Majolica Monday

Where are they hiding? I found another fish whistle!  This one is in a white ^04 clay.  I'll be once firing it, using Spectrum Majolica White #799.  This is a glaze that works very well on raw clay.  

When I am brushing glazes I always put some in a separate container and add food coloring or anything that will burn out.  It is much easier to tell where I have brushed glaze if it is contrasting with the previous coat.  On bisqued clay I use three layers on green ware I use four.

The lower photo shows the whistle itself.  As I've said before, I like the whistle to be a part of the fish or other animal.  Next I am going to do ocarinas and flutes.

I find From Mud To Music  by Barry Hall an invaluable resource.  Has anyone tried water whistles?

My camera is doing some very strange things.  I think it's something to do with the shutter.  I have a feeling it's going to be an expensive fix.

Finally after days of dull, gray clouds the sun has come out.  It still feels cool for July!

Enjoy the day and, as always, thanks for stopping by...............*s*

Majolica Monday

This is another oldie!  In addition to glazing all the flotsam in my studio.  I have been going through boxes of pots I saved for one reason or another

This is from a Walter Ostrum workshop I did at Wesleyan Potters in Middletown, Conn.  According to my notes (Yes, I am that compulsive that I have notebooks going back to forever) We were throwing and altering ring forms.  I obviously made an oval.  The raises 'S' is formed from a coil on the back.  This was the first time I used oak leaves for decoration, which is odd because I live in an oak forest.

I've made other press forms since then (almost 20 years ago).  Because they are bisqued clay I don't worry about needing a release of any sort.

Our named day lilies have begun to bloom.  We were happily surprised to see these, as we thought they would need a few more days to pop!

We made pizza on the grill last night as a belated Fourth of July celebration.  No, no pictures; it was eaten too quickly!  I made a small loaf of bread from leftover dough which I baked on the grill.  It had a nice woody undertone to it.

The weather is in one of its mutable states.  Hot today, hotter tomorrow....a day for sitting under umbrellas with the beverage of choice and swims as needed.

Enjoy the day.  As always, thanks for stopping by............*s*

Majolica Monday Or.....

GLAZE DAZE

I swore I would get all the stuff that has been hanging around since early last winter glazed and fired, but I think there are some studio imps who keep inventing new stuff for me to find.  This is a small part of more mugs, teapots, whistles etc.

I also swore I was not going to make anything new until I got caught up.....not so much!  I've just come up with an idea for some floating candles......also more teapots, because there are never enough teapots in the world!

I'm not sure where Sunday went.  The wild roses are in bloom all over the top of the hill. And I am sneezing, coughing, you name it!  The pool was yellow with pollen when I went out this morning.

Even though it's Monday I'm going to post this over on Kim's Sunday Ceramics 20.  I'm so glad you are still doing this, Kim, even if I am late sometimes!

Majolica Monday

LITTLE BIRD!

This is a precursor to the bird whistles I make now.  It's glazed with Spectrum 250 White Satin Matte with my own mixed Mason Stains.  In summer he sits outside under my Key Lime Tree.

Enjoy the summer day and, as always, thanks for stopping by.......*s*

Third Majolica Monday

My First Boot Whistle  

I started making shoe whistles at least ten years ago, probably longer.  This little guy is terra cotta with Linda Arbuckle's white majolica glaze and painted with Mason Stains.

I started out doing a 'tissue paper' stuffing for the tops of my shoes so I could get a good seal for the whistle.  I've since figured out how to seal the boot itself where it doesn't show.  It was all pretty moot in this case as the whistle is in the heel which is a separate structure.  I think at the time I had intentions of doing more than one whistle in the structure, or perhaps an ocarina.  Alas, all is lost in the mists of time, or rather in the jumble of notebooks which I never bother to index!

I like the way western boots are made and enhanced with fancy designs.  I wanted my little whistle to reflect that tradition.

Can you see the little whistle hole down near the base of the heel?

The sole of a shoe whistle is as important as any other part of the show.  I think the glaze is Linda's white with Florentine Green Mason Stain added.  Don't quote me on that!

The air hole is visible on the heel.  I have found that the most important part of getting a whistle to work is to make sure the air from the blow hole splits over the sharp edge of sound hole.

OOPS!  I got so busy yesterday that I forgot to bring my laundry in.  We may get a shower later on so I better get hopping.

