forks throws pottery (and maybe you do too?) - An ILX Ceramics Thread

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This cup is red stoneware, coated in porcelain slip with a coat of Cornwall glaze over New Tyler Amber glaze. The Cornwall brings out a light electric blue streaking that’s only barely visible. What’s interesting about this cup is that the multiple layers have caused serious “crazing”: sub-cutaneous cracks that form all around the piece. They’re not structurally damaging (in fact they actually help keep the piece from breaking by providing release from infinitesimal expansion and contracting of the multiple clay bodies) and they aren't anything you can even feel on the surface but they are ongoing! Every time I pour hot water for tea in this, you hear little TINK and PING noises as a spiderweb of cracks expands on the in and outside of the cup. It’s kinda awesome; like drinking out of something alive and changing. It’s much much much more cracked up at the moment than this picture shows.

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4 inch tall, 4 inch diameter at lip, 3 inch diameter at foot.

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This little urn is red stoneware, coated in porcelain slip and then covered in a Pharsalia glaze. The bubbling on the surface is from the porcelain slip; I'm not much of a fan of how this stuff reacts when it completely coats the surface. Also not thrilled with the shape, to be honest.

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2 3/4 inch diameter at lip, 3 1/2 inch diameter at foot, 5 inch diameter at widest point. 4 inch tall.

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This plate is coated with New Tyler Amber glaze; very dusky and opaque.

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8 inch diameter at rim, 6 1/2 inch diameter at foot, 1 inch tall.

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This little vessel is coated with French Blue glaze. It breaks black on the ridges and lip and presents some intriguing drip in between the levels of the piece.

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2 3/4 inch diameter at rim and base, 4 inch tall, 4 1/2 inch diameter at widest point.

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I was fairly meticulous with the glazing and got the foot completely clean.

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This little flower vase has some porcelain slip decoration surrounding the spout; the whole piece was covered with French Green glaze and then the porcelain decoration had Cornwall glaze accents painted on.

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Definitely some fun interplay of the glazes and the porcelain; maybe an experiment I'll come back to.

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4 1/2 inch tall, 2 inch diameter at lip, 3 3/4 inch diameter at base.

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This is my "Totoro Cup", the first of a series of ten to twelve thick-walled, carved and detailed character pieces that I'm working on in loving memory of the Burger King/McDonalds/7-11 movie and comic book premium cups from the 80's. I always had a soft spot for getting a cup of a character that shouldn't have a dedicated bit of merch... a Tusken Raider or a Smee cup was a declaration of independence. Sure, it was independence provided by a corporation branding another corporation's merchandise, but simpler times.

Anyways the real danger in making fan-built nerd art is that it can be spectacularly embarrassing and lame if done poorly. That's the risk I'm running on this project; I also have a Moomin and a Journey (the game, not the band) cup in play. Suggestions for more are welcome; I'm currently considering a few more Totoro cups (people like them!), Deery Lou (via Sanrio for my sister), a Marlys (via Linda Barry), a Mordechai (from Regular Show), a stylized Pee Wee Herman face...

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The lines for Totoro were carved into the clay body, then filled with liquid black clay. I painted in the eyes with white porcelain slip. Then I created a rough pattern around the rest of the outside of the cup to provide visual and haptic contrast and make the cup nicer to pick up. After the bisque fire, I painted the Totoro face with a layer of Cornwall glaze and painted outside the black lines with Faux Celadon glaze and washed the inside of the cup with the Celadon to provide a sky blue background.

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I was scared either of the glazes might run in the firing; turns out I applied a bit too light of a coat. It's not too much of a mess but I'll know for the future to go a little thicker so it's not quite so splotchy.

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3 1/2 inch tall, 4 inch diameter at lip, 2 1/2 inch diameter at foot.

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This bowl is red stoneware coated, again, in porcelain and then coated in French Green glaze. The French Green runs thick and tends to pool at the foot. This required a little grinding to remove some of those drips.

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5 3/4 inch diameter at lip, 3 inch tall, 3 1/2 inch diameter at foot.

