Brunson Moody's Blog

Greenish mug with texture and metallic highlights.

2010-10-23T16:45:00.000-07:00

I made this on my basement wheel and glazed it with Seaweed (color) over Iron Lustre. The bumps are made from tk-1 texturizer. I fired this in my kiln to cone 5 but I had some pinhole bubbles in the glaze... So I had my pottery teacher fire it to cone 6 in our classroom kiln. The shiny quality of the glaze was mellowed in to a satin finish that I really like.

I gave this to my friend Tracy because:
a: She's awesome.
b. She turned me on to Weeds and then lent me all the seasons on DVD.

Protip: get to know tracy.

Four blue mugs for Bart

2010-10-23T16:35:00.001-07:00

I made this set for my friend Bart in exchange for a brilliant bottle of pinot noir. They are made from ckk6 porcelain with grog and feature blue float over Chun plum glazes. These are homemade from wheel to kiln.

Glow in the dark waves hat.

2010-10-13T22:45:00.000-07:00

I made this from slate-blue Rowan All-seasons cotton and Bernat Glow-in-the-dark yarn. This was part of Googleserve 2010 and the hats went to chemo patients. I made 2 hats and collaborated on a third and then I volunteered at the Marra Farm.

Chris models this hat in between fighting fires and handing out foos-shamings.

Two red mugs.

2010-10-10T22:37:00.001-07:00

Two tall red mugs.

Two porcelain mugs made from Seattle Pottery's CKK6 with grog. The glaze is UmberFloat over FireBrick fired to cone 5 in my basement kiln.

Coffee-brown leather Man-Bag.

2010-10-10T11:51:00.001-07:00

After a long hiatus I am back to making. My newest hobby is leatherwork.

I cut this from a whole 6oz (thick) veg-tanned cow hide. It has internal pockets made of lining leather. I colored it with "Dark Cocoa Brown" water-based stain using my airbrush and I applied a color-fast sheen by hand. I hand stitched and hand riveted it in my basement while watching a season of Dr Who. The aged-looking brass findings are from Joann Fabric. This is a skills-building prototype for a larger laptop case for my macbook (that I plan to start after a holiday craft sprint.)

OMG! I made a sink. Part 2

2007-10-03T18:01:00.000-07:00

So, I have taken a vacation from blogging for a while since I began the sink project months ago and I can finally reveal the results!

I waited ages for it to dry slowly to leather hard and I gently trimmed a simple foot for it and disengaged it from the plastic bat. I was leery of inverting it and supporting the weight of it by the rim so I did not carve out a nice ring foot even though there was like 1cm of material to work with. Because of this, the pot is substantially heavy. On the other hand, it's a sink so its stability is actually a good thing.

Then after it was bone dry, (again ages later) I gently brought it down to paint it with sapphire blue terra sigilatta. After letting that dry, it was fired and the glazing began. I started out with a base of Blue Satin glaze which created the yellow/mocha background and provides a seal over the whole piece as well as a hint of mottling. I poured the glaze over and in to the vessel since it was way way too large to dip. I then added chrome green, green mottled, light blue mottled, and finally ultramarine blue drips from the rim on the inside and out. After each drizzle stage I stepped back the glaze with a green abrasive pad so that the glaze would not get too thick and mar the coat. It was really important to me for this project to have a complete inner seal.

On the outside, the glaze disengaged in places leaving a dark greenish blue burnished texture that is really interesting.

The mounting plan is a simple one... A pop up drain with a wall mounted faucet. I have contacted my architect Chris about designing an infinity drain so that if the sink overflows, it will run down the edge and be caught by an external drain channel that is hidden by river rock. It's just a thought but I saw his design and it looks supercool.

OMG! I made a sink!

2007-08-09T09:57:00.000-07:00

So I had this wild idea the other day... I am working with an architect here in Seattle on finishing my attic and one of the finishes I needed to choose was a sink for a new bathroom. After looking at some sinks and considering all the glass/metal/porcelain options... I thought, "I could probably do that." The last set of pots that I did had a really nice aquatic looking interior with a nicely repeatable set of glaze steps so I decided to try my hand at making a sink.

I first threw a nice tall (but mostly cylindrical) pot out of 14 lbs of Dove porcelain. There was not so much grog in that stuff so I had a hard time with it wanting to flop over at the rim... so I figured that I would try again with a denser clay.

I switched to 16 lbs of CKK6 (with grog) and after a marathon of centering, I pulled up a nice tall cylinder about as tall as it was wide (maybe 10" at the base?) Then I used a nice tall rib to compress and normalize the walls. Then (using an 10" board as a stupidly long rib) I gently leaned the walls out to create the bowl shape. In a week or so when it gets 'leather' hard I will trim out a drain and carve a nice looking foot to hide the pipe.

