Joseph Fireborn

you want a job?

i live on the other coast. otherwise i would come work for you anytime.

Nature has somuch to offer...awe inspiring

It kind of appears you already do Joseph. At the very least, you work has a "weathered" quality.

Yea. I am in it for the long haul. Once I find the combinations I want I can just spray those and it will drastically increase my spraying time. I pour the insides and wax the bottoms ahead of time, so all I have to do is spray the outsides. I also have 5 spray guns. My brother in law is a auto body painter he gave me 3 guns he doesn't use anymore, but they work fine for what I need them for.

*decrease my spraying time* not increase.

LOL I read it as "decrease". I like dipping for the bright inside colors I like; but I will probably start spraying the clear I do on the outside since it only needs one coat anyway.

Glad to see it worked out for you. always nice when things go right.

Well, no wonder you're pleased! Beautiful results, you should always spray in the wind .

Thanks Rae.

Welp. Sprayed for the first time after breaking in my compressor etc. It is interesting. Going to take some practice to get used to the movements and spray gun techniques. I like the low amount of glaze I have to have on hand though. I made some tall cylinders to practice on then fire to see how each different application comes out.

High Volume Low Pressure. Remember, low pressure coming into the gun.

Yea I kept the pressure at around 25 coming into the gun.

If you want to see my pots here ya go: http://s1183.photobucket.com/user/josephrosenblatt/library/First Firing of 2016

Wonderful results! I love the dark one with the tiny silver dapples, but my very favorite is the black/red one that looks like strips of fabric are wrapped around the cup under the glaze. Wonderful.

thanks for the kind words

Some good looking glazes in the gallery Have you called them variation glazes or are they variegation glaze? Not easy with a bit of dyslexia.

I dunno. Variation glazes because they add variety to my pots? I dont even know what variegation means lol... sorry for the confusion I will just change them to glazes.

Variegation is where the glaze splits into two different glass probably because of titanium.

It's not specifically pottery, but it can be applied. Twyla Tharpe's "the Creative Habit!" Is interesting reading about some practical mechanisms involved in creating long term.

Zen and the Art of Pottery.

Thanks everyone for all the kind recommendations and all the personal messages. I didn't mean to scare everyone. It is just standard procedure infusions based on my treatments. Hope everyone has a good new year! I have a lot of reading to do in 2016.

I clean it every day, it takes 30 minutes of my precious time but it is totally worth it

I don't usually make much of a mess, but I had glaze on the floor, and clay everywhere. A good 2 hours of mopping and scrubbing everything down.

My problem is I work out there after my son's bedtime ... by the time I'm done it's 1 am and I'm too tired to clean up my mess. Then the problem builds. Clay is so messy.

Thanks for all the great advice everyone. I appreciate it dearly.

I don't think my stuff is aesthetically where I want it to be, either. A mentor told me once that if it was of a passable level of quality (even throwing, functional glaze), you should sell it off and make room for the next stuff. The work gets better as you make more of it. This I can vouch for.

It's also encouraging to make a little bit of that money you've poured into everything back.

Best kind of day!!

The worst day in the studio, is still better than the best day at work!

That when I glaze fire and realize a mistake in size, or texture, or whatever, I have several weeks of partially finished work with the same mistake because I didn't know yet!

Haha. It's awesome isn't it!

Ah well. Forward progress is all I really want.

I am happy with what I am making now. Just wish there was more time.

Your stuff is awesome.

I am seeing over and over again that people are drawn to the things I especially enjoyed making. Do it! Make things that you would love to buy.

Joseph, can I swipe that idea for an apron for this year's gift exchange down at the studio?!? That would be absolutely PERFECT!!!!

I want to make potter's aprons out of old jeans and I could just SEE that embroidered on the pocket.

It would make a good gift!

Most glazes turn out better if thinned. Add water, double dip the rim. If the rim is better take water out. If the body is better, don't double dip the rim!

Alabama

Potters are devoted to a material that is hard to manipulate, frustrating and under appreciated.

I /agree with that, Denice.

No. I just accepted that batch is bonked and I am using it... I didn't even mix a new batch. I will try again later, for now I am just accepting that I have a 5 gallon bucket of speckled glaze and using it.

Were the 'duns' for dramatic effect?

Lol yes

There is an interesting part to selling pots. It is very personal what somebody likes, I have sold many things that I thought looked friggin terrible but the customer loved it because of what I hated.

Great stuff Joseph. I like the rustic look of the glaze. The aged wood you used for the photo surface plays off that idea nicely.

Thanks. I had an old flower pot I just broke up and thought it would help show the look I was going for in my pots. At first I thought it was too distracting, but later I liked it. Sort of makes the pots feel like that's where they belong. I am not sure I am going to keep going down this path though. A lot of decisions to make this week about production. I want to become more efficient and I am not sure that I want to work with a dark stoneware because of the amount of kiln time it takes...

Glad you fixed it.

So handy .... I'm fortunate that my dad is able to do those kinds of things because I'm not handy in that way at all. So he comes over and builds me shelves, and when he builds his own shelves, I go over and organize them for him in exchange.

Joseph, what's your Etsy shop? I'm on there every day.

I will check out your etsy store tomorrow its late. I sieved 100 mesh 8 bucket s of glaze 3 times each by hand with a paint brush. Very tired.

Cool, I posted the email I got from Amazon in the Business and Marketing forum as Amazon Handmade, if anyone is interested. Best wishes for your success.

Neat email. can't read the links but seems like program is pretty good.

Good the results are on my blog. I am scaling down my testing to 15% per load, and making the other 85% of my kiln for sale. Or that's the plan anyways.

Get feeling better.

Great results Grype (or may I call you Joseph?).

Thanks Evelyne. Joseph is fine. I need to just change my name on here to my name. Grype was just something I came up with a long time ago. Stands for gryphon.

But your a tenacious newbie. And one with plenty of common sense. Your good man. Happy for you.

Appreciate the kind words mark.

Grype, sounds like a very beneficial experience. Those things can really influence your growth more than a technique.

Ooooh, that Akira Satake. i had to google, hehe. he has such intuitive work. I think. I have so much to learn.

Wow, what beautiful objects. I just googled Akira. Enjoy the workshop Grype!

TOMORROW!

Sounds as if you're taking a smart approach. Lots of folks have said that it's limitations that lead to good work, and they are right. Because clay is such a protean material, it's a little harder to get natural limitations, so they have to be self-imposed.

I like that saying rayaldridge. Self imposed limitations to increase quality of work. Good stuff.

Whatever you do, just keep doing it. It will be nice to see your results. Cool.

Kiln going! Lots of random combinations. Only time will tell when I open that thing up if its terrible or not. Haven't glazed like this in a while.

I'm sure it will be good.

Well, personally, I could do without the cleaning...

Hahaha, wife works, I stay home with my son all day. Cleaning is my duty!

Looking after family and home while making pottery, sound great to me