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This sloping bowl was an experiment with a mix of glazes. I coated the inside with Gloss White glaze and then dipped the whole thing in Silky Black glaze. The black glaze has a lot of sediment, which adhered to the outer wall of the bowl. But on the inside, it streaked drastically, producing an odd and colorfully oily mix of silver streaks, green blue accents, unctuous blacks and exposed clay body.
The end result has a bit too much raised pattern to work as, say, a soup bowl; the clay ridges and bumps are likely to trap tiny food particles. But this should be fine as a display piece for dry foods or fruit and the colors and (entirely natural) design are quite lovely.

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8 inch diameter at lip, 3 3/4 inch tall and diameter at foot.

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8 inch diameter at lip, 3 3/4 inch tall and diameter at foot.

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Here's a closeup of the inside, with the hare's fur effect clearly visible. It looks like a forest silhouette. Really amazing what the glaze and clay does on its own.

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This large bowl was coated in Albany Blue glaze, a clay heavy glaze that fires up black if left alone and then covered in Gloss White Glaze. That produced a cloudy purple-blue-black speckle and patter inside and out.

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4 1/2 inch tall, 9 inch diameter at rim, 5 1/2 inch diameter at foot

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It's absolutely my largest fully realized piece to date and I'm a bit proud of that. Here's the bowl with an apple for scale.

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I'm very pleased with the interior colors; I think they're pretty striking.

and that's this month's pile.

Nicely done sir. Skill is growing in leaps and bounds.

gracias! and yes, i am fishing for compliments.

busy day; worked on like ten pieces for the final bisque.
did some carving last night
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huh, i tried this app and it's hella boring but now you can pay exorbitant sums of cash (though likely not more than what I've paid in studio fees) and make "your own" pottery with a 3-d printer
http://www.potterygame.com/help/pot-shop

"We do not recommend to combine 3D printed pots with the water or other liquids."

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Dude in my pottery studio is coil building Vaughn Bode-style maquettes of creatures, totally freestanding, based on his old graf from back in the day. Cool guy, we talked about hip hop for fifteen minutes. Turns out his brother runs Santos Party House and was with Def Jux back in the day. This sculpture is awesome. Took him about two days from scratch to glazing!
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hollow interior makes the eyes really pop. looked even better in person.

That looks pretty damn cool.

Holocaust deniers make pottery too, apparently: http://www.salon.com/2013/03/11/we_let_charles_krafft_fool_us_partner/

Oh yeah the krafft story is very lolzy
"how could we have known?"

okay so that's some 23 pieces i just got back today. photographing and annotating now.

Okay, so here's the current haul.
it's a lot.

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red stoneware clay with porcelain accents - French Blue glaze

3 1/2” tall, 3 1/2” diameter at rim, 2 1/4” diameter at foot

The second in a series of carved cartoon mugs, this one features the Finnish cartoonist Tove Jansson’s famous Moomin on one side and a minor character from the same series, a Hattifattener, on the other. I was awfully happy with the way the color and the carving came out here. I didn't glaze the exposed porcelain figures at all so they are somewhat exposed and have greater potential for staining. That was intentional so that the figures would pop and look more newsprint-y but it does increase the potential for them to get stained. My hope is that they'll take on a darker, tea color with age and get more distinguished.

To make the characters stand out more, I carve in a dappled pattern in the background. It’s time-consuming work but effective.

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white clay - Glick Red glaze underlapping Randy’s Oribe glaze - oxidation firing

Cups: 4” tall, 4” diameter at rim (6 1/2” at handle), 2 3/4” diameter at foot

Bowl 1: 3 1/2” tall, 7 1/2” diameter at rim, 4” diameter at foot

Bowl 2: 3 1/4” tall, 8 1/4” diameter at rim, 3 3/4” diameter at foot

Bowl 3: 3 1/4” tall, 8 3/4” diameter at rim, 4 3/4” diameter at foot

Plate: 1” tall, 9 1/4” diameter at rim, 7” diameter on eating space, 7” diameter at foot

This is my present for my sister’s wedding. It was a first in many ways: first attempt at making a set, first attempt at making identical pieces (I did better with the cups and plates than with the bowls as you can see by the measurements… on the plus side, the bowls stack), first group glazing based on a combination I came up with awhile back. The handles are very delicate here but they should hold up to weight. A small S-crack (just an aesthetic glitch) in the largest bowl aside, the major catastrophe was that one of the two plates broke in the glazing. So it’s a one plate, two cup, three bowl set. That’s a set, right? Kinda? Next step is figuring out how to pack and mail these to the other side of the country.

