Did you just take what I thought I saw you take?

I was teaching my usual class last night, and the class was moving along and one student was perusing the ware shelves looking for their recently glazed pieces.  They picked up a small cup that out of the corner of my eye, looked suspiciously like one of my glaze samples. As I am not one to jump to conclusions, I try not to jump into accusation mode right away. I tend to suffer from the dreaded foot in mouth disease, so I keep said mouth shut when I feel an attack coming on. Admittedly, I had left it on the shelf for quite a while, as I didn't like the result, and was never going to sell/use it as a functional cup, and I had not signed it, it’s a test. I didn’t think anything of it, but by the end of class, after everyone had pretty much left, I remembered what I thought I had seen, and went to investigate. I was right, that test bowl was gone. So...why would you take something that clearly is not yours? I don’t mind that this student took it, but I do mind that this student (avoiding gender here so as not to single them out, just in case I am wrong) did not ask.
The funny thing is that the glaze was way too dry and rough feeling and was not pleasant to hold. It had a somewhat appealing colour (straw yellow?) but that was it’s only redeeming quality.

Plus, if you are going to steal something, why not go for the good stuff? That reminds me of when I used to work for a little liquor store about 14 years ago. It was attached to the restaurant right beside it (same owners) and I ate way too many french fries and chicken fingers that summer. Anyway, I came to work one day and the boss was telling me about how the liquor store had been robbed over night. Whoever it was broke into the store, looked for the safe, decided that a safe that was concreted into the floor was probably not the easiest thing to take and proceeded to steal liquor and beer. Here’s the funny bit....they stole all the cheap liquor....Grant’s Scotch Whiskey and the really cheap vodka that comes in a large plastic bottle, not the Glenlivet, or Glenfiddich (one shelf up dummies) or the good vodka, and then, they stole beer, but again, bypassed the micro brew stuff and went for Labbatt Black Label and Lucky Lager Strong. I learned a lot that summer working at the liquor store. Lesson numero uno....never become a regular at a liquor store, and the other lesson....don’t spray beer in the eye, it stings, a lot. Oh ya, one other lesson learned, when you come weaving your way into the store and buy 2 mickeys of vodka, it doesn't mean that you are not an alcoholic because you didn't by the 26er. That is like saying I'm only going to drink half now and half later....when I wake up and peel my face off the toilet seat. I could expound more on the joys of plying liquor as a trade, but it really never got much better than that. My sister is a bar tender at one of the best pubs in town, and I am sure that she has way better stories to tell.

Heinz 57 on the Pot

I really wish I could post images from my cell phone directly into my blog. However, I have yet to discover a method. If this were possible, I would post a heck of a lot more often. As it is, I have to e-mail the photos from my phone to myself, ONE AT A TIME (sound of disgust), then go to the hassle of going home, opening my computer, opening my e-mail, saving the images to my hard drive, and then posting them online. What a pain in the tookus.

Anyway, that is why I have only just posted this picture of the glaze that turned out really well on my little bowl. I have mixed up a batch of what I hope turns out to be the same glaze. What I glazed the bowl in was our Heinz 57 mix but from my test tiles, I think this recipe is really really close to the same result:

12.5% neph sy

12.5% Gerstly Borate

37.5% Ravenscrag*

37.5% Magnesium Carb.

2% copper carb

4% iron

*For those of you that don’t know what Ravenscrag is, it is a clay that is produced by Plainsman Clays in Medicine Hat Alberta. It is a clear glaze all by itself when fired to cone 10, and with a little bit of frit, it is a very nice clear at cone 6 (I don’t think you even need very much frit to get it to melt).
What I like about this glaze is the texture. It has a slight pebbleyness to it that forms when the glaze tries to crawl, but then heals over again. It creates a fine pattern of satin and gloss areas, kind of like islands of satin amongst rivers of gloss. This glaze takes stains and oxides well, and this combination of iron and copper creates a toasty warm glaze with iron speckles, but where it gets thicker it has almost a wood ash appearance, in that it takes on a greenish hue and the pebbleyness is accentuated. This tendency for the glaze to crawl can be accentuated even more by bumping up the magnesium just a little bit, and it becomes way more crackly. It still stays somewhat shiny though. This would then only be good for non functional ware, and the outsides of pots (see my test tiles in the previous posts)

The only problem I have with any of these glazes is that the magnesium carb makes the glaze want to start crawling and cracking before you fire it, so as it dries it starts shrinking and forms cracks. This is even more apparent if you dip it over the top of another glaze. It actually curls up and lifts the other glaze off the pot as well.

So, this is either something I have to live with, or try to eliminate. I am just not sure if I will lose the qualities that I LIKE by eliminating the qualities I don’t.

I think I need to add more clay, so perhaps a bit of ball clay, or maybe I just need to back off the mag carb and increase the ravenscrag content. I will have to play around and see what I get.

On another note, I was at the studio on the weekend (what else is new), and I threw some more “pint” glasses. I have been trying to throw a drinking vessel that would hold a thirst quenching quantity of iced tea, water, etc, and to make the shape appealing and elegant, but what I came up with (totally subconsciously) was a pint glass. It looks just like a pint of Guinness (mmmmm.....Guinness....droool). Not sure if they are elegant, but they sure will hold a pint. I also mixed a batch of my new glaze and dipped one pitcher to see how it turns out (fingers crossed), and then I threw a couple of chicken cookers (based on the beer can method, except the beer can is replaced by the ceramic cylinder thrown in the middle of the cooking dish). I will post the chicken cooker as soon as I trim it so you get a better idea

The “pint” glasses, by the way, are all made out of white stoneware, with a clear liner glaze and a blue hares fur on the outside. I have added a spiral sprig to the outside of each glass that I carved out of plaster, and each of those sprigs is dabbed with hot tamale stroke and coat, it looks really good as it melts into and runs down through the hares fur. I will post pics when I have a couple handy. I sold the first 2 that I made at the student sale, and sadly, I did not get any pics of them.