It kind of sucks when a perfectly good brainstorm doesn't pan out... kind of makes you feel like Wile E. Coyote. At least life is dramatic when you're over the cliffs edge.The large canisters didn't work out as planned. Sintering to 016 didn't work out well, and the base glaze didn't "grab" the clay body well and I think that switching out the zarcopax with tin oxide changed the refractory properties of my whiteliner, (I've been suspecting this for a while, but now I'm gonna do a real test). Whatever.... If the glazes didn't crawl on the lids as bad as they did, I could learn to live with the results. Despite all that I learned this time through, this experiment is chalked up as a thumbs down.
On a side note... this summers hallmark sprigg is really starting to grow on me. It's helping me mark this summer's work where I'm trying to learn to play it "safe" with at least a 3/4ths of what's going into the kiln. I'm still realizing that my grasp on what's actually "safe" may not be what I'm actually hoping for... or more importantly what I need, but hey, I'm still falling forward.Licks, Love, & Luck...
Wile E. Coyote
7 comments:
Sorry about those canisters, they are so nice and large and a lot of work I am sure went into them. Still and all though, the cups are great and seat of the pants does sometimes garner some great results. do you make a different hallmark for every year, season, do you sign the bottom of your work?
I'm very addicted to change. It doesn't always happen as planned, but it keeps things changing. (Redundant, but that's the point).
Changing this summer's hallmark is new for this season's local wares, but I'm still hallmarking instead of signing my works. A signature feels obtrusive in an overall design for me. It's personal decision I guess.
Ya don't know unless you try. Now ya know more than you did before so maybe you should view it as a success in increasing your knowledge. I'm a glass full kinda gal I guess. :)
I like that new chop too... looks really good!
it's great to see results even if they are less than expected! Often we all see just the "good stuffs" - but clay is a humbling practice - thanks so much for sharing! cups lookin' great as always!!
That's too bad about the glaze cuz those cannisters are niiiice. I think the subsitute for tin/zircopax is around half the amount of tin to zirco. Maybe I could look it up somewhere - what did you sub ?
9% zarcopax to 4% tin, although the tin is still a bit strong at that mix and milks out the cobalt designs a bit.
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