pots & pans

I have a few more pot pix to post but instead of bombarding you all at once I'll add them every so often for random blog beautification.

Comments and MTMI on glazing/firing here at AU (skip at will):
These are pretty fun but the glazes let me down (those of you who always say I'm too critical of my pots, know that this time I am in firm adoration of the pots themselves and hereby absolve myself of all glaze guilt). The grey on the bottom of both is Glossy White Opaque. Um... yeah, right. The blue (Ingerson) and the green (Oribe) used to be two of my favorites to work with, but they have been acting weird in the kiln for several weeks. You can see how matte they are in the pic; they both used to glaze crystalline and when you were lucky you could get a crackled-glass effect if you got it on thick enough. Now the Ingerson is dark matte lavender/periwinkle (used to be deep crystalline true blue) which is OK if that's what you're aiming for; the Oribe is (in my completely non-humble opinion) pure gack (used to be a beautiful crystalline green and when used in conjunction with GWO the overlapped glazes would create a faint pinkish edgeline that sounds weird but was quite striking). Sigh. I am writing Oribe off for a while and will continue to use the Ingerson on those rare occasions when I want lavender; surprisingly the GWO doesn't bother me that much now that I see what it does. I used it on a couple of other things that turned out great (the mug in the pic a few entries ago for one) so it is still pretty usable but just not the same as before, plus it is kind of a drag that we only have one usable white now: Mamo Satin Matte. So if you want a white that turns glossy you're SOL.

Alas... Still more things to list under the heading "Stuff that is never to be counted on due to the fact that studio operations are overseen by a handful of different people, some of whom do not necessarily know what they're doing." I shouldn't have been that surprised, really. Periodically one must change one's throwing methods/goals because of new people mixing the clay body, desert favorite glazes because someone new is making them or because one never knows which kiln will be used at which temperature at which heat-up or cool-down rates, etc.

Of course, of course, of course (Bad Susan) I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth; when I really have time to throw and it is going consistently well, for the $140 fee (per 6 weeks), I can come out with upwards of 40-50 pots (clay and glazes and firing fees). (= Quite incredible as studio fees go) We are indeed fortunate that something this cool is available here in Auburn!! (Fathom THOSE odds!) I just have to re-learn not to get my hopes up or get too fixed an idea about how any particular pot will end up until it's been thru all the steps that aren't up to me. Control Relinquishment! - never my forte :) (Alternatively, I'm seriously considering restricting myself to glaze tests for a while, especially as many of my pots are kinda funky lately -- that is, cool but not what I normally would deign to call truly representative of my abilities :) -- to try some new stuff and see if anything fun turns out; certainly that way I'd never get my hopes up very high.)

Under the very best conditions (e.g. at the Cleveland Heights Potters' Co-op on Lee Road, CH, Ohio - go there, they rock!!!!) where the firing and glaze-mixing and clay body protocols are quite closely watched indeed, and even when one gets to a more certain point of throwing prowess where you know much closer how pieces will end up, there is always just that teensy percentage of expectation that needs to be reined in. The clay gods do have their occasional whims... And truly, I don't mind ceding a wee bit of control to Them, I just hate giving any up to studio hands who cannot seem to be consistent...

I must admit that another reason pottery is not going great right now is because of my schedule & general flightiness so I seem unable Really to get back in the groove consistently. All the more reason that it's such a drag when I finally get something fun and the glaze/firing goes haywire... Fortunately there are still a handful of friendly, dependable glazes.

When I get rich and have my own kiln and my own studio, I will only have one person to blame for all this. No surprise that that's just as I'd like it... :) Assuming I make my regular concessions to the gods, that is.