Art by Fuzzy

Pottery, Photography, Design - Brandon "Fuzzy" Schwartz

Last Year’s Pottery

I decided I should put up a few images of the last glaze fire of 2011 before I got too far into 2012. I like some of the images that I’ve seen of other potter’s work in a more natural surrounding instead of the gray backdrop. So I chose a few notable items and set them on the kitchen counter and snapped away as the sun was streaming in through the window.

It was fun getting shots from different angles with areas of light and shadow. And the sunlight really made some of the glaze colors sparkle.  It was a little more interesting than sticking each piece on a gray back drop but I’m not sure that I really enhanced the feeling of functionality.  Maybe I’ll try the table next time or add some food or silverware…

The full kiln load included a few more soup bowls, a refired platter, a couple larger bowls, another mug? and some Christmas ornaments. Nothing earth shattering but some pretty decent pots overall.

I just unloaded the kiln Tuesday evening after the first glaze fire of 2012. Mostly logo mugs with some great results. Images coming soon…

Finished Pottery for Christmas

December was a flurry of pottery making.  According to my kiln log I fired the kiln three times.  One bisque fire and two glaze fires.  Here are some results from glaze firing on the 12th.

About half of these items were commissioned pieces.  The secretary at school asked if I could put our school logo on some mugs so she could give them as gifts to the principal and resource officer.  Another staff member asked if I could make some yarn bowls to give as Christmas presents.  I had never done either but I was happy to learn.

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Summer Pots: Finished and For Sale

About half a year ago I posted an image of some pottery that I was working on.  I finally finished that batch of pots and shot some photos a few weeks ago.  I literally had to dust off my photo booth since it had been so long since I photographed pottery.  So I’ve been busy…  Here’s what I came up with:

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Last Glaze Fire of 2010

Well, here are a few photos of the latest items to come out of the kiln.  Plenty of mugs, a few vases, some bowls and a few other pieces.

If you missed it, there was a previous post about glazing and firing.

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Like an Early Christmas!

I opened up the kiln today after yesterday’s glaze fire.  Early Christmas?  Early Christmas!

glazed pots - December 2010

glazed pots – December 2010

I spent almost all of Saturday preparing and glazing and kiln washing.  Everything went pretty smoothly.   I mixed up 10lbs. of Coyote’s Saturated Iron on Friday so it was ready to go.  That, along with my previously mixed Pam’s Blue, gave me two buckets of glaze to dip and pour.  I used a little bit of Coyote Red Gold and one vase has some Espresso Bean but other than that, just about everything else is part of the Pam’s Iron Collection.  (Pam’s Blue and/or Saturated Iron).

glaze fired pottery

glaze fired mugs, vases, bowls

I was happy with the way everything turned out.  No major flaws, no glaze drips, no visible glaze defects, no worries.  The Pam’s Blue running down over Red Gold effect that I achieved last glaze firing came through pretty well in the two bowls that I tried it with this time.   The Saturated Iron came out exactly the same as the pre-mixed pint I used previously.  It might have been just a little thick for dipping because I had to brush off some excess.  This usually left some darker areas compared to the reddish brown in most areas.  Could be something to experiment with next time.  I hope to shoot some decent photos of these pieces tomorrow or the next day and get them posted here (my apologies for the terrible lighting and yellow cast of this photo).

I had a small Holiday Pottery Sale at Ligonier Elementary the past few days.  I got some positive feedback when I stopped and talked to a few people today.  I might have even made enough money to buy more glaze materials!

In unrelated news I’ve been tweaking the design of the blog theme.  I’ll continue to fix things as I discover them.  If you have any feedback for the appearance of the blog I’d love to hear it.