This is by far the largest thing I have ever thrown and with a little luck, it will survive the trim and make it to the kiln without getting too screwed up. I don't know... it's a pretty full class at the community center this term any anything can happen in the next two weeks. Wish me luck!

A collection of Vashon orange pots that came out great!

2007-08-06T22:00:00.000-07:00

These 3 came out awesome. I am loving Molasses as a base color with vibrant highlights and a mottled glaze for texture. The first thing my pottery teacher said when I came in to pick these guys up was: "Can I take a photo of those?" I couldn't be happier with how they turned out. These 3 came out so good that I am considering making a sink (we're remodeling our house) and I want to glaze that sink in the fashion of these pots.

Carved Vashon orange vessel with blue green treament.

2007-08-06T21:59:00.000-07:00

This is the final in the set of things I treated in the same fashion... as I said in the last posts...

This pot was coated on the interior with sapphire blue terra siglata. Then the rim was coated with molasses brown and the exterior was layered with tx-1 texturizer, milky brown, blue mottled, denim blue, light blue and speckled ivory. The interior has tx-2 texturizer and chrome green and green mottled. Karen carved the rim.

Carved Vashon orange vessel with blue green treament.

2007-08-06T21:57:00.000-07:00

Karen and I gave this pot to our friends Nick and Allison as a wedding present. It seemed appropriate since Karen and I both worked on this piece and since they had their reception like 10 blocks from our house, why not have a piece made in the neighborhood?

This pot was coated on the interior with sapphire blue terra sigillata. Then the rim was coated with molasses brown and the exterior was layered with tx-1 texturizer, milky brown, blue mottled, denim blue, light blue and speckled ivory. The interior has tx-2 texturizer and chrome green and green mottled. Karen carved the squiggly line on the rim and on the waist with a small ball-point burnisher after the piece was dry but before it was fired.

I really like how the carving and the texturizer hold on to the mottling and give a feel of flowing liquid to the outer part of the piece. I also like the darkly aquatic finish on the inside... The inside is not sealed up past maybe 3 inches so, one probably shouldn't fill it to far with liquid but it would make a nice vessel for dry goods, kitchen tools, loose change, chopsticks or dried flowers... The list is endless... Like all hand crafted pottery, it could go in to the oven but thermal shock should be avoided by never putting it in to a hot oven (instead place it in a cold oven and then raise the temperature.) The finishes are all food safe but the geometry of the piece doesn't really lend itself to food service.

Ovoid Vashon orange pot with blue green treatment

2007-08-06T21:51:00.000-07:00

This pot was coated on the interior with sapphire blue terra siglata (a paint made of fine clay and colored oxides.) Then the rim was coated with molasses brown and the exterior was layered with tx-1 texturizer, milky brown, blue mottled, denim blue, light blue and speckled ivory. The interior has tx-2 texturizer and chrome green and green mottled.

Cracked black bowl with blue green treatment.

2007-08-06T21:47:00.000-07:00

This black clay bowl S-cracked but it was so nice that I glazed it anyway. I used tx-1 texturizer and blue mottled, light blue and molasses glazes. The crack makes it a good flower pot if I can make a plate to go under it.

Blue and green klamath buff plate.

2007-08-06T21:45:00.000-07:00

Sadly this plate came out at little wobbly and got worse in the high fire. It's going on my wall I think.

My Second teapot, this time more awesomely

2007-08-01T17:16:00.000-07:00

This is my second teapot that looks WAY less crappy than my first. In fact the one harsh criticism I have of this one is that I broke the spout because it got too hard before I trimmed it. Other than also having a slight dribbling problem, I think I did good.

My first teapot!

2007-08-01T17:10:00.000-07:00

In all honesty it's a crappy little pot that is nowhere near as cool as the teapots I flubbed earlier... However, this one has a lid that fits, a handle and a spout that mostly doesn't dribble down the front. Sure it looks like an 8 year old spray painted it a little too thick after making it from cat litter but still... It's my first teapot.

Blue cabochon set in sterling silver pendant.

2007-07-31T14:59:00.000-07:00

Oh my god, the picture does no justice to the awesomeness of this piece! I have been taking a jewelry class for the last 6 weeks and after learning soldering, cutting, polishing, and a ton of other techniques, I finally made something that blows my mind.
This piece used to be a rock and some sheet silver and a thin flat silver wire. I wrapped the wire around the stone to make a collar and then soldered it together and to the silver plate... then I cut out the plate to match the collar and added a bail that I cut from a small strip of the silver sheet. I filed and polished it for several hours and then set the stone by working the edge of the wire just over the curve of the stone. I don't think I have ever made anything so beautiful.

