Teacher Appreciation Mug Gifts
Mugs thrown last Thursday
Where did the time go? Last week, I realized with a start that 5th grade graduation was a week away and I hadn’t even started making teacher appreciation gifts yet. Sure, I could have purchased something, but I wanted to give some of the teachers a more personalized gift. Plus, they all know me as a clay person and might have been a little disappointed to receive something store bought. Though, I don’t think that they expect gifts either….
So, with a week to go, I set out at warp speed to make some mugs.
Handles attached on Sunday – Bisque fired on Tuesday
With a little babying and some begging & cajoling, I added handles and bisque fired fasssssssssst – 4 days after making the mug bodies.
Whew – glazed and decal fired on Wednesday and Thursday respectively
I managed to squeeze all 5 mugs into my test kiln and got to glazing and adding decals.
My favorite mug – "math = language of the universe"
This one is my fave and is a present for Jasmine’s math teacher. I am super proud of my daughter – she skipped 5th grade math this year and she, along with a handful of other kids at her school did the 6th grade math curriculum with “Mr. Reeves”. One of his favorite sayings is “math is the language of the universe”.
Pretty cool…if I do say so myself
If you think about the statement, it’s true. 1 + 1 = 2 regardless if you’re in Denver or Shanghai or the planet Saturn.
For the art teacher who let me use her room every Tuesday after school for the past 2 years to teach my clay class
I can’t leave out the art teacher who I personally think has the hardest job in the school. She only gets 45 minutes a week with each class and is constantly cleaning up and preparing for a new class. There is no down time at all.
Look at the shrinkage between bisque and glaze fire!
I didn’t glaze all the mugs – only the ones that I absolutely needed today – last day of school. I was pretty surprised at how much the mugs shrunk after the glaze fire. The mugs were roughly the same size after throwing – used 1 lb of cone 6 porcelain clay. This is another example of seeing is believing…in the Mile Hi Ceramics Catalog it does say that shrinkage is about 18%.
I used to be sad that my daughter didn't look much like me, but clearly I'm relieved she takes after her dad 
But I digress. I mentioned earlier that I am super proud of my daughter – she is a good kid and a great student. I told her the other day that I hope she’ll stay geeky through high school – to which she responded, “I’m not a geek!” So I rephrased, “It’s okay to be a little nerdy….” Her response, “I’m not a nerd!” I tried again, “It’s okay – I’m a big dork myself.” Big smile from her, “Mom I’m a dork too.” I remembered that she and her posse of friends were called dorks in the beginning of the year by some of the “cool kids” and in their defense, they devised an ancronym in response to those who called them dorks.
D.O.R.K. = Defense Over Rude Kids. They weren’t called dorks for long.
Must leave to get ready for 5th grade Continuation,
Cynthia
Sole Plates Glazed
May 2009 – This is an easy fun project for kids and novice potters. Roll slab (any size), impress with interesting textures, including the soles of shoes, place slab on piece of foam (upholstery foam works great), center a block of wood or other rigid surface on top of the slab, press down firmly to create the rim of the plate. Adapted from “Plate-O-Matic”, Pottery Making Illustrated, June 2008.
11 Photos
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This post marks the end of my after school clay class and is the last project that we made. We met for the very last time on Tuesday, May 19th – a fact that makes me a little sad, but also happy in that my future holds different opportunities now. I haven’t been as attentive to blogging as my routine normally dictates. Lots of little activities are interrupting the flow of my schedule – parties, field trips, ceremonies and finally the school comes to an abrupt halt on Friday at 10am when my daughter will collect her 5th grade “continuation” certificate in a final ceremony. I don’t know about her but, I’m excited for the future (both hers and mine).
Meanwhile, I’ve been reading up a storm. I am attempting to do all the recreational reading that I can stand before school starts for me mid-August since I know that everything I read after August 16th will most likely be landscape/ecology related . I just finished The Handmaid’s Tale and Falling Angels this week and am looking for a few more good reads. I have Pollan’s Botany of Desire and What is the What and by Dave Eggers at the ready right now.
Read anything good lately?
Cynthia
This and That
Throwing porcelain – teacher appreciation gifts
I’ve been a little quiet on the blogging front this holiday weekend. I think it’s because my hubby is off work and we’ve been trying to fit some gardening in between thunder storms, playing games, and just hanging out with friends. I did manage to get a little throwing in on Thursday – I realized that only a week remained until the last day of school and decided to throw some mugs for teacher appreciation good bye gifts. I need to attach the handles this morning and then bisque fire tomorrow evening. Nothing like last minute planning…. I suppose worst case scenario, these don’t get fired and I purchase something. I tried, I really did.
