Celadon Series A Success

With our Celadon Series behind us - well kind of - we’ve got colored porcelain wrapped in damp cloth and plastic, ready for wheel-throwing some colorful creations.

Dennis has discovered a lot about his preferred colors during our Celadon Challenge.
He gravitates towards the blue-green spectrum of things; especially aqua.
Another jar of Amaco Aqua Celadon is in order.
Layering glazes is Dennis’s favorite way to express his inner creativity.
So what we’re doing is adding some drippy’s to his Celadon, sgraffito creations.
The planter with matching saucer is a great example of what Dennis likes to make.
It was a large project for Dennis, but I think it came out beautifully, giving him incentive to make more planters with matching saucers.

Dennis prefers transparent glazes, and drippy effects - Amaco Celadons and Amaco Potter’s Choice glazes.
I prefer opaque glazes and STABLE painterly effects - Amaco Velvet Underglazes and Amaco Satin Mattes.

Yes!
We CAN live under the same roof!
It really IS possible.
Sounds like I’m an advertisement for Amaco Glazes, but I can assure you, no one has reached out to me. 
That’s a little humor.
It’s just that through nine (9) years of making functional pottery, these are the glazes we feel most confident with.
Pretty much staying clear of the newer glaze colors, and sticking with the older tried and true colors that we began our clay journey with.
Recently, Amaco’s Teal Drift Phase Glaze DID attract my attention, and it IS A BEAUTY! That’s the only Phase Glaze color I have.
I’m thinking about another color - just thinking - OUT LOUD.
It is beneficial to check Youtube videos for newer glazes to see what the potter on camera thinks about them with kiln fired examples of the glazes.

Mayco does have some stable glaze colors that are my go-to colors -
Cordovan, Black Walnut, Wintergreen are utilized quite often on my taped designs, but also Cenote crystalline glaze is truly gorgeous. (My opinion).
Mayco Light flux is our preferred drippy flux glaze.

Coyote has some beautiful pink glazes, as pinks are not easy to find -
Coyote Rhubarb, Sunset Pink, Archie's Base.

Opulence (Mid-South Ceramics) manufactures a color that is almost impossible to find in such abundance - GRAY, unless you're British, then it's GREY.
These gray glazes are indispensable.
One of Dennis's favorite glazes -  London Fog. 
Polished Stone, Winter Day and Overcast. Gray is such a beautiful neutral color.
It goes with everything, and these Opulence grays layer beautifully with other glazes.
I do find Gum Solution beneficial for brush application of these glazes.

The Amaco Celadon challenge (assignment) was really gratifying and we achieved some unexpected results. 
It was good!
A very rare successful Cone 6 kiln firing with NO throw-a-ways.

Now, we are free to experiment with anything, which usually means I have
NO direction and NO designated path.
There are so many techniques and glaze options that I sometimes develop light headedness deciding what to do next.
Not really.
After finishing a project, the next project appears, even if it was not planned on my “Pottery To Do List”, and Yes!  I do have a Pottery To Do List.

Dennis plans to continue his Celadon glazes, combined with Potter’s Choice glazes adventure.
The Celadon challenge has inspired him, and he wants to make more planters as well as bowls.
I plan on “painting” some pottery with underglazes.
After completing a small bud vase with a landscape on greenware (raw clay), it was apparent the process was very comforting.
Because underglazes dry true to color, (lightening slightly) I can see the color pretty much how it will kiln fire - ONLY they fire DARKER and usually BRIGHTER.

The Amaco Satin Mattes are so beautiful when kiln fired, that I must glaze some pieces with them. They are all food safe, lead-free and fire to cone 5-6.
The fired surface is very smooth and well . . . satiny.
It IS difficult to differentiate the colors after they dry on bisqueware. 
Initial firing is the bisque firing - Cone 04 (1945 degrees Fahrenheit).
Amaco Satin Mattes are NOT intended for glazing raw clay - only bisqueware. 

In my mind, bowls of all shapes are the most enjoyable pottery forms to shape and decorate.
They are functional and can cross over to the sculptural realm of artistry.

My next project, however, will be wheel-thrown lavender clay that will be decorated with something that requires an overglaze of pearl lustre - a total of three (3) kiln firings.
Lots of little pearls.
Zoning out on pearls - who knew.