Side on:

A raku blob reminicient of a shiny metallic crap.

2007-07-31T14:30:00.000-07:00

This was my first Raku piece that was fired during a community raku event (sadly the last of its kind here.) Whereas mostly the peices came out shiny and metallic, mine came out looking like a lava rock in the shape of a deuce. I like some of the metallic highlights and the "organic" geometry is interesing but it looks like a bronzed growler.

Red clay pot with carving, shadow green and blue ribbon.

2007-07-31T14:28:00.000-07:00

This was yet another teapot that I created before I learned that you make your pot and your lid at the same time and then you don't let them dry out before thinking about a spout and a handle... These are a good start though. I threw and glazed the piece and Karen carved the squiggle... I should probably have her carve everything since it traps the highlights of the glaze so nicely!

Agateware bowl with clear gloss and blue ribbons

2007-07-31T14:27:00.000-07:00

This is another would be teapot from when I was trying to teach myself how to make a teapot. Sadly, this one turned out super well except that I didn't know how to make a spout, lid or handle.

Agateware bowl with clear gloss and blue ribbons

2007-07-31T14:25:00.000-07:00

This was originally going to be a teapot but I let it get to hard before attaching a spout, lid or handle... So now it's bowl with a lid gallery.

Asymmetrical fused silver ring with a ruby.

2007-04-02T21:39:00.000-07:00

This ring was formed by fusing a 10 gauge silver wire ring at about a ring size of 8. Then I built of the table of the ring with additional pieces of 14 gauge silver. After fusing, I shaped the ring with a hammer and mandril to expand the ring diameter to size 11. I then trimmed the table with a dremel and drilled the gem setting. After running the ring through a steel-shot tumbler, I polished it and set the gem with some jewelers resin.

Fine silver fused ring with inset ruby.

2007-04-02T21:37:00.000-07:00

WOW! I totally learned how to set a gem in the rings I have been fusing out of silver. This is actually a ring that I made a few weeks ago from two pieces of 10 gauge silver formed in to rings and then fuzed together. I hammered and polished this ring a wore it for a week until I got the courage to drill a setting and place a ruby in it. I got my gems from a PMC supply house and I selected them for thier colorfastness during firing... Ironically, my original plan involved soldering a bezel wire to this band and then crimping in the gem... Instead, I ended up affixing the gem with jewelers resin.

Black/Brown agateware bowl with blue highlights.

2007-03-15T21:29:00.000-07:00

Black/Brown mugs with transparent glaze and blue & green highlights.

2007-03-15T21:25:00.000-07:00

Agateware porcelain mugs

2007-03-15T21:20:00.000-07:00

Agateware porcelain cup and saucer with ultramarine blue drizzle.

2007-03-15T21:15:00.000-07:00

Wire wrapped briolette pendant

2007-03-13T23:44:00.000-07:00

I wrapped copper wire through this briolette of pinapple quartz and attached it to a black leather cord.

Wire wrapped copper rings with beads

2007-03-13T23:42:00.000-07:00

I made these rings by wrapping thick copper wire around a knitting needle and then wrapping thin wire to secure some beads.

Some lampworked glass beads and a fused silver ring.

2007-03-13T22:26:00.000-07:00

I made these beads by melting colored glass rods with a mapp gas torch and twisting the molten glass around a coated metal mandrel. I made the ring by wrapping fine silver wire around a big knitting needle (the same size as my ring finger) and then fusing the wire in to one contiguous ring with a butane torch. To harden the ring I beat it with the ball end of a ball-peen hammer against a steel block.

New retaining wall and flower bed for spring.

2007-03-12T10:34:00.000-07:00

This first photo is through my rainy window looking out over my new flower bed. The pineapple express brought a warm drizzle from hawaii that pleasantly soaked my new plants... The only downside was some high winds. The second photo is along my street, you can see one of my Hellebores knocked down by the wind... it's up on stakes now.

This next pair of photos are of the view looking at my house and along my side street. You can see that the retaining wall isn't all that (but it's not bearing a load so much as edging the lawn and keeping the two zones from intruding on each other. I also put some soil down in to a low spot on my lawn that I may have to reseed if the grass doesn't push through. My next big yard project (aside from trying to compost the blocks of sod I cut out) is to rebuild the trellis in front using taller 4x4 posts anchored to the concrete.

Here's one of my mugs in action!

2007-03-06T00:23:00.000-08:00

My friend Sebastian (aka Sebadiah) is a big fan of yerba matte so I made him a mug and this is a sequence of shots of his matte setup. Note the awesome silver filter straw.

