Fresh Glazed Clay

Trial pieces:

Frog, Sitting

The glaze bubbled and ran in ways I didn't imagine . . . 

so I guess I'll call him "Jester, Poisoned" (perhaps a failed escapee from Game of Thrones).

Minotaur . . . or pirate?  Horns or hat?

Grumpy fellow, either way.

Greenman on stone.

I like how this glaze "breaks" -- that is, separates to show the details -- but I didn't write down whether this glaze is oribe or celadon.  I'm sure someone at the studio can help me.  (I usually make copious notes, but this was my first run at glazing at my new studio.)

 Bowls and masks coming out of the kiln soon.

Triton

Triton: clay mask in the ocean;
sculpture mix;
tan and blue glazing.

Crystal Ball

Well-glazed pneumatocyst.

One-Legged Reindeer, Still Flies

Lucky, one-legged reindeer (aka "Glaze-test"): still flies.

Aqua-Duck

Aqua-Duck: Head --

Sculpture mix; shiny black and denim glazing.

Making: Clay in Process

 Wet clay: mask.  Feeling my way here . . . .

 Seals and mermaids: clay almost dry enough for the kiln.

 Bisqued whale with drying glaze.

 Motley assortment just glazed.

Quick session just to keep my hand in, you know?

Jaunty Creatures: Headed Back To The Kiln

Neptune: A Mask (with Visual Backstory)

Neptune: the latest mask for the wall.

Sculpture mix; transparent brown, floating blue, shino, studio-green, denim, and celadon glazing, splashed and layered.

Sculpture mix, formed and drying before the first firing.

Bisqued, with the raw glazes dripped and splashed . . . .

If you compare Neptune in this last shot to the first one, or to the watery versions I've posted previously, you can see how much lighting and background can influence the captured image.

Neptune works best, so far, if I hold the mask in my hands in direct sunlight and turn it this way and that to appreciate the play of so many colors and so much sparkle from the shiny glazing and the many textures.  A lucky piece, I think.

Neptune: A Close-Up

A comment elsewhere: "I court watery luck with all the ardor I can muster."

I need to make those pool workouts happen again; I need to make that ocean time--free diving or kayaking--happen again.  I need . . . .

Work In Progress: Clay, Glazing

Fox and Shark: In Progress

The New Tea Mug

That's the same bowl I posted in yesterday's entry here, but with the light from a different angle, suddenly there's a shiny band about the upper section.  I had some luck making this piece, both in the throwing and the glazing, especially as I was using up some rather dried up clay that I should have wrapped better.

I could point out the three flaws -- or more? -- in this small piece, but I like it more than enough to keep it for my own tea-drinking.  The piece is short (only 3" high, 3 1/2" wide), but the shape is quite right for holding and sipping.  (The slightly flared top; the slightly bulging belly; the smooth and rounded lip, neither too thick nor too thin.)

Also, with the flaws, I have an excuse not to give it away to anyone I like, right?

Tea Bowl: studio-mix clay (stoneware + Navajo wheel);
transparent brown, floating blue, and clear glazing, layered and dripped.

The Hero's Portion?

Boar's Head in the making.  Just glazed, but waiting for the kiln.

Kiln-Ready

I must admit I had been hoping these five pieces would be out of the kiln, finished, today.   Patience, patience, I tell myself, but I haven't glazed bowls in a year . . . .

And now a side view of those same two bowls:

Total work to be considered here: six bowls and a life-sized mask.  Not pictured: A duck-head, also glazed and ready.

(I'm also awaiting bisqueware: a pizza stone and two more duck-heads.  I use the duck-heads as markers for my work.  After being formed or thrown, the work is covered with plastic to slow the drying appropriately and to keep dust and debris off, so my duck-heads immediately signal what's mine.  Sometimes I recycle those markers instead of firing them, but sometimes I like to take them all the way to glazing.  Someday, I'll have a chess set's worth.)