Ceramic Jewelry Box Part 2
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…
Ceramic Jewelry Box Part 1
Making a domed lid for the jewelry box
I don’t know why I haven’t done this before, but I finally broke away from the square! The idea came to me in a dream – okay, maybe not a dream but a lucid day dream. Then, unexpectedly, I received an email from super talented Texas painter, Jean Levert Hood, who was interested in a custom covered box for her sister’s birthday. Now, I normally don’t do special requests (it’s too much like homework to me), but given her timing, I said, “Sure, as long as I can experiment a bit….”
Box with domed lid before cutting lid off
I set out to create a two level jewelry box that was longer than wide with a domed lid since I liked the square one I made recently. This is white ^6 stoneware and measures 6″w x 5″h (with dome, walls are 4″ hight) x 4″d.
Bottom interior of jewelry box
I like solving design challenges. When I decided to create a 2 tier box, I had to create a support system for the top level of the box since an insert will sit on top of the bottom level. What you don’t see in the photo above are the side supports. I added those after I placed the insert in and found that it wobbled.
The divided tray will form second layer inside the jewelry box
Since I’ve already closed up the box, I don’t have any photos of the 2nd level insert inside the box. I’ll be cutting the lid off today or tomorrow, and will have to give you that view a later day. Initially, I didn’t want to put a divider in the second level, but I found out that I needed something to grab onto to make lifting it out easy.
Jean is really easy going in regards to this project – she did tell me that her sister loves bunnies and butterflies which I am going to incorporate into the design. Then there’s the issue of color - I’d hate to make this purple if her sis hates the color. I am going to use a turquoise under-glaze and will also be using the white of the clay. I’m looking forward to seeing how this one develops – so I had better hop to it!
Meanwhile, I’ll leave you with this video. If you keep up with me on Facebook, you may have already seen this one. It makes me laugh, so just in case you need a giggle, here ya go:
Have a good day everyone,
~Cynthia
Miscellany Pottery and Food Chopper
Wheel thrown mugs with signature chop
I’ve been making a little bit of pottery here and there, but not any type of production work per se. Mostly, I’m making a few forms to test fire ceramic decals. Hence, these forms have very limited ornamentation because that will come later after glazing. I pulled the handles for these mugs which proved trying since I’ve been out of practice thanks to my love of hand building. I think I made 6 handles before I finally pulled 2 that I liked.
Chop close up right under handle
I used my signature chop for the first time too and placed it right under the handle since I cut these right off the wheel head and there’s no foot on these mugs. I wonder if I’d rather have a stamp mark instead of a raised motif.
Mini covered ring sized box
Here’s a mini covered box that I finally finished – it’s really small, less than 2″ (5cm) in any direction. I’m really not sure what someone could use this for other than as a very elaborate gift box for special jewelry of some kind.
There was just enough room for my chop mark on the bottom of the box
Food chopper
Meanwhile, my daughter and I went shopping yesterday. It’s not something that I do very often (other than for food) and I was on a quest to find a new duvet cover. I’ve been patching our well worn ones for quite awhile and let’s just say that it’s time. So, off we went with cash in hand and do you think I could find one that I liked (in my price range that it)? No, 5 hours later, nursing sore feet, I stumbled into William Sonoma and saw the holy grail of food choppers. I have actually had my eye on a mandoline, but when I saw this chopper, I decided to give it a try. I always like when I’m checking out at the register and the sales person (who wasn’t helping me btw) mentions that she just loves this product (whatever it may be) and uses it at home too. A more effective sales technique than the one you get on the showroom floor.
So, on the way home I stopped by the grocery store and picked up things to chop – limes, apples, zucchini, cucumbers, onions – everything this thing says it can core, cut, chop, julienne etc. Guess what? It works! Cored and cut apple into slices, julienned zucchini beautifully, and even cut the lime into perfect wedges (to use in my Cuba Libre cocktail).
Still don’t have a duvet cover…and I’m not sure I have it in me to go out again today.
~Cynthia
New Glazed Work
Relief printed hand built stoneware mugs
I meant to write a blog post yesterday or this morning, but my flash image uploader in my wordpress dashboard wasn’t working and I was forced to upload one photo at a time. Quelle horreur! Stomping my feet impatiently and yelling at my laptop didn’t seem to solve anything. So, today, I did a little computer clean up and also investigated the image problem. After perusing the WP support forum, I discovered that the new version of Adobe Flash 10 is not compatible (apparently this will be fixed with the next release of WP) – so I had to roll Adobe Flash back to version 9. What a pain – but, I’m happy to say that my uploader is now working fast and properly so here I am writing this post at 8:40pm on a Monday night.
Relief printed frog stoneware covered box
Sales were good at last weekend’s Colorado Potters Guild Sale. I really wasn’t sure if they would be given the economy right now. Maybe folks are feeling a little more hopeful with the election results? I sold quite a bit of my new work and even some older work that doesn’t quite match what I making now. Out of 35 mugs, I took home 5 (deservedly so – I will be reglazing them this week). I love getting this kind of feedback!
Lots of folks remembered my covered boxes from the spring sale and were asking where I hid them. I only had about 5 and came home with 0. I meant to make a bunch of boxes for the sale and just plain ran out of time. I accepted a couple of special orders for boxes at the CPG sale that I’m going to start working on this week at a leisurely pace. These aren’t something that I can rush – they take time and careful consideration depending on the theme.
Hybrid mugs – hand built and wheel thrown
People really liked my new mugs – good thing since I like making them! The relief printed ones in the top image of this post were the first to go, I guess that means that I should really make more of these in the future and also expand my lino-cuts. I haven’t committed to any more sales events before the holidays – something about which I’m happy. I plan to continue exploring shapes and different ideas and will also stock up my Etsy shop, which is currently empty.
Hybrid vases
I like the vases – but need to refine them just a bit more. They would also make a good sized pitcher if I added a spout and handle.
Meanwhile, I spent yesterday reading and commenting on my favorite blogs since I hadn’t had the time to do so the week leading up to my sale. It feels good to get back to a normal routine. I know my family has enjoyed having me back. 
The good news is that I have a full kiln load of glazed work that I didn’t get fired in time for the sale which will help fill my Etsy shop. As soon as I reglaze the mugs, I’ll push the start button. This week I’m also going to start adding images to my gallery page – I’d say it’s about time, wouldn’t you?
Have a great week,
~Cynthia
