potsblog: July 2010

Thank You For Your Patience

End of the Summer show. My small contribution to the illustrious field of Judaica: the three-handled natlah [they usually have two]; the two-piece mayim achronim [they usually have three] and the easily-crushed-under-the-chuppah cup [it's usually glass,but why?]- bisced porcelain.

Set and Match

Matching havdalah set,natlah [washing cup] and mayim achronim set [another kind of washing cup - God is good to potters]

Janice Tchalenko's wonderful colourful glazes on part of a dinner set

Another attempt at the elusive and complex tripartite pickle dish. I might give this to next year's Tel Hai students as a project to see if they come up with any smart ideas.

Big [for me] low wide serving bowls in mixed reddish stonewares: the jun glaze came out well

Cutting corners,which,paradoxically,is a lot more work

Ella's footprints,celadon glaze

Decal'd and lustred porcelain

Jugs and oil-jugs; the oil-jugs have Hebrew on one side,English on the other.

Quite a lot of pots intended for the [late] salt kiln,with various slips,fired [rather nicely,I think] with a new ash glaze that's like Hamada's Nuka glaze but a bit different [30 ash 30 feldspar 30 quartz,if you're interested].

Summer Kilns

I've been busy firing pots for the Summer - six cone 9 gas kilns [around 600 pots of all sizes] and one luster [750 degrees]. Quite a lot of tea-pots...

Two Trays with Clouds in Their Heads

Two More

On our roof at sunset.

Two Lovers with Clouds in Their Heads

One of my favourite paintings by Dali. Until recently I thought it was called "two lovers with their heads in the clouds"

Fired Drums

A quick little project - These pots just filled the top shelf in the bisc nicely; Yaacov came and took two,one had a cracked base [trimmed too thin,tool too blunt] and has been sent to the garden to function as a parsley pot,and one is still in the studio,where every second person plays on it. The raw clay looked like an earthenware,but now that's it's bisced I wonder whether it's one of those clays labelled "firing range: 1000-1260 degrees" which I never fully understand- if it fires to 1260,obviously I can fire it to 1000,but it'll look half-fired,like this one.The terra sigilata is more the colour I was hoping for.

Do You Udu?

...I do! I didn't know what these African drum/pots were called yesterday,and now I've made four of them [3.5-5.5kg] for local musician Yaacov Avni,who has a gallery round the corner from my studio. Luckily I remembered that a store in town sells earthenware clay - son Gilad shlepped 18 kg for me. I still have to cut the side sound-hole...Shabbat shalom!