Pressure of Deadlines!

Seasonal work has the pressure of deadlines. 

The studio is covered in objects all at some stage of glaze application.

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(Glazing has begun. Feet and lid galleries are waxed. Notes on what and how are being written.)

Those five honey jar sets I've mentioned lately are needed just before Christmas.

Glazed chanukiot (that's Chanukah menorahs in contemporary Hebrew) are at long last ready to go into the kiln. Chanukah begins the evening of December 16th this year. (Although it is true, if they're not ready for Chanukah, they still make wonderful wedding gifts.)

The big mugs will have complicated glaze designs on them, but today these are still partly covered with black underglaze, partly by latex resist, and still waiting for more glaze application. The completed pieces will be revealed, after glaze firing, (drum roll!) on my pottery page on Facebook, (yes, that is a safe and clickable link...) and in this blog by Sunday afternoon, November 30th. Check back!

Students

This year I started teaching in my studio. My first student is on her third 8-week session, working on the potter's wheel. My two handbuilding students have had their first two classes and are picking up technique and information rapidly.

(Trimming a foot on a bowl)

How is it going? Really fun. They are all learning at a happy pace and I really enjoy teaching. I have taught many summer campers from age three to twenty for a couple of weeks at a time (a very short term basis), and a few teens in my own studio over the years, but until now I haven't taught adults on a regular basis.

(Building a bowl from a slab)

It is a bit of a challenge doing all the work I need to do for my own pottery. Saturdays (Sabbaths) and religious holidays are out of the picture in the studio, always, as I have that priority. So now I am often in the studio evenings and Sundays to compensate.

There are new designs to plan and try, always bread-and-butter pottery (bowls, less expensive serving pieces) to make and trim, glazes to mix up and use on the pots, kilns to maintain, a floor to mop, tables and wheels to keep using and keep cleaning up, and a gallery that really needs dusting at the moment and re-stocking after each kiln load. There is this website, where you are reading my blog. There's learning how to publicize the gallery and website, and brainstorming with my business consultant now and then. It was busy before...and now I really enjoy working with these great students. I sometimes wish I was 27 again, as I was when I started working with clay, full of energy and with a body that was stronger and more flexible without lots of hard work to keep it that way. (Gym, gym, gym!)  

Sometimes I wish that my way with this medium could have been a straight path instead of a hop hop hop through the random open spaces in a busy life. "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride..." I can't really regret what wasn't, since during the years I wasn't able to focus on developing as a maker of objects, I spent my energies raising three terrific kids, and worked hard at it. I started the linear path of this career very late, with my website and gallery now about a year old, but people do that all the time; it's called a second career! At this point my professional life is pretty engrossing, and wants tending almost every day, even with the relatively minor obstacles of an semi-aging body to work around. 

It's about making, selling, and about teaching, too. There's a lot less cooking and laundry, and I don't need to drive anybody anywhere or put several schedules ahead of my own like I did as a full time mother. Life's gotten full and interesting in ways I used to hope would come about. I don't think I'll ever retire.

After the Potters Guild Show & Sale

Monday, after the Potters Guild of NJ Fall Festival (show and sale). The pottery left unsold is in boxes in my gallery, to be unpacked and put back on the shelves. 

It's a very good time to pause for radical shelf dusting in The Gallery Downstairs. Needs a floor mopping, too. But... maybe on Friday. So much to do before then, making pots, trimming them, teaching, blogging...

A show can mean a long day for me, and one where I am on my feet (my choice- there are chairs but I prefer to move around) and looking for diversion. I do love to talk about the art and craft of pottery. It's the teacher in me. 

Once, one lovely gentleman asked me all about the kiln the wares are fired in. He was a chemist in his late 80s. He asked me very intelligent questions. I enjoyed that chat. He didn't buy anything. That was fine. Other people did.

