Recent Work

Here are finally some pictures of the finished work I pulled out of the kiln a couple weeks ago.  Later I will post some more pictures and give a brief account of the two shows I had the past couple weekends.

These oval vessels are fun to make, but they are not extremely functional.

They work ok for flowers if you use one of those green foam block things, though.

These tall-ish squared vessels were originally made as vases, but work pretty well as utensil holders.

This is a mug that I showed in progress a ways back.  Here it is finished.  The black on the rim is a comercial gold glaze that I tried as an accent, but it didn't turn gold, obviously.

I really like this design, but it took quite a to complete.

Until then.

-Rob

The Unload

Here are a few quick shots from yesterday.  And I threw a few more things after I took this picture.  Pretty productive, I would say.  Looks like I will be chasing plastic today.

Here are a few shots of the kiln as I was unloading yesterday evening.  A decent firing.  There were some things I really liked, some things that did not work out as well as I hoped.  I will get some more pictures up next week.


Layer 2 (forgot to take a picture of the top shelf)



Layer 3

 

Layer 4

 I guess that is all for now.  Until later.

-Rob

Ready, aim, fire...or something like that.

Here is the work of the past couple days.  As I said in the last post, I got a bisque load fired and out.  Yesterday I went about the task of getting everything sanded down, washed off and waxed for glazing today. 





Here is everything laid out with wax drying, waiting to be glazed.  It doesn't look like a lot, but it was enough to fill a kiln.  On a side not, I hate the color of that wax.  It is just a commercial cold wax resist, but I added some red ink to make it easier to see.  Now it is a sick bubble gum/pepto-bismol pink.  Next time I am going to have to add a different color.

 Everything set out once again, this time all glazed and ready to go.  The kiln is now running through a glaze cycle and is currently at...1280 F and rising.  It should be finished by morning and I should be able to unload tomorrow night or Friday morning.  I will snap some pictures of the finished stuff and get them up here when everything is out. 

As Christmas is approaching I decided to work on some ornaments.  Previously I had just barrel fired them with some interesting results.  More often than not, though, they just came out smudged with soot and what not.  These I made with low fire clay (that I got for my second continuing ed class that failed to garner enough interest) and plan to glaze with some old low fire glazes I got from the wife's cousin.  Before that happens, though, I will have to get some kanthal wire and make some sort of contraption to hand them from.  I'm not really fond of using stilts

Damn dirty low fire Christmas ornaments

I guess that's all for now.  Here's hoping the kiln fires off alright and everything comes out looking spiffy. Until then.

-Rob

I was all by myself...

It is Friday night, the wife is out of town...what to do?  Well, if you are a potter with a bisque kiln firing and a child sleeping in the other room, you sit around drinking hard cider and watching Louis Black.  This guy is freaking hilarious.  He is mostly a political satirist and as far as I can tell he is spot on.  Great stuff.

This past Tuesday I once again attempted a continuing education class at the local community college.  It fekin' sucked.  I had three people pre-register and only two people actually showed up for class.  That is exactly nine people shy of a full class.  It is extremely disheartening to have a class canceled.  As previously stated, it fekin' sucks.

On a lighter note, the bisque kiln is chugging away.  I am really happy with a lot of the stuff that I have in there this go around.  I am anxious to get it glazed and finished up.  I am going to go ahead and use the regular clear glaze that I have been using on this load, I think.  I am, however, planning on testing a few different clear and satin glazes.  I would really like to go in the satin direction if I can find something that works.  I don't know that I really like the super glossy finish that I have now.  The satin finish (I am hoping, anyway) seems more natural; softer, not as harsh.  We will see.  Until then.

-Rob

Scratchy scratchy

Here are a few pictures of the stuff I have been working on lately. All of this stuff was thrown quite a while ago, but I have just recently gotten around to decorating them.

Bank with lid (the money slot is on the other side)

Oval flower vase brick thing

I really enjoy making these vase things, but I don't know that they function really well on their own. You would either need to put a lot of flowers in there or use one of those green foam flower block things. Perhaps a lid with holes in it?

Salt and pepper keys

These have a hole in the bottom for a stopper. I got a bunch of them a while back, but they do not work like I thought they would. They do not stay in the holes very well. Now I have 90-something sub-par stoppers. Suck.

Small round jar with leaf pattern

I am happy with this jar...except for the fact that the lid has no knob. I plan on epoxying some sort of knob on it after it is done, but I am not sure what.

Lidded bank and squared vase.

Two rather different styles of decoration. I really dig the realistic stuff, but it takes quite a while to do.

I am getting a little burnt out on carving, though. Or at least my hands are. I am going to have to try working in smaller cycles. I am also going to have to do some reformulation of my slip, I think. It is not very durable in the green state and frequently smudges or scratches while I am carving. It may also have something to do with spraying it on instead of brushing or dipping.

