the beginning of the last of the wabbits.
These are glaze test tiles for the animal banks. I am very iffy about how to glaze these critters. I am worried, but as always, I can reglaze 'em if need be.
This cat bank is a nice one though I also have to call it a bit hokey or toooo cute. I mean come on, a butterfly on the tail! I was going to get rid of the butterfly and asked a few friends for suggestions of what the cat could be doing other than what you see, but no one had a good idea and by the time I fielded the suggestions, it was too late. The clay had set.
In the last update, you saw the very beginning of this figure. Here is a photo along the way.
Spring popped in St. Louis and I had to get out and take photos just in case I need inspiration in the future.
Wish I could get these colors on my pots! Well, heck, I can if I try.
If you follow my updates, you have probably seen these mugs previously. My brother's birthday was April 11th, so I quickly glazed up two of these mugs as a gift. They look a bit anemic and I forgot a lesson I learned five years ago, but apparently forgot. You can't put a glaze containing zinc over glazes or slips containing most green stains without them going brown on black. All the dark text you see on the mugs was supposed to be greens. I gave them to him anyway, but I intend to steal them when I replace them with some others and then reglaze them in an effort to improve them overall.
Here is the backside of the fat man.
I glazed up one of my Saturn chip n dip plates that were previous shown in the last update. I sent it off to Charlie Duke as a thank you for a favor he did for me.
Here is more inspiration. I have four intricately carved wisteria pots waiting for glaze. They will probably be the most labor-intensive pots I will make this year. I will be glazing them after I glaze and fire a few loads since I get better at glazing, the more I do it. Right now- and for the next few months, I am in a glazing cycle. I drew the line and tossed all my wet clay so I would be forced to start glazing. And a now for you pottery lovers out there, I did sign up for a room at Pottery Lovers in Zanesville in July. I cannot promise I will be attending- I missed the last two years- but I intend to attend at this point in time.
He is a bit more refined, at least in one sense.
The fat man is going to be standing on this bathroom scale. The two holes are to connect the figure to the floor and scale and the small hole will have a flashing red LED in it. The title of the piece will be what I say every time I step in the scale- "DAMN!"
This will give you a sense of the finished piece.
I took this photo of my friend, Warren, who repairs motors and fans. The story behind this photo in so long, I am not going to type it out since I am a hunt and peck typer and I want to get this update uploaded in the next 30 minutes.
He is getting close to finished.
I was fortunate to have a group from the St Louis "Y (YWCA) Service Club" come by for a studio visit. It was great fun and these folks do great things for the community- simply out of a love of the community.
This is the very start of a four-month long glazing cycle. These pieces are mostly reglaze and waiting to go in the kiln. In fact, they are in the kiln right now as I type this. I fired my first load last night and right now the kiln is cooling down and is at 850 degrees. Unfortunately, you will not see the results in this update.
These pieces are also in the kiln right now.
Here is the start of glazing for another "Black Hole Bowl". It is labeled "Black Hole Bowl" on the bottom, but if I had to do it over again, I would call it a "Hubble Bowl".
I was looking at the images from Hubble and starting pulling out all the colors of the universe.
Here it is glazed and ready to fire.
I made four Dragonfly pots this year with some new design aspects. Two of them are in the kiln right now- including this piece.
This multicolored pig is also in the kiln.
Next update you will see the results of this firing. Heck, I will probably have a second load out before the next update. Make sure to check back.