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white clay - Academy Mix glaze with Yellow Salt glaze accent - reduction firing

1 3/4” tall, 8 1/4” diameter at rim, 4 1/2” diameter at foot

This is a solid display plate… maybe _too_ solid; it’s a bit heavy. That caveat aside, I’m pleased with it. It’s a form that I enjoy making.

The glaze pattern on the interior of the piece came out nicely I think.

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white clay with black slip and carved design - Bauer Clear glaze - oxidation firing

3 1/4” tall, 6 1/4” diameter at rim, 3 1/2” diameter at rim

Another attempt at making a reptile skin pattern by carving into a slip over a clay body prior to firing. The exterior is a little smudgy but this feels pretty good to me.

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white clay with black slip on top surface - Randy’s Oribe glaze - oxidation firing

1 1/2” tall, 8 1/2” diameter at rim, 6 3/4” diameter on eating space, 7 1/2” diameter at foot

The black slip applied here shows up more in the photo than in person; it makes the top of the plate slightly darker but there’s not a great deal of difference. The foot is way too broad, but otherwise a fairly successful piece that I’ll likely eat off myself.

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white clay - Shaner Gold glaze - reduction firing

3 1/4” tall at peak, 3 1/4” across at widest point, roughly 2 1/2” wide at foot

This was a go at a completely enclosed vessel that I could drill a hole into for use as a bud vase but when I botched it badly, my instructor suggested paddling the sides into a geometric figure and then applying a bit of striation to the walls. Voila: I gotta rock. The glaze came out more peanut butter than granite unfortunately and though it’s an interesting experiment (one I’ll likely come back to) and functional to hold single flowers or pens (as shown), I wish I had gone with a tenmoku glaze instead.

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white clay - Civil War glaze - reduction firing

2 1/2” tall, 3” diameter at lip, 2” diameter at foot

This tiny decorative hoonja-doonja would likely work well to hold sea salt or any other uncovered spice. It also features a “secret smile”, an interior crescent of raw clay that somehow escaped the glazing process.

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white clay - Potter’s Turquoise glaze on top and interior overlapping under Civil War glaze - oxidation firing

3” tall, 3 1/2” wide at lip, 2” wide at foot

When these two glazes meet, they form a blue foamy barrier. It’s an attractive and easy effect that is quite satisfying.

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white clay - Charlie D Black glaze on interior and exterior rim, Norton Red glaze exterior - reduction firing

3 1/2” tall, 4 1/2” diameter at lip, 3” diameter at foot

This is probably the fifth flowerpot I’ve made for my old boss and mentor Bill; it’s a regular and simple exercise I keep coming back to. I just never have any luck with it. I think it’s the glaze combination; it always runs. This time the water run-off hole in the center got clogged by glaze. Ah well. I’ll keep trying; he’ll keep putting plants in the less exciting ones.

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white clay with blue slip and carved design - Bauer Clear glaze with Buttermilk glaze accents - oxidation firing

3 3/4” tall, 7” diameter at lip, 4 1/4” diameter at foot

The goal was to make a flock of birds (“V” shapes carved into the blue slip coating of the bowl) taking off from behind clouds but the Buttermilk covered by the clear glaze streaked and smudged the cover into cirrus rather than cumulus. I think it kinda still works? I like the way the interior of the bowl is crackle white and clean.

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white clay with wax accents - Randy’s Oribe glaze on bottom exterior under Buttermilk glaze interior and top exterior - oxidation firing

3” tall, 4” diameter at lip, 3 1/2” diameter at foot

The exposed raw-clay ascii-shapes are achieved by applying wax to the bisque-fired clay prior to glazing. The glaze runs off the wax and, after the piece is fired, the wax vaporizes to leave exposed stoneware. The white glaze ran a bit more than I’d like, so it got a tad messy but the water run-off holes in the bottom stayed intact.