Sometimes, it is someone asking me about commission work, because they like my work but I am not showing something in their color palette or a particular item. I've been asked for mustache cups, curling iron trays and butter keepers. I've been asked for sets of dinner plates and cereal bowls, or personalized honey dishes. This time I was asked whether I would make some of my birds as rattles. You know- what a great idea! Glad I had that conversation. It will add the dimension of sound to those birds.

My colleagues in the Potters Guild of NJ keep growing and improving in pretty spectacular ways. Here are just a few of the potters.

(Judy M., left, originated this show and has managed it for years. Beth D., right, is a big seller here, as is Judy.)

(I walked in and immediately began my shift at the wrapping table, with Mary, a new member. It's a big Guild- shows are a good way to get acquainted.)

(Su N. and Ellen M. never fail to make me laugh and have been doing so for some time now. That's one of Su's face jug people peeking over her head from on the shelf, unbeknownst to Su. These guys hate to be left out of the picture.)

(Linda G. and Carol P. were doing a shift at the money table. Even the work shifts have some fun in them, when done with friends.)

(For a newbie, my tablemate Tracy G. sold lots of good work, including soap dishes. He combined his daughter's handmade soaps with his handmade soap dishes for great gifts that really sold. )

(A love of antiques and a great hand with a glaze brush give Nancy a special, one of a kind way with plates and more.)

(Amanda K's cranberry and white glazed ware and ceramic jewelry were beautiful. That's Fran E. looking on from the back- apparently she coordinated her sweater with Amanda's pots... Fran is our monthly Guild meeting host at her beautiful studio, and Amanda is one of our potters who has grown as an artist by leaps and bounds in a short time.)

(Norma M. in front of her pottery. I kept wrapping up her work at the wrap table...Go, Norma, go!)

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(Martha B.'s 2-part vase was too good not to photograph. It was one of many great pots on her table.)

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(I had a good look at Barb D.'s goblet/vase/candle arrangements, which were right next door to me. There is always much to look at on her table, and plenty to buy.)

(Linda A. draws with brush and carving tools on her pottery. Caught here at work...)

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(A close-up of the amazing Linda A. at work on a buffalo cup. That's dry, unfired clay she's drawing on with those gifted, practiced and most capable hands.)

(Diane S.'s work is to the right of her in this photo.)

(That's Debi R. on the left, queen of Topaz Cocker Spaniels and recent children's book author about a special cocker spaniel- can you spot the doggies in the photo? Playful pups are everywhere here. Seen with Debi, a browsing guest, aka my friend Nancy posing with an apple slice.)

Was it a lucrative day? For some. The Guild members collectively took in a good bit of profit, although some did great and others, just a little bit of business if at all. It's work, but good work. A fun day? For all, I think. Wish I took more photos of these artists! Maybe next time.

Get it Right the Next Time

The eleven fat-handled mugs came through the bisque fire unscathed. The handles stayed on. The bottoms remained intact. 

I note this because years ago, when my mugs were thrown on the wheel thicker and I rushed them into the kiln sooner, once in a while a bottom blew out or a handle developed cracks. Today this is rare. First, I throw a lot thinner and the mugs can dry evenly. Second, the stoneware clay I am using this month is great for sticking together when attached, unlike my favorite porcelain which is frustratingly ready to crack at all joins. 

These mugs stayed intact despite their neighbors in the kiln, a pair of chanukiot (Chanukah menorahs) that exploded quite thoroughly on the adjacent shelf, flinging big and little shards a foot all around. These were two of the chanukiot I wrote about recently, the ones with the wire at the top. They exploded because they are still earlyish prototypes of a thrown and altered form, which in this case means they are unevenly thick. And I confess, I hurriedly and insufficiently dried them, just like my first mugs so long ago. The moisture still in the thick parts escaped too quickly in the heat of the kiln, and boom... or actually more of a "whump"...

Is it a given that after 29 years of making pots I will "get it right" the first time? No. And is "right" a stable quality from one to the next? No. The odds are good that I'll figure out the angles of this particular challenge soon, though. Eventually I tend to. So: "How long did it take you to make that chanukia?" Twenty nine years and counting...

