wax

Preparing pots for glazing; waxing bases over the kitchen stove. As you do.

broked

Will I ever learn?

[mistreating greenware.]

gum leaves

A single porcelain cup from December, testing a eucalyptus leaf design with underglaze paints and pencil.

[painting!]

peacock

A very special custom piece from last month for an extra lovely client in Melbourne.

Yes, I do take custom orders!
Email me: hello@kathrynmitchellceramics.com

more glaze tests!

Now I have a hopefully-reliable-new-clear-gloss-glaze recipe, I need to retest some pigments for the Miro project.

They'll look way prettier after the firing, promise. Umm, I hope.

Thursday: Our Creative Spaces + Mud Colony.

studio

The studio this week;

Sanding work and organising to glaze

Playing with wide shots on my camera :)

slab platters

I've had a few requests for larger pieces, like platters or fruit bowls, however my fledging throwing skills aren't up to making something that big, so I've been playing with simple slab platters;

It's lovely to have a wider area to play with the design composition.

miro glaze tests

I did these glaze tests for the Miro project about 3 months ago...! Thought I'd better document them before I stash them in a seconds box under the bed.

2, 3 and 4% Walker FW5601 Black (Cobalt Free) stain. All very, er, black. No problems there then.

The red is still a pain.

But the orange is lovely! Though I was rather sloppy when I glazed the test star.

porcelain cups

I've thrown (pun not intentional...) myself into making cups in Southern Ice porcelain. 27 (plus other stoneware pieces) over 2 days, then a day of trimming - I'm fairly impressed with myself!

However, I've lost so much skin off my fingers, it hurts to type!

The plan is paint the cups with more patterns from my homesickness sketchbook doodlings.

Thursday: Our Creative Spaces + Mud Colony. 

miami marketta | february 2012

inspiration: miranda skoczek

I love everything about these works by Miranda Skoczek.

miami marketta | february 2012

Tomorrow night, hurrah!

spoons

It's difficult to pinpoint where the spoons first crossed my radar. It must be nearly 6 months now, that I've been aware of the seemingly increasing trend in ceramic spoons. I admired them, coveted them, but didn't want to make my own; don't be a copycat, I told myself. But I kept seeing them, finding them more and more lovely. Suddenly I thought: no one can copyright a spoon and my skills are relatively fledgling, no one will notice or mind if I make a few.

 So I sketched.

And I made.

[spoons cut from thin slab of clay and hand pinched into shape]

 I love.

However; I have no idea if they will hold their form during firing to 1270c? Are they small enough to evade slumping? I will certainly only glaze the top sides just in case...

[one other small motivation to this - perhaps if I put spoons in my bowls, unimaginative people will stop asking me 'what would I do with this bowl...?']

Thursday: Our Creative Spaces + Mud Colony.

painting

Building up stock for markets and my dear stockists.

inspiration: anne smerdon

I am privileged to know Gold Coast artist Anne Smerdon.

Deaf eyes moist in moonlight - 2011

Anne paints wondrous illustrated narratives in watercolour, with ink and gold on paper and silk, exploring the relationships between humans and animals, much influenced by literature such as Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book and Henry De Vere Stacpoole’s The Blue Lagoon.

Peacock monograms for the mid-century mod - 2012

Tweedledee and Tweedledum - 2012

Anne's very first solo show, Symbiosis, opens at 19 KAREN Contemporary Artspace on Saturday 18 Feburary, 6 - 8pm. It will be magic, I promise.

the clayer

I've signed up for a little bit of online study! The Clayer, Part One: Surfacing, with San Francisco's fabulously talented ceramicist Diana Fayt.

Images: Diana Fayt

I've always been concerned about keeping my focus and developing my skills post-college, so this course instantly called to me.
Excited? Yes, muchly.

hello february

If you didn't know, it's been raining here in the Land of Queens. Despite expecting this annual soaking, we get super cranky when our feet get wet, so everyone rejoiced at the glimpse of sunshine this week. It made for quick throwing/trimming/painting turnover conditions;

 

Thursday means Our Creative Spaces and Mud Colony. Go on, run over then!