Thursday, September 16, 2010

Now I know why..........

I remember now why the green pear that is getting so much press is one of a kind. The person that has it got a great deal and they have a piece that will not be duplicated, at least not any time soon! I fired up the Raku kiln this morning while it was still cool outside, but it was a crazy firing. The three pears in the top photo are nothing like they were supposed to be, but I like them. The next photo is crazy. Exact same glaze as the famous chartreuse pear, fired to the same temperature, but look at it!!!!
WTF
Now here is why you read my blog, you learn from my mistakes, you don't do the same stupid shit I do because you read it here first! I thought I was being brilliant, I made these little clay circles to set the pears on so that a very small amount of the pear was unglazed. The stilts I was using were breaking. I glued the circle to the bottom of this one, thinking I was even smarter for thinking of that. Only thing is I didn't wait for the glue to dry and just as the kiln was heating up, I heard a huge explosion in the kiln, yep, blew the bottom right out of this pear! So I am sort of over the pear thing, they are way too much trouble for what I sell them for. Maybe I should just raise the price but I don't know if they will sell for $5000.00 (haha)
This is just sweeeeeet! I got lots more to show ya, but I have to go help Gerry get ready to go and visit Igor in Bermuda so I'll get some more pics up tomorrow or the next day. I still have a lot to do before Festifall and my head is starting to spin around! And I turn 50 in five days! Can that be possible? I need to think about that....................................................................................

13 comments:

Hollis Engley said...

Wow, Trace, that blue pear is very cool. Now, if you could only duplicate it. And you're right about the little white house. Lovely.

Tracey Broome said...

Hollis, I thought about you as soon as that house came out! Yeah, right, duplicate that! HA!!

cookingwithgas said...

HA Hollis made me laugh!
Yes let's put in an order for 100 of those pears all in that wonderful blue glaze....... get working on that would you?
I like those pears they look more like real pears.
The barn!
Nice!

Tracey Broome said...

Thanks M! Yeah, I'll get right on that when I get back from taking Gerry to the airport in the morning at 5am!!!!!!

cookingwithgas said...

oh good- then you should have then finished by say- 8 or 9?
:) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Judy Shreve said...

Now why do we work in clay???? The blue pear is amazing -- you can repeat that right?? And I agree the green ones look more like pears and are delightful. And that barn -- just terrific - love the black wash !

Tracey Broome said...

Repeat? Oh sure, give me about a million yeas :)
The question is, why do we Raku!!!

ang design said...

wow theyre so sweet looking!! just for fun i have a couple of annaas apples in my fruit bowl... it confuses the guests :)) the really blue one looks a tad underdone to me i have a piece just like it siting on my shelf here wish we could attache images to the comment box.. mmm and you know well with raku trace not to try and predict your results...cheers matey

Tracey Broome said...

Underdone and glazed too thick and me wanting it to be GREEN, all those things make for a blue pin hole pear, Ang! You are so right, there can be no expectations or repeating of things with raku. Ohhh, photo attachments brilliant!

DirtKicker Pottery said...

Whenever I try to duplicate a past awesome piece, it always turns out way different. I think that's because we somehow have to learn to appreciate each piece for what it is :)
Cindy

Linda Starr said...

The new pears look very realistic and I like them and I am a sucker for turquoise, beautiful, some pieces are ok with pinholes and that's one. Not quite sure what you were trying to do with the glue? what about a stilt with nichrome wire. So raku is like reduction, "you don't always get what you want, but you might get what you need" - courtesy of the Stones - rolling that is.

Anonymous said...

amazing, i hate it when i just make a piece and a while later someone wants a bunch of them and i can't for the life of me duplicate either the form or the firing. the pear prices are rising. i love that little house, it's beautiful

Julia said...

I like all of the pears - those variations (some not repeatable) are the fun of raku!

I do have to defend raku, at least a little, because over 50% of what I make and sell is raku. I've got it down to a science and I can actually replicate most of my results, but only after a nervous breakdown, thousands of dollars of therapy, and a lot of wonderful pottery that could have been something special, if only...

Your post made me laugh today - loved it.

I came up with (what I think is) a very clever way to stilt my raku hummingbird feeders. If you are interested, I'll send you a photo of how I stilt and load them. It might work for your pears.

And I also love your blog banner!