Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Alternative Firing

Kind of Horse Hair, partially fired first with copper, partially smoked on the bottom, and re-fired a couple of times until I was finally happy with the results. I omitted the pictures of the one icky pot and the two broken ones so there is no evidence of my indecisive approach to firing today. Bottom line, I was experimenting with something new in preparation for a class, and my ideas just made a big mess and necessitated firing again and again.


I also finished with floor wax which I don't usually use....kinda dig the shiny:)


I have an upcoming sale in three weeks, and getting everything in order makes my "to do" list quite long! I am also opening my online marketplace associated with my website on November 24th!
www.jerrineddermeyer.com
There are so many details beyond pottery to making a business work well!


I made these pots with wide shoulders to experiment with laying the pots on a bed of newspaper to smoke the bottom while decorating the top of the pot with horse hair. The shadow makes the photo of the finished pot look like it just grows from the background. I like the picture almost more than I like the pot itself!


Classic pots....


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Thursday, October 30, 2014

Cups

Here are some finished cups with the faceted bases. I have made the faceted vessels and soda fired them in the past, but I am working to find ways to achieve similar effects with options available to students at the Eagan Art House. We have access only to electric fire.

These cups have bases coated in iron oxide and left unglazed. The finish is irregular and similar to dry effects in soda fire.

Check out my revamped website and subscribe to my monthly email newsletter!
www.jerrineddermeyer.com








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Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Pendants

I added ribbons to a pile of new clay pendants lat night. Pretty little necklaces are now ready to sell!






And I can't resist a picture of my big bowl of buttons!


I hate recycling clay at home by hand, so I make buttons an pendants from the scrap slab pieces. The only problem with this practice is glazing. Each and every little shred of clay I create then needs to be finished with glaze. It is way more my style to stock pile these little treasures before glazing until I finally break down and have to glaze 100 all at once. It makes me want to poke my own eyes out....so then I put off finishing the net group and the cycle remains quite cruel. They sure are pretty when all finished and hanging out together!

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Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Electric Pots

These came out of the electric kiln today:)
My spiral mixed clay mugs look nice with their colored rims!


New batch of buttons!


More printing...these leaves are from a screen print with underglaze. I made a drawing of this amazing leaf that is very prevalent in Brazil, and then made a silk screen using that drawing. I then printed that on to the slab on top of other transferred slip patterns.


Sgraffito is nice, but I don't like the texture of the clear glaze over the black underglaze. I will use black slip next time.


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Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Ideas across form

I have done this faceting on vessels and jars...



And last night I did some sketching to pull the idea onto other forms....so in the studio today I started fleshing out some ideas.

I still need to add handles:



Need to trim the bottom and cut out little feet...



And I will smooth this join out once the plate has set up a bit.

Not bad for a day's work and creative play!

www.jerrineddermeyer.com

Monday, October 20, 2014

Electric

I am glazing and loading an electric kiln full of the final stage of last week's productivity. I am glad for the tried and true options that electric firing provides in light of the weekend's kiln trauma. Ahhhhh, just program it and walk!



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Saturday, October 18, 2014

Naughty Kiln

I was re-firing my wee kiln yesterday when I heard popping.....and yep, I blew up two pieces which took out my entire kiln load...


God bless angle grinders! I had to grind every shelf, and my kiln floor. Ick.


Here are my only survivors from the load...small treasures, but at least SOMETHING made it!



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Thursday, October 16, 2014

Pumpkins

I made these with my adult Beginner Clay Experience class and they are toooooo cuuuute! I want to make a series of them for fun, maybe with my kids tomorrow while we are firing the kiln! Happy almost Halloween!
www.jerrineddermeyer.com


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Pottery Give Away




The winner of my pottery give away drawing was David Vandewalker.....my middle school band director from Ada, OK. Facebook sure makes the world seem small and full of reconnections! I remember once (actually several times) he gave a tuner to the three oboes and told us to go into the practice room to tune. We were not to return to the band until we were "in tune." At the time, I thought it was odd, but on every occasion we took this task seriously and proceeded to spend a large chunk of the band period in the practice room seeking the nirvana that is "in tune." Years later, when I found myself the teacher of beginning band with the help of small group lessons weekly as well as TWO teachers for the 150 4th and 5th graders, I saw the tuning request for the sanity saver it must have been for him. No beginning and should have two oboes much less three. Mr. Vandewalker had full 6th grade band every day, but I don't think we had any small group lessons, no Smart Music, no helpers.....just Mr. V. Despite the limitations of the program set up at the time, we learned to play really well. We loved music, and all three oboes for that year continued and were still playing for the Ada High School Band when I moved from Ada after 10th grade. I have thought of him often as I went on to teach middle schoolers and high schoolers and I realized what a gift his instruction was! Mr. Vandewalker and my band director at the high school, Mr. Warren, were the biggest influences on my becoming a band director. Thanks a billion! I am thrilled to pieces that you won my little drawing!


