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Pottery in Progress: July 2012

Say No to Cracks!

oval dish crack

I’ve decided to try a couple larger forms of the wider variety. I made some slightly-square baking dishes and a pie plate. The pie plate developed a tiny crack in the middle which I might have helped along by stretching the bottom too much while trimming it. The baking dishes also developed some small cracks in the corners inside. One was barely visible and it even survived the glaze firing. The other went all the way through to the outside during the bisque firing so i probably won’t even try to glaze it.

Then there was an oval dish that I tried to make… I followed the steps in the book Wheel-Thrown Pottery (DIY) but the dried pot had a crack so big I could see through it! I don’t think I added enough clay when I re-sealed the cut mark and it just pulled right apart.

large baking dish-in progress

I think I could have decreased the likelihood of some of these cracks a couple ways. First, I think some of the pots were a little too dry when I altered the forms. I also might have let them dry too quickly. I always hear to dry things, especially large flat things, very slowly. But the plates I’ve made have never cracked… and I’m impatient… and I wanted to fire the kiln! So I might have rushed it too much. Put this one under the things-I-already-knew-but-still-had-to-learn-the-hard-way category. I put handles on this large baking dish and I have two other pie plates drying… very… slowly. Maybe I can avoid the cracks this time…

Work in Progress

I’ve been making some test items at the Clay Guild in preparation for the crystalline glazing. But I’ve also been working on some things in the home studio.

after the cut

before the cut

I threw a couple tall vases. One looked a little funny to me, so I cut off the top part. Now… maybe I like the way it was before? The picture “before the cut” is actually after I cut the top part off. I just put it back on top so you have an idea what it looked like before. I think the top part was too small. I didn’t like something about the proportions.

cups with texture

I’ve also been making a lot of small cups to experiment with. The cups in the photo have textures which were all created from parts of the sprinkler that I took apart.

Today I hope to throw a few more cups and maybe some tumblers. And try out my new stamps. And finish another blog post about the clay studio… I better get busy.

Cheap Sprinkler = Texture Machine

The cheap $10 sprinkler that I probably got from Walmart finally broke. So, drawing some inspiration from my clay guild surface class, I decided to take it apart and see what kind of parts it was made of. From a texture perspective: goldmine!

sprinkler parts for clay texture

It took a little sawing to get into the gear box but it was worth it. I can’t wait to try some of these on some actual pots. I think some of the new glazes that I recently tested will look nice over some of these textures.

Also, a little bonus texture: I snagged a few of these baby rings. Thanks Quin!

baby chain texture

We’re going to have some fun now!

Surface Class Update – 3 Weeks In

I just finished the third week of class at the Goshen Clay Guild. It has been great so far. I’ve met a lot of cool people and learned a few things. We have had one class with each of the three teachers so far.

texture notes

First, Eric Kaufmann (I confess, I spelled his name wrong twice before looking it up) gave us an introduction to the class and talked about crystalline glazes. Then Cindy Cooper subbed for Bob Smoker and gave us a lot of demonstrations and ideas for texture. Last night Justin Rothshank talked about decals. In between demos and instruction, and during lab nights on Thursdays, we get a lot of time to throw on the wheel or work on whatever we like.

pottery shelf so far

I’ve been working with the B-Mix that Eric uses and trying to get used to it. I’ve made little test pieces and catch basins for the crystalline glazes. I can’t wait to learn more about the glazing and firing. I’ve already looked up some ^6 crystalline recipes. The B-Mix has taken some getting used to. It is a lot smoother than the stoneware I’m used to but I get nervous to push it too far.

decal notes

The decals we are going to be using are printed with black and white toner from an HP laser printer. The iron in the print turns a sepia/brown when it is fired. There are also color decals that you can order but they are a lot more expensive to get custom images made. Apparently a little site called ebay is a pretty good resource for finding them though. Maybe I’ll have to take a look and see what’s available. My notes are to the left. Good luck reading them… I’m not even sure I can read them! I was scribbling like mad. So furiously that I broke out into a sweat. For a moment I thought I might have to sit down, but then a girl passed out (!) and we took a break and got some fans. Don’t worry, she was okay after waking up and drinking some water. And I was okay too…

cups with decals

Here are a few cups with decals. The third one from the left was a crystalline piece by Eric. Justin applied some plant decals and refired it to see if it would work without ruining the crystals. Looks good to me! Second from the left is a color decal. The other two are black and white decals. Justin printed out a page of decals for us if we had images ready. I just used some of the images that I used to order my rubber stamps for some of my other projects.

Check back in a few weeks and I should have another update. Happy 4th of July!