LOTS OF POTS!!!
Tons of mugs and so much more! All glazed, wadded & ready for a trip downstairs on the rickety Lillstreet freight elevator! Hence the masking tape “seat belts” so nothing hops off along the way!
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Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
A Chicago potter’s somewhat slanted view of clay & play |
LOTS OF POTS!!!
Tons of mugs and so much more! All glazed, wadded & ready for a trip downstairs on the rickety Lillstreet freight elevator! Hence the masking tape “seat belts” so nothing hops off along the way!
Time to get some glaze going… luckily, I’m getting ready for a soda kiln firing, so it’s more about liner glazes, inlays & accents… and not fully glazing things. So it “might” go a little quicker?… but everything needs to be wadded too, so maybe not so much?!
Okay, so there’s been a good bit of “buzz” about this bowl around the glaze carts… everyone asking how I did it. And I didn’t… but because my name is in the bottom everyone assumes it’s my glazing too?! But it’s NOT.
Chelsea was looking for some bisqued bowls for her glaze class demos… and I gave her a couple to play with. This one turned out STUNNING!!! Beautifully vibrant colors, incredible ombre’ blends, gravity-defying drips, the WHOLE THING!!!
So here’s the glaze plan…
as best I understand it from Chelsea, Queen of All Glazing…
1. Waxed the bottom with decorative scalloping.
2. Dip fully in Chun Blue.
3. Dip the top rim inside & outside with Galaxy Black.
4. Just below that, paint a thick band of Tom’s Purple.
5. Dip the top rim inside & out to cover those two bands of black & purple.
6. Then add a few splatters of Galaxy Black on the interior.
7. And then fingers crossed for some kiln magic… which she definitely got!!!
After posting the pictures from my final LILLSTREET THROWDOWN challenges… including the Mondrian-inspired Cream & Sugar Set by Claire… we may have another last-minute entry??? One of my Facebook Followers asked if she can “participate” too… as she already has a mug glazed & ready to go!!! Thanks for sharing your “Mondrian Mug” with us Paula… I’d love to see it again after it’s fired again!
Now a quick “liner glaze” on the insides of the mugs. These still need a bit of cleaning up… as there are a few drips around the rims. Plus, I want a nice, clean even line of glaze right around the rim. None of this willy-nilly randomness for me!!!
Started glazing some mugs today… adding some tenmoku glaze into the stamped impressions. These mugs will be in my next soda kiln firing, so they don’t need a lot of glaze. The soda kiln atmosphere will take care of “glazing” the exterior!
I’ve always been intrigued by old-school glazed bricks… especially when they’ve survived in fairly good condition on old city buildings. These ones are particularly cool on a special ST. PATRICK’S DAY today!!!
A FULL CIRCLE MOMENT!!!
Here’s a great story… follow along…
So I made some plain vases for my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class for their Glazing Challenge. I had an extra one, so my friend & fellow teacher Chelsea glazed it during the LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class. It came out beautiful. And then Chelsea gifted it to Clara for her birthday… and Clara is in my THROWDOWN class. So what started in THROWDOWN is now back for good with a THROWDOWN for good!
Happy Birthday Clara!!!
It’s never good when a ceramic orange slips off its stilts in the kiln… and rolls over to join with two green mugs! Whoops… so sorry that your amazing faux orange now has two permanent friends Tracy!!!
Last night in my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class, we looked at the glazed results from last week’s glazing challenge. It was the first time we’re ever done a Glazing Challenge for the THROWDOWN… and it was great to once again push them out of their comfort zone!
As a quick reminder, I gave them all plain bisqued cylinders and all they had to do was glaze them as best the could… considering their design, glaze application techniques & creativity.
It was so much fun to see all of the cylinder glazed & out of the cone 10 reduction kiln. It was tough to glaze them and “imagine” what they thought they would turn out after melting together tin the kiln!
WILL‘s cylinder – layered, sprayed, wax resist, ombre’.
CLARA‘s cylinder – underglaze pencil, sprayed & splattered glazes.
CLAIRE‘s cylinder – underglaze painted & dotted, then dipped.
TRACY‘s cylinder – dipped, overlapped, painted.
MELANIE‘s cylinder – dipped, dotted & dripped.
HELEN‘s cylinder – dipped, angle dipped, wood ash, bubbled, stain dripped.
CHELSEA‘s cylinder – dipped, banded & painted.
Chelsea isn’t actually in our class… but I had an extra cylinder to be glazed and she was in the other room teaching her class. So I offered her the chance to play along with my class… and she jumped right in without hesitation. Okay, she might have been a bit of a “ringer” as she taught a class last session all about creative glazing alternatives!!!
Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
Lillstreet Studios ∙ 4401 North Ravenswood, Chicago, Illinois 60640 ∙ 773-307-8664 gary@firewhenreadypottery.com |