Art by Fuzzy

Pottery, Photography, Design - Brandon "Fuzzy" Schwartz

The Rest of the First 2012 Glaze Fire

The previous post was about mugs with logos.  There were a few other items in the first glaze fire of 2012:

Not pictured: a small teardrop shaped vase, a Charger mug that turned out terribly, and a large mug with some stamped patterns.

I got a little tired of making mugs at one point so I wanted to try a different drinking vessel. I decided to make some tall handle-less forms. I’ll call them tumblers unless someone else has a better name for these tall cups. I feel like tumblers should have straighter sides.  I haven’t actually tried drinking out of them yet but I like how they turned out. My wife wasn’t as impressed and thinks they look like they should be used by kings and queens of the medieval times. Maybe if I dig a moat around the house?

I also wanted to make some yarn bowls to put on my shelf in the Stone Soup Emporium. I made three but I broke one before I could get it bisque fired and one has been donated to the Jefferson Elementary silent auction tomorrow. I’ll probably make a few more. I like how the glaze turned out on the inside of these two.

One of the best parts of the glaze fire was doing a little experimenting and enjoying the results. A while ago I wrote of mugs with poor attachments. A few were salvaged and survived the bisque fire so I decided to experiment with some glaze application. I dipped the two mugs in Saturated Iron to cover the outside. Then I brushed a patch of Eggshell on both sides of one and Alabaster Satin on both sides of the other. On top of these white squares I brushed a quick design with a black wash. The wash and glazes melted together a little bit and I think it adds some interest to each mug.

This weekend (hooray for presidents!) I hope to start cranking out another batch of logo mugs. I’ve been absent from the clay studio for the past week or so except to reclaim some clay and haul a couple boxes of new clay down to the bench. Here’s to getting dirty!

Logo Mugs

I recently glaze fired a bunch of drinking vesels.  Mostly mugs and cups with some sort of logo emblazoned across at least one side of each. Overall a solid firing with a few spectacular pieces.  All wheel-thrown stoneware fired to cone 6.

Little Chargers

A majority of the vessels were of the “Little Charger” variety. I had some orders from before Christmas and I made a few extra mugs and a couple handle-less cups/pencil holders.

(Big?) Chargers

A staff member or two suggested that I make some mugs with the charger-riding-a-horse logo that the middle and high schools use. I ordered a stamp and tried it on a few different forms with a couple different glaze combinations.

PBL and Boberosa Gun Dogs

This glaze firing was the beta test for a few new logos. Partners Bulk Logistics is a fantastic trucking company and the fine folks at Boberosa Gun Dogs train and board hunting dogs.

Notes

  • The Coyote Glaze “Really Red” is appropriately named.
  • I wish Coyote made a “Really Orange” which was just as bright.
  • Brushing on glaze is STILL a pain compared to dipping and pouring.
  • My favorite logos resulted from applying glaze to the impressed logo lines and then wiping off the excess glaze to reveal bare clay around the logo.
  • Going from Red Gloss (more of a dull, cool red) to Really Red (brighter and warmer) was quite a jump. I love the Really Red but I think it overpowers the Sapphire Blue glaze which it is usually paired with. Maybe I’ll have to find a brighter blue glaze.
  • Glazes used:
  • Coyote – Really Red, Sapphire Blue, Eggshell, Alabaster Satin, Pam’s Blue, Saturated Iron, Orange, Red Gold
  • Amaco – Red Gloss, Frosted Turquoise (not pictured)
  • Mayco – Stoneware Copper Wash, Stoneware Iron Wash (referred to as “stains” in the descriptions)

There were a few non-logo items in the glaze fire. I’ll try to put up a short post with these items including mugs, tumblers and yarn bowls.

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…

Clay Studio Cam

Okay, so I don’t really have a clay studio cam… yet.  But Keith over at Mudstuffing Sketchbook has posted a really cool video from his studio.  Maybe someday I’ll get into those moving pictures but for now I have the old fashioned still images.

Logo Mugs Drying

Logo Mugs Drying

I think I have about enough mugs and other items to bisque fire in the next week.  I had some orders for Little Charger mugs before Christmas Break so I’ve got those ready to go.  I also had some requests for mugs with other logos.  The stamps that I ordered came in at the end of last week so I’ve got a few more logo mugs drying.  I was on top of things this time so no casualties yet and they are now almost completely dry.

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