More Ceramic Cups?

I have been working on some ceramic cups for an upcoming exhibition, as well as for some gifts for the holidays.  The cups are all thrown on the wheel, using stoneware clay, and will be fired to cone 6, in an electric kiln.  I have been working on some new glazes, since the work I am creating needs to be functional, and have had some interesting results with some of the glazes.  I am still doing more tests and hopefully will have some results to post shortly of the finished work.  

Below are some images of the cups in progress.

Slip Casting with a new mold

Pictured below are images of slip casting underway.  I created two press molds and then created two slip cast molds of the designed tile work.  I also made the thickness of the tiles thicker to create a more visually interesting design when placed on the wall.

I will post more images of this work as it comes along.  Unfortunately the first tile is sticking in an area of the mold that I will have to clean up a bit more, for easier removal of the cast tile.

Finished Wall Piece-"Mechanical Repetition, 2015"

I finished my new ceramic wall piece and titled it "Mechanical Repetition".  It is made of Terra Cotta and a cone 6 black bronze glaze.  This piece took awhile to make due to the number of pieces I had to make and fit together.  Pictured below is the piece hanging on the wall.

Raku Cup

In my Ceramics for Non-Majors Class, I fired the Raku Kiln three times last Saturday with student work and one piece of my own.  Pictured below is a Stoneware, wheel thrown cup that I glazed with a copper sand and white crackle Raku glazes.  The process of pulling out work when it is extremely hot, never gets boring and always has some sense of magic in the end results.  The class was really excited about the results and some not so nice results, but the experience was still amazing!  The really dark black areas were created by not applying any glaze to the clay body and using the reduction process in the combustion barrel to create the effect.

Cups in Progress

Those of you who know me, know that it is very rarely that I dedicate time to creating pottery.  Recently that seems all I have been working on.  I still have other work in progress at various stages, but thought I would share some images of the forms I have been exploring as well as the design and feel of handles on the work.  I will post more images of the finished work once it is finished.

Ceramic Tile (Wall Piece)

I have been revisiting ceramic tile and design with this new piece.  I forgot how fun it is…and time consuming to put a piece like this together, but I really enjoyed the time spent on this piece.  The work is of a new design and I used two different molds that I created to make this piece work.  I used Terra Cotta and hand pressed all the pieces.  I then used my black bronze glaze and fired the work to cone 6, after I did an initial bisque firing first.  The work was then applied to a piece of plywood.  I dry fitted together the pieces after the glaze firing, so I could trace out the exterior of the form and then cut the wood using a table saw and a hand held jigsaw to mimic the edges of the tiles to be placed.

The piece measures 30" x 38" x 1 1/2", and is held to the wall using french cleats, which I made as well.  All the wood was sanded by hand and then I painted the edges and the cleats, using a black satin latex paint.

The piece is currently on display, so I don't have a final picture to show the work, so I will try to get a final photo after the show comes down.

Enjoy!

Some New Wall Work

I've been working on some new work and have multiple pieces being constructed at the moment in different stages…it's finally summer!

Pictured are three new wall pieces I put together recently, revisiting my tile work and incorporating some slip cast work.  I played around with glazes and surfaces, but stayed true to the form and idea.

I'll be posting some work in progress tomorrow.  I'm glazing tiles for a new wall piece and have to get them into the kiln tonight before I go to bed.  Enjoy.