Just wanted to show off my new form, the cocktail glass. I based the form on the crisp simple design of a standard bar cocktail glass. The sort of cup you might get a drink in at the Brass Rail, my old beloved undergrad bar. I’m taking one for a test-drive right now, it’s doing a fine job!
This is a bag I grabbed from my colleague (or boss?) Todd Burns‘ stash in the U of L studio. Though not really marketed as a cone 6 clay, here it is, free, so I’ll give it a shot! Some distributor sites say it is inended for cones 6-11 while the actual Highwater Clay site claims it is intended for cones 7-11. I actually fire at cone 7, basically because my clay body doesn’t quite fit my glaze unless I do, so I thought I might as well try it. Read More
For installment two of my cone six throwdown, I tried another very popular Cone 6 white clay, Standard Ceramics’s#213 Porcelain Clay. On their website, they describe it as “A white body formulated for cone 6 firing. Plastic, throwable clay.” Well, to me that’s just not enough information. On the wonderful Kentucky Mudworks Catalog, they describe it as “A delightfully plastic clay. Crisp, white clay formulated for cone 6. Performs well when thrown thinly. My cone 6 white clay of choice for throwing. Quite soft out of the bag.” That is a little more helpful! Here’s my review of how it fared in my experience. Read More
The first clay I tried in my cone six throwdown was Highwater Clay’s Little Loafer’s, a midrange adaptation of their immensely popular Loafer’s Glory. Descriptions found on various distributors’ websites say it is “a very popular porcelain-like clay with the attitude of a stoneware. It is very smooth, a joy to throw, and takes glazes extremely well.” One can only assume that the same description applies to the Little Loafer’s. All that is stated in that description is “Little Loafer’s has the same fine properties of Loafer’s glory, but has been specifically designed for the lower cone 5-6 firing. It is simply fabulous.” Here’s my experience so far. Read More
I am beginning research into switching over to a bagged, or premixed clay. Which one to choose? Only time will tell. I will put all the clays I can find through a battery of tests, the first of which is the throwdown! Which clay works best for me on the potter’s wheel? Over the next week I will give in-depth reviews of my experience with a number of commercial clay bodies. Read More
Perhaps the most distinctive feature to my work is the seperately thrown and trimmed disc that forms the bottom to my pots. Certainly not the easy way to do something, my grad school professor, Malcolm Mobutu Smith, warned me early on about this. ” you know where this is going in terms of the technical demands, right?”
Well, I thought I did at the time… Read More
Though quite beautiful, the stripes often found on my cups are the product of a lot of work, none of which is fun to me. I love almost every aspect of making pots, but in the case of glazing, I must trudge through it, knowing my efforts will be worthwhile a few days later as I crack open a new kiln of gorgeous “honeys”. I get many questions about how exactly I glaze my striped pots, so finally, I will guide you through the process step by step.
Hi. Here’s how I make a lidded jar.
First, it is thrown on the wheel, dried, flipped, dried some more, trimmed. This is the result. To me it sort of looks like a tulip glass, but it wasn’t chosen for any reason other than I just happen to find that shape to be beautiful.
Some people might not know this, but I do all of my own glaze formulation. Every color I have, and every glaze I use is the result of countless hours mixing, testing, altering, and retesting any of a number of components.
In this age, the ability to make strong digital images of your work is second only to the ability to make strong work. You could make the best pots on earth, but if you don’t know how to photograph them, few people will ever know it. At the very least, a photograph should accurately represent your view of your work. Every artist sees their work through the eyes of a creator, a much more critical and intimate perception of the object than the general public is likely to have. Shooting your own work is an opportunity to show the viewer what you see as the most important qualities of your art. To this end, I am constantly working on refining my photo setup. Today, I will be sharing the process and equipment that I currently use to show how my physical objects are translated to digital imagery.
