A bisque it, a basket…
a kiln full of soon to be bisqued baskets!

And a few other things…
four & a half layers of mugs, flower pots & more fun!

Here’s my class demo bowl after wiping away the background from the shellac pattern. If you look close, you can see the raised edges along the sides of the pattern. When the piece gets bisque fired, the shellac will burn away and “reveal” the raised pattern that has a orange flashing slip top surface. My plan is to do a tenmoku liner glaze on the inside of the bowl and then soda-fire it “raw” on the outside to see what happens. I’m kinda excited… you know I love a good challenge… and it’s always fun to see where it takes us!

After doing my first class demo with the water etching technique, I decided to go one step further with another demo piece. My first bowl was more random with multiple patterns kinda like a “sampler” just on the B-clay surface. This time I first covered the exterior with an orange flashing slip, then painted on this swirly pattern with shellac. My hope is that when I “wash away” the background, the pattern will be raised and the orange slip will POP more after soda firing… and the raised edges will catch some soda too!!!

Funny story…
While I was making these crackled slip vases, one of them “slumped down” a little as I might have bulged it out a bit too far. I let it sit on my work table while I made more… mocking me… always looking at it thinking that the shape was bad. Questioning if I should just squish it up and do it again. But then I remembered one of my students Dan who always tries to flip-over his slumping pots to see if gravity will “un-slump” them. I figured what do I have to lose?! It was still firmly attached to the plastic bat, so I flipped it, tapped it a few times and then hung it upside down overnight in a bucket with plastic over it. The next day… voila’… the slumped area had “stretched” back out and the curve was all better… and perfect for trimming!!!

Thanks Dan for the unwitting motivation! HA!!!

Celebrating another MUGSHOT MONDAY
by making more mugs… and adding handles!

I’ve had this discussion before with my students…
“Can a mug be a mug without a handle?”

They seem to think you can as an “avoidance” to making handles…
I of course think not. I love making mugs. I love making handles!
They go together… by definition I believe.

After teaching class this morning, I pulled some long handles and let them hang off the edge of my wedging table to stiffen up. For mugs I like to flip them to set the curve of the mug handles… but for these “basket” handles I wanted them a bit thicker, longer & straighter!

Staying warm, staying inside… making more bowls in the studio. Can’t wait for these to stiffen up a bit so I can stamp them and move them along in the process… let the transformation begin… soon to be “something to behold”!!!

After stamping, I added a few accents of colored flashing slip onto the vases. These will change colors as they react with the atmosphere of the soda kiln… believe it or not, I’m painting with a slip that turns ORANGE!!!

After Monday night’s class demo with a power drill… yesterday I cleaned-up the insides of my new berry bowls. The drill is quick & clean, but it leaves these burrs hanging out inside. The good thing is that when they dry up a bit, they simply brush away easily. I also take a green scrub pad to smooth out any edges, and then use a wooden tool to refine any of the holes that need some smoothing.

Just finishing up another batch of mugs before teaching class tonight. These are the new mugs with the NEW STAMPS!!! Pretty excited to move them along through the process so I can see them glazed & finished. Not sure I can wait… so there’s a “pretty good chance” I’ll be making more before we see these results!