Handmade Pottery + Ceramic Jewelry

This is a continuation of yesterday’s post highlighting the construction of a custom 2 level ceramic jewelry for Jean. As I mentioned yesterday, I don’t normally enjoy custom orders because it feels too much like homework, but I had already been thinking of making this project before Jean asked – good timing. I should also give you a bit of the back story about how I know Jean before going into more detail.  Two years ago, I met Jean virtually via Alyson Stanfield’s online Promote Your Art with Confidence class in which we were both enrolled.  After the class ended, a group of us stayed in contact using Google Groups – though I confess, I haven’t been participating very much in the past 3 months.  I really appreciate the exchange of ideas that happens between a group of artists that encompasses a variety disciplines.

Paper butterfly cut-out in newsprint

This covered jewelry box is a birthday gift for her sister who really loves butterfly and rabbit imagery.  Jean gave me quite a bit of leeway with the design (almost too much), but I did manage to squeeze in a few butterflies (8 to be exact) and I am still thinking about what kind of sculpted bunny knob will be most appropriate.

I used 8 paper butterflies on this box

I decided to use a paper stencil technique – I drew butterfly shapes on newsprint and then placed them on the box in various places.  To help the paper butterflies adhere to the box, I spritzed the box and the paper stencils with water.  Note:  I still have not cut off the lid to the box and will do that today.

I applied 2 coats of colored slip to the exterior

My original thought was to paint underglaze over the entire box, however, when I went into my studio I didn’t have an turquoise colored underglaze.  I thought I did, but it was low-fire turquoise glaze – eek!  What to do?  Last year, I had mixed up some different colored slips using cone 6 porcelain clay scraps and Mason Stains and remembered I had a celadon colored slip in my stash.  I used 1 tsp. of French Green and 1 tsp. Robin’s Egg Blue to 2 cups of slip.  I painted on 2 coats of slip to the exterior of the box, allowing the 1st coat to dry before painting the final one.  Note: It can sometimes be problematic to mix different clay bodies – the jewelry box is constructed using a ^6 white stoneware and the slip is a ^6 porcelain, but, I have already had successful results combining the two clay bodies.

Low fire earthenware tile with paper stencil design

My inspiration for using the paper stencils comes from a project I did with my students last fall who were enrolled in my after school clay class.  We made tiles using paper stencils that turned out terrifically.  Another cyber friend & potter, Linda Starr also recently experimented with butterfly stencils – only she used pre-made stickers, a technique I love and might borrow someday!  I’ll post some pics of the kid’s stenciled tiles when I find them – I think I’ve moved the images to my external hard drive and I’m too lazy to walk to the other room right now.

After pulling the paper butterflies off the box, the raw clay remains underneath the slip

After the slip started drying, the paper butterflies started lifting away from the clay making it very easy to get pretty crisp images.  I did take a paint brush and smoothed the edges where the slip meets the raw clay around the butterflies.  When the box is bisque fired, the raw clay will be white – not quite as white as porcelain, but pretty darn close.

I even put one on the insert that will nest inside the box

Even the insert is decorated – and I’ll probably paint slip on the interior of the box once I’ve cut the lid off today.  I had a flash of  inspiration last night while I was editing these photos.  While the slip and clay are still wet, I wondered whether Jean would want me to carve a little message to her sister….  Luckily, Jean answers her email pretty quickly and I am indeed going to carve a secret word shared between sisters inside the box for her sis to find.  Isn’t that fun???

So, what comes next?  Cut the lid off, clean up the edges and interior of the lid today – followed by sculpting a knob and adding feet to the box.  Then, the box will dry over the weekend and I’ll bisque and glaze fire it.  I plan on using a clear glaze since I’ve already used slip, though I’ll probably use my celadon glaze for the knob – maybe I’ll leave it clear – not sure and that’s a decision to make later.  After the box is glaze fired, I will be adding laser toner ceramic butterfly decals to add another finishing layer to the design.

Speaking of decals, I’m firing 2 test pots with decals as I write this.  I figured I’d better test it out before firing Jean’s birthday gift to ensure success.  I don’t normally operate this way, but I’d hate to disappoint her.  I started my decal firing this am at 6:30 in my test kiln – fingers crossed, they turn out perfectly.  I’m firing the decals to cone 04 based on a handout Linda Arbuckle has provided on her website (scroll to the very bottom for the ceramic decal one – though there is a ton of other great info on her site to check out) that suggests firing the decals between cone 04 – cone 1 for any work fired to cone 6.  It makes sense – the iron oxide in the laser toner will fuse to the glaze at the point when the cone 6 glaze is beginning to flux.  Any cooler, and the image may rub off, and any hotter it may burn off.

I’m substitute teaching tomorrow, so I won’t share my results until Saturday – but you know I’m going to peek inside the kiln tomorrow morning.  I don’t know if I could wait all day!

~Cynthia

P.S.  I have some exciting news to share…