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
Rabbit Box and Anniversaries
Rabbit Box
I really like this covered stoneware box, unfortunately, this is the only photo I have of it and I didn’t get photographs of the other side. I like to put different images on each side to keep it fresh. Why rabbits? It reminds me – especially this vintage image – of one of my favorite childhood stories…The Velveteen Rabbit published in 1922 by Margery Williams.
Meanwhile, my husband and I are headed downtown tonight to celebrate our 20th anniversary (has it really been 20 years already?) – which isn’t official until May 19th. Since the 19th is a school night, we’re celebrating early by spending the night at the Hyatt in downtown Denver. We kicked around several ideas – the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park where Stephen King stayed and was inspired to write The Shining, The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs (another historic hotel) and even some other historic hotels in downtown Denver. The Hyatt won out because I love their roof top bar that has a view of the mountains and the city – but also because the designers of the hotel decorated each room with individual artist’s work vs. cheesy giclee prints typical of most hotels.
Don’t worry, my sister in law is staying with my daughter and the dogs and they have quite an evening planned from what I understand.
Have a great weekend,
Cynthia
Glazed and Decaled Wall Tile Boxes
Wall boxes pre-decoration – made using stiff slab construction
The week before the Colorado Potters Guild Spring Show, the idea to make some wall box tiles came into my conciousness and couldn’t be ignored. I made a lot of these while I was in school, but hadn’t really thought about them for awhile. I really want to add more depth and layers to my work and I confess am struggling with that just a bit. I think there is potential with these wall boxes that act more like canvases in 2-D work.
Drawing directly on wall box with dull pencil in preparation for mishima
I need to allow more thought for how to finish these in the future. I was pretty rushed before the show and went with familiar easy images I already have in my arsenal.
Colored slip was applied to drawn areas and cleaned up with rib
Mishima adds almost a sub layer since the colored slip becomes part of the actual “canvas” if you will. I have a few colored slips pre-made that I made using scrap clay and mason stains.
Colored slip was stenciled onto the wall box
Using paper stencils, I applied more colored slip on top of the clay box while it was leather hard. This slip is a pale yellow and is the only one I have where I’ve used oxides instead of mason stains – I think I used rutile and copper carb for this one.
Wall box glazed and decaled
After bisque firing the wall box, I brushed on glazes and fired to cone 6. This tile is 6″ square x 1.5″ deep and I wasn’t sure if warping would be an issue or not. There was some slight bowing, but not terribly. After the glaze fire, I added laser toner decals to the paper stenciled flowers and added an image of a vintage bird and fired again to cone 04. The soft yellow stenciled flowers are not very visible in this photo – that’s what I get for rushing.
Meanwhile, I haven’t had much time to get into the studio the past week, besides firing my student’s work. I will get in a few hours tomorrow and Wednesday – but today am chaperoning a field trip to the Platte River. It’s a nature/ecology based field trip put on by SPREE which is a group that educates the public – specifically school children all about the Platte River, which is a major fresh water source for Denver and other parts of Colorado, so that it stays protected. In the past, the Platte River was pretty polluted and unappreciated.
With that, have a good week,
~Cynthia
Soul Sole Plates
Shoe soles l-r Danskos, Tevas, Skechers
Please excuse my fun with homophones, but my students and I played around the other day in clay class with our shoes and some clay. While packing up unsold pots after the Colorado Potters Guild Spring show last weekend, I stopped to talk with Penny Woolsey, who also teaches clay classes to kids. I picked up one of her unsold pots which was a really cool plate with a textured rim, when she remarked, “Haven’t you ever made soul pots before with your students?” Of course, she didn’t mean “soul”, but rather “sole”. She explained the project to me and I thought, “Perfect!” – this is what we’ll make in the next class.
But, first, I had to try the project at home to make sure the kids could handle it. I set off for my closet in search of cool soles and came up with 3 pairs of shoes that worked – Danskos, Tevas and Skechers – yep, I’m practical that way aiming for comfort over style.
After rolling out a slab and cutting the basic shape – use a shoe to print texture into the clay
I used all three shoes for a variety of textures and only printed on the rim of the plate. Some of my students printed the entire slab with very cool results. The kids had a great time comparing cool sole textures and mixing and matching. I’m not sure anyone had ever looked at the bottom of their shoes before – I know I don’t normally make a practice out of it.
Using the "plate-o-matic" technique, I placed the slab on a piece of upholstery foam and used a wood block to press down in the center which causes the rim to pop up – presto magic instant plate
I saw this in a Pottery Making Illustrated article last year and really loved the technique. The article is easily found but is a direct download – so if you’re interested here’s the pdf version: Plate-O-Matic.
Leatherhard sole plate
My plate is drying and I didn’t get any photos of the kid’s plates taken because I decided to go ahead and load the kiln yesterday. I’m not firing till the weekend, but it’s another busy week and I’m trying to save time when and where I can.
Tomorrow, I head down town with my daughter’s class for the Denver Shakespeare Festival. It’s a lot of fun, but also exhausting. Most of the K-12 schools in Denver Public Schools are participating. It’s fun to see everyone all dressed up in period costumes and at their thespian best.
It’s almost the weekend,
~Cynthia
