Two lace vases

I've also been experimenting with lace texture on some free form vases. I've one with a white glaze and one with a black glaze, both partially wiped off to show the texture. Here they are:

I like the feet and the non-flat bottom better on the white vase, but I somehow think there's something wrong with the tops of the vases--they look unfinished. Here's the black vase with my hand over the top so I can try to imagine a better way to finish it.



















I think I need some kind of band on the top that is non-textured and solid black or white. Then I'd bring the feet out slightly and make the sides of them glazed solid too. The next question is should this top piece attach to the outside of the vase body or to the inside of it?

Another problem is the seam. When the glaze is wiped off this way, it accentuates the seam. I can try an inny seam rather than an overlapping one, and/or I can try to make the seam curved or at least slanted.

Purple potatoes

I've planted several containers with potatoes this year. Blue ones were a bust--small, few in number, and hard to find in the dirt. Swapped an orchid division for a few fingerling potatoes and dug one up the other day. It was purple. I knew she'd given me a couple different kinds, but the color of these was really neat. The purple color didn't really last thru cooking.

Pottery boxes

I've now fired the first batch of pottery boxes. A couple of the lids stuck, which I think is because I didn't smooth the edges enough that I could clean them completely. I think my favorite is the smaller of the two toaster shaped boxes. The dark brown/black glaze is a scrap glaze made from all the darker leftover dibs and dabs of glaze tests with a bunch of rio and some cobalt carbonate added to make a dark brown. I hate wasting glaze scraps. So I think I'll make a few more of this general shape, but with unobtrusive feet.


This is my second favorite, although I forgot the lid and did not apply the glaze to it at the same time as to the box, so they don't match up well. The glaze is a combination of the black scrap glaze and bronze green, both wiped partly off. I think I want to try a slightly larger and shorter version of this. The texture comes from banging the side of a sheet of cardboard into the slab.



The next one uses a lace pattern. What I tried for was a mottled yellow/blue/pink/white coloring, but only the white seems to show up. Still, I rather like it. I think I need to fuss more with the glazing and add some feet. I did figure out how to get nice round flat on one side balls for feet--make a small ball and then press it down with the palm of my hand. That leaves the one side round.


Last are a box and a vase made with rhombus's, so that there'd be a twist. I think the box is too big and the glazes didn't come out the way I'd hoped. And the lid stuck. Not sure if I want to pursue this further, although I do have a couple more of this style made but not fired. Since the shape was angular, I made the lid line angular rather than curved. This and the lace box and the vase below all used a darker clay body. Since I'm just puttering around, I'm trying to use up leftover partial bags of clay.


And finally, there's a vase made with just one rhombus so that the join line twists around. It's interesting but still doesn't really work for me. I think I may play with it some more, perhaps altering the angle of the top. It could also be that the slab was too thick for the size of the vase. The glaze is a strontium base turquoise.


I'm trying a couple larger vases now based on the box that reminded me of a creature from Fantasia. I glazed the bottom section only. This is also the turqoise glaze, but obviously a heavier coating of it. Not subtle...

Orchid seedlings August 5th

The seedlings are clearly rooted now and I think a little larger. Here's a picture of a couple of the larger seedlings.