Woodfiring autumn 2012

This firing we done in one day,  about 06.00-18.00.  I did some new glazes and concentrated testing them and different decorating techniques.

The pitchers/vases are claytests, dark grey and yellow brown. The  white glaze don´t look so white on them. Must test this glaze next on white clay.

 

The glaze on the inside of these bowls is nice, next time Iĺl try it with black on the outside.

Celadons and one peach bloom glaze

Painting with black glaze

Shino cup and pitcher, that are in everyday tea break use.

Some random tests

The Chun glaced platter , that I hoped for the turquoise and not the red. The four marks on the middle came from the "legs" that the pieces are standing on in the kiln. I gave it for the school's examples collection

These are the unfortunate glace combinations that didn´t work well with each other: roughness, crawling, bubbling and plain boring.

Serving dishes set

A wheel throwing mission: Set of four serving dishes that are easy to storage (for example nestling bowls) for an autumn party. The biggest one should be for 2 liters.
Throwing big pieces on the wheel was new to me. First I  practised  throwing on bats, then how to make plates, platters and big bowls. I didn´t reach to the 2 liters but was quite happy for the results. After all the hard work I wanted some safe glaze that wouldn't make any problems...but there is always a but. The cream white glaze that usually worked didn't melt. I put the platters again in the kiln, but the glaze didn´t behave any better this time -it tore the pieces. And this happened only to the pieces I thought to present to the class.

The pitcher was the only surviver of the original set -for  it was glazed before the others. The rest of the pieces I fired 20 celsius higher than usually which made all the difference. The decorations are made with black engobe on bisque fired ware, with the cream white glaze on the top of course.

Another wedding present

Playing with two different white glazes.

Illustrated clay

These were a birthday gift for my mom last year. Finally on Christmas holiday  I remembered to document these yoga inspired plates.

She collects suns, so here is one of my contributions for the subject.

Perinteiset Joulumyyjäiset Tammelassa 2012 (Christmas fair)

The hearts were my chosen objects for the Skills Presentation no. 3: customer based work. I wanted to have some small, affordable and traditional pieces for "easy sell". They are also great for testing different styles and glazes, which means also less waste!

Casting clay tests

One regular casting test cup and origamis, egg carton, and East German vintage underpants dipped in liquid clay.


Before

After

Autumn Raku

This assignment was a warm up after coming back from the summer break:  expresing autumn feelings with clay, fire and smoke. My inspiration came from  a song, Elokuun kruunu - CMX (the Crown of August)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqyV92w5-ww
It is always a reminder in that time of year of a bittersweet  teenage drama -now translated into garden deco that can be used also as a candle holder! :)  I wanted a romantic worn out look so I used glaze that is more like a rusty patina for the big ones. The small crowns I wanted to be more colorful, with surprises of  different layered glazes. Part of the mission was to find a place for the work outside where they would be presented to the class. Unfortunatly  one big crown didn´t survive,  I dropped it when taking out from the Raku kiln.

The most I enjoyed  placing the work in the yard with a little help of the ways of environmental art.

Matching colors with the surroundings.

And this place I just could not resist, it was too tempting even too obvious.