FIRST TIME FOR LAGUNA FROST PORCELAIN

Here goes!

I'm off to try my hand at Laguna Frost porcelain.   

Reading about it's diva dispostion and finicky ways has me thoroughly intimidated.   Thought about it all night instead of sleeping.   

I'll be back!....ttfn

ART NOUVEAU STYLE

 It's been yeas since my last posting.  Haven't had the time or energy to pot, live life and post.   

My latest fascination has been with working in S266 with a white slip over then carving a design into the white to reveal the dark brown.

This last photo look like two pots but it's really a photo of a pot next to a mirror to show the opposite side. 

I have several pots in this style and am contemplating a Facebook page or an Etsy shop but again, time is of the essence and there never seems to be enough of it.  

GIFTS FOR FAMILY RUNION

Gifts for Family Reunion

In an effort to create a small memorial to my sister who passed last fall, I made gifts for my generation of cousins and kids who knew her.   My inspiration was her generosity and thoughtfulness--she had supported me through the years by always giving the right gift!  For example when we got married and I took on the role of housewife she gave me an index box full of her hand written recipes for meals that have served us well throughout the years. 

When we moved to the country and began farming and raising our own everything, she bought us a pressure canner to use in preserving our foods.  I still use it 40 years later and think of her every time.   When I started to work she bought us a crock pot so I could prepare dinners while away from the house. 

So I thought about the individuals in the family and tried to make something that would be significant to each person. 

The first thing I made was a stein/tankard for my cousin in Florida.  He's been having some issues with alligators so I made an image of him as a conquering hero:

 

I love serendipity and in this case it happened again!  I had decided to make a stein so for several days I pondered and thought and tried to picture what I wanted.  For no reason at all I went up into the attic of my studio and while there I happened to see a box of things wrapped up in newspaper.   Casually I lifted one of the items and uncovered a stein with a dancing couple on it.  There he was, my conquering hero!   Take away his dancing partner and replace her (sorry, lady) with an alligator.  Thanks to the internet it was easy to find an image of an alligator and a slab of clay soon morphed into the vile creature.  From there on the creation made itself so to speak, and with Amaco underglazes and Coyote Clear glaze overall, I was in business.   It is rather heavy so next time I will make the cylinder thick and carve away the shapes to lighten the load. 

 

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For my closest cousin, (our moms were in the same hospital room and I was born just 13 hours before she was, so we've been like sisters/twins all our lives) I made a vase.  She is a Garden Club queen and over the years has won numerous awards for her displays while at the same time serving as one officer or another for her local club.   I couldn't think past a vase for her and I hope it will serve her well.  It is painted while damp with slips made from the same clay and which contain colorants.   One is 3% manganese dioxide; there are two layers of that, then three layers of a slip containing 3% copper carbonate.  The sprigs were applied when the pot was leather hard, then after the bisque it was all glazed with Coyote Clear.   I enjoy the black and brown specs which are caused by the manganese. 

 

 

 

 

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For my niece and nephew we searched through the photo album and found this picture of my sister straightening nephew's tie while niece is waiting in the background.   I made a decal of this image using an HP laser jet printer then applied the decal to the glazed piece.  Another bisque firing and the iron in the ink adheres to and becomes part of the glaze.  I chose to use the decal on cups glazed with Coyote Pistachio Shino in hopes that the sepia   of the decal would match the effects of the shino in color.   

 

 

 

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For my cousin's husband who makes maple syrup in the north of New York State I made a pitcher.   As I told him, I hesitated to make a pitcher to be used for his precious liquid as there is always some lost on the inside of the vessel, but the idea would not leave me. 

 

 When the pot was bone dry I went to my maple tree for a donation of two leaves and used them to trace around to make the design on the side of the pot.  The stem was my own invention.   I painted the shapes with shellac which serves as a resist, then sponged around the surface to lower the level of the surrounding clay thus making the leaves and stem stand proud of the surface.   The handle was a pulled and twisted technique learned from Robin Hopper.  After the bisque firing, during which the shellac burns off,  I stippled Amaco Liquid Underglaze orange onto the shapes then glazed the whole pot with clear. 

 

 

 

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I had no photos of my nephew's friend who helped take care of my sister in the last months she spent with them so I made a drawing of a clematis bloom and took a photo of the humming birds outside my dining room window.   In Photoshop I maneuvered and manipulated them into a single image then printed them as a decal.  Again the sepia blends nicely with the edges of the shino glaze. 

 

I have found great pleasure in making things with a specific individual in mind.   These were especially meaningful to me because I also had my sister in mind while making them. 

...if a friend be with us, what need have we of memorials? 

Thanks for visiting, this'll be all for now.

 

 

 

The organic design on these cups was created with white, iron oxide, and manganese colored slips made from my throwing clay.  (Not a special slip recipe.) 

 

After dripping the slip onto the side of the cup I then used manganese dissolved in vinegar and with a droopy watercolor brush let the solution drip into the white slip at the center of the design.  The vinegar and manganese spread into the other slips and created an organic landscape like design. 

 

Lesson learned:  during glaze firing the design will drool on a vertical surface and is much more effective on a flat plate.  The black of the vinegar solution spreads much like India Ink does into water color paints.  Luscious. 

 

I learned this technique from the Robin Hopper tapes about liquid and colored clays.  (I think that was the tape, maybe it was glazing.)  Robin Hopper is the source of numerous interesting and challenging techniques. 

 

I haven't been posting much because I have been making gifts for people and they can't be revealed before the giving. 

Discovery:  I love making pieces with a specific person in mind!!

