2 vases, recycled clay. Thrown, carved. Reduction fired

These two small vases were thrown from recycled clay, bellied out when wet.  I added some faceting to the top vase after bellying out and carved into the surface beforehand.  Glazing used Phila / woo yellow on the upper vase and cream rust / sky celadon on the lower.  Some Phila ended up dripping into the interior of the top vase, creating a nice turquouse water fall into the vase.  I think both Phila and Woo yellow look great in reduction - kind of aged  and weathered with a lot of depth and texture to the color.

Ride On - tile set, carved bmix slabs, Cream Rust glaze, wiped off thinly

I made a tile / coaster set using a bicyle-themed motif that I designed.  It was intended as a set of 6 coasters and a box, but I forgot about shrinkage during firing, and so the box ended up being too small.  Now I use it as a business card holder.  I rolled and cut 1/4" slabs from BMIX clay and then carved into them for the motif; aslo imprinted bicycles using a plastic pin that I had.  The glaze is Cream Rust, wiped off thinly and reduction fired.  The glaze is actually a swirly blue color when thick, but turns this rusty metallic color when thin.  For the box, I stained the recessed areas with Copper Carbonate which yielded the blackened matte areas.  The cream rust glaze actually brightens and becomes a glossy golden color some areas where it breaks over edges which is kind of interesting.

Tiles, BMIX, stamped with cardboard template. Brushed with 2 layers of glaze, Reduction fired. Iron oxide stain on underside

I made some nice tiles in the Fall - the design was inspired by a set of silicon rubber coasters we have - I took the basic design and used wavy lines instead of straight clean contemporary lines - its hard to preserve that look precisely in clay! I cut out a cardboard template of the pattern and pressed it into cut slabs (tiles) of soft clay. Because the cardboard absorbed moisture from the clay, the templace got flimsy and so the imparted pattern also has a wavy texture and is not completely flat - this actually ended up complementing the wavy linear pattern! I dipped the tiles in one glaze and then brushed on a second glaze in the raised areas for contrast. The glaze combinations are Shop Shino / Green Crystal; Woo / Green Crystal; Temmoku ; Satin White; Satin White / Temmoku; Slate Blue / Red Rasberry. I've added some foam pieces to the underside so that they can be used as trivets or coasters.

Thrown family of cups, surface altered. Recycled clay, reduction fired, various glazes

These are my current favorites of all the pieces I have made! I tried again to make a set of 4 identical cups, using just over 1lb of recycled clay for each. Unfortunately, while throwing some of the cups, I had to remove some of the clay from the rim because the walls weren't even. Anyhow, I added the grooves on the wheel by hand using fingers and the thinner grooves using rib, while the clay was still wet. This made the inner walls of the cup wavy so I used ribs to smooth those out again as best I could. For glazing I played around with layering referencing some of the test bowls in the studio - from left right, pearl / woo; woo / temmoku, woo/toffee, clear / woo. During this semester, I've improved my turning skills a lot too with all the practice so these cups all have pretty nice feet. Also I find that I don't waste nearly as much clay while throwing as I used to, which is more efficient.

Thrown and carved mugs. Recycled clay, reduction fired Phila and toffee glaze

During the 2nd semester, my throwing skills improved a lot. Here I tried to throw two identical cups from about 1.25lbs of recycled clay. In the picture they look close, but actually one is fatter and one is skinnier - I call them the brother and sister cups (I won't say which is the fatter one). I decided to do some carving again (I find smooth surfaces boring I guess). Originally I had taken a grooved metal rib and tried putting concentric grooves on the entire outer surface but I didn't like that look because there were lots of clay burrs and it wasn't smooth or modern looking, just messy. So then I smoothed out the grooves by hand and just used the grooved rib to score grouped hash marks in the side of the cup. Then I turned some grooves on the wheel above and below the hash marks. During glazing I dipped the cups in Phila, I should have put a thicker coat on since the turquoise/blue is not very bold.

Pinched pods, shaped and carved. Reduction fired temmoku with clear and green over iron oxide stain. Recycled clay

I started off the 2nd semester doing some handbuilding. I built a wedging table so I could do some stuff at home in the garage. These two pieces are pods, made by joining two pinched pots together, and then shaping and carving out the holes. The shape and surface designs came about spontaneously as I was making the pieces. I wanted the holes and designs to give the pods a different aesthetic and light play from all the different angles from which the pieces are viewed.

Slab rolled recycled vase, with BCS-6 inlays. Burnished and glazed with light celadon and blackbird stripes

This is the first handbuilt piece that I made - I rolled a slab of recycled clay, inlaid with strips of BCS-6, then used a shipping tube as a form to make the cylinder, and joined it to a base. It was quite fast and easy! The inlays make for an interesting aesthetic. To contrast, I added some vertical BlackBird stripes by first dipping the vase in Lt. Celadon, and then waxing the outer surface. I carved out the vertical lines and then brushed in with blackbird. I read about this technique in a book so wanted to try it out. Its a good way to incorporate some fine detailing using glazes.

