Off the Porch and Growling

Now like the others I've made this one is small'ish. Cereal style - although not suitable for oatmeal in the microwave. Meh, and ya know I really thought I had it - lol it looked much much bigger than it fired out. *sigh* well I'll keep churning them out till I get it correct. I will get it right eventually.

Ellen's Blue really makes the bowl pop. Add in the copper carbonate runs and ... yeah an awesome bowl for the haus.

The incising around the top is me being in a Tolkienesque mood, by that I mean I felt like writing some mystical incantation around the edge of the pot. No it doesn't actually mean anything nor does it resemble Tengwar or Cirth, it's merely me ... being me.

Again, like the bowl the grey/white floats very well off the Ellen's Blue and broke well. I squared the sides of the pot and off center squared the rim to give it a twisted feel. Yeah I was in quite the mood that day, I then stamped down the rounded corners for added effect, and when I glazed these got a wash of copper carbonate.

So here is a very important tip. Never - never try to throw pots without having had your daily coffee.

Normally my time in the studio is Zen, just pure zen. Therapy so I don't go mental -er more mental than I already am.

Today unfortunately was not one of those days.
I was a bit befoozled (yes, it's a word) by the St. Patricks day parade through Old Town, which muddled up the energy a bit and then the studio was completely emty except for me and Jane, oh and the assorted odd customer or two, so that mucked up the energy a mite too - I'm used to a number of folks being there, the die hards as it were.
I trimmed, and glazed today. Put six pots in for glaze firing, and trimmed another four, as well as a lid for one of the honey pots. I also destroyed a lid. Unitentionally I had trimmed it round and went to set it dwn and I put my finger through it - which tells me two things, one, it was too thing and two, it wasn;t meant to be. So I threw another one.

As always, lol - I used red iron oxide and soda ash on top of Miller 65 clay and Ellen's Blue as a liner. I used Copper Carbonate here like the others, but also it's a bit thick again and has turned black. I do like how the glaze broke where the copper carbonate has touched the pot causing the blue to turn green and fade into black. Rather a cool effect if I do say so myself. It was not an intended effect but rather a serendipitous accident, one of those happy accidents which could have otherwise been bad, bad - bad.

Decided to stop by Manassas Clay on the way home today just in case the Kiln had ben loaded, fired and unloaded. Generally this is "sometimes" the case, but it is really a roll of the dice as it were. Anyway I was lucky and several pieces came out.

The first one is the Extra Virgin Olive Oil bottle I threw a couple of weks earlier. It looks great with the green, and I like how the red iron oxide didn't ake in a couple of places. I suspect this is because the clay was compressed tighter here during the trimming of the pot. What I am not so happy with is copper carbonate. I put it on thicker than normal, and that was not such a wise idea. I think the copper carbonate needs to be thinner.

It has a nice looping handle, so the problem I have is the spout doesn't fit, I will need to get a cork with a spout instead. Next is the bowl, again with the standard - red iron oxide and soda ash and ellen's blue as a liner glaze. I also incised a flower on the side of the pot which turned out pretty neat.

Finally the cups, on both the cups and the bowl you'll notice the copper carbonate is very thick again. It's not such a bad look on the bowl and the cups, although it is not the look I intended. Its not such a stark contrast like with the green.

I trimmed a foot into both cups and I am getting fairly happy with how I make cups. Cups are something a couple of years ago I had trouble with, many years ago it was "S" cracks which are caused by not compressing the bottom well enough. Then it was handles "shudder" I used to avoid handles like the plague and then one day I just started making them over and over again until I got it - if not right, better. My biggest issue has been too much clay in the bottom of the cup. Now I like thicker coffee cups because I like my coffee cup to have some weight, and I think a thicker cup means better insulation - its subjective, still I had too much in the base of the cup. This has gotten much better over time.

I've had this set since forever, I've thought every now and again of replacing them but just can't bring myself to do it. They're a huge part of who and what I am.

Today was technically the last day of class, and yet it was a very good day. I glazed five pots. Two coffee cups, an oil bottle for EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) and two bowls, which are smallish but should work for cereal.

We watched the "Daughters of the Anasazi" on DVD as well, while sharing our traditional last supper - lol yes my play on words. Every class the last class, we all bring something and eat while finishing pots. I pulled seven handles, and made two spouts. Trimmed five coffee cups - lost one due to not paying attention, I had my hand on top of the pot while the rpm's where pretty high, and leaned over to pick up a tool, when I did so I shifted the pot causing it to become "airborne" which was worth a bad word or three.

So I ended up with four good mugs, I squared one out which will be interesting to try and see if it works. Also trimmed a bowl and a bottle which in the end would become a pitcher. The bowl would become the measuring bowl seen it the first picture.

I am really really happy with the pitcher so far, there is a technique for making spouts using a handbuilt method, but it requires the "right" pot. It doesn't fit all pots which when I stop and think about it is probably why there are so many ways to accomplish the basics. Anyway as I was saying it takes the correct pot in order for it to shine.

My urn came back today, and I am mightily pleased. As always I use what I would like to consider my distinctive coloration of red iron oxide and soda ash. Now this is not to say others don't use this coloration somwhere. Doesn't matter it is still what I use, stated using it years ago and I have never wavered from my course. I used Ellen's Blue as a liner glaze. I will probably stick to Ellen's Blue and the Bermuda or Jade Geen glazes for the forseeable future. At least until I throw a series of test tiles and can get some tests run. I also applied a thin wash of Copper Carbonate as I am becoming fond of what it does to a pot.