A few of my favourite things

A few of my favourite things
This week have not done that much.
I have been revisiting lidded containers. I have not made them for a few years so it is refreshing doing them again. I might spent the next couple of months exploring them. I will also revisit teapots they where also fun to do .  

  

Containers Revisited

Some of my favourite tools

Above is a collection of my favourite tools
1. A group of mud tools so handy especially the soft red ones. The bowl kidney is also great comes in 2 sizes. The hex tool is great for hand building similar to a hacsaw blade but flexible. 
2. the griffin grip .  Brought this years ago and would not be with out for trimming saves a lot of time especially when your busy.
3. Various tools for texture and carving . I love texture.
Anyway thats it for me so hop on over to www.mudcolony.blogspot.com 

Kiln Firings 
This week I have been mainly glazing, unpacking a glaze firing from Sunday Evening and repacking and doing an other glaze firing.
i tested the new ironstone clay that Keanes has recently brought out. I have seen how it looks in stownware firings but was interested to see how it looked in cone 6. It turned out lovely a nice walnut colour. I can see great possibilities so more testing on its way.
Below is an example of a  bowl  underneath clear glaze centre I used an underglaze bit pale but as I said an experimental piece

The E/W clay from blackwattle fired well. ALL MY CONES WERE DOWN 5,6 & 7 I do a 25 min soak so cone 7 always goes over .
The plates I made from using paper plates as a mould turned out fine so I will keep doing these.

Also the results of some spoons (although rather large should get smaller with practice) . I think I will call them scoops. ( That is what I am using them for). A bit lopsided but it does give them that hand made look.

Anyway that is all from me this week so why don't you hop on over to mudcolony and see what every one else is up to.

Hi Mud Colony potters and followers
Another week has gone by finished throwing with some Blackwattle earthenware clay I brought a while back. I have been told by Blackwattle it will fire to Cone 6 and this has been supported by a fellow potter  who has fired it to cone 6.
So this week i have fired a bisque and just unloaded it this pm

I glazed during my days off from work ( which too often interferes with my love of clay).
Packed a glaze firing and have just put it on. Should be just about finished by the time I leave for work at 0545 tomorrow.

The above is the bottom shelf packed with cups. Why cups ? I find it good to throw a couple each time I throw. I think I am trying to find the perfect shape and practicing handles at the same time.
I put one of the blackwattle E/W in as a test.
That enough from me so hop on over to Mud Colony and see what everybody else is up to.

This week beside setting up my blog  (mark 3) I have been making some plates an inspiration from fellow Mud Colony potter Helen Perret. We both got the idea of how to make the plates using paper plates as templates from Ceramics Daily website. I am using the plates as an exercise in printing on clay . I tend to get bored when just doing tiles so I find this is a fun way to play.
the following pics are examples of what I am playing with.

The last picture shows one of my risso screens . Still on a steep learning curve with this. The illustration I get from Dover books the come with a CD with the clip art on and are royalty free. You can play around with the illustration in photoshop or illustrater which again is a steep learning curve.
Anyway that is me for this week so pop on over to Mud colony and see what everyone else is up to.

Above are some examples of my work. The top photo is an example of my porcelain work. It is slip trailed, fired to 1220 centigrade and polished . It is sitting on a saucer made from raku clay.
The second picture are examples of my crustation series. The pieces are thrown and coiled, sprigg decoration, slip, oxides and a dry glaze. Some pieces are made from paper clay and some from raku clay.
the last couple of weeks I have been making slab moulded plates so I can experiement with different  printing method. Now it is spring should be enough sun about to try some eziprint screens which are developed with sunlight. All of this tends to be a learning curve as with everything associated with ceramics.

In September I attended a world Raku day that was organised by Cone 6 Clazes blog site. Jan Wallice and I were the only ones that had a raku. We got some good results. My pots are the uncleaned ones and Jan's are the lovely cylinders. It was a great night ,very windy but it did not spoil the night. It was great meeting Jan and the bonous is that she only lives 40 minutes away so more raku firings are  planned.