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Just got this little tea set out of the kiln today. It's a handbuilt set, painted with colored slip. I wish I had one of these when I was a little girl.
I spent the day yesterday at the home of Debbie and Joe Daley learning about raku firing. What an education! The day began at 10 am and didn't end until 5:30. I left tired and semi-pleased with my results but more prepared for the next time. The slide show below shows the steps we took to arrive at the finished pieces. First, the kiln was loaded and fired up, then the pottery was removed from the kiln shelves with tongs and carried to a metal container lined with sawdust. The heated clay body ignites the sawdust on contact and more sawdust is poured over the pot to encourage "flashing". The container is covered quickly to limit the amount of smoke in the air. After a short while, the pot is removed and put in a tub of water to cool and crackle, then it is washed off and the results are revealed. There were good surprises and bad ones, but what a great day we had. The Daleys have seven goats who keep their field cleared. Above, they pose for a few photos. Recently, I went to a Sandi Pierantozzi/Neil Patterson workshop at the Clay College in Millville. They really have good classes and workshops there and this one was a freebie. The workshop was excellent and I left feeling inspired to do more handbuilding. The teapot and cups above were made using Sandi's CircleMatic templates.
I'm making a pochade for painting outdoors. A pochade lets you store your art materials in a box that, when opened, reveals an easel and palette area for painting and, when closed, secures paints, brushes and tools so you're ready to go at a moment's notice. It can be held in the lap or mounted on a tripod. These boxes cost quite a lot to buy but you can save a lot of money by making your own from scratch or out of a cigar box. After doing some research online, I decided to make one from a ready made sketchbox thinking it would be easier and sturdier than a cigar box and less of a hassle than building one. My 11 3/4" x 9 3/4" box has storage for long brushes and dividers that will hopefully come in handy.
We watched a demo by Ann Van Hoey at the Clay Studio in Philadelphia on Friday. Her work is amazing. This is a video I found that tells more about her. I've been working on my buddha. He's almost done. One of the final steps is to poke him full of holes so that he doesn't crack in the kiln. I didn't think of taking a picture of him until I'd poked the first holes in his belly. The last shows the buddha's holes after I've started to smooth them away. His proportions are a little CeeLo Green-ish, but I think he'll be a good little buddha for someone if he survives the kiln.
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