A wedding present

Now that the cups finally have reached the happy couple, I can publish the results of the commission.
I was asked to do a set of coffee mugs. The bride being my partners sister, it  was easier to look for the style and colours she would like.

Wheelthrown stoneware, clear glaze inside and outside turquoise with golden spots. The unique detail is the stamped handle in this otherwise simple mug.

Flowers for her...

...and checkered for him.

Leftovers of the project: Two blonds with starry handles. The glaze on the outside I really love, it goes from orange to pale sand according to the thickeness.

Skills demonstration no.1

On the skills demonstration day we make an object that will be build in one day according to a plan and timetable that is earlier approved by the teacher.
The first and only one for this year was to make a foodsafe tableware object that would hold minimum one litre. It must be colored with minimum of  two glazes or engobes. I made a pair to be sure that one might survive to the glazing. They are holding about 1.5 - 2 litres and are made by folding dark anthracite clay slabs that gave a bit more challenge. Also it was hard to get the legs even, so one of them have restless dancing feet.

 

Thrown tumblers

Wheel throwing

We started to work on the wheel officially just in the end of the first year.  I used redclay and the challenge for me was to make big and tall objects. That's something that I will continue to train next year.
Here are the tasks:

1. Freeform

2. Two in the same size and shape

3. Cones with straight walls 8cm/8cm, 10cm/10cm, 12/12

4. Object as big as possible from 1kg of clay

Egg aka Two piece mold

This mold should come easily perfect from a single boiled egg, but I managed to break mine after the first casting. I needed to use another egg for the second part which made my clay eggs slightly not perfect in their shape.
The mission included testing patinas and thinking how to serve 5 eggs.
I  also did some ceramic featers to accompany the eggs.

Tiles

 Another plaster mold assignment -decorative tiles in the spirit of Art Nouveau. This one was a headache, it took ages for me to draw something that I would like. I wanted to make somehow layers, to have depth in it. In the middle is a rosebud that I draw with quite thin lines on the clay model, so I managed to test different techniques in one tile. The assigment required 9 tiles and that's exactly what I did, no extras this time. I forgot to messure the clay model the last time before casting, so of course the measurements had changed. Therefore I can only assebly them with the same side up. The original plan was that I would be aible to play with them, that the form of the corner "roses" would change all the time. I glaced them with dipping and tested different colors.  Some of the glazes would had needed spraying (too thick) and the chrystal glazes didn't work even I deliberately applyed them thick.

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Plant pots -planting and decorative

This schoolwork I made by pinching. The inner pot sis unglazed redclay (to not be waterproof) and outer pots white stoneware with redclay grog added, glazed with matte white.

The first tiny sketch pot that is for growing grass for my cat in the winter.

Plaster mold

We were asked to make a plaster mold for hand building and to make from it two versions  of an object -a mass product and a unique piece. I made two molds, a simple rectangle plate and bowl with a brim that is difficult to do by throwing.

These were the first mass production, low cost, redclay  products.

Then I understud how to use the molds and how to build by hand better.  The more unique version came plenty with different illustrations and glazes.

 

For the unique version of the bowl I made a cat and started to develop it and the working techniques.

After lots of trial and error I managed to make some that passed my quality tests. :)

Examples and tests -clays, glazes, engobes, etc.

I love to tests different receipts for glazes and I am also slowly starting to understand  a bit of  the chemistry behind it.