Meanwhile, these are the chanukiot that made it, a diverse lot, about to be glazed:

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(Chanukiot or Chanukah menorahs, not yet glazed and fired with the shiny stuff)

And just for fun, here are the beer mugs with underglaze stripes already bisque-fired on, about to start getting some detailed glaze treatment. The big handles are hollow, by the way.

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(fat (hollow) handled mugs, ready to glaze and fire with color)

Feisty & Fabulous Festival of Autumn Artwork

Seeking appreciators of the handmade and individual, for attendance at a warm and wonderful pottery fair. Must love unique, interesting and beautiful artware. 

The Potters Guild of NJ Fall Festival and Sale will be going on this weekend at 1459 Deer Path, Mountainside, NJ! See the show and visit me, right-hand side, middle of the room, between 12 and 5 PM on Sunday, November 16. 

No admission fee. 

I'm Calling it the "Potters Guild of New Jersey Extravaganza"!

Why "extravaganza"? Because there are over 40 of us potters and sculptors in one big room. That's an extravagant number of personalities and a luxurious surfeit of pottery to see and choose from! 

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(Honey jar on the upper right is mine. As always, you can see more of my work on http://www.mimistadlerpottery.com.)

Potters’ Guild Hosts Annual Pottery Festival & Sale  

Where:   Community Presbyterian Church

                     1459 Deer Path

                     Mountainside, NJ 07902

(Mimi's friends: Please note that you can bypass the church entrance and come right through the parking lot to the side door to the right, where the show will be in the large, pleasant social hall. See you Sunday!)

When:    November 15th and 16th, 2014

                   Saturday 11 AM to 5 PM                           

                   Sunday Noon to 5 PM - I will be there in person only on Sunday, 12-5 PM

Highlights: This increasingly popular event draws hundreds of customers from

throughout New Jersey and the tri state area.  Available for sale will be a fabulous

selection of vases, wall pieces, pitchers, teapots, platters, casseroles, raku and pit-

fired vessels in varying colors and styles, and one-of-a-kind sculptures and decorative 

objects of art. The show is the perfect place to find a unique item or gift.

Admission:   Free and Credit cards now accepted! 

Directions:   Route 22 to New Providence Rd, Mountainside. 

                        If going east on 22, cross over 22 at New Providence Rd. 

                        If going west on 22, go right at New Providence Rd. 

                        Follow the double yellow lines up the hill to Deer Path. 

                        Go straight ahead to the church. 

                                For more information please go to PGNJ website:  http://www.pottersguildnj.org

Wiring Up, the Possibly Successful Tale of a Partially P.O.'d Potter

Wire. High temperature wire, in fact. It will go to at least 2232 degrees Fahrenheit in the kiln and keep its strength.

I learned about high temp wire from Sandy Simon at the 2013 Women Working With Clay symposium in Roanoke, Virginia. Over several days, I watched Sandy throw vessels with apparent spontaneity yet with evident care as well. One of the things she did was insert Nichrome wire into the lids and sides of vessels to act as knobs and handles. (http://traxgallery.com/category/artist/sandy-simon/) Last time I was at Ceramic Supply, I picked up a package of high temperature wire, thinking of Sandy Simon's work, but not sure where I might use the wire.

Sometimes, at need, something I've learned comes back as a possible solution for a problem I am having in the designing of an object. My chanukiot are a case in point. I had recently been making 8 indentations in the top of each chanukia, each indentation to accommodate either the bottom of a candle or the bottom nub of a glass cup bearing oil and a wick. But the stress to the clay where I pressed the indentations caused cracking in the drying phase of the chanukia.

When I went to load my recently made chanukiot, now dry, into the bisque kiln, I found large cracks in two places. One place was at the point in the body where I'd pushed together the walls of a thrown porcelain cylinder to create the flattened chanukia form.

