Ceramics
 

my latest piece (not the best pics, but I haven't got round to proper shots yet. These are the "fresh out of the kiln in the studio in case anything happens to it on the way home" shots.

wow. quite a menagerie there!

Nice!

Cool. Is there a wire core througout, or just in the critters? Or just in the snake's mouth?

Thank you. Just in the snake's mouth.

Can't remember what metal it is, but it's pretty expensive because it needs to withstand two firings.

Wonderful. Nice job.

very whimsical vase. I think I'd like one of those!

Probable Nichrome wire.

I love the elephant nose.

thanks all :)

I actually made it several years ago, but have taken years to glaze it. That's the harder part for me, commiting color to my forms. Glaze can be so unpredictable. It took so long, I couldn't remember what I'd use on the first parts, so it was a very pleasant surprise when it came out.

Have I ever shown any of my other pieces here?

couple of bits.....no pieces

that's what I thought.....

The giraffes are my favorite part. Is that 2 or three different colors that you used? I assume you put some on, let it dry, then put on another color for them. Details on the glazing would be intresting to me, if they aren't artist secrets :)


Post more, post more!!

Actually, the giraffes are one glaze. It just breaks like that -it's a liquid texture glaze. I think it was Antique Brown. The yellow/brown inside is also just one glaze. If the giraffes aren't antique brown, then the inside is... :lol:

I've been working on this for years and I didn't bother writing them down!

Cool! Thanks for the info.

@monster: Those are some very intricate, imaginative pieces, for the medium of ceramics. Very cool.

My grandmother on my father's side was an self-taught painter and also fired ceramics, which I have some pieces of, displayed prominently on my personal altar at home. She was a big influence on me, encouraging me to be unique and creative, to be myself. I was a weird kid, but she understood me (when it seemed like nobody else did). I have a fondness for ceramics, because it reminds me of her. As does flower-pressing.

Thank you for sharing your work.

:redface: :)

Oooh. I like that one a lot.

thanks. We call that one the flaming dooberry.

I'm also a fan of the flaming dooberry. It's pretty cool looking.

That's very exciting! <--- (actual proper use of exclamation mark)

You can never have enough exclamation marks!!!

If you actually spoke to me, you would know that I end all my talkie sentences in them too.

Ooooh, I like that one too!! How tall is it?

About 18" I think.

Outstanding. How much for the red flamelike piece, please?

Oh sorry, splode -missed that before. It is not for sale, sorry.

here's the new sundial I made to replace the one that got broken (my second ever piece), and a sushi dish for a houswarming present for a friend. Some work in progress to follow for those interested.

Love the sundial, that'll brighten up any garden/yard.

damn, lost the post on the process of handbuiding. Too late to redo

Tomorrow, dudes....

I *love* the sundial. Have you considered making them to sell in a little boutique or someplace? I would bet they would be wildly popular.

Thanks!

I believe they might sell at the right price, but sadly I think the labor involved would mean ther righ price would be a loss to me.

It costs me $12/hour for studio time and materials, it takes me about 1 hour to prepare the form, about 3 hours to refine it, 2 to carve it, 1 to make the ladybugs and about 6 hours to glaze.You cannot tell from these pics, but the gnomon has the longitude and latitude carved in, as well as the quotes "time waits for gnomon" and "time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana".

So that's over $150 just to recoup costs...

So I would need to charge $300ish for such a piece -whiich would only give me an income of about $10/hour..... would you like fries with your sundial?

Monster,
Was just browsing through and saw the sundial. That is super cool.

thanks :)

here's the dalek I made Beest for christmas. The head comes off so he can store ...erm...things inside.... it's a stuff holder.

and a bowl, inside (boring) and then upside down.

also, I realise I never posted the finished pieces of that work in progress , I'll try and find that in a mo....

OK, here we go, work in progress continued....
two more at the building stage, then bisque fired, next to my "test tile" to help me decide which glazes to choose.

Then glazed and awaiting the glaze fire...

and here are the finished products....

the were gifts for teacher appreciation day, and we asked the children each to bring in one flower from their garden to make a bouquet for their teacher :)

beautiful!