Let the Drawings Begin!

I finally got all the old green ware that has been sitting around the studio slipped and ready for decorating. My wife came in and snapped a couple pictures while I was working.

Rob hard at work.

The sprayer I am using is a Critter brand syphon style paint sprayer. It works with regular 1 pint canning jars, which makes it very easy to switch colors. It gets clogged occasionally, but not so much as to make it un-usable. It would be nice if I had a little more control over the spray pattern, but oh well. It works for what I need it to do.

That is one kick ass spray booth set up!

This is my very sophisticated spray booth...half a plastic drum on concrete blocks. There are plans to build a new booth that contains the over spray more and makes it easier to reclaim it. I also want to get it hooked up to a ventilation system. Many thing to do.

Shelves of greenware with colored slip, ready for sgraffito.

Now comes the drawing cycle. Once I get all this stuff decorated I will get back on the wheel. I am also running short of clay so tomorrow I will be heading up to St. Louis to pick up 1000 pounds of B-mix. Not really looking forward to the two hour drive, but it is better than paying to have it shipped.

Done-ish

As I said in my last post, my batteries arrived and I went back to work. Of course, they were not the exact batteries I needed, but with a slight modification they fit my tools. And thus the completion of the cabinets.

Preparing to instal wall cabinets.

Wall cabinets up.

Doors on.

The not quite finished studio.

Fully loaded cabinets. Pretty freakin' sweet.

Granted everything is not quite there yet. I still plan to re-do the top of my work table, get a second set of shelves, get a sink, tile the counter top, make a proper spray booth, permanently instal the kiln vent...ok, maybe "not quite there yet" was understating things a bit. Regardless of what is left to do, though, the space is functional so I can finally get back to work making stuff.

Hopefully I will have some better content next time. Until then.

-Rob

Get back to work!

The new charger and batteries have arrived. Construction may resume. AND I am looking at a window a/c unit tomorrow, so I may not have to sweat to death in the studio any more. Good deal.

No one puts Rob in a corner! Ok, a circle saw puts Rob in a corner.

Well the wall cabinets are ready to go up...almost. I have sort of worked myself into a corner. Everything is put together except for one piece of panelling. I cut everything else with a hand saw, but this piece is too big to do that. And I would be able to use my circular saw...if it had any power. I have been putting off getting a new battery and charger and now when I need it, I don't have it. Foolish, foolish Rob! So now I get to spend entirely too much money on a new battery charger and a couple new batteries and wait for them to arrive before work can continue.

In the mean time I have been painting everything. Two layers of some cream-ish color on the bases; two layer of brown-ish on the panels.


I have a little bit of touch-up work to do and I still need to paint the wall cabinets. Otherwise they are done, well, apart from putting everything back together. I am going to hold off on putting the knobs and pulls back on. I think I am going to try making some custom pulls, just for fun.

And finally, here is a better picture of Daisy for you Gary.

Next time perhaps I will have some clay related news to report. Until then...

-Rob

Construction again (RE-construction, if you will)

In case anyone was wondering, no, the continuing ed class did not make. We actually had fewer people show up for the second class than we did for the first. They are, however, going to offer it again this fall. The program director said fall enrollment is usually a good deal higher than summer, so there is still a chance.

As far as what has been going on for the past few weeks, I have been doing a lot of moving stuff around, a lot of building and a lot of spending a week in Branson. Ok, only a week of spending a week in Branson, but you get the idea. That was a big family vacation thing (15 people!). Hectic, but enjoyable.

Most of my time has been spent renovating the studio. I decided to claim more of the garage and get things set up proper. Not a lot to say about it, but here are a few pictures of how things have been going.

Old Studio Set-up

Creating more space

Creating more mess

Still a mess

And here is the latest thing I have been working on.

Truck full of junk

To the untrained eye this is a truck full of junk. But to the discerning individual this is...well it is still a truck full of junk, but junk with potential. Actually this is an old set of cabinets, sink and counter top that I got hold of. Storage space was a problem with the old set up. I ended up having tools and what-not stacked everywhere, taking up space I needed to work. Hopefully this will remedy that situation.

Beginning of the end of disorganization...maybe

The cabinets were not in the greatest of condition, so I have spent a lot of time and a lot of scrap lumber getting them reinforced and such. As of now I have all the base cabinets in and the wall cabinets should be ready to go up today. I plan on repainting them since they are currently a dirty 70's brown. It is an extra step, but I know they will bug me every day if I don't repaint them.

I have also been working on a new chicken coop that I will be able to move around the yard. More on that later though. Right now I have to pick up some lumber and such to finish said coop before getting after those cabinets again.

I just saw an owl riding in the back of a pick-up truck.

-Rob