New Bowls on the Horizon

Before I tell you what I have been working on, doesn't my breakfast look absolutely scrumptious in this delightful Erin Paradis bowl?  

I am convinced that great food tastes even better when eaten out of great pottery.  I picked up this new bowl at Crimson Laurel Gallery while I was doing my studio assistantship this spring at Penland School of Crafts.  Erin's work is delightfully inspiring!

Working with Kathy King for two months inspired my use and love of black.  I forgot to take good pictures of the dinnerware set I made in black and white so now I am making some more pieces.  These will get a coat of satin matte glaze.  I can't wait to see how they turn out!

And here are a few more of my "Nirvana Bowls," as I called them on my Kickstarter project.  I didn't realize they would be so popular so I am trying out a few different bowl forms and a few different clays.  One is Cone 6 Porcelain from IMCO and the other is Icelia Porcelain from Clay Planet.  Both of these fire at cone 5-6 so I will be trying out some different celadon-like glazes.  My other bowls were fired in cone 10 reduction so I am looking to see what I can do with them at cone 6.  Fun stuff!  My progress has been a bit slow, but at least I am making things:)

I absolutely adore Ryan McKerley's work so I was delighted when our Penland class took a field trip to Crimson Laurel Gallery in Bakersville and realized the he had a show up.  I snagged this tumbler which has a slight pink blushing on the inside.  Perhaps this could be considered a flaw as none of the other work showed any flashing but I wanted it because this made it doubly unique.  What really caught my eye, however,  was the richness of the carving techniques, variety of shapes, and the composition of the organic forms contrasted with geometric elements which flow so beautifully across the surface. The attention to detail is impeccable and the piece has a well balanced feel in the hand. I also must say that John Lara and David Trophia are wonderful hosts at the gallery and I look forward to visiting more in the future.

So here I am today enjoy lunch in my bowl and a cool beverage in Ryan's tumbler which just arrived in the mail.  I was a tad bit worried that it wouldn't get here.  I shipped out nine boxes and only eight arrived yesterday.  I was biting my nails until today's box arrived with my treasures which also included a beautiful Erin Paradis bowl.

Today I am going to try to stay off the computer.  I have been slipping into old habits the last couple of days and it is too gorgeous outside that I need to enjoy it.  Besides I have errands to run and I am ready to get my fingers in some clay after my wee break.  I have so many inspirations and ideas in my head I must strike while the iron is hot!

How time flies!

I can hardly believe that I am halfway through my eighth and last week at Penland.  Boo hoo!  I have made far too few posts while I have been hard at work.  Yesterday and today were the hardest, busiest, most challenging and yet most rewarding days here.  We have been loading, firing and reloading kilns back to back to get everyone's work finished and out on time.  This piece was one of the first pieces I made when I got here. I am just now getting around to taking photos of my work and there will be a bunch more when kilns get unloaded tomorrow.

With both of these jars I used a technique called sgraffito which means to scratch or carve through.  I applied black underglaze to the surface and then when it was leather hard, like hard cheese, I carved through the black to white clay underneath to create the designs.  The first jar was glazed with a clear, transparent glaze.  With this second piece we had the transparent glaze colored with a bunch of different oxides and stains so I glazed each individual section with a different color.  Indeed, it was laborious but worth the effect.

We have had two wonderful core students in our class, Molly Kite Spadone and Rachel K. Garceau. Rachel mixed up a new clear that was supposed to fit Helios porcelain at cone 6 so I was very eager to try it out.  I glazed up this tumbler and put it into her small test firing last night.  Tiny kilns are wonderful in that they fire fast and cool fast.  I was able to pull this piece hot out of the kiln although I had to carry it around with my t-shirt while I admired it and showed off.  I promptly glazed up a bunch of other pieces with it.  Actually, I trusted Rachel's experience with this glaze so I didn't wait for the piece to come out.  I actually was in the studio at 6:30 am to unload kilns and get started on some glazing before the class showed up.

Speaking of our core students, Molly and Rachel are both in the Containment III show at Crimson Laurel Gallery.