Sunday, March 31, 2024

Popcorn bowl #2

Bowl #2 was made at home, by slumping a slab over a pyrex mixing bowl that I sometimes use for popcorn.


Again, a dearth of notes, not even photos of what I was doing. If memory serves me right, the inside is glazed in 'Stoned Denim' and the outsie in 'Cinnebar'. The rim shows a layering of the two.



And AGAIN, I didn't allow for shrinkage, so this bowl would be better for pasta or salad instead of popcorn. One of these days, I will learn to make everything at least ten percent larger than I want the end result to be.

Friday, March 29, 2024

Popcorn bowl #1

Bowl #1 was made in class. No construction pictures. The method was one kind of coil building. As I recall, mine started caving out, so I had to make a "dart" - cut out a section and "glue" the edges back together. Initially, I was unhappy with the thing, but decided it wasn't so bad after all.

After firing, I decided to try the "peacock" method of glazing (at home). The idea is to create runs of color that resemble a peacock's tail. I used Mayco 'Stoned Denim' for the base, Amaco 'Honey Flux' for the U's and big circle, and Mayco 'Cinnebar' for the dots. I really don't know what I am doing - can you tell?


It didn't turn out the way I had hoped. Basically, the glazes did not run.



I *think* what I did next was overglaze the inside of the piece with 'Oatmeal' (or was it a layer of 'Honey Flux'? I really need to get better at making notes.) Anyway, the idea was to get some movement of the glaze. After yet another firing, the result was much better, closer to what I was aiming for.



Again, I did not allow for shrinkage, so this isn't much of a popcorn bowl by today's standards. When I was a kid, we had a set of salad bowls we used for popcorn, and they were about the size of this bowl. It just goes to show you how serving sizes have grown over the years.