Rae Reich
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Posts posted by Rae Reich
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Sounds like a lovely idea. I think, though, that pot making and landscape painting are not often found in the same person!
Assuming you have a few local artists who already do plein aire paintings of your area, you could ask if they would give permission to use their images for a limited edition run of ceramic decals that a local, or even an Etsy-sourced potter could apply to their dinnerware. (Be sure to also get some practice, generic decals for the potter’s firing calibration tests, for best possible results.)
Alternatively, there may already be images of your favorite areas that do not require copyright to reproduce.
I think there have been several references to ceramic decal makers in past posts, but an internet search should lead to Custom Ceramic Decal Maker.
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2 hours ago, Amelia said:
@Rae Reich interesting-so it’s basically a low outdoor shower setup?
Yes and no. The tub spigot is higher on the wall, to accommodate the stationary tub, and the shower riser is lower. With the hand-held, I can hose off myself too, when necessary.
I imagine you could make it work with just the outdoor shower set-up without the spigot. -
I have some old china dolls and a few newer black clay pieces. I’ve always cleaned them with mild soap and water. I imagine that large, pale Parian surfaces which are not cleaned often might acquire some stains that could be hard to remove, but the relative non-absorbency should prevent most permanent staining. There are removers for rust stains that should work on Parian (test first on inconspicuous spot) and other types of dedicated cleaners for other stains. Vinegar and water would be my first attempt. Hydrogen Peroxide solution also, for mild bleaching without damage.
The beautiful Wedgewood dinnerware is made of Parian, with no additional glaze. I wouldn’t leave my blueberry cobbler sitting on it overnight, though. -
39 minutes ago, Amelia said:
@LeeUyou are very right. The frugal “I can make it work…!” part of my brain comes out sometimes…but yeah, a production studio needs water.
I have a faucet mounted at 4’ on the wall just outside the studio door with a fiberglass stationary tub beneath it and a bucket beneath that instead of a drain. The tub is unmounted so it can be moved if it’s in the way, or in your case, to keep out of the weather. I don’t use the sink for slops so I didn’t put in more straining/filtering. My faucet is a recycled shower + faucet unit with a hand-held shower hose attached that I can use to fill buckets without having to lift them in and out of the tub.
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Definitely want those beautiful figures to remain in one piece! Have they been hollowed out at all or are they mostly solid? You said you poked holes in them, are the vent holes going to a hollow core?
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I agree that white walls are best for lighting and for color perception. The wood is beautiful, but “groovy” (can catch dust). I would cover it with drywall and paint that. Less chance of bleed-through (multiple coats of paint) and the drywall can be removed if the area use is changed. Drywall will give you an additional layer of insulation too.
Having the kiln in the same room as the wall heater leaves the smaller room without heating in winter - that’s where I’d prefer the kiln. The doors can be opened for extra ventilation in summer.
I envy you the large, fresh, blank canvas!
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Good idea, @baetheus! It takes quite a bit of practice to write and draw on curved surfaces - stencils, etc, are much easier to use on flat surfaces as well!
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One of my first clay purchases at a street fair after I become a clay student was a wall piece with a gorgeous area of matte apricot/orange. I begged the Santa Barbara potters to tell me the secret - rutile? - but they just smiled. Many years later, while washing it, I scratched that area and discovered it was acrylic paint!
Should they have just told me the truth, thus preparing me for Ken Price’s demos for our class? By then, we’d seen his luscious auto paint finishes (which really need an auto painting booth) so he showed us how to be free with “Granny” low-fires for the thrill of bright color in the Age of 70s Stoneware.
- Bill Kielb and Ben xyz
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I have re-stuck lifted glaze SOMETIMES by misting very gently with water to get the glaze to lie down again, but there have been some places where touch-up was necessary. Otherwise, wash off and start over.
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I know your pain! Your Item 4 is where the problem is, I agree. Any bending will be remembered!!
Find or make out of clay a cookie-release shape that you can use to hold the coaster flat as you lift the cutter. I have dowels to push out clay stamped with smaller tubing, but it took a while to find something that fit perfectly within my large biscuit cutter.
Also, you can place one drywall board over your board full of coasters to keep them all flat as you flip them over (not too big of a board full of coasters, hold boards firmly together as you turn).
Ditto all the advice about drafts!
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Might be tortuous in your heat, but your oven can be used to pre-heat your pots, in lieu of (recommended) candling. Mine has a pilot light so it stays warm enough on its own, an electric stove that can be set for 150-165dg works too. Eight hours is about enough.
