Friday, February 15, 2013

Bowls

 I have a pretty good collection of bowls now, so I hope to get my kiln fired next week and test some ^6 glazes on both dark and white clay and see what I like. Much as I would love to fire a bunch of shino bowls, I just don't have the means to do that, so I'm hoping to come up with some ^6 colors that I like. I don't really have the desire to make functional pottery, other than bowls. I love making bowls. I could sit at my wheel all day and just make bowls. I don't want to make mugs, pitchers, plates, serving pieces, just bowls...... and look, I made a bunch that look the same!
 I am testing a base glaze and adding colorants so I should have a green, purple and turquoise and a satin matte white. I may mix up a black.... I got tired of sieving yesterday, so I have more mixing to do today. I also mixed up some red luster glazes to test for raku.....
Can I just say glaze mixing is a pain in the ass? I am lazy and I don't particularly like glazing work, so I am hoping this base with colorants will work out. I would be happy with just one color and bowls. I don't know what kind of potter that makes me, but there it is. Lazy and single minded haha!
Actually, I like things to be simple. Complication annoys my brain. I think that's why I like making my barns. Build a barn, make it white. I would be happy to make a nice bowl, glaze it white. I don't like decoration on my work. I'm not good at it, so I feel like my form has to be really good so that the ^6 glaze holds up and doesn't look like my old student work at a community center. With wood firing and reduction, the glaze often makes a sometimes mediocre piece look great, but with ^6, the form should be good. I hope this works out. I have had many glaze failures since I got this kiln. This might be my last effort with it! There's always raku and terra sig, which seem to agree with me......

20 comments:

Sherry said...

Love the shape of these bowls. What kind of pottery does this make you -- that you like to just do bowls and you like to keep it simple? It's simply you, following what makes you happy, what gives you pleasure and that speaks to "who" you are -- and there's nothing wrong with that at all. Not a thing!

Sherry said...

And you know I meant potter...it's Friday and my brain is already on "weekend mode"!! lol!!

Sandy Miller said...

Love the bowls! Nice form!
Glazing...... Why yes, I have a table full waiting for me but I'm sitting here reading wonderful blogs..... God I hate glazing... I'd rather step over mountains of bisque before I have to, need to start glazing.

Hollis Engley said...

Glaze mixing is indeed a pain in the ass. I always put it off until there are maybe three tablespoons of glaze left in a bucket. I hate it.
Nice bowls, Trace. I once thought I'd just be "The Bowl Guy" and never make anything else. It's still my favorite form, and I was scared to death of the bowl in the beginning because my teacher started us on cylinders. Turns out it's easier. Who knew?

Tracey Broome said...

Sherry, the game last night got crazy, one of Gerry's friend/photographers got hit with a puck and the announcer called the photographers stupid paparazzi. It's getting ugly down here in hockey ville! Gerry said to pass on that he loves Toronto, he covered the G8 summit there a couple of years ago.
Sandy and Hollis, I too put glazing off until the bitter end and would rather read blogs! Hollis, I thought about you when I wrote this and how many bowls you make, guess if you can do it, I can too! Just not going to try to compete with the yunomi though :)

Michèle Hastings said...

Nice bowls! I really like that form. I agree about mixing glazes, it's such a chore. I hate the math involved and wearing that damn mask. The sieving I don't mind so much.

Unknown said...

ditto- glaze mixing is awful...but I do like discovering a new, safe color, which is the rub for me :/
When I finally cave to make glazes I make about 20 tests too- might as well REALLY be miserable instead of a little miserable! (ack, what does that say about me??!!)
Have a great weekend~

Dennis Allen said...

Love your bowls. Dislike mixing glazes unless I borrow a Talisman sieve which makes it much easier. I find that If I make a batch of base glaze it really helps to weigh the water that I put in the bucket then later it is easy to calculate the weight of the solids in any given amount of finished glaze.Just weigh the amount of base glaze you want to color and use your ratio.

claydancer said...

I love glazing but not necessarily mixing up a bunch of glaze tests. I can't wait to see how yours come out. Nice bowls!

cookingwithgas said...

it will be worth the time. That is what I tell myself when I start doing something else or step a different way in clay.
Just say- it is worth my time to learn this.

Let me just say that because of the way my brain works Mark does mix our glazes. It was a really big mistake with cobalt that lead us to taking me off the list as glaze mixer. Then again I am the book keeper, works out well I hope.

Tracey Broome said...

Hi guys: glad to see that I have good company in the hate to glaze department! Thanks for the moral support!!
Dennis, someone gave me one of those sieves a while back, lifesaver on the back, I love it!
I am a haphazard glaze mixer, good enough is my motto, so who knows how this will all turn out....

Hollis Engley said...

Go ahead and compete, Tracey. It could be fun. Something coming your way, btw.

Tracey Broome said...

As if..... Haha! I'll just stick with my bowls for now and see how that goes:)

Susan Wells said...

Lemme know if ya wanna put some bowls in the wood kiln:) I mixed up some Malcomb shino....I owe ya!

Tracey Broome said...

Ooooooh, Susan, very tempting! Maybe spring.....

Ron Deaver said...

Hi Tracey,
I have just spent some time reading a months worth of your posts. I think I read some a good while back also. Thank you for your efforts in doing these. They are very enriching for me and I really appreciate your baring your soul to us. I know that it is good for you too. I am a clay person that took a couple of decades break to work "outside" to feed the family. I have finally realized that it was the difficulty of dealing with setbacks in my work that kept me from pushing on. My first wife was also a potter and she was more devoted and still has made pots straight through. I have begun making things again. Some really nice 'incense altars' that I am firing in my woodstove and then smoking them some in an outdoor fire. Maybe you can see them start showing up in the 'clay networks'. I plan on making it my 'occupation again as I retire in a couple of years after taking care of my alma mater as a Public Safety officer, which is where I am right now working through the night, which I love because I have truly become nocturnal. Always have been I guess. Anyway, thank you. Keep the head up as we head into Spring. Best wishes to you. Ron Deaver, Berea KY.

ang design said...

k im officially ill then ...i dig glazing!! gorgeous bowls trace come make some over here:))

Lori Watts said...

Lazy is such a harsh word...I like to say I am "selectively ambitious."

Tracey Broome said...

Hi Ron, nice to hear from you! Tanks for reading and best of luck with your pottery endeavors. I love incense alters, look forward to seeing them!
Ang, you can have the glazing, you do it much better than I do!
Lori, so correct, I like your phrase much better, and yes I am selective in what I choose to expend energy on haha!

Amy said...

ok- back from costa rica and catching up on blogs... looks like we have the same kind of triple beam scale. How do you zero it with an empty plastic container on it?
i'm one of those odd ones who doesn't mind mixing glazes--- except that the sieving is the worst and SO time consuming!