Enjoy the day, and, as always, thanks for stopping by............*s*

Majolica Monday

Linda Applebee on Facebook Mud Buddies posted about the trouble she was having making her whistles whistle.  I'm happy to say that she has now made a very nice ocarina indeed.

This got me to thinking about my own whistles.  A few years ago it was the middle of winter,I was going through non-creative blahs; my studio was more like a refrigerator than a place for working.  To get myself going I set up a little goal.  I moved upstairs and decided I could make whistles as they are small and can be made on a table top. The idea was to make a gang of at least three whistles every week.  I ended up only going through June but a simple project that was not too time intensive was just what I needed.

I did manage on one warmish day to throw a lot of the little closed cone shapes I use for my thrown whistles.  I stored them in Rubbermaid shoe boxes with a layer of damp paper towels in the bottom.  They make little portable damp boxes.

The four examples below are just a few of the people and animals I came up with, ducks, pigs, frogs, turtles, mice were some of the others.  The blow holes are at the bottom front.  If you enlarge the photos you can see what look like spots are really little holes.

The bottoms show the actual whistle hole.  I drill them when the clay is leather hard and trim the hole to a sharp edge.  I then drill the hole, either using a very small drill bit or a pin tool.  It take a little practice to make the air stream hit the edge.  Sometimes I change the angle of the blow hole a bit; sometimes I smooth the clay where the hole comes through.  The idea is to have a clean area that will produce a clear note.  Not for nothing do we say Clean As A Whistle!

Below are a few of the many handbuilt whistles I have made.  It's a thing with me to put the whistle where it becomes part of the animal, or at least does not announce itself as a whistle.  The bear, rabbit and hippo all have their blow holes in their mouths or noses.  The seahorse is the little spot at the base.

 Turn them over and the holes become evident!

And finally a few shoes.  These may be what I enjoy doing most.  The possibilities for shoes is endless.  The Baby Cakes shoe has it's whistle on the heel.  Can you see the blow holes on the other two?

Look at the soles and there they are.  I had a good reason for making the baby shoes have their whistles on the heels.  Of course I have no memory of that reasoning, but I'm assuming it was a good one.

Most of these are done in terra cotta; some are in white; it depended on how I was glazing and decorating them.  Majolica is the perfect medium for lots of color and design.  I think I have posted many of these before, but it has been fun to gather some of them together and look at the various groups.

It's one of our warmest days yet with sunny skies.  This afternoon is definitely pool time!

Enjoy the coming week, and as always, thanks for stopping by...........*s*

Majolica Monday

I see Mugshot Monday and other Monday pots on Facebook.  Since I do majolica I've decide to try to post something about majolica.

This is a cookie jar I made for a show I did last year.  I love nursery and nonsense rhymes, so of course the Egg came to mind.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall

All the King's horses,

And all the King's men

Could not put Humpty together again.

As with so many early nursery rhymes this one has political over/under tones.

This is bisqued and glaze fired to ^04.  The interior is glazed with Spectrum clear with a little Mason Iron stirred in which I brushed onto the unfired clay.  (Spectrum glazes in particular once fire very well.)  I find that just a bit of iron gets rid of the milkiness that can happen with clear over terra cotta.

 It's glazed In either Linda Arbuckle's Majolica or Spectrum's Majolica White.  I do add a little rutile to my whites to take away the over-whiteness and get a slightly creamy quality to the glaze.

I paint mostly with Mason Stains mixed 50/50with Frit 3124.  This gives me a watercolor look which I can blend with my fingers when dry.  Before I do my outlining I spray the whole thing with super hold hair spray.  The colors are just a little bit more stable and make outlining much easier.  I always use a black underglaze for my outlining.  If I want my color to be more opaque I mix my stains with a gerstley borate and frit mix.  This gives them a flatness comparable to gouache.  This mix also works well as an underglaze.

I've begun planting some of the big planters.  I potted up eight small dahlias yesterday and a bunch of moonflower seedlings.  I saw them in the greenhouse and decided to go with seedling this year.  I ended up buying large moonflower plants last year because rain kept washing out and rotting seeds.  I feel a bit ahead of the game.

It's cloudy now.  I would like to be out planting, but unfortunately we have to go out for a bit!  It's supposed to get sunny and warm later on......toes crossed.

Have a fine Memorial Day.....drink to The Lost.

As always, thanks for stopping by..............*s*