During Spring Break and Summer Hiatus …

I was fairly busy:  finishing up projects from earlier in the Spring semester, working on new projects and experimenting a lot.

One goal was to use up partial bags of cone 6 clay that had been laying about the studio for far too long.  Another goal was to experiment with using slips and trying new forms.  Finally set aside a day to take pictures and …. here they are.

This first bowl/platter is made on a form that I found in someone’s bulk trash pile.  It turned out fairly well and I like the glaze except for all the tiny glass bubbles in it.  Guess that’s because I used dark clay and it gave off the gasses during the firing process.  The glaze is Red Gold by Coyote Clay.

 

 

Worked with slip and underglaze and a bit of sgraffito.  Obviously, I need to refine the process so the words aren’t smeared.

This pot has a rough texture created by a crater slip.  The part with the gears has a white slip to emphasize the texture.  Overall, I like the effect and will have to try this again.

This artifact/pitcher is a project from Spring semester.  It uses a crackle slip and was soda fired.

More from Spring semester. This project was to demonstrate what glazes look like when overlapped and partially blocked out.

A bowl with slip on the outside and glaze on the inside. Again, I like the way the glaze highlights the texture.

A vase with a face.   And another (below).

The head is supposed to show left-brain/right-brain.  I like the concept but not the execution.  Will have to try this one again.

A couple of experimental forms.  They were almost too tall for the kiln.

 

A tiny dancer and a pitcher and a totem …

And another vase and and mug and bowl.

And remember the cat?  Well, I added some decals.  Here are close-ups …

And that’s how I spent my Spring Break and Summer Hiatus.

Glaze Test

One of the last things I did before Spring Break was mix up a batch of Pete’s Strontium Matte glaze and put it on a small cup.  Finally, it’s been fired.  And here are the results.

 

Visiting Dallas Arboretum

For the month of August,  the Dallas Arboretum offered a special:  $2 admission and $5 parking.  Early August days were cooler than normal and we decided to go over Sunday morning.

The Seward Johnson sculpture exhibit was held over  and, during our visit, we were able to see about half of the sculptures.  We’ll have to go back again in a week or so to see the rest.

Anyway, here (in no particular order) are photos of the gardens and sculptures.

Looking Back and Forward

For a while now, I’ve been storing photographs on an external hard drive.  Thought it has beaucoup memory but it looks like it’s getting full.  So, I decided to go through and delete duplicates and those that aren’t in focus, etc.

Well, that meant that I was looking at photos of pottery that I’ve created over the past eight years.  You know what??  Some of them were pretty good and it might be nice to redo some of them using different clay and glazes.  And some of them gave me ideas for new pieces.

Stay tuned and let’s see what develops.