Test Glazes..... And Turtles

Hare are some of the test glazes some promising results but the bummer is that the matte glaze I have been working on crawled and pealed..... very weird I think I may have messed something up when mixing up the base so I''ll have to start over! And I am working on some turtles for the kiln opening that is scheduled for October the 10th and 11th I haven't made them in a long time and they are so much fun! Also be on the lookout for some new animals sculptures for that weekend......... I'll tell you more about that latter but Im excited! .... I almost forgot to mention that I have donated one of my large turtles to the Zoo To Do Auction that is this saturday the 12th this if a fun event a great fundraser for the North Carolina Zoo and I'm looking forward to going. See you there.

TESTING!!! 1-2-3

OK so mixing test glazes is probably one of my least favorite things to do in ceramics, well besides book keeping but thats the business end that i would rather not talk about no fun at all!!! I love the results but the rather tedious process is what gets me. Weighing out .025 grams of this colorant and 1 or 2 grams of another one or two then mix paint on a tile and do this over and over again it makes my brain hurt!! So I did this today lets see about 100 times!!! So now I'm done and it feels good I always love the way I feel after I'm finished and can't wait to see the results. The tests are new glazes for a new line of tiles I'm working on I'm very exited about it but it will probably be next spring until they are in full swing. I'm looking for some funky fun colors that maybe even make your eyes hurt a little!!! Look out!! I had a great day lots of folks through the shop!! And nice people too!!! Thats always nice.... Here's is to laboring on labor day weekend hope you all have a good one!!!!!
Cheers
Blaine

More architecture......this one is amazing!!!

I hope y'all aren't getting board of this stuff, bear with me for one more post I cant help it!! I got my head stuck in a rut been thinking about some new designs for tiles. This is another of my favorite buildings its across the street from Grand Central at 122 east 42nd st. Its the Chanin building the Terra-Cotta was fabricated by Atlantic Terra-Cotta Company. To give you a idea of the scale the Terra -Cotta frieze is eighteen feet high. I couldn't get back far enough to get the whole building in but the detail is amazing. I love the snakes at the bottom. The next time your in new you look up everyone will know your a tourist but who cares!
Enjoy
Blaine

The Big Apple

I was In the Big Apple AKA... NYC the other week for my brothers wedding, Thought I would share some pictures of my trip. I had a great time met some great people saw some I haven't seen in years and went to see some great museums and some incredible architecture.
The first museum I went to was the American Folk Art Museum I love this place I couldn't take pictures but ome of my favorite things that I found was a plate by George Hubener redware potter in Limerick Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania,1757-1828 with an inscription that read...."Out of the earth with understanding the potter makes everything" very cool. The outside of the museum is amazing it is clad in brass plates about 4x8 ft. that are suspended off the building about 6 in.
The next place i went was the new Museum of Arts and Design its located on Columbus Circle its a great building with a Glazed white tile facade it is a nice museum and walking around the lower part of the park and Columbus Circle was fun.
One of my favorite things to see when I'm in the city is look at the Terra-cotta buildings I there are several i went to see but my two favorite are the Flat Iron building this is probably the most well known Terra-cotta skyscraper.
But a must see building when in NYC is the Bayard building at 65 Bleecker st. it is the designed by Henry Louis Sullivan he was a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright and the most well know architect of the period. and surprisingly this is the only building that he designed in New York City.
If you want to know more about terra-Cotta building check out the Bible on the subject Terra-Cotta Skyline by Susan Tunick its an incredible book.

baker baker

Or In the night kitchen if you ever read that book when you were a kid, I loved it when I was little and now I love reading it to judson, he loves it to. Mixing clay that was my day just mixing clay, I felt like a baker with dust all over me and in my hair. I usually make slip in my blunger and let it dry in vats with wire mesh on the bottom and an old sheet lining it to hold the clay in. The water drips through and evaporates. It takes about two to three weeks to get the slip to a workable constancy I'm running behind schedule so I asked a potter friend if I could use his mixer and I made about 850 pounds of workable clay today! It feels good, nothing like a big pile of clay to get you motivated!
But with all I had to do and not being at the shop most of the day I never got around to unloading the kiln today I hate to let a kiln sit full of pots when I know its cool enough to unload but by the time I got back and unloaded the clay I had just enough time to get a quick shower and jet off to pick up judson from daycare. So I think I'll unload it in the morning after I take judson to daycare and take a bike ride I haven't been able to go all week and its killing me I need some exercise. I'll try to post somepictures tomorrow.

I peeked in the kiln

Not good I think I missed the reduction for the shino. Go figure I was trying a slightly lighter reduction cycle in the third firing and I guess I shouldn't have with the shinos this time, you know it always looks worse than you think when you are peeking in the small spy holes and the crack in the door with a flashlight. So I'm trying not to feel too down but times like this make me think all the earthenware electric potters out there got it made and why aren't I doing slipware cuse' I have always loved it? So what's so great about reduction anyway? Well I will see tomorrow I did snatch out a few promising glaze test tiles and that always fun! The rest of the kiln looks good though. And if any of you want a great deal on some pasty gray shino pots with some great slip trailing hey you know were to find them!

firing the kiln......

well I haven't had much to blog about lately but that doesn't nothing has been going on. I am firing the kiln tonight almost done, here are a few images of pots in the process of being glazed and a bisque bowl with porcelain slip trailing. I have quite a few pots in this load with slip trailing that are glazed in a translucent shino. I haven't made many of these in a while I did have a few in the last load just to see how the glaze would looked since the kiln rebuild the looked great! So I made a bunch more for this firing. I love slip trailing, the feel of fluid clay dancing as I swing the slip filled syringe over the wet leather hard surface it is a wonderful tactile experience and very messy but its no fun if you don't make a mess!