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
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
Good-bye Presents – Initial Ceramic Pendants
12 glazed star shaped stoneware pendants
Yesterday was bitter sweet – it marked my 20th wedding anniversary to my hubby and it was also the last after school clay class of the year that I am ever teaching. The kids are bummed, but I think glad that they had the opportunity to take clay classes after school in the first place. As a little good bye present, I made each of my students a little star shaped pendant with their first name initial decaled on the front.
Initial decals etc.
Decals after application but before firing
I searched long and hard for a fun font to use for the initials – and ended up using this one…I think it’s called “101 Starry Nights” or something similar. Although, if you look closely, there’s one anomaly – the “C”. I used a font called “Parry Hotter” for Cole who is obsessed with Harry Potter.
Close-up before firing decals
Initial pendants after decal firing
Star shaped initial J after decal firing
I didn’t get a picture of the final gift – I added jump rings to the pendants and strung the stars with waxed cotton cord. I think they liked them….
So with that, I want to thank my pint sized pottery rock stars for two terrific years!
~Cynthia
Stoneware Wall Box Tile Trio
5 Ravens Wall Box Tiles, printed stoneware clay, mishima, brushed glazes and laser toner decals
This trio was a ton of fun to make and decorate. In fact I enjoyed making these so much that I had intended to make more right away. Now that the show pressure is off and the making cycle interrupted, it’s been harder to get back in the studio groove. It doesn’t help that the month of May is a terribly busy one with my daughter’s school activities and my extra volunteer/chaperone/sub duties related to school. But, it’s almost over…the school year officially ends in a mere 11 days when my (weep, weep) 5th grader graduates to middle school. Or as Denver Public Schools puts it – “continues” – sounds more feel good P.C., don’t you think?
Three 2.5" square by 1" deep wall boxes
After constructing the wall boxes, I played around with placement – shuffling them around until I liked how the textures lined up. BTW, this set up was not my final choice.
Side view
To keep the boxes from warping after I constructed them, I weighted them between 2 pieces of drywall board and periodically checked on them until they were bone dry. These were constructed with 45° degree beveled joints which I then scored and slipped with paper clay for strength before joining.
Added a small notched slab for easy hanging
Sarah, a ceramicist up in South Dakota, asked how these hang the other day and I just happen to have a photo of my system in the archives. When I’ve made these in the past, I’ve tried different techniques from just using the upper edge, to punched holes for wire to these little notched additions. The little slabs were left over after I constructed the boxes and just seemed like a good idea at the time. I centered the notch with a measured center point on the top of each tile. These can also sit on a shelf instead of being hung on a wall (see the first photo).
Meanwhile, I did a little pendant glaze firing last night in my mini Aim test kiln. Tomorrow is my last teaching day for my after school clay class and I decided to give the kids a little going away present – star shaped pendants with their initials decaled on the front. The kiln is still too hot to touch this morning – but I did prop the lid open to speed cooling. After I drop my daughter off at the school bus stop and take the hounds for a run, I’m going to spend the am looking for a cool font and will print the initial decals.
Have a great week,
Cynthia
