Making a casserole dish for a wedding shower gift.

I hadn't thrown for a while but decided I wanted to make a casserole dish for Adri and Jason as a wedding shower gift.  I was really "on" that day and threw three pretty nice pieces.  I figured I'd ought to have a back up in case one of them didn't make it for some reason.  I'm glad I did.  

Here's the one I made for them: their names and the date of their wedding carved in the bottom; hearts stamped onto the lid.  And the lid fit perfectly onto the bowl - a nice little lip that came out just right.  I was very pleased with it.

You can see the heart stamps on the lid.

Perfect little lip to catch the lid.  

Here's Plan B - no names or hearts carved on but the lid fit very nicely with the bowl.  

And here's Plan C.  I decided to shape it into more of a square, along with the lid.  It came out ok but the lid didn't fit as nicely as the first two. 

 I figured I'd have an extra casserole or two all set to go for the next fundraising raffle or something.

But when I opened up the first level of the kiln I was sorely disappointed.  The lid survived but the dish exploded in the kiln.

So I want to level two to see how Plan B looked.  Not so good.  Plan C made it for which I was very grateful but Plan B also exploded in the bisque firing for some unknown reason.  

However, here's Plan C with a Deep Firebrick red glaze.  I like it well enough but the cover doesn't fit the bowl except in one direction.  The experience was a reminder not to get too attached to any piece before it comes out of the glaze firing unharmed.  

And I'm happy to report it made it via UPS to Sierra Madre, CA without mishap.

Mugs for Cindy and Grace

I'd been meaning to give Cindy and Grace some pottery so took these mugs up to them when I visited this past weekend.

A batter bowl I made for my sister, Linda.  Done in firebrick red.  

Here it is in the raw.  It's the one on the left.

Mug

A gift for Sarah H who interned with us for the last year.  

I like going to a friend's house and seeing a piece of pottery that I gave them.  I usually recognize it as mine but really have no memory of it till that moment.

One of the things I like about this piece is the handle.  It was very easy to make; I was able to cut several of them out of a small slab and they mould so nicely to the side of the cup.  No pulling required.  And it fits nicely in your hand.

Pottery Notes: Second Successful Glaze Firing

I had been having trouble with the kiln.  I tried to fire it twice last weekend and neither worked properly.  I foolishly discovered that I had mixed up which was off and which was on for the switches, so I was starting with it completely on and gradually turning it off.

I figured it out by opening the lid and and starting from scratch and watching the elements come on as I turned the switches.  We also used it to heat the garage up so that we could work out there.  

We cleaned the garage and then built shelves for the new kitchen pantry.  I love how much it holds and it really helps in decluttering the kitchen.  

So after we finished working in the garage I loaded the kiln and started it about 5 p.m. and it was done firing by about 11:30.  I think the pieces came pretty nice, mostly.

Left is brown clay with true celadon and underglazes; center is porcelain with true celadon;
and right is also true celadon on porcelain.

Tumblers with oil spot glaze.

Two tumblers on the right are seaweed glaze.  They look rather
metallic - much like a raku firing, but more controlled. The tumbler on the left is Vert Lustre outside, shino inside with shino dripped on outside.  I really like that combo and think I'll use it for the teapot I made Charlie. 

Royal blue with chun plum and true celadon. Really nice combo.

These all have true celadon.  Much darker on the dark clay.  I'm not
sure why the two porcelain pieces look so differently.

Various underglazes with blue rutile glaze inside.

Teddy bear brown underglaze with colored underglazes on top.  I ended up giving this and some other pieces to a
colleague who was collecting things for her friend who was moving into a new apartment after having been in a
homeless shelter for a  year.  

Te

Royal blue and root beer glaze. Definitely not my favorite.  This royal blue is so much lighter than the royal blue on the small mug above.  I usually do a full 3 coats but I may have dipped the mug. . . hmmm... I really liked the way that came out better.

Teapot I finished building today.  The Chinese
letters are supposed to say Life

I made it for Charlie and got the Chinese letters from his book which in full
is called Life Lines but I decided to just use Life.

These are 4, 5, and 6 cones.  There was a Cone 8 in the kiln sitter and it clearly
got up to Cone 4, and just touched on Cone 5 I'd say.