Little trays

I have been keeping most of the pots I made recently, partly because I tried out so many different combinations of underglaze colors and motifs.
This is one of the color combinations that I liked, shown on two little slab dishes.they are about 3" wide, 5" long, and 1-1/4" tall.

 both of them use a beige underglaze coating, 3 layers,
silkscreened ovals in white,
silkscreened pattern in deep yellow, either the crosshatching or the dots
silkscreened motifs in chocolate brown,
trailed underglaze dots in chocolate brown

 the white over beige makes a kind of iridescent look.

New Directions

I haven't been selling the things I've been making, so even though I've been giving many items as gifts, I am starting to stockpile a lot (really a lot) of mugs, trays, vases and bowls.  At some point, this is sort of disturbing to me.  If I continue to make things, it feels odd to just make them to put in a growing pile of stuff.  Because of this, I decided to branch out into different types of ceramics beyond functional ware. 
One direction that I thought of going is to small sculptures.  This is intriguing to me, but somewhat daunting, for whatever reason. 
Another direction is in to making tiles.  I love tiles, and have loved them for years.  I don't feel bad at all about having big stacks of tiles around. 
So, when I went back to my studio this past week, I rolled out slabs and started cutting tile.  As one thing leads to another, I decided to bring my love of letters into the tile.  So, now I have embarked on  making letter tiles.
Just another surface to play on. 

Some other pots fom June

When I got to Savannah a few days ago, of course one of the first things I had to do was to go to the clay studio, Savannah's Clay Spot!
Lisa had some stuff that she had fired for me, and so I was of course eager to see it, even though I made it in June, 

the items in the photos here have very little screen printing on them, mostly I was doing slip trailing and paper resist.  i had some fun with lining the insides with colored glazes.

I was also adding a dark wash on some of them, which I sort of like,
However, I think I was putting the clear glaze on too thickly, because it is milky on several of the items.  I am definitely going to go lighter next time I glaze, but I just get so worried that the rims will be rough.

 These two photos on the quilted table runner show that I am quite influenced in my color use by textiles!

 

Yesterday and today I spent the afternoon at the studio-- making stuff!  I am using a different clay body than before, called Little Loafer's, which is the mid-fire stoneware that is much like the higher firing stoneware, Loafer's Glory. (Both from Highwater Clays in N.C., I think)  So far I like it fine, altho I was quite startled at how fast things dry out here compared to my little studio at home. 

And more about Waiting

and Molly, I take your point about how waiting can be a good thing.  It can be an opportunity.  I am often impatient, and want to forge ahead.   This inability to fire anything, and to see what the pieces will look like when they have been glazed is difficult, because I would like to have that information to incorporate into further pieces.  However, it is somehow lengthening the time phase where I am experimenting with surface design.  It makes me think about different things than what I probably would be thinking about if I had been able to go ahead with the firing and glazing. 

One thing that has occurred is that I find myself looking for some specific types of imagery to add my stock.  I am finding out which types of shapes and areas balance each other, and which types I wish I had a bit more variety to choose from. 
Although I'm using a variety of techniques in combination-- silk-screen, mishima line drawings, stamped impressions, slip trailing, sgraffito and brush-work- some days I gravitate more to one technique than another.  I have been enjoying the silk-screening on clay and have decided to beef up my stock of screens.  So yesterday I went to an art supply store and got the basic tools to make silk screens here at home.  All the ones I've been using were made in Savannah, at Lisa's studio, The Clay Spot!! (which I miss!)
I also went to the library to leaf through some books on design for inspiration.  (Although I should probably have just sat myself down and made a list of what I need/want)  Nevertheless, I came across a quite nice book with crisp black and white illustrations,

 and will try to work something up on paper with my nice black markers, since these are just snippets of pattern, and I'd like the screens to cover a bit more area.

 These last two photos are from a different book, I think it was on English surface design, and these were working drawings for manufacturers.

 Now I have set up a binder with those clear page protectors to store black and white images-- and I foresee a trip to visit the photocopiers at staples in the near future!

Waiting in its various forms

 I have been hand-building and decorating more and more....

