Gone Fishin' & Muddin' and Didn't Leave Home!

Finally, Spring has sprung, flowers are blooming, grass is turning green and the sun is shining!  And, I've gone fishin' in the studio....I've never caught so many nice fish in one place before, but I did this week in the mud!  

These are Atlantic Salmon carved into white stoneware.  It was a very delicate process and I held my breath while I carved out the tail of the fish.  It sets on the drying rack and once dried, in the kiln it shall go for the bisque fire.  After that, it won't be so delicate.  Right now it scares the daylights out of me to even breath in the direction of that pot!

This carving is of three Brook Trout on brown stoneware.  I have never used this stoneware to carved before.  This particular stoneware speckles once fired, so it should be a great effect to the fish.  

The rest of the week has been spent working on a variety of projects and pieces, from mugs, cups and bowls to more sculptural and carved pieces.  Some experimental, some purposeful. Here is a sample of a few of the pieces I've been working on.

This is an interesting piece.  Deep carved and abstract in nature.  It was nonetheless challenging and time consuming in it's own way.  Trying to get every crumb of clay out of the crevices while leaving it fairly smooth proved to be tedious work.  When I began this piece, I was clear on how I wanted to surface decorate it and although I was tempted to stray from the original plan, I did not. The picture to follow will horrify you.  But, don't despair...this is not the final piece...

I want the piece to be black with bright red in the crevices, but to achieve that, I had to saturate the entire piece in red to cover all the walls of the crevices.  I'm letting it set up and then will go over the piece in black underglaze leaving the crevices red.  Once it has gone through the bisque fire, I will then clear glaze it, as I will the black and white pieces above.  

I hope you are enjoying Spring, wherever you may be.  It has been an on again, off again relationship with Maine.  Below normal temperatures with frost one day, the next a lot of rain.  Today was beautiful sunshine and the rest of the week will be more rain.  Yet, we are fortunate, because we are not under water, as are parts of the mid-west.  Life is good in Maine, hope it is where you are!  Have a blessed week!