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(You can see the score marks inside the crack, where I pushed the walls together right on the fresh pot on the wheel.)

The other cracking place was on another chanukia, where I'd pressed in the aforementioned indentations on the top plateau.

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(This one cracked where the top of the pot came together, and where I made indentations for the candles.)

I went icy calm; I'd put several hours of work into each piece by now, had dried them slowly, and these had now messed with me. I decided at that moment to make two radical changes. First, I would change the clay I use for strongly altered forms like chanukiot, from porcelain to stoneware. (The heck with YOU, porcelain.) Porcelain is too finicky and resists staying altered (it likes to revert to its first thrown state), and it is stupid to keep using it in place of something that is more compliant with a complex form.

So I banished the porcelain and got out some groggy, buff colored stoneware, the kind my students use, that is so much more forgiving than the !?*&!#^ porcelain. I got on the wheel and made three chanukiot, in a burst of adrenaline. I improved the form a bit, too, while I was at it; I threw the new chanukiot on the wheel upside down. The foot was made at the top of the piece this time, with the intent to turn it over to alter it. That way I would have a nice, trim, finished foot. (It's hard to trim a good foot on a piece that's no longer round!) I turned the form over right side up to work on after. I saw right away that the move to stoneware was a good change*.

Second, instead of putting any dents into the top of the first new chanukia, risking stress cracking again, I got out the high temp wire and created one long row of triple loops, evenly spaced from one another.

(Unscientific yet functional measurements for the oil cup/candle placements and low-tech apparatus for hand-forming the wire. I made the loops by hand but started the first one on a nail to anchor it.)

In essence, these look like 8 mini springs with a short length of straightish wire between them. They're made of one uncut length. I left extra wire on each end to bend down and stick into the top plateau of the soft clay of the chanukia. I did this for all three chanukiot. I hope this works out to be a good design, because I really like it. My main concern is that glass oil cups (there's a set of them in the box in the photo above) might be heavy for the wire once the chanukia is done. I used 17 gauge wire. 24 gauge is also available, although that much harder to wind into loops.

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(Chanukia, wired. You can see the finished-looking foot, which I threw at the top of the vessel first, then turned the completed vessel over to flatten the walls together. This underglazed chanukia has not yet been inscribed with sgraffito, so it is like a blank canvas.)

Will the  clay crack as it dries and shrinks where I stuck in the ends of wire? I hope not. (The wire will be unyielding as the stoneware shrinks around it. I made the insertion holes roomy, but are they roomy enough?) If that happens, this is one more year when I won't have any of these ready for Chanukah. And I did start more than two months ago. My take-away here..? Next time I start SIX months early. 

To bolster hope's springing, I'm making my most logical, educated guesses. The days of leaning on dumb luck are long over. However, the days of this simple material having the last laugh on me are probably not.

My sister in law asked me, "Can't you make a more simple design?" It's not a bad question. The answer is probably "No." I have to design 1) for my aesthetic 2) to give the buyer something special, and 3) taking into account the nature of the clay, underglaze, glaze, and kiln, no small set of variables. Last, 4) I have to design something the buyer will understand and appreciate. Constant accommodation has to be made for all. I have to be flexible, flexible...flexible. I simplify it all to the full extent that I can, and still be able to call the piece individual and handmade. 

Anyway, Sandy Simon, thanks for the inspiration. Here's hoping.

(* I do intend eventually to make a video of this whole chanukia process, once all the steps turn out to be the right ones on a regular basis. It's interesting enough to share.)

Why I Put a Pottery Gallery in my Suburban Home

196 Windsor Way in Hillside, my suburban 1950s neighborhood, is very pleasant. If you've been in a well-maintained New Jersey suburb, you've passed houses like mine plenty of times. It's a white-painted brick ranch with dark red shutters and some shrubbery. But unlike most (if not all) of this plain-variety house, it has a pottery gallery downstairs. If you've read my blog before, you may know about it.  But have you stopped in? It's worth a visit.

