It's a Process!

Glazing with tiny pointed bottles of glaze (Designer Liner from Mayco) or brushes of glaze (Stroke & Coat from Mayco) is all about process.

My home has great light (if a bit shaded green this time of year) for painting.

I'm trying some new designs, so roughed out the idea on the pot with a pen (a pencil would also do well.)

I quickly found that I couldn't pull the lines perfectly straight.  So the wiggle is incorporated into the design.  That's what makes it art!

 Painting three coats of Stroke and Coat is a pain, and I usually end up just doing 2 heavy ones.

Fortunately the liner shows through most of the Stroke N Coat glazes, I've found by experience.

Then I lightly brush on two thin coats of Matte Clear Glaze (also by Mayco).  If I get too much of the clear bunched up by any of the line work, I've found it can make it blur. (Sometimes this is a good thing.)

I pour some white satin glaze into the interior at the Black Mountain Clay Studio, and dip the top edge also in it.  Then as soon as it's dry I dip the edge just barely into Plum.  That will probably cause some drippy-ness along the top edge, which is planned.

Come back tomorrow to see the finished product.   It's all a process!

Cheese trays - in process

 And no, that doesn't make any processed cheese!

I thought they are rather large for cheese cutting...perhaps some fruit or crackers would also be spread around on these trays.  Here they are bisqued, with just a bit of bend from true flat where handles are.  I was amazed they didn't crack or bend more as large thin slabs are wont to do.

The rather normal shaped one is now waiting to be in a glaze kiln-load.

I just got some shots of my process of painting geraniums on the strange shaped one. I used 3 Stroke & Coat colors, and 3 Designer Liner colors (all by Mayco).

After painting all the color images, I then put a coat of matte clear over them all, and then wax them with a liquid wax.  That way I can next pour any glaze over the whole surface and won't interfere with all that painting.  I'll also wax the edges and back so there won't be glaze on those surfaces either.

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Process from bisque to glaze fired (ONE)

If you're a potter, you can skip this post, because you go through this step daily.

Take a dry pot, and bisque fire it, then glaze it.  Right?

Mugs with ginkgo leaf imprints waiting for waxing, then glazing.

So here are the results, several days later.

Ginkgo leaves are barely visible with Celadon glaze.

A really nice subtle design

But wait...look what happened when I waxed the leaves and used shiny green glaze!

Yep, those ginkgo leaves sure do pop out here.  They are bare clay, but it's still dishwasher and food and microwave safe.

_{Quote for the day:  Each minute of life should be a divine quest.}

_{Paramahansa Yogananda}

Big pitchers

While Gary Rith is busy making his tiny pitchers, I've tried some more big ones.  But I am still finding after they are off the wheel they are too bottom heavy.  Yep, my opinion and it leads me to carving away in attempts to lighten the load.  But shape is done pretty much, so I need to figure out how to really pull that extra weight of clay off the bottom walls before finishing throwing.  The one thing I learned and never do, is to let the pot set up a bit after it's pretty much finished, then after that drying off time, pull more clay up.  I've seen that that does extend the walls easily.

So back to the drawing board, er, potters wheel, for this "hobbiest" potter.

Process of building a dragon mask

Yesterday the icy rain kept me inside most of the day, and I'd left the mask covered at the Black Mountain studio...which was closed due to the ice storm.

Today it was warm and all the ice was gone.  So I worked at the BMCA studio, then brought the mask home, to continue to work at my own schedule.

This is the inner part of the mask, showing the indentations in which the eyeballs were placed, then given support structures for the eyes.  It also shows one nostril which is open through the mask, as well as the mouth.

Here are the eyes (not open through the mask) and the nostrils which are open through the mask.  I've sketched in some detail areas, and done some of the middle process carving.  The mouth will have a tongue added, and there are various parts of her anatomy which haven't been completed yet. At this point she's beyond leather hard, but I want to keep the option of adding some pieces, like that tongue, so will mist her when I put her under the plastic tonight.

I studied some African masks in Art School at the U of Florida in the 80s.  They influenced Picasso, so I hope they've influenced me a bit too.