Cups, tumblers...

April 23

I didn’t get to glaze anything today because the bisque kiln was still too hot.  I let myself sleep in, which was nice.  Usually I get to school right at eight, but I decided that because I’m in such a good place with my project, I’d have a more relaxing morning.  When I got to school I trimmed my four teacups and I threw two more extra ones.  Then I waxed the plates that I painted yesterday, so they’re ready to get dipped in clear with everything else.  I also threw a serving dish, that I think has a really nice shape.

            The big electric kilns don’t get up to cone 10, so I have to do two smaller firings, but that’s okay because I’ll be able to get some finished work out faster.  Cone 10 is the high fire temperature, which is for stoneware and porcelain.  The lower temperatures – cone four and six, etc. – are for terra cotta, and also other glazes on stoneware and I think porcelain, too.  The colors that you can get from low temperature firings can be a lot brighter, like the middle eastern majolica works.

            Tomorrow the bisqued work will be out of the kiln so I’ll be able to start glazing all of the cups.  I don’t know how quickly the decorating is going to go, and I only have three blocks to work on Wednesdays.  But if all goes amazingly I’ll be able to get them all finished and maybe even clear coat them.  Hopefully I’ll be able to start loading the kiln on Thursday, and then I’m not sure when I’ll be able to actually fire everything.  I definitely have enough work to fill the kiln, though, if I get everything glazed.

            I was looking around online at dinnerware things and I was thinking about making a porcelain berry bowl if I have extra time.  I’m definitely going to focus on the more basic things first.  But a berry bowl would be a cool thing to have.  I always just leave strawberries in the plastic container, but I would feel a lot classier if I put them in a berry bowl instead.  I saw a porcelain berry bowl at a store a while ago, and it was really adorable because it looked like one of the little cardboard-y pints that blueberries come in.  I don’t know what that material is called.  It’s like an egg carton.  It’s like Styrofoamy paper.  I wonder if it’s its own thing or if it’s just called cardboard.  

April 22

Today was kind of a slow day.  I feel like I didn’t have that much time in the studio.  I threw four teacups to go with my teapot.  I need to make two more tomorrow.  Then I spent the rest of the time I had glazing.  I did some blind contours, and so now I have the last four dinner plates all blind contoured, and the two serving bowls and the teapot.  I have to actually dip them in the clear glaze still, but that doesn’t take very long.  Although there’s not much of the clear glaze left, so I have to find the right containers to dip things from. 

            My six drinking cups are still in the bisque kiln, and I think they might be ready tomorrow but I’ll probably have to wait until Wednesday to work on them so that they have time to cool down.  The platter is in there, too.  I haven’t had any more success throwing more platters, but I’ll keep trying.  I only want to have one platter, but I guess I need to have a back up. 

            I think I can probably fit the rest of the body of work into one electric kiln firing.  There’s four plates, which each need to go on their own shelf, but I can probably squeeze the cups into the empty space on their shelves.  Then the platter will go on its own shelf.  Actually that won’t work.  There’s too much stuff and the bowls are too big to squeeze in anywhere.  Maybe I could use one of the bigger electric kilns that are in the room with the gas kiln.  I’ll have to figure out when they’re using them to bisque work.  It only takes twenty-four hours to fire something so I could probably squeeze myself into that schedule.  Otherwise I’d have to do two firings which would be wasteful and more time consuming.  I think other people have cone 10 work that they could put in there too if I can’t fill it with just my work. 

            Getting everything out of the kiln on Friday really made me feel good about my project.  I can’t wait to spend some time getting it all pulled together and choosing which pieces are going to go into the final show.

            Tomorrow I’m going to make a couple more teacups and I’m going to try to get all of my finished bisqued work glazed.

Unloading the kiln

April 19

This was the best day of my project yet!  I got to school and the kiln was at about three hundred fifty degrees, so it was still too hot to unload.  I had to wait patiently until after block four.  Then the kiln was at two hundred fifty degrees, which apparently means go time.  I had to wear big thick gloves and I unloaded the whole thing all by myself.  Lots of pictures to come.  The bowls and a few mugs that were separate from my project were on the top shelf, so I got to peek at those first, and then all of the plates were on the shelf underneath.  Only one of the plates actually warped, and the rest of them look awesome!  The clear glaze cape out really nice.  It didn’t drip of get milky anywhere, it’s just really smooth and nice.

            Needless to say, I couldn’t focus on anything until I got the kiln unloaded, so I did some homework block three.  Then it took me all of five and six to unload the kiln.  Then I had World religions block seven, and during block eight I trimmed my six tumblers, which in the end, aren’t really tumblers because they’re a little to short for that category.  So we’re back to calling them cups.  They look good though; I think they really look like a set. 

            So now I have six salad plates, two dinner plates, and four bowls totally finished.  And I have four more dinner plates, plus a teapot and two serving bowls that are out of the bisque and ready to be glazed.  And there are six cups and a platter that are drying and ready to go into the bisque.  I still need to make four little teacups to go with the teapot, plus a few candlesticks.    After I get all of those things made, I’m going to focus on glazing, and hopefully I’ll be able to fill the electric kiln again pretty quickly.  I have to figure out when they’re doing another bisque firing so that I can get as much work as possible into the electric kiln firing.

            So everything looks like it’s coming along right on time.  I have to figure out how I’m going to display everything when it’s set up in the gallery.  I need to get a small table and a tablecloth and all that good stuff.  I can’t wait to see it all set up.

April 18

I had a nice day today.  I went into the studio at seven thirty and Mr. Mogilnicki turned the little kiln on.  It got all the way up into the two thousand degree area today, and it’s going to plug away like that overnight.  Everything is going to be cool enough to take out on Monday, so that’s going to be something to look forward to.  I also threw six drinking vessels today, which are somewhere between cups and tumblers.  They’re a little shorter than I was thinking I’d like them to be, but I think they look really nice all together.  I’ll be able to trim them tomorrow morning.

            Mr. Barmonde also showed me how to make a candleholder today, so I’m going to try to make two or three of those tomorrow.  Maybe I should make four.  They’re going to have tiny little blind contours on them. 

            I can’t believe I’ve already been working on this project for three weeks!  Time is going by so quickly. 

            After school today I met a couple of my friends in New Bedford and we went to No Problemo for dinner.   We saw Mr. Mogilnicki eating there too!  I had a burrito with plantains.  It was really delicious.  Then we went to this little vintage store called the artificial marketplace.  They have a lot of really cool furniture and clothing and all that good old vintage stuff.  The other day I was in there and there was a really cool Heywood-Wakefield end table that was pretty cheap but I didn’t get it, and I totally should have.  It’s always fun to spot things like that in antique stores, though.

            They have some cool mugs there sometimes, too.  I always feel kind of guilty buying ceramic dishware because I feel like I should be able to make it myself, but some things are just so nice that you can’t pass up on them.  It’s fun to go into little vintage stores like that and get inspired.  And in stores like terrain.  I feel like it’s so easy to get inspired when you’re thinking about pottery, because so many people have such amazing ideas that you can draw from.  Potters and ceramic sculptors have to be really innovative to be original, and so much of what’s out there is just jaw dropping-ly innovative and cool.  You’re like, ugh! why didn’t I think of that!