In Between

white stone with black engobe; sgraffito; leather hard stage

In between arranging the new apartment, and packing the rented house, I also try to work from time to time. The gaps are bad for my technique skills, especially when I have been trying to work with porcelain. It all began because of the bad weather in the States; there was No shipping of materials for a long time, and therefore no B-mix clay, and no raw materials like fritt 3134, or flint for mixing new glazes. I looked for white soft clay, in order to be able to continue with my decorations, but the only clay I could get here was white porcelain, which was too much for my abilities.

porcelaine- a trial

It is probably a good time to use all the stock of clays I  have already had, and also to get back to the regular white clay, till mid June, when a new shipment of B-mix arrives.

Laguna buff clay with colored engobe plates

white stone clay; black engobe; sgraffito; leather hard stage

The firing went better than last time, almost no cloudiness on the transparent glaze, as I fired with quicker cooling according to Kitty's advice. these bowls are fairly large size; between 25 cm to 40 cm. diameter.

The largest bowl (40 cm) that needed dubble dipping because of it's size

Turbidity

It is as if my bowls felt my ambiguity concerning them, thus the opening of my second kiln was a bit of a bad surprise. Many of the bowls came out foggy, or turbid. I used Hensen's Transparent Clear Glaze recipe, one that I am mixing and using always and somehow, this time it didn't work well. Although in other times I double dipped half and half of the bowl without any traces; this time it shows very unclear, where the layers were overlapped. Pottery work could be so frustrating sometimes.

My beautiful butterflies are drowning in a milky glaze

so much work, and such a big disapointment

at least on these ones the fogginess is all around

these are of the few that came out great, can't see why?

I did like the rest of the tests with the brushed glazes though. Especially the ones I brushed with Gold Tenmoku. It did make some craters holes, but it was only because it probably didn't work well with the turquoise glaze. The color itself, is very beautiful, I can't wait to see it on a whole pot.

these are the plates with the right recipe of Saphire Blue

Kiln 1/ or Lots of surprises

What a joy to open the kiln; I was very anxious to see the results that's why I couldn't wait till it got to 100 degrees, and therefore, I can still hearing a voice of cracking…

The glaze of this one is still cracking

these ones looks like summer plates, I  like them.

Val's turquoise on these plates, came out really beautiful

Rosenrot and WB

 

Karenstarshine aqua, Rendy's blue, with metal black on top

Rendy's Blue around and

Saphire green on the bottom (which I got by avoiding the cobalt from the Saphire blue recipe

80% came out better than my expectations, the few that didn't will probably go to the smashing box.

*****

During the coming days, I will load 2-3 more kilns, because there are so many new bowls waiting

 

Painting glazes or playing with glazes III

After a week in Netherlands, for a short vacation I am back at the studio making new experiments with glazes.

Although the vacation passed so quickly, (like vacations always do) I did managed to see a little bit of art, with the help of my beloved cousins Dori and Bert. First we went to the north, to see Makkum http://www.royaltichelaar.com/  , where traditional pottery and modern are meeting and melting into each other. I was so relieved to see that even great master's pottery works are not always perfect in shape and quality; I even bought one that was lying on the "damaged" table but still cost like fortune.

The next day we went to see the Textile museum http://www.textielmuseum.nl/ and the Contemporary museum in Tilburg ( De Pont Foundation for Contemporary Art www.ivarhagendoorn.com/.../de-pont-foundation-for-contemporary-art ) which was very inspiring and made me missing painting so much till it hurt my bones.

That's why I didn't wait much and immediately start painting with brushes on the pots I have already ready for dipping in glaze.

As in previous experiments, it looks so beautiful before firing, but I have no clue about the results…

The kiln is already working from 10:00 o'clock this morning and I am eager to see how the dishes will look, after being heated in 1800 Celsius degree.

I really hope they won't stick to the kiln shelves…

Way of doing

There are many ways to make a sgraffito decoration. ( http://www.answers.com/topic/sgraffito), mine is very simple; I use engobes in a few different colors, to cover the leather-hard bowls, let it dry a bit, and then start cutting, usually from the center to the edges.

The tools I use are scalpels, and round edges etching tools.

This is a time consuming work, but sometimes, it is also like a meditation for me. I embroider my thoughts, into the patterns, one round after the other, till it becomes complete.

Sometimes a bowl takes 2 hours, sometimes 4 or even more, depends on the size of it, and the density of the decoration.

I love to do this kind of work, in painting too, a little different, but still the same in a way.