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.

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. 

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!

my (miro) creative space

Some progress on the Miro project;

glazed prototype - need to reduce the copper carb % to lighten the green

the first full scale set, plus extra pieces

umm...pac man dishes?!

More clever people over at our creative spaces and mud colony!

my (dishy) creative space

Continuing on from last week's creative space, I've been painting bowls to match my new flat dishes.

I've had a few egg-related incidents this last week - one being accidentally stepping on a gecko egg on my studio floor :( I didn't even figure out what it was til 5 hours later and I was devastated! But the lady mother gecko living in the apartment must have returned, as I found this one in almost the same place on the floor of the studio yesterday! So tiny! (though yes, I KNOW, they are considered pests. Hush.)
More creative spaces over here and a new weekly meeting place for clay folk over here.

my (egg) creative space

Inspiring me this week: sparkling blood orange, sunshine, jacaranda blossom and discovering a new (to me) potter.

[sketchbook]

[lorikeet nests?]

 

[plates/shallow dishes]

[sliiiightly larger bowls]

More creative spaces over here.

my (home work) creative space

If you don't already know, I grew up on the Isle of Man. It's an odd, tiny place. I spent most of my childhood playing in a national glen called Silverdale - my family has strong links to it, as my Grandfather owned much of the land from the 1930s - 60s. Over the years it has become affectionately known as 'The Children's Glen', with a boating lake, playgrounds, water driven carousel and ice cream shop, as well as the beautiful woodland walks along the Silverburn river. I think Silverdale is magic. Of all my childhood memories, the strongest are of Silverdale. Leaving it 4 years ago to travel was heart wrenching - as much as I love Australia and intend to stay here, I still feel that pull back to the glen. For various reasons, I've been thinking about home more than usual recently and it's crept into my sketchbook - and of course onto my pots.

This brainstorming is probably highly self indulgent, an expression of my homesickness, and likely won't progress much further than these experiments.

Using teeny pinch pots to test colours

Bluebells grown in abundance, as do daffodils at Spring time.

One of the key motifs I used was a sun, though it certainly rains more than anything else in that part of the world.

All of these pots are Southern Ice porcelain, so I will leave the exterior unglazed.

[goodness me, look at all that writing!]

More creative spaces over here.

my (porcelain) creative space

This week: throwing thin pots with Southern Ice Porcelain and experimenting with the forms.

More creative spaces here.

my (starry) creative space

More porcelain stars, soon to grace my market table for the Christmas season:

More beautiful creative spaces over here!

my (miro) creative space

Gosh, it's been a while since I did a creative space post! 

I've started to play with glaze colours for the miro project; copper carb + yellow, cobalt and yellow. Next, black. But I might settle for a dark grey.

More creative spaces over here! Thanks Kirsty!

my (long awaited!) creative space

Woo! It's only taken me 4 months but hello My Creative Space 2011!

(if you peek back at previous posts you'll see I've been far from uncreative. Just somehow the creative stuff never made it to a Thursday post!)
I'm a bit chuffed with myself for figuring out nesting dishes. Took me a while. Some were too wide, too high, too short, fell off the shelf when I tried to measure them...
Fingers crossed lovely Kirsty has overcome her hosting probs and you'll find heaps and heaps of more creative spaces!

my creative space

Oh my goodness. Today's creative space was a meeting of cute pots and a talented photographer.

Ooh! It's me! Smiling at a pot...! More happy creative folks here.