From Craft Photos

Klamath yellow and white porcelain agateware dish with white porcelain accents and ultra marine blue drizzle

2007-03-05T23:56:00.000-08:00

Karen and I made this plate for my mom.

From Craft Photos

Striped seamless raglan pullover with cables and epaulettes

2007-02-10T20:29:00.000-08:00

From Craft Photos

Wow, this sweater took me forever! I started it this last June and I just finished it at my company's holiday ski party this February. This is the first really large object with a cable I have done and this is the 3rd time I have made the Elizabeth Zimmerman Knitting Without Tears raglan pullover sweater. Features include:
1. 1x1 ribbed waistband, cuffs and neck.
2. 1x1 ribbed sidepanels that decrease to the armpits.
3. 4 cables of predominantly p2,k2,p1,k2,p2 repeat pattern with both crossover and "S" cabling.

Klamath yellow mugs with ultramarine and saturation metallic.

2007-02-10T20:18:00.000-08:00

This is a set of mugs I made from Klamath yellow scraps I had left over from previous projects. (Most of which died horrible deaths or abominable undeaths.) You will ocassionally see white horizontal agate effects that are white porcelain that were just incidentally part of the scraps. I love these mugs. I am getting to the point where I can make a really pleasing mug 3 times out of 5. I am still having trouble making handles symmetrically but I love the product. I think if I try really really hard, I can make 10 each term and have enough for christmas/anniversary/Christmas presents all year. I love each and everyone of these silly little mugs!

Morgans fruitbowl #3 with ultramarine drizzles and rutile blue crazing

2007-02-10T20:13:00.000-08:00

This large fruitbowl is the 3rd in a series of 3 Morgans clay bowls that I dressed simply to emphasize the natural warmth of the clay. In addition to the clear semigloss and ultramarine drizzles, I added rutile blue to the outer surface that crazed and crackled with the semigloss.

Morgans fruitbowl #2 with ultramarine drizzles

2007-02-10T20:11:00.000-08:00

Again with the Morgans, semi-gloss clear and ultramarine drizzles. This is dressed with ultramarine droplets on the outer surface.

Morgans fruitbowl with ultramarine drizzles

2007-02-10T20:06:00.000-08:00

This is part of a set of pieces I did with Morgans clay (a light brown with flecks of black.) I was particularly pleased with the throwing consistency and amount of grogg. Maybe I got lucky but I got some good pieces out of this loaf of clay.

This piece is glazed with a simple semigloss clear and drizzled with ultramarine blue and I think rutile blue.

Pixie bix on my awesome 2nd sweater.

2007-01-30T21:50:00.000-08:00

This is my wee pixie bix (beeks.) She loves knitted garments and is imho terribly photogenic. She is also the sweetest kitty evar! Oh yeah, there's a black cotton sweater with brown highlights ala Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Without Tears.

Zimmerman has a really well adjusted approach to knitting patterns that is designed to allow the knitter to customize any pattern to their own particular desires. Instead of giving you numbers of stitches to cast on for every gauge, she tells you to measure your body and knit a gauge swatch and then do the math. I have made 3 sweaters based on her seamless raglan sweater and I have added my own decorative and functional accents with each one. I highly recommend this book for people who hate following line by line instructions.

All seasons cotton sweater with khaki highlight and ribbed side panels

2007-01-30T21:46:00.000-08:00

I made this neck down pulloever with all seasons cotton. The side panels are my attempt to shape the garment but mostly in drapes on me like a tent. The left arm is bound off a little tight but on the whole, it's a very comfortable sweater.

Top down is an interesting method but I did not enjoy it as much as bottom up. I didn't like picking up the neck nor did I like the shape of the arm decreases or raglan increases. I like my raglans more overt and the backwards loop increases I uses were just to hard to see! I got this Knitting Pure and Simple pattern and the Rowan All Seasons Cotton from Hilltop Yarn on Queen Anne hill in Seattle.

Kureyon cable hat with minty flax liner.

2007-01-30T21:40:00.000-08:00

This is Karen in a cap I made for her out of Kureyon and a minty flaxen liner. I started the liner in the round and then switched to Kureyon after about 4 inches and then I folded the liner in and knitted it together with the outershell in a 4 inch headband and then I finshed the cap. The pattern is a 3 knit-purl-1x1-cable-purl.
the 1x1 cable twists every other round I think.
Howard Phillip is shown in the background.

I don't really have a hat pattern so much as an idea about how this kind of hat in the round works. The basic idea is that you start with headband that is calculated to fit from a measurement and a gauge swatch. The common wisdom length of the headband portion is 6" for a woman and 7" for a man. I think you can measure the distance from from the ridge of your eyebrows to the center top of your head and subtract 2" (for the decreases.) My head is 22" around and my flat stockinette gauge for this was 4.5 stiches to the inch. So I needed something in the area of 99 stitches.