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Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Swirl Cups

I ambitiously threw 15 of these today, torched them and trimmed them, and then only got handles on about 10 before I wore out. They are pretty though and I had fun throwing swirly style....hadn't done it in a while:)

www.jerrineddermeyer.com






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Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Studio

Today I was rushed and feeling late to my class when I discovered that I didn't have a class today! So I got to spend the whole day to myself in the studio! I made a herd of mugs, a cake stand, two serving bowls with sgraffito on them, and I added pedestal feet to these printed slab bowls. I was on fire today!!!!! Also, I have been busy working on my website in the last two weeks! Check out the new site and gallery and subscribe to my newsletter too!
www.jerrineddermeyer.com




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Sunday, October 12, 2014

Pitcher

This is a picture of my friend Amy at her studio in Lower town Saint Paul during the St. Paul Art Craw. She has started a series of 1000 pieces and I admire her goal. She just has art pouring out of her! Check out her site too!
www.amyceryvasterling.com



I have been spending my time doing inventory and getting ready for holiday business. I ran across this pretty pitcher! I need to make more with this glaze combination!


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Thursday, October 9, 2014

Alternative Firing

Today, my class at the Eagan Art House held an alternative firing FIESTA including horse hair, Raku, and Obvara.....here are some of my pretty tiles from today!









And a horse hair pot...





And some nice crackle re-fired results...







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Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Mono prints on clay

I have been working on these slabs of clay.....printing and layering.....I am happy with today's clay play!


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Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Swirl Pot

I love this pot but find getting a good photo of a very dark pot nearly impossible......grrrrr!





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Monday, October 6, 2014

Tiles

Here are some tiles from my inventory. I was feeling a little sad that my dragon friends have left my garden as it gets colder:(





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Sunday, October 5, 2014

Large Scale Work

Here are a couple of pictures of large serving bowls. The first one has a cut edge that I love to put on my larger pieces!!!!! The second is a set of bowls with hollow rims. I like a heavy rims on the large serving dishes....it is nice to have a rim that can function as a solid way to grip big pots!





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Thursday, May 29, 2014

Obvara Firing

We (my Thursday morning class at the Eagan Art House) had an Obvara firing today and came away with some fantastic results!!!!! We had a variety of different clay bodies and we achieved a range or results by changing the time before dipping hot pots into the Obvara mix and also the speed to quench the changing surface with cool water.



This is one of mine that I let cool a bit before dipping in the Obvara mixture and then quickly into water to quench before blackening. This one did not get any mixture inside and the rim remained the raw clay color (in this case, white clay). The circle on the right side near the run is the tong mark.


This one was quenched more slowly and thus has a darker finish. I dunked the pot entirely in the Obvara mix so the inside is speckled as well.


These three were all textured pots instead of smooth. The taller bottle has a line that I dipped, held in the mix at that level for a few seconds, then quickly up to the rim before quenching in water. These three were the last pots out of the kiln, so were the coolest pots of the batch.


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Wednesday, May 28, 2014

New pieces

This piece is Obvara fired which is an alternative firing much like Raku or Horsehair. Pieces are pulled out of a kiln hot (1650F), then dipped in a mixture if flour, sugar, yeast, and water, then quenched in water. Colors can range from gold to brown to black sometimes with spots of white.


Here are some slip print pots I have been working on lately. These were fired to Cone 6 in an electric kiln with clear glaze on the outside to show off the slip decoration.


The Obvara pot is not water tight which makes it a nice planter. I will add a plastic pan under it just to be sure it doesn't seep out onto furniture.


Here is the information for my only sale this summer.....come out and support local art and local artists:)


Here are some not-so-new dishes that I thought I would photograph as long as I had my black background paper handy.


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