(bottoms of cups)

 partly this is because i continue to have some problems with my left hand, which might be carpal tunnel related.  But, the other reason is that I find it quite interesting. 

cups that are firming up before attaching the bases

In the past I made pots primarily by throwing on the wheel.  I find that handbuilding is quite a different experience: 
1. less wedging
2. different type of scraps
3. different shapes are possible
4. different rhythm to the work

 In particular, there is a different type of time-line involved.  In handbuilding, or more specifically, using slab construction, I find that there is a lot of waiting time between each step. 
I throw and roll out slabs, then wait for them to stiffen up before being able to cut shapes from them.
Some shapes are partially constructed, and then have to firm up more before continuing to work on them.  Even when the pot has been assembled, there is still quite a lot of fine-tuning to be done: lots of wiping down of rough edges, or scraping away with a rasp or a trimming tool, or smoothing with a smooth piece of wood or a rubber rib. 

 I also notice that it is quite a lot of fun to press designs into the slabs as I construct the pots.
 It's a form of mishima, I suppose, to paint the impressions with slip and then to wipe away the extra with a damp sponge,

 I've been using a dark grey slip up until this point. 

 On the vases,  I intend to add a colored glaze on the inside of the pot.  The mugs, I painted the insides with underglaze. 
I also am thinking of adding decals to some of them later, although I find it tricky to do long term planning like that.  It is easier for me to do as much to the pot at one time as possible to make it close to being finished.  It seems that there is too long of a gap between starting and finishing a pot to remember what I had planned.

 I am still doing a lot of underglaze decoration.  It too can be a waiting game.  I tend to apply three coats of underglaze to prevent it from looking streaky or translucent when glazed.  Each coat has to set up between applications.  So that means that I am working on several pots at the same time-- maybe 5 or 6.

 And, on another note, I am still waiting on firing all this stuff, since the electrician I found that is willing to come out here to hook up the plug won't be able to come until the second week of september.  : (
Yeah, that's quite a wait. 

 There will be hundreds of pieces by then.......

My Backyard Studio

I am very fortunate that when we bought our house, there was a little heated shed in the back yard,

part of the back yard,

the back yard shed!

(some more of the back yard)

Entering the shed!

This has now been turned into my clay workshop. 
It is not very big, but that's okay, because I don't plan to make very big pieces.

this is my wheel,

 this shows the whole place,

all my decorating underglazes,

 making mugs,

 I am using a mix of techniques to get the patterns onto the clay,

 decorating seems to proceed at quite a slow pace.  Sometimes I look at a piece later and it seems sort of primitive, but it is the most skilled that I can do at the time, so, all I can hope for is gradual improvement to refine it. 

 I have recently added a couple of more items to my regular line up of mugs--  Some slab trays, and some little thrown bowls, and some hand-built vases.
This is one of the shapes of trays.

 I have ordered some new elements for the kiln.
I am also missing my compadres at the Clay Spot in Savannah,

Some Cross-over

I am a quilter as well as a potter, and often the two crafts intersect.  Most obviously, sometimes I use motifs found on fabrics for decoration.  I also seem to echo color combinations, and repeating shapes. 
This photo shows the same design that was a machine quilting sample used as a mishima decoration:

 I think that machine quilting designs lend themselves particularly well to slip trailing as well.

 and of course, I can't keep myself from dividing up a pot into pieces to decorate with different patterns...

Decorating

Some time ago I was decorating some pieces and using newspaper shapes as resists.  I couldn't help but notice how nice the actual paper shapes looked on the clay.

I love the little bursts of random color surrounded by the more controlled colors.

 I don't know how to get this effect on a finished piece without a whole lot of trouble.  Maybe just get some sheets of decals made up that are copies of actual newspaper pages! But where do you get decals made that are full color and in lots less than 100 sheets of the same thing..... hmm.

Patterns for Silk Screening

I want to use some generic type of imagery for silk-screening, that is, some really simple repetition of shapes, rather than figurative images.
I like dots, and so I  made some grids using little dot stickers.  They seem to come in colors and so I colored them black with a sharpie.

Then I stuck them down onto graph paper to make a grid.

 I made a few copies so that I could add other marks on to the grid:

 also made a grid where they are spaced a bit further apart.

 I also drew a sheet with just straight parallel lines, one with wavy lines, one with a square grid, and some with ovals.  I hope to burn some screens this week. 
 However, after using some of my first screens on clay this week, I find that it's sort of tricky to use them on curved surfaces.  I'm wondering about making some tiles.