It is a good idea to add ribs for extra stretchiness on the headband but you have to slightly alter your math to accomodate them. Ribs are vertical columns of alternating groups of knit and purls (k2p2 is a particularly good one.)

So having decided to do about 99 stiches... then it's time for the decrease math... Without ribs, choose a multiple of 7 that is near the target number. (Since 14*7 = 98 and 99 is our target, 98 is a good number of stiches to cast on.) I decrease by transfering to 4 double-pointed needles and then alternating decreasing rows and flat rows. The decreases also escalates in frequency in the following row pattern... (K2tog means knit two stiches together. )
1: (K5 K2tog)* This takes 7 stiches and decreases the last two to leave 6 stiches... 98 -> 84
2: flat
3: (k4 k2tog)* this takes every 6 to 5... 84 -> 70
4: flat
5: (k3 k2tog)* 5->4.. 70 -> 56
6: flat
7: (k2 k2tog)* 4->3.. 56->42
8: flat
9: (k1 k2tog)* 3->2.. 42->28
10: flat
11: (k2tog)* 2->1.. 28->14
12: repeat 11 until number of stitches is somewhere between 6 and 12. (2->1 again.. 14->7)

Ok so we went from 98(14*7) to 14 (14*1) over the course of 12 or so rows (2.5 inches or so) and then finished off with a decrease to leave us with a small number of stiches (7 finally.) Then using the remaining yarn tail (say about a foot) loop the tail through the 7 stiches and cinch them up in a loop and tightly weave in the tail (or tie it off if you prefer.)

Ribs can make a hat more functional and attractive but require slightly different math. A rib is a repeated vertically aligned knit-purl pattern like k2 p2 that makes vertical columns in yor knitting and has a footprint that is the number of stitches in the repeat. In k2p2, the pattern has a 4 stitch footprint and so to make the pattern lineup in the round you need to ensure that when you choose a multiple of 7 for decreasing, you also need to choose a multiple of 4. Since 7 and 4 are relatively prime, you have to choose a mulitple of 7*4 = 28 for the math to work out. Sadly the nearest multiple of 28 to 99 is 112 (28*4.) This is 13 stiches (almost 3 inches over the target value of 99.) Fortunately you can count on the ribs being a little more stretchy to accomodate 10%-20% depending on the rib pattern. This means that if the target is 22" we have 2"-4" of additional size allowed by the stretchiness of the rib. However, if we wanted to hit the target, we could instead of choosing 7, choose six as our magic decrese starting number, do the math and then start the decrease pattern at step 3. Also, note that since 6 and 4 are not relatively prime, instead of having to find multiples of 24 (6*4), you can look for multiples of 12.

Write me a comment if you have any questions.

A varigated hat with orange star cotton liner.

2007-01-30T21:37:00.000-08:00

I knited this hat using double knitting to simultaneously craft the scratchy kureyon outer shell and soft cotton-elastic liner. Boo my naughty cat is shown in the background.

I double knitted this hat by casting on twice the number of liner yarn stiches as head measurement and a gauge calculation would suggest. Then I knitted every alternating stich in scratchy kureyon and I purled every other stich in liner yarn. If you do this right, without letting the yarns twist, you create two completely separate cloths that are joined at the rim. I twisted a couple of stiches so my shell and liner are bound togethera few times in addition to the rim. Executing the decreases without binding the two cloths is tricky!

Klamath yellow mug with temokku brown and various blue hightlights.

2007-01-29T23:25:00.002-08:00

This mug was a salvaged mix of klamath yellow (which fires red) and white porcelain. I tried out my temokku brown, shadowgreen, ultramarine blue and blue rutile. I gave this one to Kyle my wacky friend from Mukilteo. Kyle was the office manager for my company's Fremont sattelite office and he recently left to chase a bigger paycheck. Dollah dollah bill y'all. Kyle, you will be missed.

Klamath yellow cup with saturation metallic and various blue highlights.

2007-01-29T23:25:00.001-08:00

This mug is klamath yellow (a very soft yellow clay that fires red with large amounts of grog.) This mug features a dark hematite black glaze called saturation metallic that looks awesome. The highres version of this photo looks cool in the way it picks up the lavender highlights of the pillow upon which it's resting. I gave this one to Jason my new friend from Fremont.

Inward sloping wide porcelain vessel with blue mottling and brown texturizer

2007-01-29T23:24:00.000-08:00

What do you call this shape? It has straight inward sloping sides and a wide base. This piece has some interesting glaze interplay on the surface .

