Leftover Test Tiles

I finally made it back to my pottery class yesterday. One week I couldn't go because I had to finalize the motorhome sale. Another day I couldn't go because we had a friend come to help Gary unload more of the storage unit and I had to feed the two hard workers some home made vittles. One day in pottery class several weeks ago I had leftover clay so I made these small head sculptures. I thought I'd use them as test tiles for the community glazes to see how they respond.

These two tall textured vases were made a couple of weeks ago and they went into the bisque firing yesterday. I'm trying to think of how to glaze them and still have the texture show up.

I glazed these three pieces yesterday to be fired next week; two pinch pots and a philodendron leaf plate. I used a matt green on the leaf and one pinch pot and an overlapped turquoise glaze on the larger pinch pot, we shall see how out of practice I am with making and glazing.

Here's a shot of our teacher, Hilton Hill, explaining glazing techniques to some our clay class. Hilton was an art teacher for 30 years in Florida and now continues his teaching career in our community clay classes. You can see I've actually made a few pieces in my pottery class between all my home projects and such. I'm slowly getting back into the groove of making. Hopefully I can set up a schedule for myself and get more work made. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Pinch Pots & Postcards

I tried some new glazes and overlapping of glazes on these pinch pots for this firing. None of them turned out like I wanted. I thought the glazes would blend more. They are still usable just not that appealing. Oh well doesn't hurt to try something new. Back to the drawing board.

In the back of one of my cabinets I had some white postcards left over from my landscaping and lavender business days, a whole package of them. I had the idea to make up some post cards to pass out at shows. I printed these on my black and white laser printer; they're 4 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches. I rather like the black and white. Folks tend to throw away business cards or just stash them in their wallet or a drawer. Hopefully they'll be encouraged to keep these postcards handy. I guess these could be mailed as well. Above is the first one. I made others with different pottery pieces shown. The asterisks are my phone number blocked out for this post. This post is part of show and tell Saturday on Artists in Blogland. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Barrel Firing Results

I won't keep you in suspense any longer. My barrel firing was too hot to unload yesterday and tomorrow (actually this morning, since it's after midnight) I have a group coming early. What looked like hanging laundry in the previous post was salted raffia and burlap which I used to wrap the pieces for this barrel firing, which helped produce some great colors.


The two vases and the figure eight piece to the right are also from this firing. I feel like I've made some real progress on my barrel firings and now it's just about time for the burn ban to go into effect for the summer. Maybe we'll have a couple of more weeks, but I don't have anything else made or bisque fired unless I pull it out of the glaze firing. I'm waffling back and forth on that, what do you think?


Here's a sampling of the pendants. Some of the pendants have more subtle colors and others have dark, rich colors. I was planning on gluing bails on the ones without holes, but now am wondering what style and color of bails to use. I thought silver would be too shiny, but Gary thinks silver would look great. I've been looking around for copper, pewter, and other colored bails. I might have to get a sampling and see how each style looks next to the pendants before I glue them.


For those who asked about the pendants, pendants with holes are available in a day or two, the others should be ready in a couple of weeks. I'll post photos of what they look like with their bails when they are completed. Pendants range in size from 4 inches down to 3/4 inch long. I'll be posting them with a link individually so you can see them in more detail.


I also put a couple of my larger leaves, about 3.5 x 4.5 inches, in the firing. My leaves are usually for wind chimes, soap dishes or spoon rests, but since these aren't functional, I thought they would be nice to hang in a window. I remember doing macrame years ago and wish I remembered some of it now. It might be nice to have the leaves incorporated into a macrame piece. Not that I have time to do it, but who knows. I'll have to see about that.


Gary is taking full credit for the results of this firing since he put the straw, sawdust, and wood in the barrel, and lit the fire. Of course I outlined each step of the loading for him. He doesn't know how long it took me to prepare the ingredients and wrap each piece with my special technique. Actually he does, he kept asking me if I was ready to load the barrel. So this was a collaborative process. Gary said he knows the colors on the pots came from the butane lighter he used to light the fire.


Today I noticed these newly formed grapes growing in my garden, discovering them in this early stage is awesome. When we were transforming our landscape here, we uncovered lots of old horseshoes and we put them up on posts as rustic decor. I just thought of making some ceramic horseshoes and firing them in my next barrel firing. I just can't help myself, but I actually think it's a good idea. I better write it down so I won't forget. Toodles!

First Barrel Firing

Pinch Bowl One
Interior View

Pinched Bowl One
Front View
2.5 h x 5 w

Pinch Bowl One
Back View

Pinch Bowl Two
3 h x 4 w

Two Itty-Bitty Pinch Bowls
1 h x 2.5 w

Dusty Miller Pendant
3 x 2

Two more Dusty Miller Pendants

Sage Leaf Pendants
ranging from 4 in long down to 2.25 in

I cleaned the pieces but didn't put any wax on them because I was going to re fire a couple, but I've decided to leave them as they are. What do you think? I know if I had more bisque ready, I would be doing a another barrel firing again today. What great fun and every piece is such a surprise.

If you missed it, check my holy smoke post on how to do your own barrel firing. Also check Amy, Becky, and Elaine's posts on barrel firings. So far they have had eight firings. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me. I've learned so much from reading other blogs, I'd like to share what I've learned too.

I'm going to try making some more pots with taller, flatter and/or smoother sides to show off the colors obtained in barrel firings. I think my derriere pot would be a good one for a barrel firing. I'm off to the studio to make more pots.