The art of hand made dishes has been coming up in my creative life recently. I like making them. I always tell people the food tastes better on my handmade dinnerware. The coffee or tea is spicier, and the food is more appealing on a pretty plate.Very important is that you Know the ingredients in my glazes are totally safe.Since it is all high fire, these dishes can go in the oven , even the microwave, and the dishwasher. Convenience matters in our every day life.
This is a set I had done a while ago, and recently sold .Not even sure this is a glaze batch I can reproduce, but I have other colors I use now. I always tell people when you order a set from me, rest assured, each piece will be unique. The colors will match, but the size and glazing style will be slightly different on each piece.You know you are getting handmade dishes. People seem to like this one of a kind styling they get from me.
The dish as an art form.
Here it is! The magic is revealed as I unload the kiln. The end result of a month or more of hard work. This is a photo of the second shelf down. The posts you see with the holes are called the furniture, on which the shelves rest.
My heart always beats faster at this moment. Will there be success? Are the colors what I wanted? Are there any flaws that will make it not refined enough to sell in the gallery? I do everything my experience teaches me to insure the best results. I like what I see here.
However, there is always the element of chance in high fire ceramics. The clay is a large factor. Is there a hidden weakness that will result in a crack? Then there is the application of glaze. Did I put on the right consistency? Did I rub too hard at a drip and leave that spot bare? An important question is whether or not the kiln gods are smiling that day. Yes, we clay artists are superstitious folk. I did have an unexpected crack. I can live with that. It is a good firing.
There are two exciting times for me in the wonderful world of ceramics.The first is the actual creative process, where I am taking raw clay and creating the shape I desire. The second comes here, as I am unloading the shelves in my kiln. This is one of my large porcelain bowls. The turquoise glaze turned out just as I had hoped, which is success for me.
There is always that element of surprise when playing with clay. First of all is the actual clay itself. I use porcelain, which can be temperamental. Is there a hidden crack that I failed to see? Did the glaze run because I applied it too thick? Is there a bare spot because it was too thin? You would think after all these years I would know what to expect, but it is always with baited breath I crack the lid and peer in. Then there are the Kiln Gods to contend with. Don't laugh. We don't see them. We can't touch them, but they can change your firing depending on their moods. Fortunately, they were happy and smiled down on me today.
You can see here I fire with electricity rather than gas.
I love my kiln. It is old, fires manually with cones rather than a computer, and I wouldn't change it for anything. I recently had to replace all these elements you see on the sides.That was a challenge taking them out, putting in the new ones in and connecting them correctly. Fortunately, I had help from a fellow craftsman.
I fire a lot and to a high temperature to achieve these colors. That is 1360 centigrade, for my European readers, which translates to 2480 for we Americans.So there is the technical side to all of this. There is also the magic.
My last blog was on my flower bowl and how much I like flowers. This picture is of a carved, miniature vase with a few blossoms within.Still a flower vessel.
It is a wheel thrown piece, and doesn't even measure four inches tall.The bottom is all hand carved, and then an oxide is applied. This seems to make a nice contrast with my turquoise glaze, and it is a trademark style of mine. Actually, this is pretty big for a technical "miniature". I think the scale is one inch would be one foot. So instead of a four foot vessel, you get something you can hold in your hand and put on a tiny shelf.
I enjoy making smaller pieces. They fit my need for precious, help fill the odd spaces in the kiln,and are easy for the travelling customer. In high fire ceramics, everything you create in going to shrink, from fifteen to twenty percent. Usually the problem is that I haven't made it big enough to start with, and the end result is not the anticipated. With my small creations, I do not have to stress the end result because it comes out as it is meant to be. Good feeling, when what we do comes out just fine because we aren't worried about a precise ending. This is a nice thought to carry into life.
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