Category Archives: Ceramics

More Shawabtis

It has been some time since I last posted, as my art work has been rather sparse. I did make a few shawabtis however.

Some years ago I made a small “art signature” card about my shawabtis (below). I thought I would be making hundreds of these sculptures, but that did not turn out to be the case.

Shawabti card
Shawabti card

Here are the ones that I just finished:

new shawabtis
new shawabtis

New Abstract Designs for Vases

After much thinking about Native American designs (see last post) I decided to not pursue this line of ceramic decoration. Rather, I am now working on some new abstract designs, and have translated several of these patterns, using colored underglazes, to greenware. It be a while before any firing occurs; more to follow on that. Design examples are pictured. I made these using vector graphics with Inkscape, a truly free public domain software that is a good substitute for Adobe Illustrator.

Clear gloss glaze over sgraffito vases

I’ve been searching for a glossy clear glaze to cover the sgraffito on my porcelain vases. These are my most recent results and I’m happy with them. The glaze recipe (which I found somewhere on the web) is:

ULATRA CLEAR GLAZE RECIPE cone 5/6 oxidation.

Minspar 200 (I substitued with F4): 8.6%

frit 3134 23.2

wollastonite 15.2

E.P.K 24.8

talc 4.3

Silica 325 23.8

Porcelain Sgraffito Project

It has been more that a year since I have done any ceramic work. Now, I am back in the studio working on a “fine” art type of porcelain vase. The one on the left is greenware. I use Mayo UG-50 jet black underglaze applied to the leather hard vase and, just as soon as the underglaze dries (two coats needed), I use an etching stylus to outline the figures or do scrafitto designs on the top and bottom black bands. The green ware is then dried and fired straight to cone 6; no bisque stage involved. The outside is not glazed but there is a clear glaze inside. The outside is then lightly finished using 220 grit wet-to-dry sandpaper. The porcelain is Kota cone 5-6 (Kentucky Mudworks).

Standing Celtic Marble

This marble installation, about 60″ tall, is my latest work. The marble came from an almost abandoned quarry is Sylacauga, Alabama. I carried the stone back to Gainesville in my truck. There is a 6″ by 1/2″ stainless steel rod that secures the marble to the concrete base. I originally conceived of the design as representing a skeleton key being pushed through the stone. As time went on, the piece seemed more reminiscent of a Celtic motif.

Catfish and Raven Porcelain Bottles

Several years ago, I hand built several Shoji Hamada-inspired ceramic bottles but the result was not satisfying: it was difficult to construct the curved forms.

Now I have used press molds to make the main shapes. The bottle tops are then added using components made from smaller molds. The fish and raven figures are painted on bisque ware using a Jet Black (Amaco) or a Kings Blue (Mayco) underglaze. Finally, a cone 6 glaze (5/20) is used in an oxidation firing. The tallest one is 10″ tall.