New things

Well, I really can't believe it been so long since I have posted here.  I got busy making things for shows/holiday sales, etc., then got plain lazy, but now am having fun trying out some new ideas.  Still committed to "single firing".  In fact, this very large box was constructed from little loafer's clay and decorated with underglaze, then glazed with clear on outside and a tinted clear on inside over a silkscreened text.  Then single fired in my electric kiln at cone 5 (slow).  Until I run into a problem, that is what I will continue to do since I paint all of my glazes on (not dipped).  I may explore spraying glazes also which will still enable me to single fire.  Well, here's the picture of the box:

Then I decided to make some ceramic hanging hearts which will enable me to try out new techniques, ideas, etc using the clay heart as a canvas.  Here are some finished hearts, the first batch were a little too small, then I made a hump mold our of clay and let it dry based on an idea I saw in Ceramic Arts Daily  I have plaster molds and was planning on making more, but I needed one quickly and in the heart shape so I used this idea and I have to say I am quite pleased with it.  They clay doesn't stick to the dry mold, and later, if I don't want or use the mold I can just reconstitute it and use the clay again.  I used white (actually gray before firing) low fire clay because it is what I had the most of.  I have since made a few more molds that way.  Actually, it seems to make more sense especially for hump molds.  I will continue to make/use the plaster molds  for detailed items/ springs, etc.  The mold has enabled me to make these hearts pretty quickly and I can then concentrate on decorating techniques.  I think I can get these to a price point where they will sell.  So far, all are one of a kind.  

  

  

 

  

  

  

  

    

  

  

Also my beach kite flyers are selling faster than I can make them.  This time (first time) two boys flying kites:

and a very new idea I have of creating the "Unsoftie"---love all the plush little figures sewn with fabric and I thought I might try a few done with ceramic, and here is my first "prototype."  Isn't it cute?  

  back:  

I will play with a few more ideas, love making it look like fabrics, with stitching, etc.  

Whew, that should do for a while, I am still making silkscreened jewelry but fabricating it into actual wearable items slows me down.  I love making the components but now they are piling up waiting to be made into jewelry to wear.  Just to show you all the pieces I have stashed away:

  

and this is just a few, have loads more---I have been experimenting with monoprinting from gelli plates for some of these pieces in the picture on the right.  Well I think this post will show that I have been busy, if not posting.  More later.

Single Firing ---saving time and kiln wear and electricity

Just sharing---I have recently had very good luck glazing and firing greenware (single firing) in my electric Skut kiln.  Held my breath, but it all came out beautifully, no cracks, etc.  FYI, in this firing, used Little Loafer's clay (also one piece of sculpture was Standard brown clay), all cone 5, decorated with my underglazes/and silkscreened underglazes, and then covered with Amaco's HF9 Zinc free clear glaze.  All seemed a perfect fit and boy this sure saves time with no separate bisque firing.  Glazes were brushed on.
I did a two hour hold on front end to be sure all my glazes, etc were good and dry, then fired to Cone 5 at "slow"---this time I refrained from peeking which I have a habit of doing when temp gets about 500, but I waited patiently and was rewarded.

I have been doing this for more than a year now and have had great success with low-fire pieces very similar to these.  I had done smaller jewelry pieces of cone 5 single firing but these are the largest pieces at the higher firing temperature that I have single fired.  I will do the bulk of my work in this way from now on.

some finished jewelry and a few bits

Getting into Ceramic Jewelry

After lugging heavy pots, etc to shows, I have decided to try my hand at making some ceramic jewelry pieces.  A lot lighter and could be fun.  I will have to get busy getting them on chains, earwires, findings, etc., but here is a peek at some of the bits I have been making several using my silkscreens.  All of these are midrange stoneware, porcelain mix.  They are pretty I think and I might be able to do something with them. The ones with dark backgrounds are really a glaze that looks like silver, though it is hard to photograph and show as silver.

Hooked on Houses

Sold the first "houses" platter, and now have a few more pieces in that theme

Clay Book

For over a year now I have been toying with an idea to make a clay book.  I especially wanted to feature several techniques, particularly my silkscreens in this book.  I made 4 slabs and decorated them, but broke two before firing, so the other two (actually two sided), were just hanging around after bisque firing.  I finally glazed them and fired them and this is what resulted:

I am not entirely happy and need to fine tune the idea a little.  It is appealing though but the ceramic noise  when pages come together is a little daunting.  I just saw Ellen Currans Pottery on the west coast had a similar notion and made a book as well,  I like the way she treated the ends with thread to compensate for the sound.  I had just laid out some paper pages that I was going add in the middle, maybe sewing them with threads, and with a little batting in the middle.  Also have not dismissed the idea of fabric inserts also.  A work in progress, I think I will try this again.

Also coming out of the kiln

Some new things

Just finished Diana Fayt's online class on Surface Treatments.  We learned how to make a neat folded foot platter which can also hang on the wall as decoration, here are some of the surface treatment work I did.
Always nice to add a few new techniques.  I am pretty pleased with the results and have more ideas.

New Kite flyers

Another coral box

Mermaid Tail Vases

Experimenting with Majolica

Red earthenware platter, dipped in  Linda Arbuckle recipe for white majolica glaze and overpainted with underglazes.

New Majolica Mini Dishes

                    --sold all the others and love playing around with these.