Skip to main content

Happy New Year!

OK, it's a bit late to send my New Year wishes (hey hey, not that late to wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year - the new year has just started a week and and half ago), and I really mean it! Pottery didn't start up again until mid-January. So, no new glazed pots until a few weeks ago.

At the end of last year, I had decided to make some hand-build pots. And Rich (my husband) had decided to decorate (carve) them for me. They turned out very nice.

Randy's Red on mid-cal 0 clay
I think Randy's Red turns out really nice on dark clay.


Randy's Red and sponge on black (the metallic part)


This is one of my favourite plate. Rich did a great job with the edges and the bamboo. The base colour is Mysterious Blue and sponge on black.


This is my other favourite plate. This is glazed with Denim Blue and splash on Randy's Red.


More noodle bowls! There were people asking about them at my last show. I figured I would make a couple more. I made 4 but only 2 turned out :(. I really like this colour too, the base colour is black and the inside is Mysterious Blue.


Guess what?! I screwed up this plate while I trimmed it (It flew off the wheel). Anyway, I thought I would give my creative a try and this is what it turned out! It looks OK, right? I think so. It is glazed with Elusive Green. I personally think Elusive Green looks better on white clay. I would show a piece using white clay and glazed with Elusive Green, however that piece cracked!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Pottery girl has been quite productive

Like I mentioned last time, since I didn’t have a show in December and didn’t spend much time outside this winter, I was able to spend more time in the studio. As a result, I actually have some finished pieces ready! I opened the kiln earlier this afternoon for my second glaze firing of the year (can you believe my 2nd glaze firing in April, this has never happened before)—here they are (sorry about the lighting…). The bottom shelf, the initial picture didn't work out and I had to take another one 2nd shelf with pieces that I did slip trail.  This is my first time doing this and I quite like the result. 3rd shelf  Top shelf  I’ve also been trying out a new look for my mug handles, but they didn’t make it into this firing. Hopefully it won’t be too long before the next update!

Another disappointment :(

I was firing up my bowls for Ottawa Guild of Potters' annual event: The Great Bowls of Fire last night.  I made 7 soup bowls, was thinking to use them to try out different glazing techniques with Ron Roy's Black and Mysterious Blue.   When I was potting at the Nepean Visual Art Centre (NVAC), I had this lovely combination of NVAC's black with Mysterious Blue (as seen on the right).   However, I've been having trouble with the NVAC's black recipe, so I went with Ron Roy's Black.  It looks pretty smooth and all.  However, it just doesn't have the same effect as the NVAC's black and mysterious blue.  It's quite disappointing.  Also, I might have made too thick of a layer for the black, it cracked a little too.     notice the chip - this one is with the same technique as shown above) this one is done by pouring in mysterious blue on black Unfortunately, since the chipping is in the inside of the bowl, I can't tak...

Glaze and Chemistry (or should I say glaze chemistry)

Until last weekend, I wouldn't put chemistry and glaze recipe together, because I'd been just following the recipes and didn't think much about the reaction to the glaze between those chemicals.  But Ron Roy (the author of Mastering Cone 6 Glazes) workshop had totally changed my perspective.  It was a very informative session.  Ron showed us how to use INSIGHT and GlazeMaster to analysis glaze recipes and how we can fix it if there is a problem with it.  It was a bit like going back to high school Chemistry class and the chemical symbols....NaO, KO, CaO, Al etc...and my brain almost exploded at the end of the second day. :p I have now purchased INSIGHT and my plan is to put in all the glaze recipes I have now and see how stable they are in cone 6.  That should be fun. Inventory update: I managed to make my 6 pieces before the end of April.  They are mostly plates.  For May, I will be making mugs again. :)