Psycho purple....Qu'est-ce que c'est? Fa fa fa fa fa...

There's an oft used word in my vocabulary which basically plays it safe when expressing a non commital unobjective opinion about a piece of art - that word is 'Interesting' - pronounced, "inn-ter-estttinggg". Essentially meaning, 'eck', 'ick', or 'ugh'. What an 'interesting' psychedelic purple surprise! Unhappy with my glazing from the first try on these little echinacea bowls (Oct. 19th post), I researched and found that applying hairspray to the piece, reglazing, and refiring would do the trick. I applied Coyote Pansy purple high fire glaze, channeled my pop art upbringing, and wow - these look straight from the 60's! I prefer these in the bisque white state and think I'll make another more subdued not so interesting set glazed matte white.

Achieving a pit fire affect with high fire

Imagine recreating a raku or pit fire affect with a Cone 6 porcelain firing with just a glaze. Like this Raku pot I made 30 years ago, back in the days when I actually spent time throwing on the wheel and making conceptual pieces. Due to the fragility of raku, I abandoned it after losing all of my work moving cross country from California to DC. I always loved the earthy smokey look and never thought it could be achieved in porcelain. The Georgie's kalamata black on the outside of this Oak leaf bowl has me thinking of an entire new direction in glazing. The bright red orange inside is a nice contrast but in the future, I'll paint an underglaze to give it more depth and saturation.

Warped plate(s) of the day

So much has happened in the past week, I don't know where to begin. I participated in my first wood fire kiln event last Saturday and it was an amazing learning experience. I only did two small bowls and a plate so we’ll see what Thanks giving unloading ceremony brings. I unloaded a kiln full of cone 6 porcelain pieces on Tuesday and am mixed about the results. Although satisfied with the glazing, lots of warping on my poor morning glory plates. After much research, I know what to do next time and much depends on the porcelain drying process; the longer the better (not good for impatient people like me). Though not functional for everyday use, they will make good serving platters. More pics of other pots later today.

A scattered week

Like these milkweed seeds and fallen oak leaves, my week flew by and scattered it was. Two teenagers, two dogs, three cats, the eternal job hunt, IT consulting, a house to maintain, and squeezing in time to make pots, well that keeps me occupied. One minute I’m installing a wireless network or cracking open an Apple iMac to replace a DVD drive, the next minute I’m transporting pots to glaze at the Philipstown rec, or racing to my friend’s pottery studio dropping off a few leather hard pots for tomorrow’s big wood fire kiln event. Meanwhile…. my son calls me 5x in 10 minutes that he missed the bus and can I drive across the river to pick him up. Cell phone ringing and a text message arrives; my daughter needs help with her college applications. Oye. And what do I really want to do? Sink my hands into the luscious Highwater Helios porcelain clay lost in the moment and make something, anything to get away from it all. Just a few stolen blissful minutes. But really, the IT stuff sharpens my left brain, while the clay keeps my right brain from atrophying, and the kids and pet menagerie, well they give me a reason to keep going. And today brings more surprises - yesterday I carefully packed a kiln full of porcelain plates and bowls for a cone 6 firing. Am anxious for the results because I experimented with glazes on the plates and it’s a crapshoot on how they will look. They’ll either make it on the ‘Plate a day’ blog or the dogs will end up with a new set of pet food dishes to lap up their home made food. Hope they like them. Will posts pics later today.

Wood burning event - Something new to try

I'm so excited because I'm participating in a local wood fire kiln event of like minded potters on Saturday. My friend, Nancy of White Forest Pottery (her work is beautiful!) gave me some cone 10 white porcelain clay and brown clay for the event because any clay lower than Cone 10 will melt with the high wood burning temperatures. I'm hoping these pieces will be bone dry for bisque firing tomorrow. You can't rush the drying process, so let's hope for no cracks in the edges. The vinca leaves will burn off and leave a faint impression on the bowls.

Fall Back - An extra hour added to our day

Monday morning, DST, and everyone is tired including Riley basking in the sun and blending in with the leaves. It's brisk outside but he doesn't seem to mind. I picked some milk weed while taking my dogs for a walk last week. Put them in a vase in my kitchen and the pods are bursting all over the place - releasing seeds anchored to these very fine puffs ....very beautiful and 'other worldly' looking. They are known for attracting Monarch butterflies. Not sure if I can capture the essence of these in clay.

