Friday, March 31, 2017

Tumbler 27

One of my favorites so far!  I wrapped the tumbler with a vinyl belt then dipped the bottom in light blue.  Then I dipped the top half in Kook's blue (love how it goes purple), doubling the glaze up in a thick pile over the resist.  When I removed the vinyl, some glaze flaked off, and you can see the result left a little residual fingerprint.
Recycled cone 10 stoneware, glaze

In progress.
Drippy goodness.

Thursday, March 30, 2017

Tumbler 26

Another vinyl resist piece--this is actually one of the first ones I experimented on.  The recycled clay shows its pretty natural color in a nice contrast to the turquoise and blue (that was supposed to be copper red, but whatever).
Recycled cone 10 stoneware, glaze



Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Tumbler 25

Because I know how the clear glaze makes the cobalt run upon firing, I have started playing around more with the dynamic aspects of the ingredients.  For this one I mixed mason stain with white glaze and dipped the lip in a nice, thick pool.  I then dunked the whole thing in clear.  The colorant ran down in a lovely, delicate, watery way.
White cone 6 stoneware, mason stain, glaze



INSTAGRAM!

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Tumbler 24

Like yesterday's post, I added dots to this before firing, but due to the chemical makeup of the applied glazes, they didn't saw up AT ALL.

In progress....
Final product.  White cone 6 stoneware, glaze, mason stain.
 I brushed on a mason stain with a lot of cobalt in it.  It fluxed with the clear glaze I put on over the whole thing after I peeled the dots off...properties of the clear glaze make the cobalt run, and it filled in all the dots.  But it looks cool anyway!

I also love how the clear runs into the white I glazed the inside.

Monday, March 27, 2017

Tumbler 23

I had some fun with vinyl dots as a resist with this one.  Before glazing I stuck on dots (cut at home with my trusty vinyl cutter, of course) in a simple belt around the cup.  Then I brushed on some jade glaze/stroke and coat, and after it dried, pulled off the dots to reveal the raw clay behind.  I wanted to see if the glaze would drip or degrade the dots, and mostly the glaze stayed where it was.  A few dots have a slump on the top curve, but otherwise this cup has a nice no-slip grip.

white cone 6 stoneware, stroke and coat

dot it up, friend!

Yes...these are all for sale on Etsy.  Go there!

Friday, March 24, 2017

Tumbler 22

Here's that pesky Rietz Blue again!  I think because the clay body has some iron in it (it's recycled, so who really knows what's going on in there), brown gets pulled out and speckles the blue.  The black top is nicely metallic and the belt in the middle is more matte.
cone 10 stoneware, glaze
 I'm still on INSTAGRAM.

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Tumbler 21

Yellow salt is an interesting glaze and reminds me of freckled skin.  And I love freckles.  You can slightly see vertical stripes that I painted on with brown slip before bisque.  The bottom is dipped in Rietz Blue, which goes brown, as you saw in the last post.
cone 10, glaze, mason stain
FRAACKLES!!


Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Tumbler 20

Here we go again!  

I painted slip dyed with dark chocolate brown mason stain on this tumbler before bisque firing--you can see the paint strokes under the glaze.  The glaze on bottom is supposed to be blue, but only goes blue when it mixes with the top dipped celadon.  I still don't really understand this stuff.
cone 10 stoneware, brown slip, glaze



Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Tumbler 19

Stripey experiment here...I painted on this mason stain+glaze concoction (originally it was a rose color) in a few thick spots, then dunked the top half in white.  It ran a little and washed it away just a bit.  This particular mason stain has been a real pain and let me down many times, so I gave it one more chance.  As long as I don't do a wipe on/wipe off thing and make it nice and thick, it seems to do okay.  Okay?

handbuilt, cone 6 white stoneware, mason stain, white glaze

up the skirt with a little maker's mark


Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Snake Eye Tumblers

More fun with Stroke & Coat!  I started out thinking of these as having a brick pattern, but then I decided they were more like eyes (especially the yellow one), so here we are with a pattern name.  I made another one with green, but I got the clear top glaze too thick and it basically washed away the design, so I was more careful with just brushing it on these.  Figuring this all out takes a while.


cone 6 white stoneware, handbuilt, stroke and coat, clear glaze


cone 6 white stoneware, handbuilt, stroke and coat, clear glaze



Monday, March 6, 2017

More Cat Mugs

Still playing around with my digitally cut vinyl stamps.  I might have to (gasp!) go purchase some commercial glaze because I just don't love many of the colors the Clay Guild provides--that's why I do a lot of mixing mason stains and such. 

But these little guys are pretty cute, and once I get a large enough group I'm going to take them to Purrfect Pets in Overland Park--a wonderful cats only shelter that placed my foster kittens in a fabulous home last year.  They have a small boutique section where I have sold a few clocks as well.
cone 6 white stoneware, hand built, dipped antique green and purple with white inside and bottom

put some tea in this

or some coffee!
 INSTAGRAM IS MY FAVE!



Friday, March 3, 2017

Pendants

When I have a bit of clay left over from making a thing, I like to use the cast off piece for pendants.  Sometimes the texture is already on the surface from Making a Thing: Round One, and sometimes I like to smush the clay into a stamp I already have.  I'll use Stroke & Coat, mason stains, and other glazing techniques and mixtures to see what happens.  These are basically test tiles and sometimes they come out really great.  I have thrown plenty away--I learned what I needed to from those and don't need them cluttering up my life.

I'm adding these to my Etsy store as I get to them.

pendant family

made with a homemade stamp; matte blue and glossy jade Stroke and Coat
red and black S&C before bisque; blue glaze over whole thing after.
I used a toilet paper roll as a cookie cutter for these round ones.


made with a homemade stamp; matte blue and yellow Stroke and Coat before bisque, antique green glaze after

made with found woodcarving-turned-stamp; cone 10 glaze fired with wipe on/off technique

stamp made with grate found in my basement; custom glaze made with mason stain filled into holes

made with a homemade stamp; cone 10 Iron Saturate glaze
I have lots more...and I'll be making lots more, too!

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Tumbler 18

I applied a vinyl strip on the raw clay surface before dunking it in glaze.  After the glaze dried I peeled off the vinyl and this is the result...Although the glaze is pretty neutral color (supposed to be celadon, but whatever),  you can see some flashing showed up on the raw clay, giving it a bit of a red tinge.  I love that the line is super crisp and simple.  More of these for sure!
recycled stoneware, cone 10, glaze

flashin'