XXXII: Sun Coming Up Moon Going Down

moon

I am stoking the kiln watching the celestial bodies changing guard. Temperature a little behind but gaining after a couple of extended kiln side cat naps: 600*F.

waxing Moon waxing Pottery

After the pots ar painted with the wax resist, they are dipped in the RJB. The RJB stands for "Randy Johnston Bisque" . It's a nice crackly white slip that looks great on my clay in the salt. Well, sometimes it doesn't look great when it crackles right off of the pot, but mostly it is the perfect vehicle for a surface that has good color and texture.

Here is a closeup of the RJB beading on the wax brushwork. I then dab off the beads from the pot although that's not completely necessary as a small bead gets absorbed in the design or pops off after the firing.

There are a few more pots that need glazing before the loading happens tomorrow. Mighty Micah Cain is on board for the loading and will have some work in the firing.

Painting Video, Pt. 2

Here's the exciting conclusion to our painting adventure! When the video begins it will say Pt. 1, but that's an error on my part and I will correct it when I have the time. But now, on with the show!

Painting Video, Pt. 1

Here's part 1 of the video. I won't have time till later this afternoon to upload part deux. But enjoy, in the meantime, part 1!

Update on Video, Etc.

doesn't this look like a big eye? It's my wax
resist after a couple of drops of food coloring!

After a great night of painting, I actually set up a video of myself and a big jar and shot it on my Fuji still camera. No problem, except that it was 12 minutes long and had a gigantic file size!! So I've been limping along this morning with the little Mac rainbow wheel! I'll explain...The computer I'm using is from 2002, the year of our first-born, Evelyn. Evelyn is 7. eMac is 7. In computer years eMac is dead, or should be. But I must say that it is chugging along. But I don't have time to chug along with it this morning. So off I go to the studio while it compresses the video file for youtube. Meanwhile I thought I would share a few pictures from yesterday.

the orange is ink that will burn out. this is my copy of the peony design.
i'm not that thrilled about it, but i did enjoy setting up the leaves. (see also, below)

little jar about 3" high


The peony leaf design (r) ended up being a
cool "new" direction that I used a lot.

Check back to see the video!!

Crunch Time

Taking a break to keep things tidy around the shop. Coffee filters, candy wrappers litter the place. Doh!

Waxing Moon, Waxing Pots

My late night java connection yielded some pretty good results. A lot of what I painted was white slip-wax resist-white slip, otherwise known around here as "white on white" (as in the cylinder on the left). The cylinder on the right utilizes regular wax in addition to my special black wax.


Fired bisque number 5 with some big bowls. To save space I stacked the bowls with ceramic fiber as a cushion. Years ago, Mark Shapiro and I had heard of someone using this technique in bisque firing and stacking bowls. I tend to get weird cracks if I stack big bowls without the wool. I'm not sure of the original source of this technique, but thank you, whoever you are!

Here are some other top secret techniques used today. When I cut the rims of these small plates, it leaves a burr along the edge of the cut. Just before bisquing, I "scrub" the burr down with a green pot scrubber. The green scrubbie is just rough enough to take the burr down without changing the edge too much. It doesn't lift out sand or coarse particles like sand paper might. Well, this process leaves the pot dusty. After the bisque firing. I rinse the plates off in a bucket of clean water. Here is a solution to soaking wet pots preparing them for some slip dipping. The wood stove was warm so I set the plates on the rack to dry.

No secret associated with the two little hollow rim bowls below. Just liked them.

Wednesday will be a big painting day now that I'm warmed up. I'll do some Chin Dynasty
Tz'u Chou peonies and even some birds! I want to do a video of my brushwork technique, so maybe check back for that, too.

Coffee Break: Late Nite Edition

Not the usual time for a coffee break and you can imagine that the coffee does taste slightly paper-towel-ish, but nothing has been ordinary during the last two weeks. Painting has been picking up here in the evening hours. Good music playing, the wood stove taking the chill out of the air, so I thought I would do a few more boards before the night was over. Hence the late-nite-joe!

Much like Kyle Carpenter's cup was the cup of last session, this Hewitt swirl mug has been this session's mainstay. It has been a very comfortable in my hand and has become familiar to my routine. It actually belongs to Lillian! I'm just borrowing it!

>:-)

Just One More Board

I totally know where Joe and Cristy are coming from. Not necessarily from a triathalete/potter's point of view, but when you're making pots and have to stop to glaze and fire a kiln, it's not as easy as flipping a switch. It was such a breezy day yesterday that I turned these cups out before supper, came back and they were just right for dipping in the 6 tile slip! How 'bout that?

But, meanwhile back in reality land, there is still a bunch of pots that need leaves. Maybe I should get Sophia to wax them?!

Oh, and by the way, this jar was the only one that cracked during the fast drying in the sun/wind! Not bad, but don't you think the handles look a lot like it's cousin "rubbermaid"? Coincidence? Probably not. Be careful of what you have in your studio. It might end up influencing what you make!

;-0

Getting Ready To Paint

As I sort out the bisque ware and set up slips, wax resist, brushes, I'm getting my mind switched over from potting to painting! Speaking for myself and my methods they both require momentum and repetition but at he same time seem so different.

As I browse some of my favorite pottery monographs, I always visit this pot, bookmarked with a worn out and faded yellow post-it note. It is Chin dynasty Tz'u-chou wine jar (1115-1234)
height 16.75" (or 42.5 cm.)

I'm always blown away by the vigorous brushwork and realism in it's silhouetted peonies and leaves. To borrow Steven Colby's riff, I wish I had made it! Or rather I wish I had painted it!

Maybe it's time I gave it the old school effort and try a version on my crockery.