Monday, July 13, 2009

Monday Rain and Shine

A few weeks ago, I moved all of my hand building stuff out on the back deck so I could work outside. Then a deer died in the woods behind our house and it has been too stinky to work outside for days and days. It has finally decayed to the point of not smelling anymore so I worked outside this afternoon. We woke up to fierce thunderstorms this morning and I had to work at Claymakers, but the sun came out this afternoon and it was nice and cool on the deck so I got in a few hours of hand building with a bunch of scrap clay I have been collecting. I'll use it for Raku, so it doesn't matter that it is kinda ugly.

These bowls are paper thin, some with texture some not. I have some Raku glazes to test out and these will be great for that. I am thinking that I will make a bunch of these to take to Penland for the Raku workshop. We are supposed to bring bisque, but I don't want to make anything special that may or may not make it home in one piece. Maybe one piece, but a stack of these bowls that I can knock out quickly are great for testing glazes.
I'm also working out a ceramic book cover. I have been wanting to make books for garden journals for a long time, the slab I rolled out for the bowls was really thin so I used some of the left overs to make this quick one. Now I just have to take a book making class......
I also made a bunch of little trays, some chop stick holders and wasabi dishes, and some pendants, which I forgot to photograph. It's amazing how much stuff you can make out of scraps.

6 comments:

Hollis Engley said...

You've been busy, Tracey. When's the next reduction firing?

cookingwithgas said...

sometimes i get caught up in using up every scrap.
Other days I say stop!
Book looks like it will turn out great- will you make the paper?

Tracey Broome said...

Reduction soon, I hope, I need a few more pots for a bisque. I have talked to enough people that I think I'm ready to work out the bugs. I think I'll just buy the paper Meredith, if I start making paper on top of everything else I'm doing, my family might just leave me :)

Laura Farrow said...

I know how to sew up books! I can show you and share some paper (I've got lots) or loan you a reference book if you like. xo

Linda Starr said...

I too try to use up every bit of clay I can with slab built and hand built pieces, love the trays and sushi plates. Your bowls look similar to my victoria lace bowls, love the texture, I am anxious to see how very thin pieces with texture fare in a raku firing, good luck with your next reduction firing.

Tracey Broome said...

Linda: I have found that the thin bowl do well with my raku glazes, I get lots of crackle. I will be interested to see what the texture does, I haven't tried that yet. The texture I used was from some old doilies my grandmother made.
Laura: I was looking at the book you made trying to figure out the binding. I may take you up on the lesson! We'll see if the cover makes it out of the raku first. It's teeny tiny.