are you serious?

Back on December 9th, 2010, I had a post about how I work.. I talked about how I develop a new idea. Part of developing an idea is being ok with letting ideas sit for some time before jumping in. New things take time.. and I let this particular idea sit for a number of months. But finally..I've moved onto a few news steps that I imagined.. and I'm glad I did it. Incubation is key.



These are some pictures at maybe the 2nd step of decoration. When it was green, I sgraffitoed through black underglaze..then I bisque fired it. Now I add some wax (that's the blue part) and dip into a super secret white slip called, Tony's Crack. Now I have another layer..and with the backround being the clay body, the black underglaze and now the slip. Cool I think.. so now it's getting bisque fired one more time so I can add some glaze in specific places.. and if you're curious I'm bisquing again because the porcelain and slip..tend to pull at one another during a glaze firing. I don't think this is a common problem.. but for my clay/glaze and firing methods.. rebisquing, when layering is really important. I saw a batch of my pots get torn apart... now that I think of it I wish I had a picture of it.. but then who likes to remember the bad times? It was probably the coolest thing ever that happened with ceramics..so.. too bad there's no pic.

They look like some weird cloud form type things... odd. i love the way it contrasts now..and I hope most of that stays with the pot during it's finishing fire. This is the plan.. a clear glaze over the black..and 10-mo-ku over the clay body..leaving the slip bare for the fire...and leaving the foot area clean. that's four different surfaces...woah.. that's crazy talk. then I'm going to wood fire it!.. are you serious?



I suppose a person could go on and on..layering like this. Maybe that could be an interesting way to work.. To have a group of pots always rolling through a bisque kiln with everything else..and build those layers up like crazy. wow. that's a good idea. maybe you, noble reader,...should try it...

a guy would always tell me something when i tried to suggest he change something about his pots.... he'd look at me and say in a gruff voice..."well that's a really good idea, bobby.. why don't you do it, instead?"