Fish (casserole) bowl

Fish bowl - hand built from slabs and coils, sculpted akio
clay.  Glazed with Phila, Slate, Clear, Kaki, Woo, Toffee
and copper carbonate stain.  Brushed, dripped and sponged
on glaze, reduction fired in two pieces.  Used clay wads to
support lid during firing.

I like how this piece turned out.  The making of it was pretty spontaneous.  I made the bottom first, starting with a teardrop shaped slab of clay. I built up the shape with coils, and instead of cutting off the excess coils left them to stick out at the end.  Then I somehow got the idea to shape that clay into a fish tail and then the rest of the piece took shape.  After building the bowl, the piece was screaming for a lid.  This was kind of tricky since I had to get the lid to fit the shape of the bowl.  I made a template using a cutout from paper and used that to approximate the lid size.  I had wanted the lid to be domed in shape but that proved very difficult to do and preserve the size to fit the bottom so I decided to keep the top surface flat.  Then I made a double rim so that it would sit on top of the bowl  I had top make the rims open in order to accommodate the tail.

The glazing was pretty interesting as well.  I did not dip, spray or pour glaze.  I stained all the fin joint areas with copper carbonate and sponged on akio at the edges.  I used a bulb to drip phila stripes on the body and followed that with some white  stripes.  Then I sponged slate and akio in between the stripes to form alternating colored patterns.  I brushed woo and toffee in two directions around the head an mouth and used phila  (thick) for the lips.  The interior is mostly clear with some woo underneath.  I tried painting a white backbone on the bottom of the bowl but it didn't quite show through.

It was recommended to fire the pieces separately so that I could get them apart later, but I had to use clay wads to support the lid and prevent it from slumping in the kiln.

I don't know how functional the piece is - the bowl is actually quite small compared to the lid.

Mortar and Pestle

Mortar & Pestle - hand built from coils and
sculpted from akio clay.  Kaki and temmoku
glazed, reduction fired.

We needed a mortar & pestle for our kitchen so I decided to try making a ceramic one rather than spend $15 to buy one.  I designed the mortar by pinching and coiling a small bowl supported by a coiled ring.  The two pieces were joined when the clay was still wet.  I made the pestle buy just taking a log of clay and grasping it with my hand and fingers to make the handle ergonomically customized for my hand.  Unfortunately the clay shrinks about 10% during firing so it's not an exact fit, but close enough.  On the advice of a friend, I left the pestle tip and mortar bowl unglazed to yield a rough virgin clay surface - the akio has lots of large particles and so the rough surface is best for grinding whole spices and powders.  Overall it turned out quite good, both in form and function.  Next time I'll make one a little larger since things tend to fly out of the bowl sometimes when I'm pounding.

Bellying out and collaring for vases

Thrown recycled clay, reduction fired,
pearl and clear poured over woo

My first bottle / vases (this piece and the patchwork vase below).  I still need to work on my sense of balance and proportion when considering the body and neck size.  This piece is too bulbous and the vase has too big of a neck.  This piece is also quite heavy since couldn't access the inside to trim away the walls - although now I realize maybe I should have trimmed from the outside, duh!   I like the glaze combinations.

SOLD - Patchwork vase and Emerald Geyser Bowl

SOLD - Patchwork Vase, thrown recycled clay,
reduction fired, kaki glaze inside, blackbird
over pearl outside, masked outside
surface and then brushed and sponged in
masked areas with various glazes.

SOLD - Emerald Geyser Bowl - Hand coiled akio clay,
 reduction fired, clear over woo inner, satin white over
blackbird outer with soda solution in masked areas (below).

I played around with masking for these 2 pieces during the glazing process, using pieces of masking tape as a resist.  This is a fun technique to try although like other aspects of working with clay, its hard to be exacting since when removing the mask, the glaze can flake off leaving a rough edge.

For the bowl, I liked the deep translucent glassy blue that was achieved in one of my previous cups by overlaying clear on woo so I tried this again at the bottom of the bowl. The look reminds me of some of the geyser pools at Yellowstone.