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(As you come down into the gallery)

The Gallery Downstairs is almost two years old now. It's an unusual business model. The purpose of a gallery is for people to come and see what's inside, and buy if there is something they love and appreciate. But an ordinary house in the suburbs has no volume of people on foot who may come in on impulse.

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(Big vase, small teacup)

It's a beautiful exhibit and sale space, with regular-height ceilings and good lighting. As one of my visitors said, "It doesn't feel like a basement!" I've furnished it with pedestals and wall shelves that are almost minimalist, and filled it with several years of work and a few older pieces I've taken from the archives lately. I put new work into it as it is made. 

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(Washcups and serving plates)

That it's hidden away is both its problem and its secret charm. It's an art-in-clay surprise, tucked away where you can find it- if you know it's there. Those who do visit are very favorably impressed.

For locals or those who will be traveling nearby, it's worth a drop-in visit. I welcome browsing and, in case you fear pushiness on my part (is it my potter-ly bulging biceps?), I usually enjoy telling you how things are inspired and made, if you want to know about those things, and then let you browse in peace. Think of it as an ongoing pottery craft show with no entry fee. You can come on up and ring the doorbell. I suggest calling 732-492-8558 as well, even if you are already on my front porch, just  in case I am absorbed in work down in the studio and do not hear the bell. Unlike other gallery owners, I will likely answer the door in a clay spattered apron.

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(23 mugs and a small blue bowl)

Here is what motivated me to create The Gallery Downstairs.

1985, when I started making pots, is long enough ago that my work has really evolved. Inventory has accumulated well beyond the number of pots I like to take to shows. In the last few years I've created a wider range of interesting pots than ever before. I'm in my most productive phase in my pottery life so far. There are many more pieces that I like than I ever liked before. I want people to see them.

But the shows get harder to do. I have been thinking for some time that instead of packing the pieces up for shows, repacking the unsold ones and unpacking them again to put away in my kiln room "archives", I would create a regular display space for them. So I put together a show that would be up not twice a year, but all year round. 

Psst- Pass it on! It would be very satisfying to "unhide" my little gallery. If you'd just like to come see the work in person and move on, that would be fine, but do pass on the word! And if you need something one of a kind, or if you are going visiting, it's a great place to pick up a gift. Birthdays come up, housewarmings, and engagements. I would be glad to help you find what you want in my Gallery Downstairs. And if you don't see what you would want, we can talk about a custom order, too!

Refreshingly Different Chanukia (Menorah) Designs

 These chanukiot are time consuming, labor intensive, and refreshing.

You are welcome to follow the process:

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(Freshly thrown and altered chanukia, made on the potter's wheel and altered, with added shamash)

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(Black underglaze coats the unfired chanukia.)

(Underglaze dried; liquid wax was applied and it dried; I then cut designs through the underglaze coat.)

Not done yet! Adding white, chartreuse and red underglazes...

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(Chanukiot, still unfired clay, with colored underglaze inlay in some of the sgraffito decoration.)

Now to dry for about 6 days, then put them through the first (the bisque) kiln. More late next week after I glaze them and put them through the glaze fire.

(I think a silent mantra...Don't crack, chanukiot. Don't split, explode, warp or otherwise mock me. Because chanukiot in my studio have a checkered past, but these are the best yet and I'm still optimistic.)

Testimonials Wanted!

What an old-fashioned sounding word, "testimonials"!

Do you have a piece I made? Are you willing and able to email a photo and/or a quote? 

As I work behind the scenes on modifications to my website and plans for my business, one small but really nice thing going on is a collection of photos and quotes from owners of my pottery. Would you opt in?

You can be in the photo with the pottery, or not, as you like. Pots in a setting in your home or office would be super. A quote with the photo, from a couple of words to a few sentences, would be really appreciated. A 15% off reward on a future purchase will ensue in short order, in fact, to express appreciation. 

