February 7th, more out of the kiln.

The final stage of naked raku is so exciting...and a bit disappointing. The last one because I actually liked the effect that occurred with the sacrifice glaze still on.

The sacrifice glaze on.



Glaze just chips off.

After washing off the excess slip.

I still would like to treat the piece with wax to give the lines more striking look.

The under glazed and fired sea creature vessels have so much more power now. The colors really surprised me as I was not sure how they would come out.

Sadly this little dude lost a leg and as I applied slightly too much glaze (which made the bottom thicker) it does not balance very well.

Thrown bowl painted keeping in mind Paul Klee's work.

This piece was an hybrid of the cone and a seed from the first week.

An other hybrid made with raku technique.

Before washing it clean.....

...and after.

SAGGAR FIRING IN ALUMINUM FOIL, SOME VERY INTERESTING RESULTS.

Firing Terra Sig and Horsehair @ VCAC

Artists.

There are so many talented ceramicists. I have just gotten a glimpse of what is out there.

Nuala O'Donovan makes these wonderful handmade organic looking delicate shapes that could almost be part of the nature. 
She uses porcelain to emphasise the fargileness  of the pieces. I love the way she uses very little colour. 


http://nualaodonovan.com/page8.htm

Glazing, raku firing.

Raku firing was even more fun than I expected...It was also sooo cold. Cant wait to see how rest of the pieces turned out.

Here is the raku firing process.

Gas firing kiln.

My little bowl could not resist the camera all blushing from the heat.

The saw dust that makes those wonderful marks on clay.

Before washing, just out of fire.

And look what came out!

Little hairy dude. Sonic hairstyle for Boguslaw.

On this piece I applied resist slip and glaze on top of it. To alter the smoke pattern my way I scraped thorough both lairs to give smoke better access. Can't wait to see how it came out.

 Little under sea creatures got their under glaze cover and glaze as well. Hopefully my clumsiness with the glazing process did not damage the outcome.

Look at this application...horrible!

David Roberts interview.

February 4th 2013. Painting with under glazes.

Today I was decorating my thrown bowl and dragon scaly piece.
We were suggested by tutors to look at Paul Klee's  work for inspiration. 

The under glazes I was using.

I chose the color scheme for my bowl from his oil on pasteboard painting 'Cosmic Composition' 1919.  

Second piece I painted was inspired color vise by Klee's 'Crystal Gradation'.1921, watercolor. The scales came out little too blue but I decided that it looked better than gradual change in tones.

Almost all the pieces of mine that went into kiln came out ok. Just one of the pinch pot vessels lost a tail tip.
I am kind of pleased with the female figure I made on Friday now. I think that raku firing will suit it perfectly. The crackling technique by Hsin -Chuen Lin I saw today in YouTube would of been perfect together with the slits in her body.