Pictures from the firing on 10-6-07.

The technical stuff: All pieces were made from Laguna ^5 b-mix, bisque fired to ^04. The colored frog was painted with engobe in the greenware stage, then glazed with a clear glaze for the final ^6 firing. The other frog was simply glazed with a celadon glaze. I wanted to compare the outcome of a decorated frog vs. a simple glazed frog. I like both, but I like the decorated frog more.

Dare I forget to mention the bowl? Not. It is glazed in layers using Georgie’s Incredible Black on the bottom, and Georgie’s Nassau Blue on the top. I made a set of four of these. Very pleased with the results.

Here are some photos from unloading the kiln yesterday. I hope to have some professional photos of these pots soon.

A stack of tiny bowls:

A tiny bowl:

Same tiny bowl in my hand to give an idea of size:

Yet another tiny bowl:

Three tiny bowls (I love this white creamy glaze):

This is a soup bowl:

A frog cup:

Carved and colored with Duncan underglaze colors

I am very happy with this set: a cup, saucer, and tea bag/spoon holder:

The bottom shelf before I finished unloading the bowls:

The technical stuff: All pots were made with ^5 B-mix. The carved bowl and frog were painted in the greenware stage. The cup and saucer set were decorated with slip colored with Mason stains in the greenware stage. All pieces were bisqued to ^04, then glazed and fired to ^6. Actually I should say ^6.5 because this firing went a little bit hot.

I used a bottom baffle shelf to deflect the flames, and a top baffle about 1/2″ from the top port to attempt to even out the heat from top to bottom. It worked, and I only had about 1/4 cone difference between the top and bottom of the kiln.

Today, I decided to make some sprig molds. Here is a picture journal of the process:

First, I created the designs I want to make sprigs out of. I took small slabs of clay and built onto them the following designs (actually, I carved the man in the moon and built the flowers). Then, I put a slab wall around each one to make a little cup to hold the plaster:

Next, I mixed up some #1 potters plaster and poured it into the molds:

I was patient and let a couple of hours pass, before I removed the clay from around the plaster. They all turned out! Luckily, the clay pulled away and I was able to keep the originals, which I will fire and save for making molds in the future:

Here is a test sprig:

And here is the man in the moon sprig on a mug. I think it is going to look pretty cool once I’ve painted it:

The end, for now.

I went to a local art fair today to see how other potters set up their booths. I’m doing my first juried sale in November and have a lot to think about for how I am going to set up my booth. I wanted to get an idea of table/shelf setups, as well as pricing. I was surprised at how low a couple of the potters had their pieces priced - but then again, I wasn’t. I was surprised because it seems that a $10 mug is way too inexpensive, but then not surprised because I wouldn’t have paid that much for the mugs, or any of their other pots, for that matter. The tops were pretty, but upon turning them over I found untrimmed, messy, rough bottoms. Instant turn-off.

In my opinion, the bottom of a pot should be as presentable as the top. People turn pots over to see the signature of the artist, to get a feel of the heaviness of the pot, to see the foot ring. Not only does a beautifully presented bottom look nice, it adds elegance to the pot. This goes for everything - from tiny bowls, to mugs, to platters. I did not find foot rings on one single potter’s mugs, although a couple of them had nice, smooth bottoms that the artists had obviously paid attention to.

I think I have found my niche. I trim every single pot I make, into a shape that I find appealing, with a foot ring. When I look at the shapes of my mugs compared to what I saw today, I see mugs unlike any that were offered. Unlike the rough stoneware with drippy glazes and mottled colors, mine will be elegant with (hopefully) bright colors and eye-catching designs. Maybe not everybody’s style, but definitely mine, and one that I think will attract an entirely different crowd of shoppers than the other booths.

Here’s hoping!

And here is a picture of some of the pots I’ve made in the past two weeks:

It has been far too long since I’ve produced any work. Finally, life is getting less hectic and I find I once again have time to play with clay. A couple of weeks ago, I glazed most of the bisque ware that was on the shelf, and fired it. There was a variety of clay bodies, some pieces were from 2004! I fired to cone 6, and everything came out pretty good. I have been playing with glaze combinations, using some commercial glazes that I bought from Georgie’s.

I used a baffle shelf, placed 2 inches from the top port of the kiln, in attempt to even out the temperature. It helped - I only had one cone difference, but I still had a variation in temp between the top and bottom of the kiln. I will move the baffle up about 3/4 inch next time and see how that affects the firing. I am also going to leave an empty shelf at the bottom.

Here are the results of that firing:

The nearly 100 pounds of clay that I have has somewhat dried out - no big surprise there, considering I bought it six months ago. I decided to use the dryer bag to make some slab pots, and also threw some small bowls and a couple of cylinders. I threw the bowls off the hump, and found the clay was OK to work with in that way, so I think I’ll use this clay up by making TONS of little bowls. They’re really cute when done, and I think they’ll sell.