Pottery From Alberta

My blogging friend Trish sent me this mug all the way from Alberta, Canada. Thanks so much Trish. The mugs is smooth to the touch and soft to hold. It fits my hand perfectly and there's a spot for my thumb to rest on the top of the handle which I really like. The mug makes me imagine a winter landscape in Canada - a soft glow to the sky and a bit of mountains showing through. A place I'd like to visit are the Alberta Badlands and Dinosaur Country. Click link to be taken to a you tube video. Embedding was disabled, but worth the click. I was especially inspired by the hoodoos. A hoodoo is a geological formation also called a tent rock, fairy chimney, or earth pyramid. I feel more clay towers forming in my mind.

After replacing the relays I did a fast test fire of my kiln. The kiln fired just fine. The black coating on the kiln shelves fired off; it must have been the copper migrating around the kiln. I've decided not to use copper as a wash any longer. The fast fire to cone 07 took 4 hours, wow, that was fast. If only all firings were that fast. Still it took a long time for the kiln to cool down.

I've known since I got my kiln that it fires hotter when set by the kiln's program to cone fire. Today's test fire was no exception - 07 and 06 are down, 05 is standing upright. Now I'm re-firing the bisque which stopped in the middle. This time I set the kiln to fire to 05 instead of 04. It will be interesting to see what the cones do. There's an adjustment which can be made to the kiln to calibrate how it fires but I don't want to get into that right now. I have lots of work piled up so I'll be firing bisque and glaze loads for the next week.

Relatives from New Hampshire and Finland are coming for a visit in March and I want to serve them meals on my own pottery. So I'm making extra plates and bowls. Today I made four fern dinner plates and I used a red iron oxide wash on the ferns. They're firming up before I form the rims. I plan to glaze them with a green glaze. But wait maybe I should glaze each of them in a different color glaze, no need to decide now. We shall see how they turn out. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Compass

You knew it wouldn't be long before I added some underglazes to the mugs, didn't you? Might have to round out the rim. This could have been an dessert cup if I'd left off the handle.


Now how did that turquoise smudge get near that red dot. Oh well, that's the hand made part of it.


Does anyone know the formula for making a cardboard template for a mug, so the bottom is tapered from the top? It's those curves I need to get right so the top and bottom are flat when I put the slab together. I need a compass, but I keep forgetting to pick one up.


After the mug I played around with some color and shape, and a little texture too. This little ditty is about 9 x 6 inches.It might need to be nailed to a board with some decorative tacks or nails after firing. I like the shape of this nail. Wonder if I should use a rubber mallet so I don't damage the head?

Art is My Compass
by Mandy Behrens

I need another project like I need, well you know. But check out this tutorial at Poppytalk by Mandy Behrens of Weathered Silo. Above is Mandy's original watercolor, pencil and ink, Art is My Compass. Natural watercolor wash, pencil and ink sounds like lots of fun, especially the wash using coffee, tea or wine? Just Spill the Wine, remember Eric Burdon and War?

Other natural colorants come to mind, like beets or onion skins. Fall is a good time to collect berries or leaves. There are so many plants which can be used as colorants or dyes for paper or fabric, see Pioneer Thinking for a list. Did you remember to say white rabbit this morning? Thanks for reading and for all your comments.