A Handful of Racers

Well... for all my whining this morning about everything in yesterdays kiln load of work conspiring to challenge my preconceived expectations, there were a good number of pieces I did really did enjoy pulling out of the kiln.

These works still play the edge of what I need to come out of the kiln verses what I personally think is fun to hold and explore. Unfortunately, these are more often than not, 2 totally differing ideals. This point is actually becoming a point of personal internal philosophical contention, (but that is definately another post).

Creating a Paper Stencil Part 2

Here is the second part of this weeks demo...

The first part is in the previous post. It shows the technique I use for cutting out 30 to 40 stencils at a time. I do this by cutting my design out of a billet of newsprint sandwiched between sheet plastic using a jewelers saw and bench pin. I can actually get 60 to 80 stencils out a a single billet if I plan my design around the cut, using both the positives and negitves in a design.

This clip shows how I apply the stencils to create a composition. It goes on to show the slip being applied and the paper being peeled away revealing the surface design.

Enjoy!

Cone 6 SDSU Texture & Crawl Glaze

Here is a real cone 6 gem...

25% Magnesium Carbonate
70% Nepheline Syenite
5% Kentucky Ball Clay (OM4)

This is the basic recipe of the crawl glaze that I've been playing with over the past few months. I found it buried in an old sketchbook scrawled in a corner of a page. It was from 8 or 9 years ago during a time when I didn't have any sort of studio access and was sucking up as much information as I could get my hands on. The recipe is attributed to a October 2000 Ceramics Monthly article on page 49, unfortunately I failed to note who the author was. (Hopefully someone can help me rectify that.)

This glaze is very temperamental and you need to place it in the kiln asap after dipping. The glaze will crack and begin to pull away but not quite fall... unless it's disturbed. It's very sensitive to thickness.The glaze will behave very differently based on what's under or over it.
Here's a link to a February post showing some of my experiments... http://fetishghost.blogspot.com/2009/02/test-yumoni-for-crawling-glaze.html

Experiment and have fun and please share any successes or failures you have.

Throwing AgateWare Yunomi

This is a short stop motion animation video the kids and I shot last weekend demonstrating the throwing of an "agateware" yunomi. This is a simple process of throwing two contrasting clays together to create a marvelously swirled effect directly in the clay body. I finally got around to pasting together a first draft to share....

Raku with Bruce

Another fun day spent with Bruce Cadman.

Man... I think that this guy really needs to wear a cape and mask, he seems to have way too much fun!

He did let me put in a piece in the raku kiln to see what might come out. I just sat back and took pictures…

Ahhhhh this is the good life! Where’s my whiskey and cigar?

Crawl and Soda

The morning was spent finally posting a handful of canisters into my Etsy shop.

A little cone 6 crawl...

and a spot of cone 10 soda...

Now I just wish I could find my stride on writing those darn descriptions.

A Quick Look in the Box

I'm still sorting through and cleaning up works from the latest soda firing while I get caught-up with all of the gardening. There's a good amount of sell-able works, a few racers that I'll pull aside for summer exhibitions, and there is a fairly sizable number of losses. It's a fair trade for a first attempt at soda.

I can only hope the kiln gods are appeased for the next few loads. Matt and I are already anxious planning the next.

BoneOrchard TeaWare

The studio has been a flurry of activity over the past 3 weeks. Between all of the hours and hours spent blissfully gardening, 28 cubic feet of bisque has been put through the kiln and 17 cubic feet of glaze has gone through as well. Well over half of that work was in prep for an experimental soda firing this weekend at Clay Planet in Santa Rosa, CA. with Matt Brown from Moss Beach Ceramics, (more on that in a later post). Finished works are finally beginning to flow out of the studio again. Most joyously, I’ve been very happy with the new works coming out of the kiln for my BoneOrchard collection of teaware. Here are a few works selected from the last firing that will be available at FetishGhost’s Etsy storefront.

Ok ok... this is the last posting showing new works with the crawling glaze...
yeah right...

I just had to share these two small gift canisters really quickly. I traditionally offer this size locally as a "small nut jar". These just happen to be amazing! The crawling glaze separates and sinks in and fuses to the underlying glaze and body. They are beautiful in pictures, but they are luscious in your hand.

Struggles of Love

This series was done in all playfulness mixed with a dash of beaming Love… we live to create.

Oh yeah... they aren't poly wogs.

Tidewater Souper Supper Finished Bowls Part 3

I'm aiming to hit the hoop this week. This was the third and final kiln load of bowls for the TideWater Souper Supper. It was a gas firing hosted by Delta Community College’s ceramic’s department.

Thanks’ Joe!

It’s been a long time since I’ve had to put a good amount of faith into student glazes. Any questions that were asked about the suggested application or behavior of any of the glazes were met with shrugs.”Eh?” Guess that’s par for the course. Love a challenge though. Here are six of 30.

TideWater Souper Supper

What do you say if the local gallery asks you to produce 250 bowls in 60 days?They’ll pay for the materials, the firing costs, provide floor space at their gallery to host a spring show, and even feed you at a fantastic gourmet soup feed surrounded by 250 local patrons of the arts.

I say “YES!”

Since 2002 I’ve been part of the stable of ceramicists that have helped contribute to this event. I’ve always looked forward to this event, being very happy to be just part of the background. It’s always been an amazing opportunity to explore and develop new ideas for surface designs and forms. It’s a project that’s never failed to propel me forward into a new year.
This year was something very new though… they asked me to recruit and organize the ceramic artists needed for this year’s event and I’ve found 10 amazing local ceramic artists to stand with me so far. With 27 days left, and over 200 plus pieces still in green ware, we’ll see how this all works out. You’ll be hearing more about this as the due date February 6th approaches.
Stay Tuned…

Smash Pot Day

Swinging the hammer of judgment is one of the most anticipated yearly studio activities for a lot of potters.

Some artists choose to just swing the hammer all year round, but I prefer to save up all of the messed up pots, setting them in the nooks and crannies of the firing room and garden.

I save them for a special day... SMASH POT DAY!

I traditionally save this special day for the end of the year, but I really can hardly wait to swing the hammer on this year’s accumulated ware. A lot of these pieces are gorgeous, but they have one flaw or another... a crack, a stuck lid, a glaze that ran off, kiln wash fired into the surface, the list goes on and on.

This is a ritual of necessity, ensuring the quality of any studio’s line-up. This year I’m happy to say I’m letting go a 140 pounds of fired work. DOH!


“Smash it up and plan for the next year”… that’s my motto.