Sushi Tray - recycled clay, reduction fired, phila glaze poured

This is one of the first trays I made early in the fall using recycled clay.  I rolled a thinner slab so the tray has a more delicate appearance which I think I prefer.  I was hoping that the turquoise accents in the thicker areas of glaze would be more apparent, but it didn't turn out that way.  I still like this piece and am using it to hold ripening green tomatoes from late fall.

SOLD! - Sushi / Serving Trays

 I learned how to make these small ceramic trays in the fall.  They are quite fun to make.  You roll a slab of clay, imprint some texture using a plaster form, and then press the shape into a block of foam which forms the tray.  I snipped some of the corners of some of the trays.  They actually turned out ok.  I did a lot of experimenting with different glaze and stain combinations for these pieces, but all of them use some lt celadon over copper carbonate stain.  They are reduction fired, and are made with Akio clay, a really groggy clay that is full of texture.  The grog really makes the clay fun and ideal for handbuilding since it has a lot of inherent strength (doesn't slump).  I was surprised that they all sold at the PCC Holiday Sale (except for the small square dish) so I think I will try to make some more and improve on my technique.  The celadon glaze is a lot darker on Akio vs. the recycled clay.

Practicing throwing small bowls....contd

 Practice practice practice.....more bmix, reduction fired, with lt celadon and dk red underglaze.  This time used temmoku on the outside of the bowls.  It makes for a nice overlap pattern as seen in the first photo at right.  I liked trimming small feet on these bowls, although I guess this does not make for the most stable of pieces, but I think it makes it look really elegant.  I started out thinking of making some small bowls for holding baby food but now that I think about it, ceramic (breakable) bowls are probably not good to have near babies :).

The last bowl has an interesting story.  I lifted it from the drying shelf to trim, and knocked the upper shelf against the rim accidentally, creating 2 notches in the rim.  I ended up incorporating these into the bowl design - maybe for holding a utensil? I might try to incorporate this into future designs.  I like how the celadon glaze pools into the notches creating a darker contrast.

 

Set of 3 small bowls - SOLD!

 Some more small bmix bowls for practice.   I sold these as a set at the PCC Holiday Ceramics Sale, even though they weren't intended to be a set when I was making them.  They are all glazed similarly, with dk red underglaze motif, lt. celadon inside and jungle green outside.  During the process of throwing all these bowls, I really learned how to use the clay more efficiently, i.e. incorporating more of the starting clay into the piece.  I think this must be essential for professional potters not solely to prevent wasted clay, but more to conserve time and energy in making the pieces (less trimming, less corrections in throwing, smaller quantities of clay to process).

My First Sales!

Well, after 2 days of the PCC Holiday Ceramics Sale, I ended up selling 12 pieces!  Its comforting to know that people are willing to pay for my work.  It was also educational since I have a better idea now of what sells and what doesn't.  I will update my blog with the remainder of my pieces, including which ones have sold.

Bowl Series I

Wheel thrown, B-Mix, Reduction Fired, Dipped
 half bermuda half lt. celadon, dk red underglaze motif

Kona Bowl (top), Wheel thrown b-mix clay, reduction fired

 I started throwing a bunch of bowls 2nd semester to practice generating smooth continuous curved walls.  This starts with centering a low wide disc of clay and then opening up a shallow curved depression, pulling the walls outward and upward simultaneously.  These bowls were made using about 1lb of clay.  I made several different shapes of bowls and really got a lot of good practice turning foots and creating surface textures.  Because B-mix has no grog, the turning is really smooth and nice.  I like the way the 2 transparent glazes overlap, as well as the purplish tones in the blue bermuda glaze.


I think I must have knocked this bowl during transport since its got some dents in the rim.  I glazed the bowl with MD shino which made this interesting textured surface in the inside surface.  During firing, some slate must have dripped from a nearby piece in the kiln, but it made a great accent.  The outside of the bowl has a layer of temmoku over the shino.

Below I used a loop tool to carve concentric concave grooves in the side of the bowl right down to the foot.  It made for a really elegant bowl.  Unfortunately some of that quality was lost after glazing and firing.  I probably should have used a lighter more transparent glaze.

Kona bowl (side) - Temmoku over MD shino outer,
MD Shino with Slate drip inner

(side) Wheel thrown B-mix, turned concave grooves using
 loop tool with concave foot groove

Temmoku with temmoku drip inner, clear over temmoku outer