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Glaze pencils on white clay would be good for writing more than 10-15 words. Bisque a few small pieces to test how the glaze pencils work and how much clear to apply. Make a few large pieces, a bowl, a pitcher, a vase, with some surface smoothed with a rib to write on. Bisque fire the pieces. Choose the one you like best. Write lyrics on the cleared space with the glaze pencils and brush over that area with clear glaze. When dry, wax over the lyrics and proceed to glaze the rest of the piece with colors you have been successful with.
If there aren’t too many words, you can carve them into the leather-hard clay with a stylus, needle tool or small loop tool and glaze as @Pres suggests. You will still need to make test pieces to try out various glazes or stains that will work for you.
If you are working on other things in the studio for practice or assignments, you can test some of your ideas on them.
Happy Anniversary (even if you have to present an unfinished piece or photos)
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Yes! Do the spooze!
good luck
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I can foresee glazing difficulties if you succeed in reattaching the foot before glazing, primarily consistent glaze application. I am assuming you will want a very clean looking glaze finish rather than piled-on layers.
If you pre-drill the bisque pieces to accept metal anchors and then glaze and fire them separately, epoxy and anchors would be the most-likely-to-last repair (clean attachment area and holes thoroughly before firing).If you want to try the glaze-as-glue technique, I would still glaze each piece separately, then set them into the kiln touching where you want. Dampen the glazed places that you want to join and smush them together when on the kiln shelf. This join will be more fragile and could still break (it’s just a thin coat of glass with less integrity than clay) with careless handling.
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I have had buckets of Mistake glazes, also Mystery glazes - bags of unknown origin that fired with desirable effects. Being the kind of potter who wants to make unique and original pieces, I cherish the special qualities and try to use those one-offs creatively while they last. The one-of-a-kind nature of That glaze on That pot can be a selling point.
Some of us older potters have experienced the disappearance of specific glaze materials and we don’t always try to replicate the lost effects, we just find what new stuff we can do with what’s available. There are so many possibilities …. -
There might be a shrinkage difference between the paper clay appendage and the already-bisqued hare. I would just make the appendage a bit bigger than the fired hare and fire separately. After firing, the paper clay bisque can be sanded down to fit and attached. Prepare both surfaces for the attachment as you’re making the new appendage.
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What great glazes! And nice to read in the comments references to the Natzlers and Arneson, the extremes of the clay heroes of my student years. We all made weed pots, too.
Layne’s persistence is obvious. His focus on the variety of surfaces he could achieve seems to me to be way beyond Gertrude, even. Perhaps because he also focused on what sells - Reds!! Oranges!! I, too, want to hold them! -
7 hours ago, Min said:
I don’t know Rae, think your bad experience isn’t something you messed up on. You are too nice a person to anticipate someone being so nasty. The rest of us, yeah, we messed up!
Thanx, guys
But, to paraphrase an old Hawaiian saying, “Never turn your back on your kiln.” It was my responsibility.
- Min, Pres and Kelly in AK
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My biggest kiln disaster was when I left a person who was angry with me to monitor a ^10 firing in our big catenary arch kiln. When it got to temp, he walked away, leaving it to blast until I arrived 6 hours later. Looked in the peephole and saw … nothing! Took a day to cool enough to start unbricking the door.
Melted hard brick kiln posts, melted wadding, shelves at all angles lodged into pots, pots were slumped together, some pots actually drooled like oatmeal onto other pots and shelves, some just unfolded. The hard brick kiln walls were bubbling brown/black. Amazingly, some of my carved pots survived intact, with only a drool from another pot.
At least, it was only my pots and not anyone else’s! I still have some as “reminders”.- Hulk, Kelly in AK and Pres
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Seems like wetting and scraping the roads when “salting season” is over would alleviate the problem for almost everyone without redistributing dust through the air. And maybe come up with a less hazardous treatment in future. Good luck, Alaska <3
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13 hours ago, LeeU said:
If you would like a bit more of a smooth finish, around the eyes, where there are some little clay burrs making rough spots, just take a little piece of sandpaper, or even a good scrubby, and give it a wipe-those burrs once fired can feel quite sharp to little fingers.
A soft and worn scrubby is a gentle abrasive that is more flexible than a new one.
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10 hours ago, KayleighpP said:
No I did mean 1120°c - when I was taught ceramics at University it was always to high bisque Earthenware and low bisque Stoneware.
If you are brushing on glaze, a high bisque for earthenware makes sense. It wouldn’t suck up the moisture in the glaze as fast. Would be worse for dipping, I think.
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If these bumps didn’t appear until the decal firing, I think maybe that could be because of incomplete/inefficient earlier firings. I would definitely show your results to the clay maker, especially since it’s a new formula.
But, to paraphrase an old Hawaiian saying, “Never turn your back on your kiln.” It was my responsibility.
Looking for an artist for custom ceramic plates
in Studio Operations and Making Work
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I take back the Etsy referral - @Callie Beller Diesel knows better than I.