Animal Crackers in my Soup

Before I could get too excited, before you get too excited, too many pieces are not usable for various reasons, a mixed bag firing. The dog jar turned out fine but then after I unloaded it a few of the patches (sprigs) started separating from the jar. The jar has two different variegated brown glazes and they look nice together. One is matt and one is shiny. The animal faces each have their own personality. A bit like looking at animal crackers in my soup, something fun to look at and think about.

The overall height is 15 inches tall and the jar is 10 1/2 inches. The jar being the right height for long pasta to be stored in the jar. Did you notice the dog has blue eyes. Gary said the face looks like a pig and some folks thought it looked like a cat but really it's a dog. But maybe it's what you want it to be.

Here is the rooster head glazed onto the lid during the firing.

Except the jar has a small crack in the bottom seam. I can make another jar and save the lid. Besides I forgot to put feathers on this, the second jar. The first jar cracked open at the middle seam. Third time's a charm they say. Well it will have to be the third time for this jar. Perhaps the dog and rooster wanted to stay in my studio for a while.

The flower pot is wonderful although the dots don't show up as much as I would have liked. I was afraid the dots might run off the pot so I glazed the dots sparingly. Next time I'll know I can dab a bit more glaze for the dots.

The dotted shallow bowl is fine although this time there wasn't as much yellow crystal development at the edges of the dots. I must remember to apply the dots thicker.

This driftwood handled basket turned with more black than I thought  it would. The terra cotta slip was supposed to be the predominate color, The interior is glazed black, the exterior is covered with a textured tooth of slip and engobe.

This driftwood handled basket looks fine but on closer inspection, the top layered edge popped open, again this happened after unloading. First time that's ever happened with this type of construction I've been doing. Is there such a thing as a glaze pulling a piece apart?  Could it be too hot a bisque didn't allow the glaze to permeate the clay body enough?

This rose driftwood basket turned out perfect. This piece is 13 1/2 inches tall. The driftwood pieces aren't permanently attached yet.

This starfish driftwood basket has been pinging since I opened and unloaded the kiln. The glaze is continually crackling (it is a crackle glaze) and there are several places where the glaze crazed. For the next load of bisque I lowered to 05 instead of 04, we shall see if that corrects some of the problems I had with this load.

 The cat sculpture made it through the firings wonderfully. The cat is 12 1/2 inches tall.

Although I wish the red iron oxide I put over the top of the glaze had been a bit darker. The criss cross pieces were all supposed to have the RIO (red iron oxide) showing much more. Since this piece isn't functional I may enhance portions with some acrylic paint. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.