Bisque fired oak leaf bowl

Fresh out of the kiln, this rather large bowl with fallen oak leaves is about to be glazed. It's hard to see the many textures and finger prints from this cell phone picture. I tried some new glazes of kalamata black on the outside and red orange inside. Will post the final product next week.

Autumn at its peak

Rainy today, I can't concentrate on anything without the distraction of my favorite magnolia tree outside my glass door. It's the tree that keeps on giving, and changes constantly throughout the year. I plan to capture the essence of the tree and imprint the leaves in my next clay project. Last night was my weekly pottery class and I always feel energized by the group of feisty and talented women who are the Tuesday night regulars. It was very productive; I made a large plate decorated with Japanese maple leaves in white stoneware clay but prefer working with the creamy buttery texture of porcelain and the ability to make it almost paper thin. It's always good to get outside your comfort zone, though. I also made a set of four Morning glory saucers to match the set of plates I have yet to fire.

Amazing Japanese Maple Tree

Seeking inspiration and items for my pots, I walked my dogs, Riley (shiba inu) & Braxton (chihuahua) yesterday on a different route and stumbled upon the most amazing blazing red Japanese Maple. I have never seen a color so saturated and plan to duplicate the brilliant red/orange/burgundy hues in a glaze for my piece. No way can my camera attempt the capture the breathtaking fiery red of this tree but I have made a large plate embedded with these leaves. I'll post the final result once the piece is completed.

Shell bowl

One of my first porcelain bowls made with shells collected years ago in Captiva Island. I glazed a set of plates yesterday and am yearning to have my own kiln to fire at whim. It's Friday, time to make something new out of clay and hike in the woods for inspiration.

Milo

Yesterday was a banner Autumn day and I was out taking pictures of my daughter, Audrey for her high school yearbook while one of my cats, Milo watched.

I want to make pots like these sculptures

Enough of my work, this was an exhibit by Yayoi Kusama in Chelsea last Spring with my son, Skyler (pictured). When I'm finished with my nature phase, I'm going to go pop like this artist.

Porcelain platter

A platter made from leaves, wildflowers, and cone flowers collected from a trip to New Hampshire last month. This was decorated with underglazes and the painter in me wants to treat it like a canvas no can do with with the unpredictable and surprising results of glazing.

Porcelain Pasta Bowl

A departure from my garden and into my kitchen, this large and robust bowl was made from casts of my favorite pasta - bows at the base of the bowl and decorated on the outside with squiggly noodles begging for a name. The overall affect is almost baroque in appearance and completely unexpected of my style.

Morning Glory bowl

This rather large porcelain bowl is imprinted with morning glory leaves; they climb my fence and choke any plant crossing it's path. If it weren't for the beauty of the flowers and the heart shaped leaves, I yank them all out. The leaf at the base of this bowl is gigantic - 7" wide. I made a set of plates to match which haven't been loaded in the kiln yet.

An unidentified weed ..trumpet vine ?

I had my morning hazelnut decaf cup of coffee with this porcelain mug which brought memories of some kind of weed I yanked out of my garden a thousand times this past summer. The botanical name escapes me now and so does the generic name for that matter. Another cup of coffee and I'll get remember...hopefully. Okay, so now my boyfriend, Joe, tells me that this is a trumpet vine. As a biologist, he's probably right but I just don't associate this with the vine without the trumpet shaped flowers. Better than calling it a weed.

Vinca Bowl

This is my hand built porcelain Vinca bowl. This lovely waxy leaved vine covers the ground around my house in the shady areas year round - and sprouts periwinkle blossoms in the Spring. I decided to try a red under glaze rather than painting it the natural deep green color of the leaves.

Vinca Plate

I decided to make a set of plates with vinca which covers my property in the shady areas. They all broke in transit to the pottery studio except for one. Porcelain is very fragile in it's green state yet much tougher than stoneware when it's high fired. I learned a lesson on this one. But that's the beauty of clay - much like life, unpredictable and you never know how things will turn out at the end. These are the before and after images of the plate.

Echinacea bowls

Summer now gone and Fall passing quickly, I decided to take my favorite garden plants and make porcelain pottery pieces that will remind me of them always. So I started with the pink coneflowers (echinacea) and made these pots while on vacation last month in New Hampshire. I regret glazing them after this photo because the starkness of the white made them so nice. Glazing is not like painting because you never know what you'll get in the end. Once I reglaze them, I'll post the final results.