one to enlarge it.  Lot's of texture, plus you get to see all the little plants and mossy stones, etc.

French butter crock nestled among the catmint.  Notice the bee on the blossoms in the upper right.