The best and most anxiety reducing occasion: took the tiles to the benches, and Voila!, they worked!!! Very happy girl this weekend.
Also worked on making the bowls with the little feet on them: those turned out OK.... I think the feet are too small proportionally, but am going to take them all the way through the process just to see what changes need to be made.
Here are pictures of both:
Oh, yeah, I put orange underglaze on the feet. Also placed large red swirls on the body of the bowl and put some dots on top of them. You know me, I can't leave well enough alone. So they're beginning to look like a cross between a party and a fancy cupcake. Totally not a serious piece!
Here's the final result for the hummingbird bench for Chandler Center for the Arts. I went with a stronger color for the background tiles because the green celadon just didn't have enough punch to it. This is blue matt, with a spray of oribe over it. I'm taking the tiles over to the CCA this weekend to see how they fit. Then it's time to check grout colors. I'm thinking probably just a variety of a pale brown so it won't detract from the design.
I've applied underglaze to the unfired altar. These colors will be much less bright after the glaze firing.
What I'm trying to decide now is whether to put an oxide on the background to "age" it a little bit.
When I was young it was the rage among the newly marrieds to make decoupages of old prints, using strong coffee or tea to age the work, much like the effect oxides have on clay work.
If I do use the oxide, I'm going to keep the black and white rope pattern un-aged for contrast. Would it look better to darken the altar portion to make it stand out more: what do you think, black or brown?
Our ceramics teacher asked us to prepare to discuss where our inspiration comes from, i.e. where we look for new ideas when we're feeling a little stale.
We were at the Tubac Festival of the Arts on Friday when I saw these little bowls, and fell in love with the feet. I rarely do stuff with feet, but I think I want to explore this area for a little while. These have so much personality, don'cha think?
There were several ceramic displays with the crystal glaze that seems to be popular, but these really caught my eye. That's what we want to make, right?
Something that stands out from the pack.
A client of mine wanted to know if I could make a custom altar, or retablo, and wanted it's subject to be cats.
Sure I can. Even though I never have, why not? So I researched some cat pictures online and came up with this layout. I traced it on stencil paper to lay out on porcelain clay.
The stencil paper didn't work well because it absorbed the moisture from the clay and crinkled all up.
Sam at the studio suggested that in the future I put plastic wrap between a paper drawing and the clay. I'll try that next time.
Anywho I used a dry calligraphy pen to make the impression and after working on it A LOT after the initial impression I got what you see below. I'm actually pretty happy with the results. Now I have to let it get bone dry, then I'll put some underglaze on it and bisque fire it.
I'll take a picture when that phase is done so you can see how it turns out.
