new ash glazes

Greg and I have been experimenting with some new ash glazes. Pictures are below.

Our original recipe is something we got from Randy Tobias. We couldn't ever get it to work quite right, but that's the nature of ash glazes (and glazes in general).

It contained unwashed hardwood ash, Redart, and 3195 frit. (I'm happy to give out formulas -- just email me.)

We've had trouble with running and with bubbles, and we've tweaked the formula a few times to see what happens, but without much luck. We had a better run this time around -- the things that we made worked well and looked good, and didn't seem to run or to bubble up too badly. We'll see how they look on jugs.

The first one is a combination of a couple experiments. There's a bit of Tennessee ball clay in there with the Redart, and a tiny bit of copper:


The second is Alberta slip with frit (in the same proportion as our usual Redart mix):


The third one is ash and Alberta slip, 1:1 with 4% added iron:


The fourth one is ash and Redart, 1:1 with 4% added iron:



The fifth is our usual ash glaze, though we're not entirely sure which usual, and it's been aging for at least a year (and it's apparently applied thinner than usual):


And the last is our usual ash glaze mixed 1:1 (wet) with our usual clear glaze:

puppets

Even before I started making pottery, I wanted to make puppets. I've tried my hand at one or two, but I hadn't done any in ceramic until this last kilnload.

I'm still figuring out mechanisms, but the dark red one (on my ring finger) has gotten a working mouth, and the purplish one on my middle finger has found a new home on top of one of Randy Tobias's walking sticks. All is well so far. . . .

(Apologies for the big picture crammed into the small space to the left. . . .)

local pottery shards

I always look down when I walk, so I find some interesting things from time to time. I've been suprised at how many ceramic fragments I find, and I'm particularly suprised at a piece I found the other day. . . .


















It looks as though it's a fragment from the bottom of a locally-made jug, maybe from Edgefield (or made here in the upstate). The glaze looks like an alkaline glaze, and the piece has cutoff marks. The shape suggests a jug.

I'm by no means an expert on this sort of thing, so I might be off base, but it was a neat thing to find. (I just wish I remembered where I'd found the thing.)





































These are two chunks of pipe from the old Travelers Rest Elementary. The top one has a really pretty glaze -- it looks sort of like a salt glaze, though that seems unlikely. (But see above, where I note that I don't necessarily know what I'm talking about here.)
















And these were the oddest, just because of the shape -- the one on the lower right makes a pretty sharp corner. I found them near the old elementary school, as well. I seem to remember some old playground equipment that had tiles on it, but it was a ways off from where I found these pieces, and my memory may be a bit off.

In any case, these pieces will probably make their way into a new face jug sometime soon. Part of what I like about finding these fragments is that they allow me to incorporate some local history into my pieces.

insects and pottery

I spotted a mosquito on an in-progress puppet head this morning:


I was going to say that it was the highest compliment I'd gotten, but then this happened a few minutes later:



So I suppose it was just an insect conicidence.

a brief tour of the Patton Pottery workshop

Here are a few pictures of our workshop. Be sure to click on them, since Blogger cuts them off a bit. . . .

The picture below is the view just to the side of the front door of the workshop. Most interesting are one of Greg's disturbing assemblages (this one's a fountain) and the pottery chicken lamp (of unknown provenance).


Here's a view from the back door into the workshop. Greg was inspired by the Baltimore, MD tradition of screen painting:

Just across from the backdoor of the workshop is the kiln shed, and over the door to the kiln shed is this cheerful fellow:

More pictures are forthcoming, with any luck.

coffee cup design

I bought these coffee mugs off a friend a few months ago:


If there's anything I don't need, it's more coffee cups. I couldn't resist these, though. The design is really slick -- the handle follows the curve exactly, and the cups are quite light. They're not the sort of thing I'd made (or could make without a mold), but they feel nice in my hand and they look good. The only disconcerting thing about them is the pinging they did when I first poured hot coffee into them. (My friend reported that they'd never been used, so maybe it's just the sensitivity of a glaze changing temperature quickly for the first time since firing.)

Every since I started making pottery, I notice and like all manner of ceramic items. . . I suppose that's how it goes for everybody.

Tough crowd.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190323107529

The other one sold, though.

churning

I've been meaning to update for six weeks or so, because I bought a churn.

I made a trip to the Pickens jockey lot and found this piece. The price was right, so I picked it up:


I'm not in any way expert on this sort of thing, but my guess is that it's from Georgia. Looks like an Albany slip glaze, so probably 1890s to 1940s (and almost certainly the later end of that range).


There's a pretty large ding out of the rim, and there's some sloppy glazing at the top. There are quite a few minor odditites, but it's in good shape overall. The clay is very soft, almost like eathenware. Reminds me a bit of Lizella clay, since it doesn't seem to be really vitrified.


I bought it because I thought it was pretty cool. I don't think it's particularly collectible, but it's nice to have a piece of semi-local history around the workshop.

ash glaze redux redux: tiles

As promised, here are the tiles from the test glaze batches we fired a week or two ago. These are just four tiles with two of the ash glazes and a new decorative feature:



The first glaze was supposed to be a tobacco spit. I like how it turned out on the Lizella clay -- almost any ash glaze looks good on Lizella. It's got some matte spots and some shiny glassy spots.

The second and third tiles are a new version of our standard ash glaze with a bit of copper added in. The color of the kitchen wall is similar to the runs, and is washing out the tiles a bit. They look good in person. But things looked very very very different when we mixed up a gallon of the stuff. Every kilnload is an adventure.

The final tile has a couple swatches of a metallic-style decoration.

More pictures are coming with the next page update.

ash glaze redux: the magic of baby food jars

One of the dubious benefits having a baby nearby is the vast number of little glass jars that pile up. They look useful, but they're generally not. (I'd make one of those under-shelf old-man nail-and-screw toolboxes, but we've already got a spot for nails and screws and brads and staples and tacks.)

I finally realized that we could use those jars to mix up test glazes. I've got to measure more carefully than usual, since a gram one way or the other can make a huge difference in an ounce or two of glaze. (We cheerfully mix units of measurement.) But I can get a sense of what a glaze might look like before we mix up a couple of gallons.

We ran just a few experiments in our last firing. Several of those were ash glazes. As I said in an earlier post (in which the pictures are now broken), ash glazes can get out of hand easily.

Our new mixes went well, though, and gave us some idea of what we want to mix up. We should have some excellent new colors before too long.

Current pictures are forthcoming, with any luck.