Pottery, Photography, Design - Brandon "Fuzzy" Schwartz
ceramic decals
I learned a little bit about ceramic decals in the surface class I took this past summer at the Goshen Clay Artist’s Guild. During the class I spent most of my time working with the crystalline glazes and never got a chance to try the decals.
Finally…
I finally have some glaze test results from early summer. I decided if I was going to share them I may as well go all out and make them useful for anyone else that might be testing ^6 glazes in oxidation. If you click one of the six images below you should see the full-size, more readable images.
All base glazes are from the fabulous book: Mastering Cone 6 Glazes
I’m interested in developing some semi-matte glazes to add a little surface variety to my work. Here are two groups of test tiles with the High Calcium Semimatte 2 from Mastering Cone 6 Glazes (pg. 89).
High Calcium Semimatte 2 Red Iron Oxide and Rutile
High Calcium Semimatte 2 Rutile and Red Iron Oxide
I was really impressed with these two groups of glazes. I plan to use at least a few of these in the future after some more testing. I have already tested this base glaze with some more colorant combinations. It should be noted that the first tile in the bottom image is the “Bone” glaze from the book and the third tile is “Raw Sienna” both mentioned on page 90.
Finally getting some images uploaded of the pots that I glaze fired at the beginning of the month!
Not pictured are a handful of pots that will be re-fired to improve some glaze results that weren’t what I was hoping for. And one or two mugs that already have happy new homes. And a few pots that are just fine but not eye catching enough for me to take a photo, edit the photo, upload the photo and type in a description of the pot.
I’ve been reclaiming some scrap clay. It’s a little bit like getting free clay! I let all the clay dry out really well then let it sit in some water for a couple days. Then I used my cordless drill and mixer to mix it up into a nice smooth creamy chocolate pudding. I want to just dip my whole arm in there! I’ve got myself a 5 gallon bucket that was nearly full when I started. Now I’m slowly drying it and adding it to the new clay that I bought as I prepare it for throwing.
reclaiming clay
I don’t have a plaster table to dry it on so I just scoop it onto some platters that cracked during the bisque firing. I put these bisque trays up on little stilts so air can circulate underneath. The bisque really sucks out the water and speeds the drying time. When I put them out in the sun I can have clay almost ready to use in a couple hours. One thing I learned is that the edges dry a lot faster so I pile on extra around the edges and make the clay thinner in the middle.
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…
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.