Thank you in advance!

Making Work, Planning for a Show

The Gallery Downstairs is filling up with interesting things. Pottery of a fairly individual character doesn't go out of style easily. Sometimes I put away items when they come out of the kiln, and reevaluate them from time to time. I've just done so for the first time in a while. I am now displaying colorful, functional wares of this year and last, and some more monochromatic and sometimes one-of-a-kind pieces from previous years that I like and feel are good enough to present. Some of the vintage pieces are super interesting now that I see them out of the "archives". These are "concept pieces" that are not on my website...yet. They really liven up the gallery and could easily liven up someone's collection!

As we have been since 1995, the studio and The Gallery Downstairs are at 196 Windsor Way in Hillside, NJ. The front doorbell and the side bell both work now, Hallelujah! Our phone number at the studio and gallery is 732-492-8558.

In the studio, I am making pottery for Chanukah. October is a bit late to be making new work for this holiday, but there it is anyway. Last Minute Mim, still at it! Mugs and simple items like that are almost always available for holiday gifts, along with the other objects, and serving platters and bowls (many) that are great for hostess gifts and your own table. They're mostly on my website, and the photos are representative (depending on your screen resolution and color settings), but seeing the work in person and holding it in your hands (yes, it is a "please touch the pottery" shop) really helps you decide more easily what you like.

Update: I'll be showing work in the Fall Pottery Festival and Sale on Sunday, November 16, at the Community Presbyterian Church in Mountainside, NJ, in their large, well-suited social hall. The church is right beside the beautiful Watchung Reservation, in case you want to make it a Pottery Festival + day-in-the-park sort of Sunday. I'll be among approximately 40 potters and sculptors of the Potters Guild of NJ, who are my colleagues and friends. (They will be showing Saturday, November 15th, as well, although my work will be there without me on Saturday.) This gem of a festival is a chance to see all sorts of aesthetic and creative angles on the very varied and vibrant world of clay art. Come, and bring a friend! I'll post an invitation on Facebook at Mimi Stadler Pottery as it approaches.

Another Update: Please go to Mimi Stadler Pottery on Facebook and Follow and Like the page if you haven't already! I'll be posting a "win a mug contest" to break up the February doldrums, with automatic entry only for Followers. 

I Opened a New Shop on Etsy!

Last week I was not in the studio per se. I was in my office, working on publicity for my business. I love the artful challenge of making the work, but the challenge of "sending them on to new homes" is pretty large and takes lots of time, too.

I heard that some of you enjoy going to Etsy to browse and shop for gifts. I shop there sometimes myself for unique handmade gifts.

So yesterday I opened an Etsy shop. My own unique, handmade gifts fit the profile very nicely!

My shop has several honey dishes and small, decorative singing birds today, and it will grow as the days pass. This week the honey dishes are there and are duplicated on my website, because it is a short honey season right now. (I also have them right in my gallery if you are near Hillside, NJ. You can stop in. 732-492-8558.) But most of the time, the Etsy shop items will be just on Etsy, like the birds you can see there today. 

I will be among all sorts of other sellers of handicraft on Etsy, as compared to being the only one on my website. I look at Etsy as short term gallery exhibits of my work, changing as sales occur and changing completely every season.

Click on my Etsy shop to go there. Please do consider Bookmarking it into your Favorites so you can easily go back again as I update it! 

Browsing for Vases in The Gallery Downstairs

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(The display as you enter the gallery. changes frequently)

Come in 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. most days and be greeted with vases and covered jars among all the other objects of interest. The ones shown above are $28-$65, at The Gallery Downstairs.

Seen elsewhere around The Gallery, more vases among the pots on the shelves:

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Come see what other beautiful and interesting one-of-a-kind objects are in The Gallery, too. 

You'll find The Gallery Downstairs side by side with my studio workshop at 196 Windsor Way, (Hillside, NJ). It is through the side door of the house, and, naturally, downstairs. 

