Pushing the boundaries or just plain silly

this week I have been remaking teapots to replace the ones that blistered/bloated in their glaze firing. Now I am using Porcelain Paperclay.  I wasn't that happy with the first body so put it aside.  Then I threw the other two, lids, spouts. When I came back I thought that first one isn't so bad and you are supposed to be able to join wet to dry with paperclay, I'll give it a go.

I wrapped it up in plastic and it was looking good - next day it looks like this :^(
I looked up a couple of sites and they still reckon you can repair cracks with more paperclay so I'm giving it one more try.
So what have you been up to this week?  Checked out Mud Colony yet?  See you over there or look for me on Facebook - Anna's Ceramics

Contemplating teapots and wattle

I'm not game to post any images of my current teapots in case I jinx myself again - the last lot were made with Cool Ice Porcelain and they bloated, mostly on the handles even though I had turned them away from the elements in the electric kiln.  They were on the top shelf as I was using a kiln at college that was almost full.  So anyway, I'm remaking them.  This time with Blackwattle Porcelain Paperclay.  The Sydney Teapot Show is held each year at the Inner City Clayworkers gallery in Glebe NSW.  The show has various suggested themes and this year Blackwattle are sponsoring one called "Wattle they think of next" for teapots made using paperclay.  I've thrown some (I hope) functional teapots and now I'm looking at how to decorate them....

This one was made using TMK a porcelanious white stoneware clay

and was made as a commission for Jade, a friends grandaughter. 

I'm thinking the green and gold theme could be appropriate

A bit like our Floral Emblem :^)

A bit of research

I am currently organizing a wood firing 'workshop' at the local TAFE college for the members of the Port Hacking Potters Group.
Those who have elected to take the plunge have a range of experience from none to quite experienced.

This morning I went along to see the students at the college unpack their first wood firing in the same kiln we will be using.

As you can see there were some beautiful results and I am looking forward to the opportunity to do some different work myself....

Students work fired in 'throat' of wood firing kiln

close up

peering into the 'throat' after pots have been removed

don't forget to check out Mud Colony this week to see what has been happening in fellow potters studios.

worth keeping

These lids were made a couple of years ago and didn't fit properly.  Rather than discard them I have kept them as examples of the use of ceramic pencil and Chinese tissue print decoration.

I am now looking at them to decide on how to go about decorating one of my teapots...
so I'm quite happy that I kept them :^)

 I'm off to Mud Colony now to see what has been happening in your studio this week, or maybe I'll see you on Facebook :^)

Two Cool (Ice) teapots

This week I've made two teapots using Cool Ice, the porcelain which fires at Cone 6 (approx 1200).
Throwing it is fine, its the putting together without distorting anything that is tricky!  I guess I'm leaving them a little thick but then again they will shrink.....
Then of course there is the decorating ....

the one nearest the camera has a molded flower bud as the knob for the lid and a little chattering around the base.  The other one is plain for now.  I'll have my thinking cap on for a few days before starting on them.

Remember to hop over to Mud Colony and check out what others have been up to in their studios this week...

Boabs and Bottle Trees

I learnt something this week from the 'taster' of a drawing class that is part of the course I'm doing at TAFE.

I learnt that trees I had thought of as Bottle Trees are in fact the Australian Boab tree and the Bottle Tree is something different again.

How did this come about?  Well our teacher has travelled the Australian Outback extensively and for our drawing exercise produced a bag of fruit from the Boab Tree that she had collected.

Wonderful items to draw and very tactile as they have a furry coating.
Here is my sketch:

Pencil Sketch - Boab Fruit (May 2012)

The Aboriginal people used them as a food and even carved them with designs of emus and kangaroos.

You might like to see some clay work over at the studio blog at Mud Colony this week.

Back to the future and a little more jewellery

The TAFE course I am doing is actually an introductory course so in addition to the jewellery we are doing some hand building and preparing for a primitive firing day.
We have been asked to make some pots with an influence from those made traditionally in Papua New Guinea.

we are using a red raku clay and some slip

We are still putting some of our jewellery together:
Now that I have a better idea of how to use the pliers I'm happier with the results.

textured Cool Ice Porcelain, sky blue underglaze and glass beads

A little Steam Punk influence here. Cool Ice again but with iron oxide instead of underglaze.

You can also find me on Facebook: Anna's Ceramics  or check out some other clay workers over at Mud Colony.

Pouring more mud

I had hoped to have these fired for a market stall this coming Sunday but it hasn't happened yet.

slip cast and decorated with underglazes and tissue prints

tricky to slip cast these beads

not a very good photo but you can get an idea of how it looks

I'm also putting together some of my jewellery and I've made two key ring or bag danglers which I hope to sell at the Stanwell Park Markets this Sunday 6th May 2012 - they have a Facebook pagehttp://www.facebook.com/pages/Stanwell-Park-Village-MarketMake-ItBake-ItCreate-It/151790061509854?sk=wall

I'll be sharing this post to my own Facebook page: Anna's Ceramics and my Fb Group: Annas Aussie Ceramics not to mention Mud Colony...  see you around :^)

Pouring mud

this week I have been doing a little slipcasting and decorating.  Would have done more but first day I was frightened by a snake near the door to my studio and since then the  skys have been leaking like a flooding drainpipe!

At least I enjoyed decorating these two...

slipcast stoneware (buff) with underglaze decoration

slipcast stoneware (buff) with underglaze and tissue print decoration

Posting this over to Mud Colony and to my Facebook pages :^)

Nice to use ones own pots

No college classes this week and a holiday weekend so I felt more inclined to take a bit more time over meal preparation.  I made this mortar and pestle set a couple of years ago and find it very useful to make pesto.  I have some basil and rocket growing in the back yard and along with some parsley, pine nuts and parmesan, hey Pesto!

I've also started to put together my jewellery pieces:
My first Steampunk inspired necklace plus a heart shaped one:

I'm off over to Mud Colony now to see what everyone else has been up to, Oh and you can find me on Facebook too - Anna's Ceramics or my Group page, Anna's Aussie Ceramics.  See you later :^)