New pots fresh out of the kiln

Well, the house is bursting at the seams with new pots now…

Inspired by Alan’s Rampside beacon photo: 

© Alan Carr

Rampside beacon pot April 2010

  and based on his Salthouse Dock photo

© Alan Carr

 I took one part

© Alan Carr

to colour my pot: 

Salthouse dock pot May 2010

  I also loved the Roa Island wreck photo:  

© Alan Carr

  and I’m pleased with the pot I’ve made:   

Roa Island wreck April 2010

but I am going to do another based on that picture, I think. I’ll let it simmer a bit and daydream about it over summer.  

I also did a tile with a seascape from my imagination:  

Seascape May 2010

And I’m not sure about the pot based on one of Joel Meyerowitz’ beautiful photos from Cape Light. The lines at the top, which are delicate and fine in his photo, have come out thick and strong. Having said that, I do rather like the pot:  

Cape Light pot 2010

The new blue glaze I bought is a rather lovely satin blue, and I used it for a sea pot:  

Blue sea, black rock

Blue black sea pot May 2010

And the last piece for a while, a softly coloured sea scene led me to a pot using my new glazes, which didn’t quite come out the colours I was expecting, but pleasing none the less:  

© Alan Carr

Grey seas pot May 2010

So now I have a few weeks to daydream and sketch, and plan for pots for the future…

Patience…

Glazed 3 more pots this week – 

Glazing

... glazing

... and more glazing

 

 

So now I have

• 7 pots in glaze firing
• 1 small tile in glaze firing
• 1 large tile and 2 small tiles waiting to be glazed

New glazes

Well, I had a lovely trip to choose new glazes at the weekend. So very excited to see how they’ll fire… Still quite a lot in the kilns, but I had one pot to glaze from last week, which I did using the old glazes, as I had the design planned. It’s based on Joel Meyerowitz’ photo of clothes lines against the horizon – a stunningly beautiful photo, but I’ve got my fingers crossed about the pot design. It’s a bit experimental. One of the tiles was also ready for glazing, so I got some of my new glazes out… oooh, so much patience is needed! The kilns were on, and I knew my pieces from last week were in there, being transformed by the heat. Hopefully I’ll soon have some new work to bring home. So now I have

• 3 pots being biscuit fired
• 2 small and one large tile being biscuit fired
• 4 pots being glaze fired

Still busy…

Phew. What a rush. I’ve turned the three pots from last week, and have left them for biscuit firing. The four tiles came out of the cupboard where they’d been drying slowly, and I have left them for the first firing too. I’ve also managed to glaze three of the pots from a couple of weeks ago. Glazes are running low, so dipping is not easy, and I’m afraid at least one of the pots is too thickly glazed. We’ll see. So currently I have on the go:

• 3 pots to be glaze fired
• 3 pots to be biscuit fired
• 4 tiles to be biscuit fired
• 1 pot ready to be glazed

Busy, busy

The four pots aren’t ready for glazing yet, so I’ve thrown three more which I’ll turn next week. The tile from last week was not worth recovery, so I’ve made another largeish one and three more smaller ones. I think the one from the other week probably dried too quickly, so I’ve wrapped these a bit better, so they should be ok to go in biscuit firing next week.

Next week I’ll be turning the three pots, and hopefully glazing the other four, as well as putting the four tiles for biscuit firing.

Turning

Another pot based on the shipwreck has come out of firing this week. Picture a huge rounded rusting hull rising into a blue sky –

Rusty hull April 2010

Where the copper red has overlapped the blue, it’s turned a lovely soft green which I wasn’t expecting. Maybe not in the plan, but pleasing nonetheless.

Also I turned the bases of the four pots this week, so they’re ready for biscuit firing.

Pots for biscuit firing

...and more

The Lakes tile has a slight construction problem, so has gone back in the cupboard well-wrapped. Wish I could spend all day in the studio.

Inspired

I’ve thrown four pots this week, and made another large tile with a landscape of mountains and sea. There’s still one pot in for glaze firing. I’m looking for more colour inspiration, and I’m loving the photos on Alan’s blogs – one called Leading Light, based around the Rampside area – http://rampside.wordpress.com/ – and the other called natural light, based around Liverpool – http://darkhorseliverpool.blogspot.com/

Take a look at this, for instance:

© Alan Carr

I definitely want to make something with these colours. They aren’t as rich as those in the rusty ship image I used before, more a subtle range. I might have to go shopping for some new glazes…

Wall tiles

I think I might do a few more wall tiles. I have done a few in the past which I like, including the one which I think, although I mainly work on the wheel, is probably the best piece I have ever done:

Sea and mountains December 08

Others are quite pleasing too, I think:

Snowy scene December 08

and guess what? the sea again!-

the sea...

So next time I’m in the studio, I’m thinking more along these lines, though I’ll probably be on the wheel too. Not enough time!