Cup Journey

My progression and development of such a simple object as the cup continues and I now think it will be a life time Journey. To take an object as simple as a cup one can can create countless variations.  The search for any artist in his or hers craft is what speaks to them and this is what I believe I'm still searching for in the cup - that voice that tells me this is what I need to make.

I was fortunate to take a workshop from Kristen Kieffer who makes amazing porcelain cups that are richly detailed using stamps, slip trailing, altered forms and under glazes. Most of these techniques I have tried in some small way but never all together and on such a simple shape as the cup.  The images here are some of the cups I have made recently on my journey.

Jars - What's Inside?

 I recently had the desire to create a series of lidded jars.  I think the lidded jar always grabs the attention and curiosity of the viewer as the lid is always the first thing removed.

What could possibly be hiding inside?

All are porcelain and fired to Cone 6.



Gun Metal Metallic Glaze.

 Something new in my glazing is the metallic glaze on pots as I have only used it on pendants in the past.

The glaze contains no lead and is food safe.







Place Settings

Inspired by my favorite production pottery-Heath and my wanting to to try and produce several new place settings of dinnerware I sat down at the wheel and glaze table and these are the results.  All are porcelian and fire to Cone 6.  Plates are 10.5" in Diameter.

These are my preferred color combinations but all the place settings are intended to be mixed and matched.

Hand Built Bowls

I enjoy making these hand built bowls and have really been experimenting with over lapping different stamped textures. I have been pulling together quite an assortment of antique wooden Indian textile stamps. What do you think?

All three bowls are approximately 14" and fired to Cone 6.

2nd Raku Firing at Northstar

Wednesday evening I put my new raku kiln into action for the second time. I had a total of 4 firings. Dang thing gets HOT!

Pendants

I have been crafting small pendants made from porcelain for the past 9 months and within the past two months have introduced them into the Local Color Gallery. I've been pleasantly surprised at how well they have been received and selling through.

The pendants are all hand built with most having a stamped brocade or similar design element. All pendants pictured here also have the addition of fused glass that is placed in to the pieces in a crushed state and then melts and flows when the piece is fired. All pendants pictured are 2" square and fired to Cone 6.

I have also built 1" and just this week experimenting with a 1.5" design.

Please feel free to comment.

Enjoy.

Raku at Northstar Pottery!

I recently purchased a Raku kiln and fired it for the first time just 2 weeks ago. How fun! This was the first time I had ever fired a raku kiln myself or went through the oxidation phase myself. I had been to a couple of Raku events in the past but was limited to just glazing. I learned so much and already have made 10 new pieces for the next firing. You can see from the photos it was very HOT (have the burn to prove it) and it went very late into the evening.