Bisque: New Clay Body: BUFF STONEWARE With OCHRE

Here is an image of a bisque fired piece that used the new Buff Stoneware clay body.  It fired up whiter than I expected but I think it should turn brownish after it is glazed fired.  We will have to wait and see.  The lower portion of this piece had a white slip applied to it using the dipping method.  Hand model: Fred Follansbee.

Brag shelf -- 4/29/2012

Pieces on the Brag Shelf on Sunday -- do you see your pieces? Some are soda fired, some are high fired, all interesting forms and glazes.  Feel the inspiration . . . 

Cancelled -- Visiting Artist Workshop -- May 2012

This workshop has been cancelled due to low enrollment.


From Saturday, May 19, 2012 to Sunday, May 20, 2012, Pattie Chalmers will be at Lillstreet to conduct the FIGURATIVE NARRATIVE TABLEAUX (ENTER LAUGHING) workshop.  Pattie Chalmers creates ceramic stages using images culled from personal experience, childhood tales, four-for-a-dollar comic books, and movies-of-the-week. Her work is a collage of these influences in combination with historical and improbable elements that reveal her observations about identity, ideology, and humanity. In this workshop Pattie will demonstrate the handbuilding techniques she uses to construct earthenware figures and objects. Using images and memories as source material she will create before your eyes stories inspired by experience and imagination. Building her work in parts she combines expressive proportions with nostalgic objects to form narratives providing both the frustration and satisfaction of deciphering a puzzle.


If this interests you, sign up for the workshop at Lillstreet or online.  More information on Pattie Chalmers is available on website.

New Clay Body: BUFF STONEWARE With OCHRE

I went to the studio last night and was lucky enough to "catch" Karen Avery using the new clay body.  The Buff Stoneware with Ochre.  She threw this plate using the new clay and, as you can see from the photo, it is a little grayer than the stoneware body that we have right now and definitely not as red as the Stoneware with Iron.

You will noticed also that Karen used some slip on her plate.  This is a new recipe and can be found with all the other slips in each work area.  It is labeled "New White Slip" and is a little thicker than the other slip so it is good for slip trailing.  If you like to brush it on your work, please collect a little container of it and thin it down.  DO NOT CONTAMINATE the entire container of slip; especially if you are going to brush the slip on your work or layer different colored slips on your piece.  This applies to all slips in the studio.  The "New White Slip" may appear a little grey in the bucket, but rest assured, it will fire up white.  Have fun . . . go crazy!

Breaking News . . . New Clay Body soon to be at Lillstreet

From the desk of Karen Avery:

New Clay:

BUFF STONEWARE With OCHRE

I have ordered Buff Stoneware with Ochre. I think people will like this as a choice for clay; in reduction it fires to a warm chocolate color and should be good in Baileys and Soda. The high iron content in ochre can spot more through slips and glazes or flux into them and change the glaze color a bit. It will be FUN to have a new clay body; this can be another avenue for adventure and learning about a new material. It will be here soon and the clay tickets ($35) will be ready. It recycles into the stoneware buckets and will be fine in our reclaim.

I will be interested in everyone’s feedback.

Thanks,

Karen

So, try our this new clay body and see if you like it.  You can contact Karen directly at karen@lillstreet.com or leave a comment here. I will try to take pictures of the new clay body after it is fired and post here.  Please also be cognizant of the surfaces you are working on with this new clay. The high iron content will easily affect Porcelain and B-Clay body so please do not use surfaces marked specifically for those clay.  Now -- get your hands dirty!!!!

Brag Shelf -- Week of 2/22/2012

Do you see your work?  Can you name the artists?

Show Opening and First Friday

This Friday, April 6, 2012, is the First Friday event at Lillstreet Studio.  Come by to visit the studios upstairs and shop for handmade one-of-a-kind pottery pieces.  They make excellent gifts -- birthdays, housewarming, anniversary, just because, etc.  Mother's Day is just around the corner too -- HINT, HINT!

This Friday is also the opening reception of the Art and the Urban Garden show.  The reception is from 6 to 8PM.  The weather has been warm and it is not too early to start planning for your summer garden.  There will be art and other garden accessories on display -- get your green thumb going!

Recent Brag Shelf displays

Display from Week of 3/25 

Display from Week of 4/1