Marine blue and brown flowing glazed urn shaped flower pot.

2007-01-29T23:23:00.000-08:00

This flowing urn is a hollow bottomed (a tube really) planter with a drainage hole at the base.

Blooper reel: Klamath yellow and white porcelain agateware dish with shadow green.

2007-01-29T23:22:00.002-08:00

Sadly the shadowgreen dominated the agateware effect. Next time I try agateware I will use a highgloss clear glaze instead.

Spherical porcelain flower pot with blue grey mottled and ultramarine highlights.

2007-01-29T23:22:00.001-08:00

I made this piece specially for my friend Eddie and his critically ill bonsai. I hope this cheers the little plant up. It's one of my favorite pieces of all time. The white regions are unglazed (a requirement of the project) and there is a blue-grey rim with ultramarine drizzles.

Update: We have repotted his bonsai and it looks much happier. It still looks ill but it's a stylish, awesome sort of Ill.

Klamath yellow flower pot with shadowgreen and various blue glazes

2007-01-29T23:21:00.001-08:00

This flower vase and plate combo is more klamath yellow with shadow green and various blues. The pot has a small drainage hole at the base and the whole object is about the size of a 12 oz coffee cup.

funnel shaped alpine bowl with blue terra-siglata splatter highlights for my brother Charles

2007-01-29T23:13:00.000-08:00

This funnel shaped bowl was there the day my brother Charles popped by the studio and he said he liked the shape. It is white heavily grogged clay with a superficial blue clay spatter design. The glaze is shadowgreen with ultramarine blue drizzles.

Blue and white agateware bowl with shadow green

2007-01-29T23:08:00.000-08:00

This bowl is the first thing I ever threw that was perfectly executed. It's a blue and white agateware piece that I made by adding blue (copper? cobalt?) oxide to white porcelain. I then dipped it in shadowgreen. I was hoping the shadow green would be a little less intense and show the agate more clearly but it gave the peice a really nice gloss and interesting almost aquatic colors.

Up for grabs glaze test on black

2007-01-08T20:58:00.000-08:00

This is the last of the glaze tests I ran. This is medium sized black fruitbowl that I speckled with TX-1 texturizer. At the top is blue-grey mottled. At the bottom are small spots of pearlescent blue. Clockwise is a barely visible semigloss brown called temmokku. Finally, directly left is the electric blue. I love this bowl. I am considering drilling a hole in base and potting a very lucky plant in it.

Up for grabs glaze test 2

2007-01-08T20:55:00.000-08:00

This is a second glaze test I tried with a rough white clay bowl. Top right is blue-grey mottled. The orange specks are TX-1 texturizer. At the bottom there is a pearlescent blue followed in clockwise order by the dark semigloss brown temmokku. Finally in the upper left is the electric blue.

Up for grabs glaze test bowl

2007-01-08T20:49:00.000-08:00

This small rough bowl was up for grabs so I snagged it to test some glazes I picked up at the Seattle Potters Supply. The right hand side is dominated by blue mottled grey. Then clockwise, is a light blue perlescent. Next clockwise is a semi-gloss dark brown called temmoku (I think.) Finally there is a brilliant blue that is shown flowing over TX-1 texturizer

My first plate

2007-01-08T20:45:00.000-08:00

This porcelain plate albiet somewhat lopsided came out great in terms of color and pattern. It is also wonderfully light. It's a little too rough to serve food on but as a catch for a plant it would be superb. I love everything about this plate except the little poo-colored blot in the lower right. Because of a power failure in the neighborhood (due to the strongest winds in a generation here in Seattle) the glaze had to be twice fired and it created interesting crackle effects.

Up for grabs vase

2007-01-08T20:40:00.000-08:00

I practiced glazing on this up-for-grabs vase made of red clay with suspended blue crystals.
The glazes are shadow green, blue mottled grey and speckled Ivory?

Blooper Reel: pasty little sauce dish

2006-12-14T17:30:00.000-08:00

A set of small bowls.

2006-12-14T17:29:00.000-08:00

Half purple, half clear porcelain bowl

2006-12-14T17:28:00.000-08:00

I really liked the simplicity of this vessel. I gave this (and a nice smelling candle I think) to my Nephews mom Eila.

Festive porcelain bowl

2006-12-14T17:26:00.000-08:00

I loved this and the matching bowl in blue terra siglata. I gave this one to my brother Mike (I think) and the other to my sister Tanya (or I could have it the otherway around.) I think I sent nice smelling candles to fit as well. This one is bright and alive with color featuring crystal blue, texturizers and gold rust.

