Trimmed Yarn bowls and glazing

Last night was spent trimming plates and yarn bowls. I changed the cuts this time so that it is more vertical and instead of pushing the 'flap' out, I pushed it in. Hopefully, this will stop the collapsing issue I've been having with some of these. The slot on the left one in the above photo is a bit bigger than I'd like, but it should work well.

Another yarn bowl.


And another jar is glazed. This time I've used the Leo's Jade for the main part and Tenmoku for the knob. Love this combination of glazes.

The Tree Woman version 2 survived the bisque firing, but managed to blow out her back side. It's my fault for leaving it too thick, not poking holes and not letting her dry long enough. My bad. But, after a little sanding, she's just fine. I'll be dropping her off at the wood kiln tomorrow morning. Photos to come.

Smaller tree vase

Remember my birdbath? Well, in looking at it, it seems like the 'free' side might very well flop over because it is quite flat and not supported underneath. Floppiness does occur in the wood kiln quite a bit. So I decided to make a small vase that could be placed under the birdbath as a support.

Another view.

Part of the magic of wood firing is that you can do this sort of thing. You place 'wads' on the top rim, between the two pieces and they do separate.

Wads are made of a combination of materials that don't turn to glass as it's being fired. It's what we use on the bottom of pots as well as between the bottom of a jar and its lid. I'll be sure to photograph those at the next firing.

6 pasta bowls and 6 mini plates

Last night was a production night. The upper bowls are pasta bowls made for a friend. The lower small plates will eventually have cute critters such as the dragon bunny below painted on them and mid fire clear glazed.
Why not cone 10? Well, at cone 10, colors such as yellow tend to burn out and it's just not as bright or pretty. So, midfire is the way to go here.

Tree Woman version 2

Here she is. Tree Woman version 2. This one is a lot happier than the previous one. And her head is a lot bigger. I seem to be making bigger heads for my sculptures. It's not bad, but it makes my ladies less than slender than I first imagine. Maybe I'm going through a phase.

Right side.
Back. I really like how much is going on here. Unfortunately, like the first one, I seem to add too much too the back and then it causes issues with back bending and heads wanting to fall off backwards.

Left side. Still, she's interesting.

This is the first sculpture where I opened the mouth and tried to give her some expression. I like her face and all the action going on with her. Hopefully, she'll be ready for the next wood fire at the end of this month.

Oh, and a friend called her: scary beautiful.

A new Tree Woman and underglazing a fish

Some of you might recall the trimmed Tree Woman. One of the BHC sale customers really liked her and at the time, I wasn't willing to sell her. Now, since she's been trimmed, I can't sell her. So, at long last, I'm work on a new one. Here's the body of the new Tree Woman thrown out of Sculpture Raku. I think that I'll be adding some to her base to make it look kind of like the bird bath I was working on (which, by the way, is done and drying. Pictures to come!)



Now, since I like to change up what I make, here's what I've been working on.
I've been sketching big eyed designs such as the fish above with the intention of painting them on little plates. I do have to make some pasta bowls before I can make the little plates. But, I'm excited to have a new project/goal in mind.

A few weeks ago, I found a bisqued bowl and I decided to underglaze it. I had no idea what to underglaze, but it's a good test to see how the colors work and how easy it is to paint this type of work.
I'm thinking that it needs some blue around it. Or not. I will think about it. Hope to get it glazed tomorrow, so I can't spend too long thinking about it.

Birdbath

I started and almost finished a bird bath last night. It's upside down in these photos because the bath part is drying over a mold.

I really like making the 'bark' by adding clay rather than subtracting it. This almost a full bag of clay. I have about 2 lbs left that will be added to the piece later this week.

Spring sale... done!

The Spring sale is done! It was not my best sale nor my worst. And is always the case, I never seem to sell as much as I like.

Oh well. It's all good. I have a few ideas that I want to work on such has a bird bath that is about a foot high. And I think it might be time to start another Tree Woman. This time this sculpture will be made for sale, not for my own personal enjoyment. It makes it easier to be detached and to keep myself motivated to work on it quickly and efficiently. I also have a few orders to do, such as pasta bowls for a friend in Texas.

I doubt I'll be working on any more wall hanging vases until I sell a few. And, I probably will make a few more vases that are around 12 inches high.

Keep following the blog to see what I'm up to. Oh, and if you have a Facebook account, please 'like' my page there. Thank you!