Pottery, Photography, Design - Brandon "Fuzzy" Schwartz
Here are a few pots from the last glaze fire. ^6 oxidation. Stoneware: Warm Brown or Buff Stoneware by Amaco.
Still trying a lot of different glaze combinations and trying decals on different glazes.
I’ll be glazing another load in the next few days. I hope to start concentrating on a few glazes and combinations that I like in hopes of a more defined body of work.
I recently shot some photos of the most recent glaze fire. These were mostly completed during the polar vortex winter that kept us cooped up inside for months. Which is always okay with me, as long as I have enough clay! Everything was fired to ^6 in oxidation. Clay is either Warm Brown Stoneware or Buff Stoneware or a combination of both. For more details, click on the images.
This was my favorite surface from this kiln load. I like the Jen’s Juicy Fruit and Waterfall Brown combo better on the Warm Brown Stoneware but it looks pretty good here too on the Buff Stoneware running over my light brown glaze. It might even run a little more on the Buff Stoneware?
side fired bowl
I was commissioned to make 6 small coffee mugs so I made a bunch. It was nice to do a series and work with some subtle variations. I hope to do some more multiples soon.
series of small mugs
When I’m not teaching or making pots, I like to learn about photography. My wife and I do portraits but I have more fun shooting sports, nature and closeup or macro shots.
I recently took a number of photos of some recent pottery and some pottery ribs that I’ve purchased. I’m using a macro attachment on a kit lens so it’s nothing fancy. Probably not even true macro but I got some nice detail shots. For more info about the subject matter: pottery and pottery ribs.
slab built cup closeup
The penultimate and final glaze loads before the end of the year have been fired revealing mixed results. About half of the stuff in this last two loads were projects from Clay Camp which all came out pretty well. The stuff that I managed to squeeze in mostly consisted of mugs,cups and tumblers. I had two different Amaco clay bodies present: My old favorite, Warm Brown Stoneware and the smooth and bright Buff Firing Stoneware.
buff stoneware cups
I think these are two of my favorites from the last two loads. The cup on the left is my most Lehman-esqe piece yet and the glaze did some amazing things. The cup on the right also has some awesome crystal-y things happening with the glaze. So I slapped the macro attachment on my lens and got some detail shots.
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…]