Colored porcelain clay
I have also decided to work with some colored porcelain a là Jane Peiser style and dried some slip that I had previously colored with Mason Stains.
Meanwhile, we’ve been making plans for our big trip to Europe this June and spent the early morning looking at apartments for short term rent in Paris. Hubby and I decided to take a short side trip to Paris during the latter half of our trip to Germany – maybe 4-5 nights max. Round trip plane tickets from Frankfurt to Paris on Air France are only $113- per person and by getting an apartment for the 3 of us, we’ll save on dining out expenses. I’ve found some really cool, centrally located pedestrian friendly ones that aren’t terribly expensive – anywhere from 95 – 120 € which I don’t think is terribly bad for Paris. (The exchange rate is currently $1.39 to 1€.)
Gotta go make some handles,
Cynthia
P.S. We’re going to see the new Star Trek movie today – I’ve heard some positive reviews from friends who’ve seen it.
Firing Temperatures Matter for Laser Toner Decals
White earthenware butterfly tile before adding decals
Early this week, I fired a successful cone 04 decal kiln on cone 6 glazed work – the kin included the star initial pendants that I made for my students. As an experiment, I decided to add some decals to a low fire white earthenware tile I had made as an example for one of my student’s projects and intended to fire it in the same kiln load since I had a little extra space.
Butterfly tile before firing decals
I had previously consulted Linda Arbuckle’s website – she provides a handout in pdf form that discusses firing laser toner decals at different temperatures dependent on the temperature of the glaze surface to which the decal will be adhered. If you’re a clay person, you know that there’s a huge temperature difference between cone 06 and cone 6 – roughly 400° F. I don’t know about you, but I decided to use this piece as a test – does firing temperature of decals really matter or is the rule really more of a friendly suggestion? I know I’ve broken more than my fair share of clay rules with barely any consequences – sometimes, happy accidents are the result.
Post decal firing to cone 04 decals are barely visible
Guess what friends? The photo above post decal firing shows that the recommended firing temps based on glaze temp is a hard and fast rule – though I’m sure it could be exploited somewhat for artistic means. The decals are faded and in the case of the one applied to the chartreuse yellow butterfly – barely visible at all. Seeing is believing. So, what does Linda recommend as a firing temp for decals adhered to cone 06 glazed work? Answer: cone 010-06. If I used a lot of low fire clay, I would probably start experimenting with decal firing around cone 010-08 (1657-1728°F) because it seems like the decal firing should be lower than the glaze firing temperature. Keep in mind that I used commercial Duncan under glazes and clear cone 06 overglaze for this tile experiment – so results might vary depending on what glaze materials are used and firing temp. For my cone 6 glazed work onto which I’ve fired decals successfully, I use bucket glaze recipes vs. commercial glazes.
Meanwhile, a select few (about 1/4 – myself included) of the members of the Colorado Potters Guild have decided to staff a booth to sell handmade pottery almost every month of the summer at the Old South Pearl Street’s Farmer’s Market this summer beginning June 7th. I’ve elected to participate on June 7th, July 12th and August 2nd. After the first week, where almost all interested members will have work represented, the subsequent weeks will only feature 2-3 members at a time for space purposes. On July 12th, I’ll be sharing a booth with Sarah Christensen and on August 2nd a ? person. I’m thinking of asking a non guild member of the Denver clay community to join me 
It will be a good exercise to see if it is worth the effort on Sunday mornings. The Colorado Potters Guild is located on Old South Pearl Street and since we are a member of the Old South Pearl Street Business Association, we are receiving our booth space gratis. Our booth will not really be associated with the Potters Guild per se – each participating member is individually responsible for taxes and proper licensing. We have also christened ourselves…drumroll please…Pearl Street Potters. I know very original, but we can’t use the Colorado Potters Guild name for legal reasons.
So, what am I going to sell at the market? Jewelry for one – but also thinking of pottery related items that will compliment the types of things available for sale at a farmer’s market. Coffee/Tea mugs, soap dishes, bowls, butter keeps, small vases – ideas anyone?
Have a good long Memorial Day weekend,
Cynthia
