What's New

It's been awhile since I've written, have been sick...and absorbed with some new stuff I'm working on.   Thanks to Jenni of Foreverbeading I was inspired to make my Cheshire Cats into beads.  I'm pretty excited about them so far.

I've also been working on some more designs where I incise an image into the moist clay. It gives a stamped appearance but it's an original each time.

 

I started to make another raven today, but it ended up being a dragon.  I try not to fight the process to much because if it didn't want to be a raven, it wasn't going to happen. 

 I think I'll try to do something where I give it a light coating of glaze and stuff most of it in the pressed design. Can't wait until it's dry and bisque fired!

Spectrum Raku Glazes, Amaco Raku Glazes

So I've been really getting immersed into my raku firing.  I started out with Amaco Raku Glazes and I do like them, but I'm really excited about my new Spectrum Raku Glazes .  I do my raku firing on a very small scale, I have a small kiln about 8 inches by 8 inches. My "receptacle" is a repurposed metal pot with lid.  My "organic material" of choice has been by far to be newspaper, newsprint-not the colored ads. From my own tests and experiences I have learned this :

1. don't allow a lot of open space inside the "receptacle"
2. newspaper is superior because it readily ignites and doesn't mar the surface as much
3. allowing the item to sit in the flames with the can open has produced more dramatic color effects and thicker smoke which helps blacken unglazed surfaces better
4. always use the recommended three coats of raku glaze for best results.
5. Stoneware clay makes an excellent raku clay

Of course, this is my own personal observation, but since I've been following this, I've had better results with my pieces.

Spectrum Gator Skin is my new favorite. If anyone is just starting out and only buying one color, this is the one I recommend.  Applied thin, it gives an almost dappled streaky copper look. Applied thick, it looks very much like the sample picture.  It is a gorgeous matte color.  With a thick application it gets nice and crusty. It's a more expensive color but very well worth it in my opinion.

This picture is good for showing the glaze in thick and thinner applications. Applied thinner it is more earthy and dappled brown.

 

The pendant above has the "gator skin" put into the grooves of the heart.  Then I put 3 coats of Amaco white raku glaze. They seem to react very nice together, developing a warm silvery ivory to shades of copper.

Spectrum Nebula is another shade that I purchased.  This one is a bit trickier to work with, but I think I've discovered a trick.  Without enough time in the flame, "Nebula" is kind of a flat aqua shade, but if you give it enough time in the flame, it becomes very worthy of it's name. What I ended up with was : 

Blues, reds, and copper colors mainly.  It can produce a pretty rainbow effect.

Another color I purchased was Spectrum Cobalt .  So far I've gotten a few different results. None quite like the picture shown when I ordered it, but still very attractive.  I've gotten a deep slightly transparent blue, and with optimal conditions a lot of silvery metallic as well.

This is the cobalt. I used the gator skin for the beak, a very thin coat (produces a pretty rusty color).  I also rubbed some of the gator skin into the letters. When the two react, I've gotten a bit of a golden hue surrounding. 

This is what happens if there is not enough reduction going on in the "receptacle"

Still a pretty color, but not very dramatic.

I still like my Amaco raku glazes quite a bit. My favorite colors are white:

Copper Patina:

and Bluebell:

Hoping this helps anyone looking for some visual examples of some of the glazes out there. Please feel free to message me if you have any questions about any of my experiences with these colors.

More Favorite Glazes to Recommend- Stroke & Coat

It's been a busy week! Have been trying out some new raku glazes, with promising results, but no pictures quite yet.

I wanted to mention a line of glazes that I have discovered. Mayco Stroke & Coat  glazes are pretty great.  For one thing, they are almost true to shade.  It makes it easy to plan a design because the colors will be fairly close to the finished color, though usually a bit lighter. This glaze works wonderfully with a "watercolor" effect, if you top with a matte or glossy clear glaze. It works like an underglaze, but with 3 coats it doesn't need a clear glaze.

 

This pendant has several "watercolor" layers of "stroke & coat" followed by a layer of clear.  I used a mixture of blues, greens, pinks, and yellows. 

  

Here I have used the Tuscan Red, Tuxedo, and  It's Sage.

  

Here is the Hot Tamale, thinned with water, 1 coat then sealed with clear. Dandelion yellow center.

One technique I love is to coat a piece in black, then remove most of it with a wet sponge.

It settles into the incised designs and creates an almost pen and ink look.

Lastly, I've used the "stroke & coat" with raku firing as well. I do like to give it a coating of clear, just to avoid having a color change. I like the way the clear crackles a bit during the process. I've also had some luck mixing the colors, the toucan's beak was created by mixing Tuscan Red and Dandelion Yellow. His eye rims were done in The Blues.

This line of glazes is great when you want a nice basic way to add dependable color.  It can be layered to help with depth. There are some pieces where I really just want certain colors in certain places and this brand is perfect for achieving that purpose. 

Glaze Results --Mayco Elements

As I search the internet looking for different glazes I've discovered that it's really hard to find pictures of different glaze color results.  I'm learning a lot of times they don't quite look exactly like the colors on the sample tiles.  My experience with lampworking has helped me, I'm sure. Certain colors of glasses need certain temperatures and conditions to achieve their best look.  Glaze is basically crushed glass in a paint type medium.  It's hard to find reference colors online (I know, I've looked).  So I'm writing this in hopes I can help someone else when they are trying to decide what colors they want to buy.

Today I am writing about Mayco Elements . I've only gotten four shades of this line, but I am planning to buy more.  One thing that is really nice about them is that they are non-toxic.  Another nice thing is that they have an incredible depth to them that creates a look beyond the Jr. High School Art Class look.

