Art by Fuzzy

Pottery, Photography, Design - Brandon "Fuzzy" Schwartz

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.

Stoneware Mugs and Bowls

I glaze fired a number of pieces two weekends ago.  Mostly mugs with a few bowls of different sizes.  I used Pam’s Blue on most of the work since I still have half a bucket left.  It came out as a blue-green on most of the pieces.  I put it over Coyote Red Gold on the inside of one bowl and it made a spectacular flowing combination.  I also dripped some Red Gold on the Pam’s Blue platter and got some interesting white streaks.  I have another toothbrush holder prototype which seems to work okay and the last pair of “word mugs” are finally finished.

Missing from the pictures are a tea mug that was already sold and a few mugs that were  re-fired to fix some glaze defects from a previous glaze firing.

I’m hoping to get some more items made before Christmas.  A lot of wheel thrown things are planned and I might try some bigger slab platters.

Summer Pottery – Mugs, Vases, Bowls

I glaze fired a number of items way back in July.  Then I got busy doing other projects like making a backdrop for photographing ceramics, redesigning a website, and getting settled into a new school.  Finally, you can see the finished pieces from that summer glaze fire below.  I haven’t really been in the clay studio much since then but I’ve got some ideas rolling around in my head for the next time I get some time at the wheel.

All items are glaze fired to cone 6 and are either Warm Brown Stoneware from Amaco or Speckled Stoneware by Laguna.

June Glaze Fire Results

Last month I glaze fired close to 20 pieces after mixing some glaze from dry powder.  The Pam’s Blue that I mixed turned out more blue-green instead of the blue-gray that I got from the pre-mixed pint.  It might be applied a little thin but I still like the result.  I got to test a few new glazes such as Espresso Bean and Saturated Iron by Coyote and Frosted Turquoise and Iron Lustre by Amaco.  Some of them turned out nicely.  Most of the items were functional ware: mugs, bowls, etc.

I finally got all the pieces photographed about a week ago and I finished cropping and sizing the photos last night.  Now, as I’m uploading these pictures the kiln is cranked up and bisque firing some of the stuff that I’ve thrown recently.   My wife wanted a set of bowls with handles, I’ve got a set of four mugs, there are some vases and other tall forms and  a few lidded vessels.