Shellacked tilework. Recycled and BCS Clay, various glazes. Oxidation Fired

We learned about using shellac for creating resists and textures in class so I did some experimenting with shellacking some Chinese characters on tiles - because of my poor brush skills and the thick shellac, the writing is not very pretty, but the technique is kind of fun. The bottom two tiles (Front Door and Exit) are BMIX clay, with Breaking Green Glaze over Brown. Upper left is dk yellow underglaze with glossy clear over (waxed), then dipped in Red Rasberry. Middle is Clear + Wax, then dipped in Wedgewood blue. Right is green glaze + wax, then dipped in brown. Top tiles are all recycled clay.

SOLD - Thrown Comma, bowl. Oxidation fired, BCS-6, Lt. Celadon with dk red underglaze, Green.

I experimented with underglaze here by swirling some dk red under the lt celadon inside. I meant for the motif to look like a swirly brush stroke but it ended up looking like an apostrophe or comma, oh well! Anyway the color combination of the underglaze and oxidation lt celadon looks pretty nice - I think I will remember that for the future. This is the only bowl I have posted from the first semester, although I threw 2 larger bowls, but gave them as gifts to family members. There is also a companion teacup with this bowl (not pictured)

Thrown and altered recycled clay tea cup, carved, dk red underglaze with glossy clear. Oxidation Fired.

I was playing around with altering and carving again here. Its interesting to introduce some non circular lines into thrown pieces. I liked the look of the recycled clay so decided to use mostly clear glaze on this piece - also to highlight all the carved textures. I tried to carve the linear elements in a way that would highlight the curvature of the cup walls, and continued some of the carving in the interior of the cup too. I also used the trimming tools to create the scaly surface, and also had to trim away some excess clay from the interior. Overall its an interesting piece, but I haven't tried to drink from it yet!

Thrown and altered teacup, recycled clay. Pearl with blackbird/pearl.

To augment my class learning, I started looking at several pottery books from the library. With this piece I decided to try faceting. After throwing this tea cup, I used my fingers to delineate edges for facets on the inside surface and then gently creased the cup with my hands to create the facets. I tried my best to make an octagon - it seemed to turn out ok. While trimming, I carved out a spiral texture in the bottom of the cup. I should have also trimmed some more clay from the walls since its a bit too heavy. The iridescence of the pearl glaze goes well with the blackbird and also brings out the interior texture - actually its difficult to see but the blackbird over pearl gets some metallic blue flecs and interesting silver/gold streaks. Blackbird is not food safe (gets pitted by citrus / acids) - but on the outside its ok.

SOLD (my first sale!) Drippy Sunset Over Ocean cup - Thrown and carved during turning, Oxidation fired, slate over woo yellow, Glossy Clear

One of the first cups that I threw. I got a lot of turning and carving practice in the first semester because I had difficulty controlling the clay while throwing and a lot of my pieces came out heavy or asymmetrical. To hide that, I would carve in some texture or try to glaze in a way that would draw attention away from the uneven shape. Here I used trimming tools to carve in some undulation in the walls of the cup. I poured glossy clear glaze in the inside of the cup. Then dipped 2/3 of the cup rim down into woo yellow. The bottom 2/3 of the cup was dipped in slate to get the layering effect. You can see that the slate got really drippy in the kiln on top of the woo - yeah I meant for that to happen :).

Reduction fired, thrown and turned bowl. Recycled Clay. Light Celadon Glaze

Another small bowl from my first semester. You can see that the symmetry is a little off in the rim. Actually the thrown piece was originally quite bottom heavy with thick walls. While turning, I decided to play a bit and carved out the troughs in the external walls to take off some weight and to provide some texture. I also turned the inside walls at the bottom of the bowl to thin the piece. This is the first reduction fired piece that I made - I like how the Light Celadon turns an earthy green color and shows off the variations and spots from the recycled clay. My favorite candy dish!

My First Finished Piece. Oxidation fired, thrown and carved during turning BCS-6. Matte Turquoise glaze with iron oxide stain.

This is the first finished piece I ever made back in the summer. The surface glaze didn't come out the way I had originally planned but I have grown to like it more and more. The inside is just a bright turquoise matte. While turning the piece I scored the outer surface with my needle tool to create some concentric grooves. After bisque-firing, I rubbed iron oxide stain into the grooves and then used a damp sponge to wipe away the excess. I then dipped the entire piece in the turquoise matte glaze. Because the stained surface had not yet dried (from the wiping), the glaze didn't really stick on the outside and instead left a matte clear finish, with some residual hazy turquoise. I think it makes the piece look kind of earthy and different. The walls are kind of thick and heavy, but hey, not bad for my first!