A blue terra siglatta porcelain bowl

2006-12-14T17:25:00.000-08:00

I love this piece. This is the first complete terra siglata pieces I have ever executed. (The bowl is not blue nor is the glaze... instead a thin layer of blue clay was painted on.) texturizers and shadow green round out the cool aquatic look for this piece. I sent this and it's festive sibling to my bother and sister Mike and Tanya.

A set of mugs

2006-12-14T17:24:00.000-08:00

Dark textured porcelain mug

2006-12-14T17:23:00.000-08:00

This is my personal mug and I couldn't be more proud of it. For the first week I had it drank all my liquids from it (including wine and water.) This is texturized white porcelain with crystal blue and shadow green and molasses brown.

nicely handled textured porcelain mug

2006-12-14T17:22:00.000-08:00

I love this dainty little cup! It hold maybe 8 ounces of coffee on a good day and I dressed it with crystal blue, purple and texturizers. I gave this one to my Sister-in-law Aileen.

light porcelain mug with patchy blue rim

2006-12-14T17:20:00.000-08:00

This is a nicely shaped mug that had too much glaze on the rim. I stripped it off and clear glazed it to seal but the patchyness of the rim leads me to consider reglazing it.

Blooper Reel: Wonky short textured mug

2006-12-14T17:18:00.000-08:00

Midsized interesting shapes recap.

2006-12-13T22:21:00.000-08:00

I am really proud of these 3. They all have a definate shape and have interest without being gaudy.

Tri-colored fruit bowl

2006-12-13T22:14:00.000-08:00

This is one of my best most simple pieces. This tri-colored fruit bowl is a gently curved porcelain bowl. Until my next batch gets fired, this is my largest object sucessfully thrown. I think the reddish color is burgundy under shadow green.

A ruffled edged bowl in 6 colors

2006-12-13T22:09:00.000-08:00

I threw this wide based cylinder too thin and drew the walls out at too steep an increase, instead of letting the walls flop over, I created several undulations that strengthened the walls. This had to be trimmed by hand except for the base which I trimmed on the bat. The colors are purple, speckled ivory, shadow green, burgundy and speckled rust. There is also texturizer. Karen and I gave this to her cousin and husband Vanessa and Todd.

Small funnel shaped flower vase

2006-12-13T22:05:00.000-08:00

This pleasant object is purple, peacock green, and something like speckled rust with texturizer. I accidentally left a small piece unglazed that actually looks kind of cool. Karen and I gave this to her wacky uncle Ron.

Tri-colored short pitcher

2006-12-13T21:56:00.000-08:00

This pitcher is part of a set of handled objects I made in this batch. The handle is a little too big and feels weird in the hand. The spout was simplicity itself except that is kept me from trimming the object on the wheel because of the heigh distortion of the rim. So step 1 to making a pitcher is throw a perfect thin cylinder that doesn't need trimming (except on the foot. Then trim the pitcher on the bat so you don't need to rely on the irregular top edge.

Two soup bowls.

2006-12-13T21:53:00.000-08:00

These two are just a glimpse of what's to come. This batch came out really well except for the exterior texturizer peeling off. Except for maybe 1 or 2, there is basically nothing tragic for my blooper reel!

Multi-hued soup bowl

2006-12-13T21:46:00.000-08:00

This multi-hued soup bowl has purple, speckled ivory, hazelnut, and texturizers. I think it is porcelain.

A new batch (part2)

2006-12-13T21:41:00.000-08:00

This is the underside of that last bowl showing the shape and exterior glaze. I think the brown is hazelnut with TX-2 applied as an overglaze. I applied TX-1 to the interior of most of the pieces in this batch and TX-2 to the exterior. Unfortunately the TX-2 peeled away in places leaving very sharp ribbons of knife-edged glass. After chipping off the larger slivers, I will need to dremel smooth the rest. I would also like to dremel down the feet of my pieces.

A new batch!

2006-12-13T21:35:00.000-08:00

This is a soup bowl shaped piece with a crystal blue rim and a speckled ivory and shadow green interior. I love the little flecks in the speckled ivory. There is TX-1 texturizer applied as an overglaze using a syringe to create a droplet stream. I think this was thrown CKK-6 grogged porcelain.

Unicorn Chaser

2006-12-12T23:25:00.000-08:00

Here is a recap of my very first work. This was my untrained product and I couldn't be more pleased (especially about the blue rimmed bowl.) These pieces are my best glazes and the red bowl is my best form. I have several new pieces coming up including mugs, bowls and even a pitcher. They were all good forms in their way and I have my fingers crossed for the glaze... Still they can't ever compare to these two intuitive objects.

