Casseroles

I Promised to post some pictures of my casseroles for Rebecca. So....here they are

Altered Teapots

pictures, yes, I did say I would post some didn't I. Anyway, here they are. The cruet set I was talking about didn't get a "before" picture, as it got glazed and ended up loaded in the kiln before I could take a picture. I will take one when it comes out of the kiln this week. All of these teapots were constructed by throwing the walls seperate from the bottom, and then attaching the 2 after I have shaped the body.

Those sure are nice jugs ;)

The glaze is out, and another went in today (I hope). I was going to take pics this last weekend, but the items I really wanted to take shots of were still waiting to be fired. I did however get my wine jugs out. I took them to the restaurant yesterday, and they are going to decide on a colour. I hope they go for the tea dust with iron rutile accents. It's easy to glaze, and looks fantastic, especially when beside a candle holder, as it picks up the reflections of the flame. Feels nice in the hand too.

It is a typical Italian restaurant, with faux brick fireplace, faux venetian plaster on the walls, terracotta tiles on the floor etc etc...

Anyway, just have to get the owner to approve the colour and price, and away we go.

I am currently working on a set of for eating bowls and a large serving bowl for my parents. They want to give it as a gift to a client. The 4 “eating bowls” would replace a dinner plate and would be used for things like really big salads, stews, pasta etc. I am not sure if they are the right size, but I like them. All the bowls have a flared rim and then some slipwork on the flared part. As this is strictly intended to be functional, I didn't get to crazy with the slip, so it will not have any deep crevices for food to get stuck in. They are all currently drying, all are trimmed and awaiting the bisque, which should be soon.

Patience is a Virtue?

The Kiln is cooling. I hate this part. Waiting.....and waiting.....and waiting......
The anticipation becomes almost unbearable. Then there is the bittersweet unloading. nothing comes out like you imagine they will. Sometimes the glaze runs too much and sticks to the kiln shelf, other times there is an extreme warping, or the glaze crawls. But then, there are the ones that far exceed our expectations. Like were two glazes run together to create something completely new and unexpected.
Will update on the results when they are in.

Thought I might put up some pics of my work. Nothing that isn't already in my facebook album though. I will take some new pics this weekend.

This, That, and the Other

Haven't written anything for a while, been a bit busy.
The sale went reasonably well. I sold a few things, and covered my costs. The studio got a lot of interest for classes. I demonstrated at the booth both days, and that always draws a crowd.
I am currently waiting for a glaze firing, as I have some sample wine jugs that need to be delivered to a customer for approval of colours and design etc.
Other than that, I have been trying to get out of a creative slump. I seem to be making the same things over and over again. Teapots, casceroles, large bowls oh my!. So...I mixed it up, and threw some round slabs, and some walls (ie: bottomless pots), and played around with attaching the wall to the slab in various ways. Some were rectangular, others oval, and then the oval ones got pinched in the middle to so that a cream and sugar, or a pair of cruets could fit snuggly in each space. I will post pictures to try and clarify this. Some were given handles on the ends, and one more got arched handles spanning the distance beteen the sides. I then took it a little further and "rolled" the ends gently upwards to ad a little lift to the pot and then added textured coil feet. Now that I think about it, I can see, in 2 days of trying to loosen up a little, I can see the progression from stiff to loose. The first 3 altered pieces were rectangular, with very crisp edges where the wall meets the base, and the sides were straight up and down, with little embelishment, if any. The last dish started out as an oval, and ended up to be quite fanciful. There is still tension in the piece, but when paired with the loosness of some of the elements, it is balanced quite well (in my humble opinion anyway).
We had another guild meeting a few weeks a go, and 4 of us met just this last Monday to hammer out our charter (bylaws, mission statement, etc). Everything seems to be going well. Now we just need to register the group, start collecting fees, and begin doing those things that guilds do.

Sale looming around the corner.....

I am such a procrastinator. I am participating in a craft sale on the 28-29th of the month, and true to form, I still have not decided what to take, how much to charge, or what I will demonstrate.
The craft sale is at the Calgary Stampede Roundup centre, and is the "Creative Stitches and Crafting Alive" show. Looks like I will be pricing things at midnight on the night before we set up.

It's snowing! argh

I was recently approached by a local restaurant in town. They want me to make a set of wine jugs for them (2 doz 1 litre, and 2 doz 1/2 litre). Comes at a good time for me, as the gallery I sell out of has had to begin searching for a new place due to rent increases. I just need to finish off a couple of sample jugs for them, get them to sign off on the pricing, get a deposit, and then buckle down and make them. It is funny with me, once I have to make something, the less I am interested in doing it. I throw according to my mood, not what I need to throw.
To be honest, this is the first true production commission I have had. People ask me to make one off pieces for them, but I rarely do anything en mass like this.