For next year.

Sliding into position: A just thrown on the potters wheel bowl, cut off and (still wet and soft) carefully placed (slid for dramatic effect) on the shelf.

I've neglected this blog, again...

I've been researching, throwing and throwing. 

It continues to amaze me how subtle a variation in curve can be between a bowl that stands to attention and a dumpy thing. 

Also, I tend to concentrate on shape and glaze, It's just what I've always done and enjoy. I feel the need to decorate, I've been in company of some exquisitely decorated vessels lately. 

I'm fighting against it.

Sliding into position.

A just thrown on the potters wheel bowl, cut off and (still wet and soft) carefully placed (slid for dramatic effect) on the shelf.

Vase with no name.

This is the first in a new series of vases.
I can't find the rite name for it. Please help, what do you think should be its name?



Also:
I have a new facebook page: www.facebook.com/andrewwiddis.potter

Swirl bowl with cream on white glaze.

I was looking at this bowl yesterday and was taken by how the glossy glaze and the swirls has such a lovely fluid look.
It has taken many glaze tests to get this super smooth glossy glaze, and about as many tests to get the cream and white combination to look just right, but I think it's been worth it.
The glaze tests are those strange things to the left of the bowl. I've got quite a collection now. Perhaps I should start making them more like chess pieces and start a side line.



I have a new facebook page: www.facebook.com/andrewwiddis.potter

Bud vase.

It's Spring here in Australia, and the warm weather kicked in on Monday (unfortunately so did the hay fever). 

I purchased a new house yesterday.

Ann Ferguson makes these wonderful little houses, along with various factories and trees.
I plan to own a new neighbourhood before the end of the year; I love them!

The Real Estate agent I'm using is SMALLpieces.

2 bowls.

Simple white bowls.

Cobalt brushwork.

I find it a little risky adding cobalt brushwork to a bowl.
An off day with the brush can leave the previous weeks work of throwing and bisque firing wrecked*. So after a 48 hour glaze firing, opening that kiln door to see the results can be quite inspiring or a real downer.
Luckily I found this bowl greeting me when I opened the kiln this morning.

*cobalt intensifies after firing. So the results can't really be seen when raw (unfired).

Pink everlasting.

Here comes the sun.
As the days sun strengthens, the rhodanthe chlorocephala (pink everlasting) unfurls its petals.


Rewards from scattering seeds a few months ago.

Orange glaze test.

Can I have your thoughts on this glaze.
The grey patch near the top is from a spot of ash, which I quite like.

Greenware-bowl foot.

The foot of a pot has to be the bit I struggle with.
For me, it's the bit that makes or breaks a good pot.
So I will continue to work on perfecting this part, along with the rim and the rest of the pot.
Perfection is forever just over the horizon; So the journey continues.

New test tile style.

Rough and ready, but I think it has some style.

Easy to make. I drilled into plaster with two different splayed (drill) bits. The first drill is the wide base. The the hole is continued with a thinner bit. The guide points make a coddle to catch the glaze.
Soft clay is pressed into this (first one should be thrown away as it will have plaster dust on it) and when it's leather hard it will easily fall out.

This glaze test is 100% iron bark (eucalyptus) ash from my studio fire place; fired to cone 10 in oxidation.

Flat plates.

I went the whole month of August without a single post. Have been keeping a low profile in front of the studio fireplace.
First day of Spring here, so I expect to be more active photographing and posting.
Here are the latest items out of my kiln. Flat plates, in entree, main and large platter sizes. coated with a satin gloss stark white glaze.
I think they're going to be just perfect for Summer berries and thick cream.



White satin gloss glaze recipe:

KAOLIN:20
SILICA:32
WHITING:19.6
POTASH FELDSPAR:27.4

ZIRCON:10

WATER:110ML

Summer berries and cream to finish.

Vase with cherry blossom.

A vase I gave to a family member 

many years ago. 

So nice to see it being used.

Lucie Rie: Modernist Potter by Emmanuel Cooper.

Have you got a copy yet?

Green bowl.

Just add noodles...

Kiln sitter.

My kiln sitter cup.
Fired probably 20 times now. It feels so fragile, but has a wonderful deep gloss as a result.
I suspect the glaze has become well and truly part of the clay body.

A floating platter.

I've been away from the studio for a few weeks. 

This platter was one of the last pieces I made and it sat on the bench  for weeks waiting for its glaze fire. It's a rare thing for me to leave a piece glazed but not fired.

I've been otherwise distracted by the renovation of my old home, in need of some structural work to an external wall. The local council have a heritage overlay on it so it has required a site visit, followed by engineers report, building plans and building permit.

I'm not sure that I'm ever going to tackle an old build again. Besides the heritage requirements, it's almost impossible to get a builder interested in an old building. I've heard it said a few times now that builders are only really interested in assembling new houses. It all arrives in sections on a truck and they put it together on a nice new concrete slab.

Seems like ceramics, building is a dying skill too.

PS. The smell of those coffee beens to the left of the platter had me thinking of little else than how quickly I could pack up and make a double, double shot espresso. Which I've unfortunately just finished; perhaps another.

This piece; Hand thrown (potters wheel).

Clay for sale.

Do you need some clay?

I have way too much stuff in my studio, in my shed and outside the back door. Time to start off-loading.