Pottery, Photography, Design - Brandon "Fuzzy" Schwartz
If you were keeping score at home, I struck out more times than Michael Jordan playing baseball when it came to keeping my blog updated in 2015. So I’ll show you a few of my favorite pots from the entire year here in one post. To see more selected work from 2015 click here.
Here are some of my favorite pots that I made in 2014. Other than the wood fired cups these are all fired to ^6 oxidation.
side-fired bottle
flaming shot glass
I’ve made a few small bottles during the last couple throwing cycles. They are fun to make and a good form to improve my throwing skills.
small stoneware bottle
Not that I need any more reasons to make more pots! Anyway, here are 5 reasons that I continue to press on. I’ve made a lot of bad pots but I feel like these recent pots give me some new direction and inspiration for my future work.
Dripping (C)up
Do you see what I did there? The ‘C’ is optional so it can be read “dripping cup” or “dripping up.” Get it?
Technical Info: Fired to ^6 in oxidation, Warm Brown Stoneware. Glazes: Licorice inside, Jen’s Juicy Fruit and Waterfall Brown outside.
Inspired by: Justin Rothshank’s seconds shelf dripping mug and a discussion with Dick Lehman about firing lids on teapots.
Why I like it: Fairly unique?, interesting color patterns, the glaze becomes part of the structure. I like how a little bit of bare clay shows through near the rim even though that was probably an accident.
Where to go next: I’ll continue to fire things upside down. And explore “glaze as structure” instead of just a surface decoration. I think that I could get some longer glaze drips if I get the right firing program set up. I’ll also look into different shapes and textures to see how that affects the glaze drips. I just made a pinch pot with some grooves and stamps just for this purpose. This is actually my third or fourth attempt at this. I have one that is in The Cup: An Interpreted Object. It was my first attempt at firing something upside down and I had some blistering glaze issues which actually look pretty cool. I only finished one before the entries were due or I would have entered this one, above. [Read more…]