Drying tiles

Tiles will want to warp when they dry.



I've got a little curl here, you can see. (In this case I think it's partly because it's been on a slightly warped wooden board.) It's not significant. At this point it's unlikely I can reverse it, but I can try to prevent any further curling.

This happens because the top, which is exposed to air, dries faster than the bottom. And clay shrinks as it dries. At Indian Hills, we'd dry our tiles on an open grid rack (which was actually the grid off one of those square box fans). At WaterWorks, we've got plaster boards, which will suck moisture out.



Here I've got the tile on a plaster board with wads of clay weighing the corners down. I know it looks silly, but I've done it many times before and my tiles are mostly flat with at most a tiny wobble.

I'm a little concerned this one's going to end up a little wobblier than my others.

Glazing Pip, etc.

Dipped bottom in denim blue glaze. (There wasn't enough of the green I wanted, so I opted for the blue I knew would work.) Then sponged off the glaze that pooled on the waxed parts (the bottom and on the Pip deco).



Time to dunk the top in white.



There will be a little overlap. The colors in this case will mix to make a light blue.



The result in profile:



The inspiration for my glazing scheme comes from this wheel-thrown mug by Whitefish Pottery, Whitefish, Montana.

Laught-Out-Loud Cats #1189

It's done! Pretty much. I starting putting in Apelad's signature, but then realized I couldn't see the end of it on my reference image, so I'll have to add the "RD" later (of A. Koford). And maybe clean up some bits. Pip's face doesn't match the proportions of the original (mine is shorter and wider) but it's CUUUUUTE and that was really the hardest part of the whole thing and I think that's just the way it's going to be!

I am so excited to have done this!

Red iron oxide, glaze

This pot is...kind of hideous. (It's called "Strange Slope".) Red iron oxide (powder mixed in water) is brushed on, then the excess sponged off. There is no glaze on this piece.

I like how it kind of looks like blood in the sink.



Glaze is different than a stain because it has a more complex recipe and a glass-forming agent and so on, while the stain in this case is just one ingredient (iron oxide might be used as a colorant in some glaze recipes).

To glaze this piece, I started by pouring glaze inside (with the help of a funnel). You can see I overfilled it and it spilled on the counter. Glaze is easily wiped off with a wet sponge. You can see there's a chunk in the glaze that I might rub off when it dries (it just dries to a powder) or leave it there because it won't hurt anything. Since I had to get the outside wet because of the spill, I didn't want to glaze the outside yet because I want the clay to be fairly dry. Then it can suck up the water in the glaze, causing it to stick.

I ran out of time but I'll finish it tomorrow. The inside is glossy white and the outside will be a forest or olive green. To glaze the outside, I'll dip the piece rather than pour. Actually I'll dip the bottom portion in green, and the top portion in the white, so it will look similar to the bottle I posted previously.

It's getting somewhere!

It's almost done! Pip needs work, but most of the rest of it is in place. Just needs cleaning up and stuff. Wheeeeee!

Waxing Pip

Yesterday I applied red iron oxide to the Pip hobo jug. Today I applied wax:



Painting on wax resist with a brush. CAREFULLY! If you make a mistake, the only way to get it off is to bisque it again (to burn it off).



All done!

Also applied wax to the bottom (the "foot") to make it easier to clean glaze off the bottom. I think it comes off easily enough with a wet sponge anyway, but it's standard practice at Waterworks, and it's kind of fun to paint it on, so I do it anyway.

Updates...

Step one of glazing the Pip hobo jug: Apply red iron oxide. Iron oxide (rust) powder mixed with water and brushed on.



Then sponge off the excess. This brings out detail and texture.



(The next steps will be brushing on wax resist over the iron oxide to keep glaze off, then actually applying the glaze.)

Bad news regarding this coil piece. I let it dry too fast. Clay shrinks as it dries and the inside dries slower than the outside, so drying pieces like this must be carefully controlled (only letting it sit out to dry one or two hours at a time, using a blow dryer or propane torch to help the inside dry out a little faster). But I got overconfident and left it uncovered when I shouldn't have. This is what happens:



I can't fix it. I've tried fixing others and it hasn't worked very well, and the attempt would be too obvious anyway. I'll just have to let it be. The crack might get even bigger when fired. I'm going to fire it anyway. I just won't be able to show or sell this one.

Laugh-Out-Loud Cats tile:



I cleaned up the edge on the skyline, started working on the cats. Some parts are not attached and will be replaced later. Some is just sketched in and will be redone later.

I find myself unable to work on this project for more than one hour (or less) at a time. But it's getting done slowly and steadily. I'm just really good at wasting time and working on parts I know I'm going to just redo anyway. I don't really know why I'm stalling. But it won't be much longer now. I'll try to have it done by the end of the week.