Blooper reel: Post Mortem

2006-12-12T23:20:00.000-08:00

Here is another look at the blooper reel. I have another batch whipped up in the kiln and I am hoping that the last minute glaze job I did doesn't have too many more of these. I have an idea for a repeatable aesthetic for modest bowls: One earth (Black, brown, grey,) One focus (red, blue, green, orange) one accent (celladon, shadow green, sand.) I of course did all my glazing before coming up with this... so I am sure the blooper reel is going to get some new blood. I will also be testing out some texturizing overglazes. I can't wait!

Blooper reel: This bowl is a painted whore.

2006-12-12T23:16:00.000-08:00

I deeply regret the paint job I put on this one. the bowl is a good internal shape (but is supported by a teeny little foot.) The glaze is orange, tomato red, with drops of crystal blue. Maybe the drops are peacock green and the dollop on the right is crystal blue. Let's say that this bowl is just a tad *fabulous* for my sensibilities.

Blooper reel: ruffled edge bowl

2006-12-12T23:10:00.000-08:00

This bowl was a failed shallow cylinder that got too thin and wide in the walls. Instead of scrapping it, I decided to use it for some weirdness practice. It was hard to trim and sand since it does not have a symmetrical profile for turning. I had to hand sand the delicate ruffling edges and belive me, when I had finished, this failed pot looked awesome. Then I put orange and black strokes on it and I just don't like the combo. I love the shape but unlike most of my pieces, this one looks better full. :)

An oil lamp?

2006-12-12T23:08:00.000-08:00

This is the tri-colored bowl with the small dish with a hole in it... the green colors line up (I think it's speckled Ivory with shadow green layered over it. Karen thinks that together these pieces make a pretty interesting oil lamp

Small black and green dish with hole

2006-12-12T23:05:00.000-08:00

This small dish is about as big around as a KrispyKreme doughnut. It was the remnants of a failed pot and I accidentally broke through the foot when I was detailing it. I was going to use it as a sauce dish... now it's just a cute object.

Tri-colored black-stroked bowl (profile)

2006-12-12T23:03:00.000-08:00

Here is the tri-colored bowl side on. You can see the wide lip and the straight sides narrowing to a pedestal ring foot.

Tri-colored black-stroked bowl

2006-12-12T22:58:00.000-08:00

This is a wide almost plate-like bowl made from alpine white (I think.) The colors are speckled Ivory and some kind of red... there is a purple highlight and everything is dipped in shadow green I think. There are black or brown accent strokes made with a long floppy thin brush.

A trio of bowls

2006-12-12T22:47:00.000-08:00

A trio of my first bowls. All done (I think) with my first 25 lbs of alpine white. These guys give me an urge to make a set of rice bowls but I am throwing bigger and better things these days! :)

grey green alpine bowl

2006-12-12T22:42:00.000-08:00

This bowl is similar in shape to my early purple bowl. it is much lighter and much less conical. I forget what it is made of. It's probably alpine white. It is half stormy grey and half peacock green. (I am only guessing at this point.)

2006-12-12T22:36:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of my kittie bix and the light lopsided bowl. This is a picture of my wonderful life.

Lopsided orange and purple bowl.

2006-12-12T22:32:00.000-08:00

This is a wonderfully light lopsided bowl I threw from alpine white. This was the first thing I threw thin with almost no trimming (except the foot.) The lower half is purple and the inside is orange. The orange glaze smells like amonia and rotten eggs.

Purple bowl

2006-12-12T22:26:00.000-08:00

This is the first bowl I made after instruction. the base (not shown) is a thick pedestal with a shallow ring for a foot. The glaze is simply purple. I love the glossy uneven quality that gives this one glaze so much texture. This is made from alpine white (a heavily grogged white clay.)

Red shallow pot

2006-12-12T22:18:00.000-08:00

This is the second of the objects I made prior to my first class. The clay is also Klamath Red which is well grogged (it is laden with a sand made out of fired clay.) The interior glaze is shadow green and the rim is crystal blue. I forget what the exterior glaze is....it's a buff matte of some sort. This pot was thick enough to resist the stress cracks of my previous item. I gave this one to my brother Sean who is also earthy and cool.

First red pot

2006-12-12T22:12:00.000-08:00

This is the profile of my first piece. You can barely make out stress cracks in the lower portion of the vessel. In the previous post you can see an S-crack in the bottom of the vessel that happened because I didn't compress the bottom and I carved out the foot a little too deeply. The crack is along the line of my signature in the base of the vessel

My first post

2006-12-12T22:05:00.000-08:00

This is the first post of my make blog. I have just recently taken up pottery at a community center near my home. Here is the first pot I made as adult. I made it from a dense red clay called Kalamata red. I formed this with no instruction on the wheel prior to my first class. The glaze is predominantly shadow green and i forget what the accents are... turquoise maybe?