my creative space

The potting and feathering continues.
It makes me happy to see lots of pots together like this.

I want this desk to be FULL by the time I go back to college in 2 weeks.

Apologies for the naff lighting. Its been cloudy for days here in Mermaid Beach. I do not like it! Come back sunshine! Maybe some people at Kootoyoo's have clearer skies than me :)

twisted

A very nice potter from the US had included me in an etsy treasury called twisted pottery! How nice is that?!
I feel quite honoured to have my work in there, with such talented folk.

Thank you blackstonepottery! You made my day!

more

More feathers.
More pots.

thick

Not a bad effort for my first throwing day in about a month. I think these handles may be a little thick though.
Thats ok, its all progress!

my (slow) creative space

I have to admit, I almost forgot about my creative space today. I finished my 2nd term at college last week so without a routine I'm a bit disorganised. In a good way. I can stay in bed longer in the morning and go sit in cafes and read wicked magazines.
I did however do some throwing this afternoon, 2 small short cups and 2 nice tall ones that will become feather mugs.

I'm also experimenting with making porcelain feathers for jewellery. In my previous attempts the stem/quill (?!) bit fell off so I'm being super careful with these ones.

I hope you've been to Kootoyoo's already!

RIP Fred

You were the prettiest fish.

square

I finally poured more square dishes yesterday and just finished painting them this afternoon.
I am a teeny bit worried that the clay body has air bubbles inside it...I was using the very last bit of slip in the bucket that has been stirred and poured and stirred and repoured many times. I've fixed the bubbles on the surface, but if there are bubbles inside too...well...there may be explosions in the firing...eek!

decal progress

I tested a couple of decals at a lower temperature - about 780C - and the results are promising. The colours are far closer to what they should be, unlike last time.
Air/water bubbles caused burn holes. Thats my silly fault for rushing them.

How cute are the fluffy baby ones?!

compose

I think I've mentioned before that I love having professional photos taken of my work, as the camera lense tends to see things that I don't. Our lovely photography teacher took these shots last week, nice compositions I think. Very nice.

my (fancy) creative space

The postman made me happy this week.
He brought me my new business cards!They're Moo Mini Cards. I love them. Fancy, huh? I've never done business cards, proper like, before. I'm impressed. May I ask to what extent you nice creative visitors use your cards to? I mean, do you pop one in every Etsy package, add one in the bag when you sell at markets, have them on display for folks to take at markets, or only hand them out to people you really want to contact you? Any feedback is most appreciated :)

Lets go see who's at Kootoyoo's today.

my (lumpy) creative space

Last week's kiln firing wasn't entirely amazing; I tried to refire a few pots from the week before that were underglazed (I didn't hold them in the glaze long enough and so the coverage was thin and dry), only to discover with stoneware, that if you don't get it right first time, don't bother refiring. (But how nice is this design? I'll definately be making more like this and some with a shorter cut for smaller feathers)The feathers weren't quite bright enough on these pieces eitherThe yellow glaze on the inside was beatiful first time round, but after refiring it bubbled and melted down inside the pot, making the colour uneven and streaky.The reapplied clear glaze on the outside didn't improve at all, leaving the body dry and scratchy, and most surprisingly the entire clay body bubbled, creating lumps all over the pots, both in glazed and unglazed areas. The cobalt glaze shows best how the glaze remelted and pooled into the bottom of the pot, creating air bubbles.

So today's lesson in ceramics (or at least stoneware); get it right first time round.

More creative spaces and people can be found at Kootoyoo's.

paint

I'm making a test set of this design with feathers. I'm thinking cobalt glaze.

curvy

More clever photos of last year's work.

clever

I have some clever friends. I have one particular friend who can take amazing photographs of my work. She sees things I don't. Clever. I made this set last year for our new apartment. They make the table look great for dinner parties.

my (yay) creative space

Oh how excited am I about my creative space?! *stretches arms wide* This much!
Cobalt glaze looks wicked with the green/yellow/red feathersThe glazes were all perfect. No bubbles, no dry patches, yay!I think I will work on making these feathers a little brighter in the future though. However I love the feather handles, they'll be developed further too.Oh cobalt glaze, how I love thee.

I think these ones are cute too! I had my mint tea in one yesterday and its just great. Good handle size, nice weight, comfortable lip thickness. Nice. Success. Lets hope I can make a huge heap more to sell now!

As with every Thursday in the land of blog, you will find many many many more creative people over with Kirsty.

yay

The kiln gods are smiling on me again...I got some awesome pots from the last firing...come back tomorrow to see more!