#envy talks a lot
I drafted and queued up 3 more days worth of posts for you guys on my lunch break only to find out that Tumblr didn’t actually submit them to my queue and they got lost in the void.
I did a fair amount of writing and explaining in them too which is all the more aggravating. So sorry, no post today. I’ll try and redo them tomorrow
I’m so happy!!!
I built these nesting cups last summer and was beginning to lose hope that the little barn swallows would be back afterall. They tried out (put nesting material in) every single cup I made but have settled down into the big blue one.
For a little backstory; in 2019 some barn swallows showed up at my parents’ house and built a nest on their patio light (seen in top left of first photo). They returned in 2020, but the nest and the babies tragically fell off the light. So my mom tasked me with building a more suitable structure for them, based on some 3D printed designs she found online. After many months waiting, and losing hope they’d even try our home again after what happened last year, the barn swallows did return and are currently incubating eggs in the nesting cups that I made!
I can’t promise to keep the momentum going forever but I have been building a little queue with a daily post for you all.
Mostly showing off my cat cups for now. But once the rest of my Mason stain test medallions are out of the kiln I hope to go back to making snake mugs and throwing colored clay. I just really needed to nail down the color % so I can mix the exact colors I want!
I haven’t taken a picture, but my friend @dbughouse 3D modeled a base for me to make my log snake hides on, and then my sibling @fawncyfeline has been printing them for me on their 3D printer. I was using cardboard cylinders and a glass vase before and it was really fussy. So I’m super excited to have something specifically designed to be the right shape and not roll around
I’ve also got a couple Multi-Animator Projects I’ve joined on YouTube that I really need to work on. So I’ll post those here too even though I know most of you are here for the pottery I still want to show off my other stuff
July 2020
June 2021
Found my photo from last summer when I first attempted turning my aunt’s cats into espresso cups.
It’s an interesting comparison to say the least. I think my wheel throwing has definitely improved. The thickness and cup shape is much more uniform.
As far as the cats themselves go, I did try a more 3D than cartoon approach. And I tried to more closely mimic the face shape and characteristics of the IRL cats. So we’ll see if that pays off when they’re out of the glaze kiln next week!
Wanted to work on more sculpting tonight but my legs/hips have been really achey. Stretches helped for like a couple minutes and then they went right back to hurting… Ended up napping and then online parts shopping for some car repairs.
So hopefully tomorrow is better and I can finish the faces on those three espresso cups.
Maybe third time will be the charm
First time some of the underglaze flaked off (taking glaze with it). So I remade it, since it’s a part of a set of 3 cats belonging to my aunt.
Second time I glazed it with the transparent in the studio instead of my bucket at home. Something is obviously very wrong with that glaze as it’s full of bubbles and very cloudy.
I wanted to work on decorating my fullsize mugs, but it looks like I’ll be throwing more espresso cups as I want the set to be done before I visit my Aunt at the end of the month…
Here’s my test medallions with the Best Black Mason stain. I knew this color was already pretty potent at 5% from previous work I had done, so I only did one with a concentration higher than that and the rest below.
I’m trying to find the minimum concentration needed to achieve black when fired, and also figure out what concentration is needed to make grey.
More Mason stain test medallions made up today! From top to bottom:
- Bermuda Green
- French Green
- Titanium Yellow
- Sky Blue
French Green, much like Best Black (not pictured) is a very potent colorant. So I opted to not test it at 20% (15% is already overkill I’m sure)
Finally getting around to making some test medallions of my Mason stains! These are currently in the glaze firing and will serve as a great reference point for me to achieve the color of clay I want in the future.
Mason stains are brighter once fully fired, so it can be hard to gauge how much is needed in wet clay to get the vibrancy you want. They’re also pretty expensive, so you don’t want to put any more into the clay than you need.
The four digit # is the Mason stain ID, and the % is the ratio of dry Mason stain added to wet clay.
I still have a bunch of colors to do this with next. But decided to start with my orange and reds.
Now that I’m starting to settle into my new job I’m finally able to sign back up for pottery classes.
One of my dear friends, and former dog groomer coworkers has also decided to change their career a bit, and is now doing more art freelancing. So I just wanted to take a sec and promote them. They do streamed same day commissions at a very affordable rate every Tuesday. So if you’d like one of your characters drawn (humanoid, furry, or feral!) I can’t recommend them highly enough!
Join their Discord and you can watch your piece be worked on live and chat with the artist and other viewers.
In the meantime, stay tuned, I’m back at the wheel and should have new things of my own to share soon.
