The View From Kalamazoo

So here it is, the long-awaited post-full-o-images. I discover, of course, that in my stupidity haste to send out the package for Laura in ol’ St. Louie that I managed to take pics of everything except the (raku fired, wheel-thrown, FWIW) vase I sent her. Not a bowl I gave to anyone in-state, oh no, it would be one of the two items that went out UPS. Brilliant. (Now I’ll have to remember to take a camera with when I next make a pilgrammage to Pat’s, and with my luck Cedric will have knocked it off a shelf with his big kitty butt.)

I’m running through them in rough order of class time-line:

The first set were all raku* glazed, and all from the first night of class – 2 pinch pots, and two hand-formed soft slab pieces shaped by draping over natural objects.

The next set are also hand-built (two views of the covered cassarole) – coil.

The next set were all soft-slab built. The platter was shaped using a plaster form (I include two shots) and the vase is really f-ing huge…there are umbrella-stand jokes about it. My advice: gladiolas or irises.

These were made from slabs I let partly dry to they were leather-hard – I cut the pieces out like I would cut fabric for a pattern and them assembled them. I include two views of the ‘teapot’ (it was the shape I was going for, not the function – the handle is too close to the top opening to be convenient). The triangular piece was an experiment…I wanted to practice using a beveled-edge as well as butting the pieces together – Bri claimed this one as his and it now lives on his desk at work. It actually works remarkably well as a copy-stand…

This next bunch, minus the piece now living in the land of the giant arch, were all of my wheel-thrown pieces. There were fewer wheels than people in the class, so our time was limited. Since I’m taking an all-wheel class (beginning Tuesday) this term, I’ll be able to do a lot more. I do really enjoy some of the hand-building techniques we tried, so I’ll likely plan to spend some of the open studio time on Saturdays doing more with those. It’ll give my carpel-tunnel-wannabee wrists a break.
The first two were raku glaze – and the second of those turned out a little different – I don’t know why the crackle and metallic elements aren’t obvious, but that’s one of the interesting things about this technique…it’s infinite variability and the impossibility of really controlling the outcome.

And this is was the last piece I finished – we had a little time at the end to finish our pieces, and since I had come in Saturdays to glaze and finish them I decided to take the time trying an idea. This tile is about a foot square and I carved a knotwork tree into the soft slab – this picture doesn’t much do it justice (the glaze is much more interesting, the color mossier..and I probably should have gotten a close-up of the carved center) and I think I’ll make more (maybe using different semi-transparent glaze colors) and if I’m productive I can sell them and try to pay for more classes that way.



[A trivet, or, hung on the wall…the simplicity and versitility of the design, plus it’s not like the million-and-one mugs at the art sale early last month, should make it stand out. I hope..]

*(Japanese ceramic firing process – each piece is fired in a ceramic
kiln until it reaches 1800F degrees. Then the piece is removed with
long tongs and placed in a metal can with combustables. The heat from
the piece ignites the paper [or wood chips or whatever] causing a
reaction with the components (ex: copper) of the glaze. The metal can
is lidded and the piece allowed to cool in the reduction atmosphere)