New Glaze Loads out of the Kiln

Mugs from the new glaze load

Award bowl for order

Back up award bowl for order

I have been working a bit more now that the weather has allowed the clay to thaw, and the shop to be warm enough to work with out using too much electric to heat it up. I have had an order of Communion Sets(16) and award bowl to make for a customer. As of today they are all shipped to various colleges across the country where new ordinands are graduating. These are for a special graduation award. 

 Chalices and Patens are something that I have been doing now for about 25 years. These are a sampling of the latest.

I throw the bowls for the chalice off of the hump, and the stems also. Then I trim the stems in a chuck I have made for the Griffin Grip, and the cups later. When each cup has been trimmed, and an added edge added in for the stem top to set into, I join them together right on the wheel and firm up the join with the wheel moving slowly. this allows me to make a strong join, and to make certain the stem is online and straight up.

 I join the two pieces together with a liquid called Magic Water. It is a combination of soda ash, and Sodium Silicate. I have had better luck with this compound than I used to have with plain slip or slip and vinegar. I use a stiff small bottle type brush to apply the Magic Water and roughen the clay at the same time.

 I have been having problems with the darker clay body that I had ordered as part of my clay this last order. I had never worked with it before, and so it has been a bit of challenge. It throws very well, and looks nice in the greenware and bisqware stages, but it had been taking glaze very differently than I had been used to.

I tried a new tack for these last two loads, that of applying most of the glaze with a spray gun. Layering the colors, and blending one into another has allowed me to come back to a glaze effect that is much better with this clay body.

 I sign all of my work now, and add in the date. I also use an old lead printing R as a chock for the bottom also. This is the bottom of one of the patens for the order.

It may be a little fancy for some, but it seems to finish the bottom of the piece, and these are for presentation. So a little more interest for those that might look at the bottom, and the owners of the Communion Set.




Mugs are something that I enjoy doing quite a bit, and these are some of the newer ones. These have been warped with a rib held at the side while the wheel is turning slowly. Then I reround the pot a bit leaving in the grooves and off centered areas in the form. After these are trimmed, I add a handle that I have pulled off of the mug and join on using the Magic Water.