Heavy duty tool caddies

I made these two tool caddies (a.k.a. handleless mugs) a while ago, while I was still getting into the habit of documenting my pottery journey. They are really heavy - 20 oz. and 23 oz. If I wanted to use them as short vases, I doubt Beau could knock them over (although with felt feet, they might slide off a table very easily).

After watching a video provided by Amaco on layering PC-31 Oatmeal over PC-33 Iron Lustre, I glazed these. The one on the left has three coats of Oatmeal over three coats of Iron Lustre, with the Oatmeal restricted to the top third of both the inside and outside of the mug. The one on the right is the opposite: three coats of Iron Lustre over three coats of Oatmeal, with the Iron Lustre on just the top third of the inside and outside, plus the heart.

So how did they turn out? Pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Each one is about 4" tall with a 3" diameter. The heartless one has some surface texture.

The way the colors emerge and interact is really interesting. Something to do with chemistry, in which I earned a D in high school. (The only reason I passed is I could balance equations.)

Here is my lesson learned: it is difficult to see in this pic, but the inside bottom did not get fully covered. However, they both hold water.

The purpose of these pieces was to improve my slab-building skills. I have since switched to less thick slabs, although if I wanted to etch deeply into the surface, I would stick with this thickness. (I think these were rolled to 5/8" thick; I now aim for 3/8".) I was concerned the glaze would run right off, so put "cookies" under them, but it was unnecessary.

Chopstick holder

One of the pieces I made recently at home was a holder for chopsticks. I had been using a drinking glass - perfectly serviceable, but not very decorative. Also, I wanted to improve my slab-building technique.

I posted about this earlier, but I'll repeat myself here so that I have all the information in one place, more or less.

Instead of using a stamp or roller for the design, I snipped some tips off an arborvitae in my yard.

Each side is about 3"x6". I left the sprigs on the clay while I assembled the container, to prevent smudging of the design. That's something one can't do with rollers and stamps.

This is where things get hazy since I didn't take any notes, nor did I post about the progress. I *think* I had it bisque fired, then added detail using underglazes.

I *think* I did not like this red underglaze, so removed it and started over with the original underglazes?

At some point, I applied wax resist to the bottom, using a brush. Then I covered the whole thing with Amaco Celadon 'Snapdragon'. It came out darker than I expected, covering the detail more than I wanted.

But it's functional! It even holds water.

Lessons learned:

• The wax resist looks uneven along the bottom. I would prefer to dip pieces into wax to get a more even edge.
• I wish I had used a darker underglaze to accent the detail.
• The whole thing is a bit wonky, so that is something I need to work on.

Initially, I did not like the transparency of the Celadon glazes, but they are growing on me.