Off the Porch and Growling

So last week after making the warthog bottle, its not really functional per se ... more of a novelty item but I glazed a few items and got them into the kiln for firing.

The first item was the Heart Vase I made for my wife. I used "Ellens Blue" as a liner and Red Iron Oxide and Soda Ash as I usually do. Remember the heart vase was on of the plugged items I threw awhile back, let bone dry and then steel wooled it to brighten the lines.

Another was the Grecian style, uhmmm maybe Etruscan is a better description, the Greek style was more rounded. At anyrate - it is done in a similar fashion to the heart vase, "Ellen's Blue" as a liner and soda ash and red iron oxide on the outside, I let this one dry on the bat and just pop off so I put my particular potter's mark under all three handles, and stamps. The urn was the first "plugged" pot I did.

The last one was the fountain. Again I had chosen a more classical design and modified it. This one I did borrow from Greece. Like the other two it is done in Soda Ash and Red Iron Oxide for an outside finish and "Ellen's Blue" as a liner glaze. What can I say it was a blue kinda day. Ellen's contrasts really well I think with the red iron oxide patterns. Now you may notice there isn't much of a soda ash shine like usual.

This is because the Clay I used was B-Mix 5 which is a porcelian -ish clay and it does funky things with soda ash. I like the color of the clay however; its a bit to creamy for me and I don't like having to throw thick because it won't stand up. Finally its not a very forgiving clay.

Finally I added hair to the pig pot from last week, I don't know if you can see it but here a photo. I used a thick slip and then took a wide bristled brush to it for the hair. Let's see if it survives the bisque process.