About Me
Friday, May 20
Presenting the Amphora
Went by the pottery studio Thursday to sign-up for the next set of classes. While I was there I checked on the Amphora, well its out of the fire, finally! 
Like most of the pots I glaze I use red iron oxide on the outside and use some other glaze inside as a liner, the reason for this is for whatever reason ( I am not a glaze specialist ) soda ash does not shine on the inside of the pot, instead it seems to wick through the pot and migrates to the outside, so the inside remains dull and to the average person appears unfinished. Its not in fact it would be fully vitrified and holds water but again appears unfinished.
Anyway I am highly pleased with this item. If you like to see what it looked like while drying or have forgotten here's the link. Amphora. You'll see some of what I call orange peel on the pot, not quite sure why as I didn't change anything I've done. I love the effect, it makes the pot look older, as if it was fired in something other than an electric kiln. I truly love the effects of red iron oxide and soda ash. It is something I don't think I will ever get tired of.
So here are the pictures. I took these outside on the steps of our town house as an experiment with lighting. Natural lighting is always better, thats not really what I meant, more along the lines of diffusion.
I really, really enjoyed making the Amphora, not only was it a challenge but its the thought process behind it, It was interesting to try and think of how the ancients would have made something like this.
Friday, May 13
More on the Venus Fly-Trap
For those who are interested, here is the venus-fly trap salt shaker pre-bisque as in its still drying. This was a lot of fun to do, I started with a bulb shaped pot, compressed the sides into ovals and then used a pear loop to put what would become the mouth in.
Next I used a wooden knife to put a series of indents in place as place holders for teeth. Rolled out a couple of thin clay strips to form the basis of the mouth and used a wooden skewer to put the holes in. At the same time I cut the teeth and let them harden up for a few minutes. Once the teeth hardened up I scored and slipped the indents and put the teeth in place. Then rolled and cut the leaves free hand.
Once the leaves stiffened up I put them in place. I thought about putting eyes in place and a couple of other details, however; in the end I felt they detracted from the overall effect, making the pot cute. Meh, it's not supposed to be cute.My wife says it reminds her of Audrey 2 in Little Shoppe of Horrors. Exactly - someone gets it. Then again I knew she would.
Tuesday, May 10
More Pots from the Past
While digging through some older digitals - I found these, pictures of an un-fired and almost complete fountain head done in the style of Olmec heads.
When doing this type of stuff I use a heavily grogged clay and over exaggerate wrinkles, scars, any "heavy" lines I want to use because I will terra-sig or thin slip after everything is where I am happy with it. The heavily grogged clay allows me to push it around more while, the slipping and/or terra-sigging makes the pot smooth to the touch.
I have no idea if this is how other potter's, sculptors what ever you want to call them do it, it is merely how I do it. In this area I am self taught with bits and pieces learned from hand builders and folks who are willing to discuss how and why they do something.
You might have to sit back and sort of look off to the right to see this one clearly, its a terrible picture on my part and horrid lighting. What was I thinking? At anyrate, I was trying to show in this picture the actual opening inside the mouth area where the water would eventually bubble up from.
As an fyi to history, it fired beautifully and worked almost as intended, I ended up using a small stone inside the mouth area to achieve the effect I wanted. In the future I will do it differently.
A former student bought this and another pot from me during a students sale. I was rather suprised since I had priced my ware at what a true potter would as an experimental excercise, and just off of these two items made almost ninety dollars.
Pots from the Past, Part II - Spiritually Speaking
Odhinn, the All Father. I suffered from a reflective and spiritual moment here, much as I would suspect any christian, muslim, or pick any religion person might. It was good and it was scary and that was good enough for me - it meant I wasn't going to treat this lightly as if it were merely jus a pot.
Should I - Could I. Could I do Odhinn justice? Did I really want to call the All Father's attention?Just a couple of the things that ran through my head. In the end I did it first and foremost because my brother asked me too, and secondly because while the All Father can be contrary, I do not believe he is petty and therefore understands the work of a man's hand.
Did I do Odhinn justice? I can't answer that question. All I can say is I did the best I could. The picture was forwarded to me from its current home in Canada. Thank you my friend - Raise a horn for me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)