raku 4th july club open day

oh so fine...

chilly but lovely... the north wind loomed early but all died down after a spatter of rain making for an oh so fine day.... plenty of peeps and their dogs and not an umbrella insight...I was well warm with 2 pair of socks, my doc boots came out of retirement for the day and an 80's flashback with my jeans rolled up a tad so as not to become the drowned rat of last market, sorry guys no bubblewrap skirts i'll try better next month...heheehe... so post hillarity followed with a stop-off at roses with the market winddown and also to pick up my remaining tiles from the greenhill show that rose had been babysitting...

tea with disapointment..

well all was going ok till put my finger on the image 'the decal' wipes right off the pot so something went wrong..any thoughts..

aside from that some lovely new teapots and cups to go with,... all round lovely firing the raw pots i fired for pam have come out great there's a couple of cracks but you get that with raw fire..she should be well chuffed with these a little more deco with lustres and they'll be yum..

cone 6 results

here we go the results from multiple testings..the magnesium extreme from the clay club with our local ingredients...the rotating glaze from greg daly book and a little crimson test at c6..

a couple of faux chuns and a celedon, some old blue test with the magnesium extreme over..

there are a couple that will be good to use straight away, I'd also like to make the magnesium a little dryer and will have to look back at my cone 9 tests to see how to do that, unless anyone has a suggestion...

the decal firing was about 6 hours to 800 deg C in the little ward kiln, I'll crack that one by the wkd.. along with the cone 6 which was way too hot but i wanted to look at the tiles and they were accessible front and top..

into the fire my pretties......

into the fire my pretties......

and finally the decal test firing tomorrow to see if my toner is up to scratch....

this once known as the 'bubble gum gelati' range has become the kindergarten or soon to be called totally mad hatters range..after all what is a tea party without psychedelic dinner ware...??

and a few more paper clay tiles..I have quite a run now and the glaze tests will be out of the kiln soon, i'm also hopeful of some nice results.. Patricia of clay mouse studio will be happy to hear I'm working on some more owl and the pussy cat tiles too...pics soon..night all, it's late..

yum yum paper clay.....

yum yum paper clay.....

my very own special brew cooked up this week, a good batch of slip, ample amounts of really cheap loo paper,

and a good dollop of fine grog...left to brew for a while it's perfect for hand building, I have a nice batch of mini sculptural tiles underway at the mo...

number 1 kiln fired and number 2 this week with the cone 6 tests onboard....along with some new cups and a couple of teapots plus the

1st kiln load of raw glaze work a modified coopers clear recipe..

i love the way ceramic bloggees work...

i love the way ceramic bloggees work...I just went to start my catch up read this morning starting with june perrys read at which my eye caught 'surveying all clay artist' link on carol epps site..with a link that takes you to erins page and who do i read about Judi Tavill who did the 1st survey... what a great start to my read this morning...

well done team..!

testing..testing...

Oh the good old cone 6...I spent this afternoon running some tests for cone 6 a little magnesium extreme creepy crawly glaze, some yummy blacks and a faux celedon and chun... I did some glaze combinations of neph syenite, kaolin, whiting, and talc in rotation a good place to start.. these are for the new tiles for 2D or not 2D for the clay collective show.... I have considered the return of the owl and the pussycat - for some more illustrative tiles as well for this show..we'll see...

My test bowls are through the bisque today also, looking like bubble gum gelati at the pre fired stage, these are for the decals from my lazer printer i'll run a few through the smaller test kilns to see how they fire up..

And started a few ideas for low relief sculptures with kevin today at the club, these are a few pics of the beginnings, it's a colaborative project which i should be able to update weekly how things are progressing...

some old pots

The first display on the way into the Qld art gallery was Japanese, Korean and Chinese pots very cool .. some really yum ash and celedon glazes...

And tonight's effort at club, my ode to the trevvy fountain ...not....

I'm making some more tiles for the next clay collective show..

a little sidestep....

I just got back from my wkd away, a little family trip to the gold coast to catch up with my big brother..sunday we visited the Qld art gallery to see the..American Impressionism and Realism: A Landmark Exhibition from the Met - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 30 May – 20 September 2009, Queensland Art Gallery and a great show it was.. impressive about 7 rooms of display with heaps of peeps visiting the show but still enough space to get a good view of the works, it was quite a treat..

facet handles...

and tadaaaa, the finished handles...can't have them looking too round now can we....

I do like a bit of altering these were inspired by the previous set of teasets just no scrolly feet this time and a bit bigger 2 types of vessels the distinctive teacup and the taller mug types.. a special one for rose on the end she wanted something a bit more substantial for the mugachino!! 

bisquing next week and setting up for some cone 6 glaze tests for the next clay collective show @ the urban cow during sala..

extruded handles, what a cheat....

Here she be, our trusty extruder..well worn and well used by all groups at the club space, the dyes are cut out of perspex..

and some mugs with handles i'll finish these off tomorrow, prob facet some handles..

the 1st time i did these type of handles was at college, they went on some slip cast mugs some twisted using the coil, they attach really well to slipcast ware..