Bowl using Randy's Red, Opal, Nickel Matt

Made this bowl with my new Randy's Red.  whew, so glad that this batch came out better.  I didn't change anything, except I made a bigger batch.  My test batch was only 500 grams.  This batch was 5000 g.  After talking to my chemical suppliers I started to think that perhaps the test batch wasn't big enough for the red iron oxide to do its stuff.
I think I was right.  This isn't muddy at all. 



Don't know what I'll do with this bowl.  Maybe it'll be a Christmas present for someone.

Luncheon plates

I made a set of two square lunch sized plates using the wax resist method over matt green glaze. 

The green leaves came out a different color than the dogwood plate I made with Pam's glazes.  I had suspected that her Val's Green is different than mine and I'm not sure why.  I used my Val's Green to glaze a plate last week and didn't like the result.  I thought it was just the way I applied it, but now that I've seen these two plates, I have my doubts.  I have another leaf in the kiln right now that has Val's Green on it, so in the morning I will know for sure. 

I also used my white on the petals which is different from Pam's.  It came out slightly different and looks like I will need to give a heavier coat or possibly two coats of the glaze to give the look I like best. 

This is the plate I made with Pam's glazes.  See the differences?  On this plate, the leaf background recedes; in the lunch plates, the flowers recede.  I prefer the one below.



Broke a bowl...sob

I broke a bowl that I particularly liked while loading the kiln.  I made the little flower stamp that I used to texture the bowl.  Think it's kinda cute and will use it again. 

This little dish came out well.  It's the first time I've like one of my glazes (opal)on the white clay.  On white, opal is looking greener than on the red clay.  It broke well over the edges also.  So, hallelujah!  This oval bowl would be good as a soap dish or to hold little pieces of jewelry. 



Here's the opal on red clay.  Much bluer than above. 

I think I could try to sell both of these on etsy.  If I could ever figure out how to make the shop banner.  lol

New glazing method

I tried a new glazing technique that Pam taught me, overlapping two glazes when painting a design on the plate.  I made these 4 tapas size plates, decorating them with whimsical floral designs.  They didn't fire flat, but I love the glaze combinations.

This was a fun little technique and I plan to use it more often.  Think I'll gift these plates.

Test tiles from the kiln

Well, I finally got my kiln repaired.  He needed to put in a whole new bottom in the kiln because the glass that had fused on it was too deep.  He also needed to replace the lower heating element.  So, I guess it's about as good as new as it can be. 

I made my first test glazes, 500g of 7 glazes: Randy's Red, Narragon White, Opal, New Blue, Floating Blue, Nickel Matt, and Cream Breaking Rust.  It was exciting to do my first kiln firing of some test tiles.  Here are the glazes:

 Left: Nickel Matt     Center: New Blue       Right: Cream Breaking Rust

Left: Randy's Red                Center: Narragon White           Right: Opal

Left: Opal over New Blue   Center: Opal over Randy's Red   Right: Narragon White over Nickel Matt

I made several other glaze combos....some were really ugly.  But, I figure it's best to save all of them.  Don't want to make the same mistake twice. :)

My favorites are Opal, Cream Breaking Rust and Narragon White. I made up 6000g batches of these three.  My Randy's Red doesn't look exactly like Pam's. It's a bit browner.  I gave her a test tile to fire in her kiln, so I will be able to tell if it is the glaze formulation or the kiln.