Verry Cool Monnie !!!

Those were awesome Monster. All that talent! <

love the dalek! How did you make the gripper/plunger thingies?

thanks you all :)

electronic components, mostly, Pie.... oh, and a silver candle holder :lol:

You've got great artistic talent, Monster! I love all your ceramic pieces. :D

I am in love with the Dalek. How do you keep beest from bouncing it across the table saying "Exterminate, exterminate ... you are the Doc-tor!" over and over.

Or is it just me that would do that rather a lot?

No, that's exactly what I'd do too Wolf. I currently have Nick Briggs' dulcet tones echoing around my head...."Exterminate!" "Exterminate!" "Maximum Extermination!"

Monnie you are ridiculously, annoyingly, most troublingly talented. You remind me of my brother. He's another of these can-make-anything-with-his-hands-and-random-bits-of-stuff type peoples. Oh and those pencils. What a smashing idea.

Cutest teacher gift EVAR!!

:o thanks

We all play with the dalek. We just don't bounce it :D

Here's my latest in progres.. I call it catfish. here it is just finished and ready for the kiln...

here's some recent finished stuff

a roast dish, matching lidded serving bowl and gravy boat.

Oh and to finish, a little something Hebe, my daughter (just turned 11), made pretty much unassisted. :)


<<<proud mama

very cool - you have quite the talent there

really killer stuff monnie! cool! I love the blue!

thank yous :)

Very impressive stuff monsta. Dau has your keen eye for detail.

yes, she does...Unlike Marylin who hasn't a keen eye at all -hebe forgot the pupils! We're going with permanent marker. it's her visual aid for a project about MM.

thanks for your nice words, is nice to be good at something other than numbers and spreadsheets and being bossy!

I love your pottery, monster. The roast dish and matching pieces are just awesome!

Excellent work. Thank you for showing it.

Oh that's a very fine roasting dish Monnie. Really is.

why, thanks. :) I will learn if the catfish teapot survived the glaze fire tomorrow.... my instructor was all :eyebrow:

Mine are nowhere near as good as Monster's.. Nothing like them in any way.

In my defence, it doesn't help that there is a 5-6 week delay between making something, glazing, then getting the finished article. You're starting two or three new items bfore seeing your original end results, therefore I have not been able to learn from anything I have made (until now)

What I have made is certainly rough & ready. But one of the items at least, I adore. The second I am pleased with and the third is pretty much okay-dokey. Sadly, these are in the order that I made them.

Never mind, I have one more session in August, then I have been promised five more when the class re-forms in September. Then, I intend to learn :) Being fair, this class is more about socialising than learning - it's Occupational Therapy, not Pottery 101. In fact it's nowhere near being called "ceramics" - this was just the nearest thread I could find.

So without further ado, I present to you...
Picture 1: My bowl. I love it. It's uneven and poorly glazed but it is the first thing I ever made and I am made up. I can't stop touching it. Primative as it is, it's all mine.

Picture 2: My cat-themed candle holder. Those are little cat-heads (like the Whiskas symbol) cut into it. Again, it's chunky and uneven. But I can see myself using it for years to come.

Pictures 3 & 4: My tealight holder.
I'm unhappiest with this because of the glaze. It was painted on - I mean, I painted it on - because that was the only way to get it pink. I wish I'd gone for a different glaze, because it's not come out as well. I like the shadow it throws (as intended) but it would have been lovely in a pale green/ grey or blue.

I won't insist on pink for anything else!

It should also have been larger and tidier, but as I said above, I made this without having seen a fired piece. I'll be more careful in future.

Those are great, SG! my beginning stuff was way worse than that, I tell you! yes, many studios have a painfully and needlessly slow turnaround time ans ironically, now that I'm a little more experienced, I don't care how long it takes for stuff to come back, but I understand that in other studios, my experience would give me priority firing :rolleyes:

for future referance, if you can, use the offcuts of your pieces to create "test tiles" and glaze them with what you plan to use for the main piece, and see if you like the result before glazing the main piece.

i paint all my glaze on, btw.