Black and Blue

Dancing Ravens by Linda Starr
3 x 12 x 14 inches
handbuilt, slip, glaze, cone 10 reduction

Sometimes I decide to fire a piece even though I know ahead of time it won't be perfect. Both bowls developed small cracks on the rim in their green state, which I tried to repair but was unsuccessful. I fired them because I wanted to learn how the slip would react with this glaze, and wanted to be sure the bowls wouldn't warp at cone 10. I tried B-Mix instead of Windsor Porcelain for these bowls and each clay has different characteristics.

Other than the rim cracks, one small unglazed dot for the raven on the right, and some kiln wash which unfortunately fell into the poppy bowl at the studio where I had them fired, they would be fine. The slip colors turned out just like I wanted. I'll make these again and be more careful drying the rims. Also this transparent glaze fits like a glove, does not pit or run, and isn't overly shiny.

Blue Himalayan Poppy by Linda Starr
2.75 x 11 x 12 inches
hand built, slip, glaze, cone 10 reduction

I plan on making these two bowls again and I'll be more careful drying the rims. I really enjoy painting on clay and I have so many more ideas. I can't wait to move and set up my new studio. Please make comments and come back again to see more of what I've learned from recent firings.

Dancing Ravens

Dancing Ravens
by Linda Starr
6" h x 12" w

Remember my post inspiration flies by? Well I've been thinking about raven inspired ceramic pieces ever since. I said I was going to post something real soon, but the ceramic pieces were mostly in my head. Many times I have plenty of ideas but every day something seems to get in the way.

Take for instance, yesterday. We had a huge wind storm which not only blew our telephone lines down, but blew many power poles down in the area. Our telephone lines are lying in our neighbor's pasture on the ground but are still working. Any minute though one of his cows could step on the lines and snap them off. If that happens you won't be hearing from me for a while since I am on dial up. The telephone company is supposed to come soon, but they have many other repairs to do in our area. The wind also snapped off the very tall power poles going beside the lake bridge - clean off at the top. The top of the poles landed on the bridge and are now waiting to be repaired. The bridge is still closed to traffic and everyone has to take a detour till they make the repairs.

Saying I was going to post something on my blog is a great motivator to accomplish my goals. So today, no matter what happened, I decided to work on a few of my ideas for raven inspired pieces, so I'd have something to show you.

Raven Tile
by Linda Starr
7" x 7"

The main piece I have been thinking about all week is the raven bowl above. I was inspired by the ravens who flew by the other day and by a Native American drawing of ravens. I wanted two ravens to meet in the bottom of the bowl, but wondered how I would illustrate them. I slip decorated a slab of clay and then put the raven decorated slab inside a bowl I'm using as a slump mold. I still have refining to do, but I wanted to show you I really have been working on something.

Asian Inspired Pendants
by Linda Starr

The raven tile was the first piece I made today for a warm up. As I'm looking at him now I'd like to modify where he's holding onto the branch. Sometimes seeing pieces after they are completed in a photo enables me to better critique my work. I also noticed I still have some touch up and clean up to do on the bowl and tile. I had some clay left over and decided to make a few pendants. The pendants are Asian inspired, which doesn't quite coordinate with the previous pieces, but making them has given me some ideas for other pieces I might make, perhaps a few raven pendants.

Blackcurrant Whirl Hollyhocks
by Linda Starr

Here are some hollyhocks blooming in my herb garden. I'm back to working on more raven inspired pieces. Till next time.