Kokopelli Pottery Luminary and more

Hi Every! It was a very pleasant time unloading the kiln, as almost every piece exceeded my expectations. So I have some wrapping to do, and a few customers to contact for their pieces. Hopefully they will find them to be as fulfilling as I have.

Tomorrow I wrap presents, including some of my pottery pieces. I plan to visit one of my brothers for Christmas Day, and want to be able to have a couple of nice pottery pieces to give as gifts to both him and his wife. Now to select just the right ones! Ha ha.

Below is a utensil crock with wheat carvings. The glaze on this one came out gorgeous! I will be adjusting my wheat carvings a bit... maybe experiment with them a little more and try making some new designs.

The following vase kind of looks like a goose head tilted up, doesn't it? I really like the white clay used to make this piece, and plan to acquire more of it with the next load of clay I order.

The small vase below was made from the cut out parts of the vase above. How's that for recycling!?!?!

I have to admit that I wasn't sure if the support stand created would hold the vase without cracking or buckling in the kiln, but it held up nicely. It is meant to help let one see the curve of the bottom of the vase.

The photo below shows some detail on one of my Kokopelli crocks. Black iron oxide stain helps to make the outline more visible on the piece.

A customer requested a Kokopelli luminary/utensil crock, so two were made. One never knows when a backup will be needed. Ha ha.

I wonder if a small cordless light to put inside the luminaries would help so they display and photograph better?

I made a small platter based upon similar larger ones made previously.

And also a medium platter with the same glaze motif.

That will likely be the last load of pottery for this year ... unless I manage to sneak in one more load late next week... will have to see how it goes. Regardless...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Pottery dip dishes, Pottery bowl set, Pottery Asian vases

Here are a few more photos of some of my recent works. I also have a glaze load in the kiln, so a few more hours of firing and hopefully - with luck and perhaps some charity from the fire gods - I will have some interesting pieces to show you soon. Ha ha!

The following are hand formed using a styrofoam box, then trimmed and decorated. The are meant to be used as dip dishes for serving condiments or snacks. Maybe three kinds of salsa for chips???
A closer look at the details of a second set, with slightly different glazes used. Not sure if I like this style yet... Suggestions are welcome as to changes that may help.

They are meant to sit into a tray (that I have yet to make), so I think they will look much better once I have the tray done. At least that is what I'm hoping!

The four brown bowls are a set I made recently. Seems I'm running out of bowls in the kitchen from time to time (dishwasher is lazy sometimes... yeah... that's right... me!) So wanted to have some bowls of a good size.

The above photo shows one of six Asian vases created recently. Each has its own style, and thus its own glaze combination. There is a flower frog that still needs to be glued into the bottom of each using waterproof glue.

The 'stars' on this one are filled with a reddish glaze.

There are carved lines radiating out from the center, and then some black glazed lines over the top... kind of a merry-go-round effect.

I call the above style my wheat carvings. Probably more like weed carvings, but I like how they turn out.

I think the deep dark colors of the above Asian vase will help to accentuate the flower it will hold, don't you?

This Asian vase took a while to carve, but the inlaid glaze effect was worth the extra time.

I hope you enjoyed the photos, and I should have more to post in a day or two.

December 2010 Pottery Pics #1

Hi Everyone! It has been a while since I've posted... shame on me! So thought I'd start again with some recent photos of some of the pots that came out of the kiln today.

Here is a coffee mug made based upon a customer request. It has the "Charlie Brown' style of band around the center, along with an interesting shape for the handle.

The next photo shows some of the detail carved onto a fluted bowl. I call these carvings "wheat carvings", although they probably more closely resemble weeds instead! Ha ha.

Here is a photo of the fluted bowl showing the undulating rim.

I also recently made a mid-size platter for another customer... I hope she likes it!

Below is a large platter. I really like the combination of the blue and the red for the "world" look it gives.

I'll try to share some more pottery photos in the next few days. I hope you enjoyed these, and please feel free to leave comments, suggestions, feedback regarding the pottery.

Thanks!!!!

Home made Raku kiln in action!

Here are photos of my home-built Raku kiln in action. The kiln body is made of fiber blanket attached to wire fencing using ceramic buttons I made. The bottom is an old lid of a recycled kiln. The burner was purchased new.

Starting the kiln with a low flame to heat and dry the wares.

I put the fuel tank on the other side of bench so that it was not near the heat.

I prepped a bucket of hay/straw to be used as a reduction chamber. I also sprinkled in a little compost later to make things interesting.

Here's a close-up of the burner on low.

And a peek through the tempered glass window. You can see the soot build up on the pots while they are slowly being heated. Later the soot will burn away at the higher temperatures.

This little bird was busy watching the activities and chirping loudly for almost an hour. Not sure what it said, but hopefully it was cheering me on!

I set up the 'nest' for the horse hair action. You can see the package of horse hair on the bench to the right of the soft brick 'nest'.

Another look through the tempered glass window. Things are starting to warm up.

Here's a look at the burner closer to the final temperature. It's starting to glow red hot.

Another look at the layout.

The temperature has climbed enough now to make everything inside the kiln glow orange.

Another look inside at the wares. You can see one of the ceramic buttons holding the fiber blanket to the wire fence body.

Here's the vase after the horse hair has been applied. Love the squiggles!

Here is the setup of the bricks inside the kiln.

Here's a photo of the other piece that was in the kiln. I think it came out nicely.

A couple of photo studio shots of the horse hair vase.

And one more of the decorative crock.

Some June pottery pics

Hi Everyone!
Here are a number of photos from one of the firings I did in June. I will try to post more when I have time, as we are keeping very busy now trying to get things ready for some of the art shows. I hope you enjoy the pottery photos!

The above photos shows some of the warm pottery as it is coming out of the kiln. I heated the kiln to around 2230 degrees F, so it takes a while for it to cool down. I usually allow about 24 hours for it to cool enough to handle the pottery.

Here is the results of the firing stacked on the larger kiln, although this load came from my smaller kiln. It has a nice vent system so that the heat is sent outside instead of into the house. In the summer, this sure helps in keeping the house cooler!

Here is a fancy bowl with carving for a decorative effect.

This large cone vase has many glazes on it to help give it a very bright feel.

The above cone vase is about the same size as the colorful one, but doesn't have the stablizing foot... this one may be difficult to sell and will probably just be added to my own collection instead.

This Asian frog vase still needs the flower frog to be glued into the bottom. It is a great way to display single stem flowers like orchids or lilies since the flower frog holds the stem of the flower straight.

I call this shape a "square bowl". I really like the shape and hope to make more of them soon.

This mug has a plant carved into the sides. Then a dark green glaze was used to highlight the carving, then dipped in a lighter green glaze.

Another mug using some newer glazes. Coffee anyone? :D

This medium-sized bowl has carving on the outside similar to some early 1900 pottery I found on the internet. Just had to try it myself! LOL.

Here's another look at one of the cone vases. I wanted to take a portrait oriented photo to see if it displayed the piece better.

Feel free to post your comments and constructive criticisms. I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Carl