Studio workshop and Gallery - 732-492-8558. If I am in the middle of working with clay I will return your call very shortly, so do leave a message!

Browsing for a Purple Cat in The Gallery Downstairs

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(Cat:) This hedgehog looks...whisker-licking delicious!

(Hedgehog:) Gulp.

$25, the pair.

Going up on my website on Monday, September 15, but till then, these critters can be reserved by contacting me.

Browsing For Pets in The Gallery Downstairs

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That hedgehog...it's enough to mesmerize a cat. 

Seen at The Gallery Downstairs, $25 for the pair.

Going up on my website on September 15th, but can be reserved before then by contacting me.

One Honey Jar Left

One honey jar left- at least till I unload the kiln on September 15th!

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$55 at The Gallery Downstairs or on my website.

Glaze Phase with Student

End of Glaze Day 3. Two of those days were with a student. Everything was very careful and time consuming as this was a tutorial. She has ideas, and the will to execute them. I have the will to facilitate!

The amount of mopping up, as ever, is prodigious, even though she is the neatest glazer I have ever seen. The mess was mine. I am not neat. I pour the glaze, drip it, brush it; I splash it although I try not to. 

Number of fresh batches of glaze weighed out, put together and sieved 3x each in preparation last week: 3. (Total number of glazes in the studio: 6.) Number of pairs of rubber gloves I went through in three days: 8. Number of finger cots (you know what those are? Super useful for people with beat-up fingers) to protect thumb cuts: 16. Number of sponging forays around the glaze buckets on the floor: eleventy-seven, probably. (Nearly as good as lunges and squats at the gym.) Number of towel and glaze-clothing laundries: two. Dried glaze spatter vacuum efforts: 2. Number of tired, fairly dirty and unquestionably sweaty potters: 1. But I'm kind of happy, too. The kiln is loaded and firing, and will fire through the night. Soon I'll have a few more pieces for the gallery/website.

My student wanted to do blue brushwork on top of the glaze on a couple of pots, so I made a brushing mix for her. I had the recipe for it for over a year, wanting to try it but never getting to it. (Got it from one of Simon Leach's videos. *Recipe below.) I weighed it out and mixed it up in about 5 minutes. A student is a good challenge. I am to have two more students before long, for handbuilding. More excellent challenges, forthwith! 

Number of pots of mine in this kiln: 3 open honey dishes with 3 matching plates, one goblet with matching saucer, two nice vegetable-serving bowls, 2 oblong serving trays, and a whole bunch of student work, carefully glazed.

The load is firing now in my electric kiln. The studio is blessedly, unusually clean.

(*Simon's Blue On-glaze Brushing Stuff 

25% cobalt oxide

25% red iron oxide

25% manganese dioxide

25% crushed dried porcelain

water to mix)

Menorahs: Color!

The chanukiot have been underglazed. They are drying, brightening up my dingy kiln room. (They have not been fired yet. If I stood them in a bucket of water, these raw chanukiot would dissolve.) They do not have a clear glaze over them yet, either. 

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(Lots of time is spent getting these right. Photo Mimi Stadler 2014)

First, they got a coat of many (underglaze) colors. Then I waxed the whole surface of each one, to protect the colors before the next phase of work. I let the wax dry. That's why they look a bit shiny.

I cut line drawings through the waxed colors with a small, sharp tool, revealing bare clay wherever I incised. Then I inlaid color into the lines I just cut. The wax around the lines resisted the underglaze color I was adding. But the bare clay inside the lines absorbed it. I'm able to create a pretty crisp image with this technique. The wax will burn away in the first firing, known as the "bisque fire", which goes to about 1860 degrees Fahrenheit. Then I'll cover the chanukia with clear glaze, and fire it to 2230 degrees Fahrenheit. (More photos then.)

