With my class reunion out of the way this past weekend, I've been busy trying to get things ready for an exciting two-day local show. Got some interesting pieces I've made lately, so I'm excited to see what I do in the glazing arena for them once they have been bisque fired. I need to be careful with my experimentation so that I have some decent pieces for the show, of course!
I've added a few platters to my inventory recently, so now I'd like to get some bowls and other slab shapes made to help round out my presentation. The large items generally get the "Wow" factor, so have been working on making some fairly large pieces. Besides, they are more fun to work on too! :D
Carving takes time, but the results are so enjoyable. I'll have to be careful to price these recent ones correctly to take into the account the time I've spent carving and designing them.
Tomorrow I'm planning to take apart my primary kiln to do some work on it, and then get it assembled again for a firing tomorrow night. Got to get some pots glazed and fired!!!!
I've been trying to focus a little more on exploring my platters, and to see what various things I can do to design and decorate them... and with every step forward, it feels more and more like I'm just starting to scratch the surface (pun pun) of what can be done.
The spiral rolling stamp design seems pretty popular, so I may work on making a few more rolling stamps to use, as I've only made three rolling stamps and one cylinder stamp so far. I would like to have ten stamps from which to choose eventually (or more if I get real ambitious).
I'm starting to use some other colors for clay, including a Raku clay body that I used to make another wine chiller. You can see in the photo that I've carved the wine glass, and have yet to add the grape bunch. I'm not yet sure if I'll fire this piece in the Raku kiln, or just fire it along with my other stoneware in the electric kiln. Will have to see what time permits.
Mixing several types of clay also has been yielding some interesting pieces, although it also can give its own set of problems for drying and clay shrinkage rates. I like the swirl effect when throwing the verigated clay on the wheel.
But still have to be careful to avoid the stresses and cracking that can happen more easily when using two different clay bodies, as seen on the platter. Ouch! Looks like that one is headed for the scrap heap. Guess they can't all be winners... LOL.
Just started the kiln and it is nearly 2AM. I'll have to set a timer to wake me up to turn it up every 1.5 hours. Some of the glazed pieces would not fit in this smaller kiln, so they will wait to be fired in the next glaze load.
Looks like a busy weekend, with the farmer's market sale in the morning, and a two-day sale on Sunday/Monday.
