Hybrid Leaf Vases

I liked making these 2 vases – the bases were made from slabs of clay and the wheel thrown neck was added after the hand built portion of the vase had set up (not quite leather hard) enough to withstand having the neck addition.  I also made a bisque texture plate using ginkgo leaves from the little tree I planted in my yard – though I haven’t used it yet.  The white glaze is new for me – it’s from Mastering Cone 6 Glazes by Hesselberth and Roy, pg. 108 “Faux Majolica”.  There’s a great interaction between the white and the aqua color glaze where they overlap that I really like.

In an effort to use and store a limited number of glazes and all the associated raw materials in my small garagio, I thought this white would be good as both a liner and I might like to try painting some stains on top in the future maiolica style.  I decided to be conservative and only made a 5,000 gram batch just in case I didn’t like it, but I have to say, it fires terrifically!

In regards to glazes, I decided to bite the bullet today and purchased the Digital Fire Insight Glaze Calculator after testing several different programs, even a free glaze calc program.  I’m all about free, unless it isn’t working for me and this one isn’t a terribly intuitive program – but that really applies to me only.  Maybe now that I have the glaze calculation program, I can add my glaze recipe page to my website.  I’ve been too lazy to format tables in word for my recipes and it would be really cool for others to see the analysis that accompanies each.

Square Bottom Mug - hand built from slabs of clay

I really like the way this mug turned out – round top, square bottom and the faux majolica MC6 glaze interacts nicely with this green one too! In an effort to move away from the templates that ceramicist, teacher and writer Annie Chrietzberg gave to everyone this past summer during a workshop I took here in Denver, I tweaked her template just a tad giving the mug a square base instead of a round one.  The tweak was minimal, but effective.

Speaking of Annie – I wonder if her ears are ringing right now…I enjoyed spending a couple of hours with her yesterday in my studio.  She’s warm, funny and very generous with her knowledge.  Oh Earth to Annie…thanks for stopping by!

Meanwhile, yesterday was hectic and I didn’t get a chance to do all my daily Internet activities such as responding to blog comments, answering emails etc.  In the am, I took my daughter to visit the Denver Center for International Studies, which is a 6th grade -12th grade public magnet school in Denver.  Denver residents are lucky to have school choice – but we are also cursed because choosing a school is like applying to college.  She will be starting middle school next year and we’ve narrowed our choices down to 4 including the one above, Denver School of the Arts, Morey Middle School which has a gifted magnet program, and one other neighborhood school.

My first choice for her is the international studies school – it’s so cool, they start studying a foreign language in 6th grade (French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese or Japanese) and they visit countries where their language is spoken starting in 9th grade.  Her first choice is Denver School of the Arts – but they only accept 20% of applicants.  Besides, does our family need more than one artist?  DCIS accepts about 50%, Morey is an automatic in – and the other school is just an extra for decision making purposes.  All 3 of these schools are urban & very diverse – and bonus upon bonus – they provide busing!

The downside to all of school choice is that applications are due by Dec. 12 for following year and include essays, interviews, teach recommendations, test scores – all for 6th grade!  It’s a little overwhelming for both of us.  I promised her that if she decides to go to DCIS, I’ll take classes in whatever foreign language she picks.  Wouldn’t Japanese be cool?  Of course I’d sign up to chaperon field trips whenever possible!

TGIF,

~Cynthia