New Work.

New batch of work out of the kiln yesterday. Here's just some group shots of the pieces all out on our table. Overall I'm really pleased. Whether it's the last batch of slip I made up, or something in this firing, I'm pleased with the sgraffito, and the tone of the clay is really nice too. Looking at these pictures, though, it's clear to me I need to take a little break from this style of work and start doing some pieces that can handle exterior glazing.

Above is a close-up of the set of teacups. I made six, four of them match nicely. And each one is distinctively designed so you can tell yours from your friend's. I like these.

This is a shot of pieces so fresh and so clean-clean (sorry, little Outkast joke). I got about half of them sanded and washed last night. The rest will probably have to wait until this weekend. I was pleased overall with the glazes this time around - some of them were a little funny, but that happens sometimes. The Turkish Amber (brown) was quite pleasant in this batch. It's hard to capture in these photos, but inside the bowls, the brown glaze produces subtle streaks of blues, greens, and purples, giving it a really nice sense of depth and varied intensity of color. When it turns out right it's probably my favorite glaze.

And one more with trying out this new glaze, "waterfall brown." still just a little thick in this bowl, but not too bad. I may have to give the glaze a serious thinning before I use it again, because I really like this iris effect - the blue melting through green to brown. I think it's absolutely gorgeous, and if I can figure it out, it will be a great addition to my pallet. In the meantime, however, it's just doing a lot of bubbling and dripping.

I had a couple other more experimental things in this batch that I'll post in detail later - new slip, glaze combinations. It's been a slow studio week because it's been a busy life week. I'll be putting some time in tonight, I believe, and then some this weekend.

And one last piece of news, I have a couple of pieces available in a local gallery on sort of a trial basis. Not a lot, but a few nice pieces, and hopefully more in the future. The gallery is Illustrated Light, which actually is a gallery of fine art photography, but carries some 3D artists as well, including pottery, blown glass, and turned wood. If you're in Fort Collins, check it out.

For those of you in the upper midwest, I do also have some older work available at the Clear Lake Arts Center in Clear Lake, Iowa. I hope someday soon to find my way back there to update them with some more current work.

That's all for now. Thanks for stopping by!