The third one hasn't had its sgraffito treatment yet. It just has a base-coat of colors that remind me of a sunset:

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(Photo Mimi Stadler 2014)

Chanukah Menorahs Get Decoration

Here are those three wheel-thrown chanukiot (Chanukah menorahs), still raw (unfired) clay, with first layers of brushed underglaze color applied, and the beginning of incised decoration and inlaid underglaze color.

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(Right rear, no underglaze yet; Left, underglaze, not yet incised; Front, underglazed, partly incised and inlaid, not yet inlaid with the rest of the colors. photo Mimi Stadler 2014)

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(A view from the top.)

I am experimenting with everything: forms, colors, top accommodations for glass cups or candles; angles of shamash (that candle doohickey on the front) placement, whether the clay will crack during drying and/or firing due to uneven stresses of drying at attachment points...much could go right, and (I hope not) much, wrong. In short, these are creative and risky times hereabouts.

Chanukah Menorahs Made on the Potter's Wheel

You recall this from 2 posts ago... a stoneware chanukia (also spelled "chanukiah" or "hannukia", meaning Chanuka menorah) seen at the Ha'aretz Museum in Ramat Gan, Israel.

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(Chanukia, collection of the Ha'aretz Museum, Ramat Gan, Israel. Traditional Lions of Judah brushed cobalt decoration and white glaze, over dark stoneware.)

It looks relatively simple, so I've been trying variations this week on the potter's wheel. Here are the steps involved in my third variation on this design. This one is the best so far.

Start with 8 lbs of clay.

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(Kneading up 8 lbs. of clay is very good exercise for your arms.)

Separately, roll and flatten a thick coil, and impress it with 8 indentations, to be deepened and widened later after attaching to the chanukia. Set aside to firm up a little. (It will be cut to fit later.)

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(Starting the top of the chanukia.)

Throw a cylinder (here, 11" tall and fairly narrow at the rim). Score (scratch) and slip (moisten with liquid clay) the cylinder a few inches down on the inside.

(11" tall cylinder, about 6.5" wide at the mouth. Note: Don't use a lot of water when raising and thinning the cylinder walls.)

Carefully bring the sides of the cylinder toward each other, pressing them together at the score marks and upward, and gently pressing inward the belly below that, too. The goal is to have a flattened oval profile and a closed rim. 

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(Beginning the cylinder squash.)

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(Squashed cylinder with closed rim. Maybe I should've made the top section thicker, not sure.Should have scored the entire interior wherever the sides will touch, too. Next time.)

Time to add a top: Slip and score the top and sides of the pressed-together cylinder rim, and do the same to the underside of that chanukia top that was made earlier. Drape the pre-made top over the pressed-together rim. Carefully press down to attach the parts, taking care not to mess up the indentations on the top surface where glass oil cups will go. Pinch the sides and bottom of the new addition together at intervals to really get a good join. 

Now deepen the indentations where the glass oil cups will sit. The glass cups have a little nub on each bottom that sits into each indentation.

(Deepening the indentations in the top of the chanukia, using a small stick with a round end that's been sprayed with WD40 motor oil to prevent sticking. These indentations will accommodate the bottoms of glass oil cups.)

Make a tapering coil, pull the end a little to make a tail, score, slip, and attach. Hollow it out after to accommodate a shamash candle.

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(Adding a coil to be the shamash holder.)

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(Close-up of the shamash holder. I will clean it up a bit when it has firmed further.)

Here is the sum of those parts, so far.

(Freshly made chanukia, to be cleaned up after firming to soft "leather hard." It is 11.5" tall in the raw state.)

When it has firmed up quite a bit, I will do some colored underglaze brushwork to decorate it.

I made all of this at one go, throwing, altering and adding clay. It's a pretty spontaneous process that depends on everything being done right the first time. You can't fuss or fiddle with it or it will look messy at best, and collapse at worst. This one was a little fussier and fiddlier than I wanted, but not too terribly so.

I'll continue to tweak this design different ways and see what happens.