 

This'll be all for now, thanks for stopping by.  ttfn

 

Mary Ellen

 

ICHEON A LA SERENDPITY

...WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS:

My daughter-in-law and a dear friend posted a link on Facebook for me and I fell in love with this fellow's pots.  I hope this link works for you:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzpZbcwdpMk  
I've tried to copy his work--I think he uses colored slips on leather hard pots then cuts and carves.   Well that's what I am doing anyway...

Here I am applying various colored slips to the damp pot still on the wheel after making it.

 

I have no idea how Kim Seong Tae makes his designs so I tried as hard as I could to copy what I thought I saw and cut out the negative shapes and then carved little bits out of the shapes.  The pots are still very rough, the clay is much thicker than I thought it was and the pot is not a good one, that's why I feel comfortable experimenting with it. 

 

 It is possible to see the layers of different colored slips in the carvings on the leaves.

I will continue to clean it up and make it presentable, then bisque fire and then glaze with clear.  

 

Here it is glaze fired.  Pretty rough, but first attempt.  My red iron oxide slip fires out a dull brown, not the red it shows in the green stage.  ):

  Now, on to the serendipity part:
We went to an antique store the other day and just wandered around. and then were getting ready to leave.   Something told me to go down one of the far aisles to get to the exit, and as I wandered toward the door my eyes fell on a little frame into which someone had stuck a piece of fancy linen.  The design is of flowers and the negative spaces are cut out; it looks so much like what I need for a pot to mimic Kim Seong Tae I couldn't believe it.  I asked the store manager if she would sell it to me, and she did for only $3.   That might seem like too much for a hunk of decorated linen, but to me it might be the source of numerous beautiful pots if I can figure out the entire technique.   

 

This is the piece of fabric I found and below is a trivet I made by pressing it into a slab, covering that with blue slip and sponging the slip off the majority of the surface.   Unfortunately the trivet warped in firing but I'll try another and make it square, flat without feet, and add feet after glaze firing.

 I also found that the cloth did not curve onto the surface of a pot the way I needed it to, but I still like it for it's design and inspiration.

 

 

Below are two pictures of my second attempt at an Icheon style pot.

 

 

 
 

 
 
This one has more green slip than the others.  I think I like the subtlety of it best with the dull brown of the 3% manganese slip visible in the carved leaves.

 

Below is my third attempt.  The first image is unfired; there is a layer of black (3% manganese) colored slip and a layer of blue (3% cobalt carbonate) colored slip on it but at this stage the slips dries to look pretty much just like the Laguna BMix I'm using. 

 

Here is it fired.  I liked it better when it was all white.  The black slip is virtually invisible.   For my next attempt I will not use any slips, just the clay body.   I also will smooth the edges of the cutouts more.  I was hesitant to smooth this one very much because one cannot see the colors of the slips in the green ware and it's impossible to know if they are being smeared during the clean up process.   

Also, in my continued attempt to make my work lighter and thinner I found that thin is not so good in this technique because it fires out tight and sharp. 

 
...and so it goes.  ttfn
 

PIE PLATES AND TEA BOWLS

 My latest endeavors have me making pie plates.  The first ones were used as a blank "sheet of paper" on which to draw with the Amaco Underglaze pencil.  Now while the weather is too cold for sitting outside to draw, I've turned to my favorite pastime: mandalas.  Some people don't enjoy the geometry and symmetry and tight control in designs like this, but I enjoy the process of seeing a design unfold through mere repetition of an element.  I enjoy looking at and "listening" for what to add next.  It is always fascinating to see what pops out with the addition of a new color in a shape that had previously been obscure. 

 

 

My pie plates are inconsistent in size, the last one above even ended up a serving platter because I didn't use enough clay to pull up the sides high enough.   Four pounds is going to be my standard from now on.  Four pounds seems like a lot of clay to devote to one project but I'll have to just buy more clay so I feel like I can spare it!  (:  Below you'll see a plate on which I drew weeds using the Amaco Underglaze pencil, a drawing of an Iris from last spring, a faux gingham using colored slip, and a landscape using colored slips then when bisque fired drawing into with the underglaze pencil for details.

Weeds drawn onto bisque ware while sitting in the field using Amaco Underglaze pencil. 

 

 

 White Iris from my garden.

 Faux gingham made with colored slip.













Colored slips on soft leather hard, bisqued, then drawn on with Amaco Underglaze pencil. 



The tea bowls below were made in an effort to learn how to throw off the hump.  They were inspired by an ad in a little magazine that came in the mail.   I like the combination of Coyote Clays' Gun Metal Green glaze with my concoction I call "Sunday Potter Cinnamon". 

 I like the way the Gun Metal Green runs and combines with my Sunday Potter Cinnamon. They are perfect for yogurt or a bit of ice cream. 

 

 

That's all for now, folks, back to the potter's wheel if I can find time between cleaning the attic and cleaning the kitchen cupboards!

 

ttfn  

 

 

JACK FROST IS ON HIS WAY AND SO AM I

With the threat of a frost coming to take out all my flowers and vegetables, there is the promise that with them will go the invasive weeds and creeping grasses.   With that comes my new freedom for a fall filled with fun!   I have one more seven pound ball of Laguna BMix waiting to be formed into something new, then a trip to Charleston, WV to the Capitol Clay Arts Company to pick up my new supply and maybe some new tools and glazes.

My latest is this 25" tall pot built with the help of a friend who showed me what to do, let me use his clay and his extruder to make the coils to make the pot that Ellen made. 

So, if all goes according to plan, I should have more fun in pottery this fall and I'll share my explorations with you.   Thanks for visiting. 

This'll be all for now.