Now Available at Jenny Jib, August 21, 2015

Here are pics from my most recent firing, of work dropped off at Jenny Jib on Saturday August 15th.  I'm excited about the direction my firings are going, with a mix of big, medium and small pieces at a variety of price points.  Most of these photos can also be seen in this Facebook album.

Everything in this firing is cone 6 stoneware and foodsafe, technically they're microwave and dishwasher safe too but where the stuff is getting more sculptural, I'd recommend gentle handwashing.  And, of course, plates with picture wire attached shouldn't be microwaved!  

Click on the pics to see larger images.

There were 2 relief carved vases in this firing that turned out quite well. 

First, a vase with an owl and mouse on one side, rabbit on the other, and birch trees all around ($175).  
  

Detail of mouse, ground and fiddleheads, some of the colour effects were obtained by painting studio glazes over the underglazed areas.

Top of the vase, looking in

This is a small vase with a heron on one side, fox on the other and cattails all around ($125)

Whale Mugs!  There are 4, $50 each:

 

 

Next, the lobster butter dish: 

Next, large Flounder Platters.  These are both wired with picture hanging wire so can go from wall to table.  The blue/brown one is not available (due to a small crack) but I'll be making more!

The larger flounder platter worked out: $125

Lobster mugs! I made 2 of these, they were fun, featuring advanced comfort grip lobster handle technology.

The first has the Peggy's Cove lighthouse on it and a lobster handle, $75

Mug with lobster handle and relief carved Bluenose II - which is not actually available due to a small crack.

A Kraken Mug ($50):

 

Small figurines, these are at the $15 price point

Horse

Dog

Fox

Frog

Goat

Rat

Walrus - first ceramic walrus figurine I've made!  It's sold but I'll be making more!

Walrus side view

Here is a big rooster! He's 13" tall x 13" long.  And a bargain $175 only because one of his toes bust off during the making process, and again while I was glazing him, but I was able to repair it with glaze so it should be fine so long as he's handled with care.

I'm happy about the interaction of the commercial underglazes I use with the studio glazes I mix up in my shed.  This guy had all his details painted on for the bisque firing, and then was dunked in "Randy's Red Gold" for the glaze firing.   

  
Two small sheep bowls:

And I also dropped off a few pieces from a previous firing that I still had at home:

Mountain Goat Bowl ($85)

A large, stocky horse ($125)

 

Polar Bear Bowl ($65)

Larger Polar Bear Figurine ($50) 

 And two older small flounder plates, that can also hang on the wall. 

 

Works In Progress Aug 9, 2015, whale mugs, relief carved vases, lobsters and more

At long last here are some progress pics of work about to go into the kiln.  For a change I thought I'd photograph things in progress after I was done underglazing.  Underglazing can be as time consuming as carving I've realized!

All of the pieces in these pics are still "greenware", not yet fired.  As soon as it stops pouring rain I'll be able to start shuttling things across the yard to the kiln shed for the bisque firing.  Then, all the pieces will get dunked into studio glazes and fired again (all the pieces in this firing are cone 6 stoneware).  The super painterly pieces here will get a clear glaze, the animal bowls will be glazed various colours.  I took lots of photos for my own reference as I'm not sure how everything will turn out - we'll see!

A lot of these pieces will be going to the supremely wonderful Jenny Jib shop in the beautiful town of Lunenburg.  As always these are all hand sculpted, I don't use any types of molds.

First up, who doesn't need a butter dish with a lobster on it?  Jenny always has cool Jonathan Adler pieces in her shop and this piece came out of having fun asking myself "What would Jonathan Adler do if he was designing things especially for Jenny Jib?".  Probably not this.  But it was fun to pretend.  These are all different views of the same butter dish, which is made from slabs for a change - usually all my sculptural-functional pieces start on the wheel.

 Next up, Whale Mugs! I'm excited about these, there are two humpbacks, a fin whale and a sperm whale

Next, what visitor to Lunenburg hasn't wished they had a mug with the Bluenose II on it, and a lobster for a handle?  There's just one mug and 3 pics of it:

 Making a mug with the Peggy's Cove Lighthouse on the front and a lobster for a handle also seemed like a good idea:

Next up are two largish flounder platters that will get dunked in studio glazes, much faster than painting underglazes.  I left my feet in the pic for scale.  They'll be foodsafe, dishwasher safe, and also able to hang on the wall.

When I started art school I loved making relief carved vases.  I haven't tried any for awhile as the ones I've made in the past were red clay with black stain.  Adding colour makes things more tricky, so we'll see how these turn out.  First here's one with a fox on one side and a heron on the other.  

This next vase is larger, with a rabbit on one side, an owl with mousie on the other, and birch tree trunks all around.  Back when I started it fiddleheads were just coming out...

Here's a kraken mug:

 And a fox mug:

A rabbit bowl:

Two black bear bowls:

Moose bowl:

Chicken bowl:

Skunk bowl:

A flock of six sheep bowls which will be glazed white with black legs and heads (Suffolk Sheep)

And finally a batch of figurines.  My figurines started getting bigger, more time consuming and the prices started creeping up, so these ones are smaller than most of the ones in my last firings.