My first example is Blue Grotto .  If you followed that link you saw sort of a darkish blue.  Now look at this:

 

and this:

Both are Blue Grotto on Indian Red Clay.  The second piece was actually glaze fired 3 times.  The stilts were chipping some of the glaze off the bottom and I didn't like it.  Notice how it developed into more of a green shade.  Also, notice how the glaze likes to settle into recesses. 

The next color is Stormy Blue .  Basically on the tile it looks kind of like a steel blue, sort of chalky. 

In my case the piece became a gorgeous caramel shade.  The stormy blue shade actually worked into the recesses on the birds.  The base was the Indian Red Clay again.

On this piece there is a bit more of the blue showing through. This bird was created in white versa clay. 

Here is a color called Iron Moss .  In the online tile pictures it looks very metallic but from my experience it's much more mossy than irony.  

Notice how nicely it sinks into the design and highlights.  This is also on a base of red clay.

Iron Moss on white clay.  This is a bit thinner of an application.  Three coats seems to yield best results (as stated on the bottle as well). 

Last of all Patina . Now this one seems to be right on, easy to duplicate the results. 

This is on a brown stoneware clay.  

On white clay....

Annnnnd...raku fired.  I plan to work much more with this as a raku glaze. 

I hope this helps others out. Please feel free to ask if you have any questions.

Nesting

Well it looks like Hera is starting to sit on the nest.  The nest is mostly constructed of strips of 3 X 5 index cards, a few pine needles. I love how Zeus added his bit of flair with some fancy yarn draped over the side. I wasn't sure if they would go for it, but they seemed to like it.  As far as I can tell there is one egg.  I don't want to disturb her so I guess if she laid a second one, I'll get a surprise.  I'd like for it to hatch but the finches I used to have never managed to hatch a single egg.  So I'm not going to get my hopes up too high.
  

I've been working on trying to take better pictures for Etsy.  The light in my room seems to be about the best in the house.  I really like photos that are like a still life and use natural light.  From what I have seen you can have the best stuff, but if the photos look blah, no one even notices it. 

These are my latest little birds "Sweet Tweets" .  They were absolutely amazing to sculpt.  The birds honestly feel really good in my hands when I'm making them.  I used my red clay, which when wet looks almost like soft milk chocolate.  I love the color when it is wet. After firing it is decidedly orange.  I've found it works beautifully with the Mayco Elements  line of glazes. This is surprisingly the stormy blue shade.  The glazes sort of break up and the actual color goes into the crevices. I was hoping it would do something like this, so I'm pretty pleased.  I left the beaks of the birds the natural terracotta color, but I gave them a coat of clear glaze for a bit of shine. I've got one more in the kiln cooling that I used the blue grotto on.  Blue Grotto is a gorgeous shade :

 

It also settles in the recessed areas.  I love this line of glazes, they are super easy to work with.  The colors seem a bit weird in the jars but as long as you remember what you are doing it's not a problem. 

My Own Private Garden

Every time I see a thick green piece of moss, the first idea that pops into my head is TERRARIUM.   I once saw a show when I was a kid, I don't remember what it was called...Hodge Podge or something of that sort.  I remember they used to do all sorts of outdoorsy crafts....it was my kind of show.  They made this beautiful terrarium with a moss that I just looked up, British Soldier Lichen .   So I hauled out my huge jar, but apparently the lid did not survive our move.  I've found that Target has the most wonderful jars for terrariums, like this one here.  I like to start my terrariums with a layer of sand and gravel.  Aquarium gravel works great or landscaping gravel works too.  Then I put a level of activated carbon which you can find in the aquarium section of the pet store. Next I put a layer several coffee filters, but sphagnum moss is even nicer. I didn't have the moss but did have the coffee filters so that's what I did.  Then you put a nice layer of potting soil, I'd put at least 2-3 inches.  After that you are ready to add plants.  I like to start with a layer of various mosses. You can find them in shady, slightly damp areas.  Try not to totally clear an area but take small patches from several areas.  Ideally what you want is low growing, moisture loving plants (at least for this type of terrarium). I found some plants growing near the moss...they had these little darling four petaled flowers so I've added them, although I've had yet to figure out what they are.  Also I found sticks with lichen growing on them and one with a shelf mushroom.  I also added some seeds to this terrarium, I've chosen Royal Carpet Alyssum .  We will see how well it does! I'm also making little terracotta creatures for them.  I've taken one and coated it with a mixture of honey and vinegar. Then I rubbed it with a dry piece of moss. I'm hoping I can get it to grow on the hedgehog's back.

Finished Jewelry, Dove update

I finally got some of my jewelry projects finished, photographed, and listed on Etsy.  I've been working on this since about 8 am, but I'm finally done.  My favorite new pieces are :

 

I'm excited about the raven because it's all free hand.  I just used a bamboo skewer to press the image into the soft clay.  It's a technique that I'm going to work on some more.  If anyone remembers, ravens and crows were some of my favorite subjects with lampworking.  I absolutely love them.  

The dove didn't exactly go as planned, but I still love him. I sculpted him using my male dove, Zeus as a model.  I wanted to raku fire him, so all bets were off when it came to color. The only disappointment with the color was the coral rings around his eyes became a silver too...and I really like the color contrast on the real doves.

The poppy earrings have been laying around for awhile, waiting for me to put them together. I must say what I like best about this listing is the picture I took.  I love the colors in the picture.  It's given me further inspiration for some more beads to make using my aqua raku glaze and my red.  

So far I don't think Zeus and Hera have laid any eggs but I'm keeping their cage in a more secluded part of the house.  They have been working diligently on their nest..it seems their favorite material is strips of index cards.