Shino Over

I thought I would post the following images of Chawan and Yunomi I’ve made over the years using Shino over other glazes. The old saying is “shino first or suffer the curse”, the curse being bubbles and blisters in and on the finished glaze surface of a pot. I’ve been working with shino over other glazes for the last 16 years and the sample shown here represent works that span that time period. All the examples were fired to ∆10 (2345F) in reduction in my 20 cubic foot updraft natural gas kiln. (I apologize, in advance, for the poor quality of some of the images. They were taken before I developed the necessary photography skills, way back then).

***Please Click on Images to Enlarge***

Thanks for looking and don’t hesitate to leave any questions you may have in the comment section below this post.

White Shino over Chun Red, notice the 3-D effect of the folded over shino in the first image

Malcolm Davis CT Shino with Soda Ash over Alberta Slip.

Malcolm Davis CT Shino with Soda Ash over Alberta Slip.

Malcolm Davis CT Shino with Soda Ash over V.C. Satin Doll Black.

Troy Shino over Ash Tenmoku.

Malcolm Davis CT Shino with Soda Ash over Alberta Slip. The left image is the first firing and the right image is the same piece twice fired.

Malcolm Davis CT Shino with Soda Ash over Alberta Slip.

Red Shino over Alberta Slip and a Rutile glaze.

Malcolm Davis CT Shino with Soda Ash over Alberta Slip and Tenmoku.

Malcolm Davis CT Shino with Soda Ash over Alberta Slip.

Red Shino over Crackle Slip over Alberta Slip.

Shino over Alberta Slip.

Shino over Alberta Slip and Tenmoku.

Malcolm Davis CT Shino with Soda Ash over Alberta Slip.

Close-up of Shino with Soda Ash over Ash Tenmoku.

Cup on the right: Malcolm Davis CT Shino with Soda Ash over Alberta Slip

How I Pack a Yunomi for Shipment.

The following is how I pack a Yunomi for shipment. I’ve been packing and shipping my ceramic works throughout the country and around the world since I started selling online in 1996. To date, I have only had one piece break out of the 1000′s of pieces shipped, a record that I am quite proud of.

I generally ship Domestic via USPS Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation, which costs an addition $.75, but is well worth it. I ship International via USPS  First-Class Mail International Parcel. This is the best international option for content values below $400.00 and packages weighing up to 4 pounds. There is no tracking or delivery confirmation and packages arrive anywhere in the world,  generally within 5-14 business days.

I wrap the Yunomi in a double layer of tissue paper, secured with scotch tape.

Next, I wrap the cup in bubble wrap. I prefer the small bubbles as they protect much better. I also include one of my business cards. Note: Wrap so that the bubbles are inside and the smooth side is out, the tape sticks much better.

Next, I cut a piece of cardboard the same size as the interior dimensions of the box, in this case, 6″ x 6″. I secure the tissue and bubble wrapped Yunomi to the center of the cardboard with packing tape.

Next, I fill the box with about 2″ of recycled and biodegradable “loose fill” cushioning material.

Next, I insert the cup into the box, notice how the cardboard keeps the cup centered in the box, this is important.

Next, I add more packing material and compress it to firmly protect all sides of the piece.

Next, I slightly over-fill the remainder of the box with packing material that will be compressed when the box is closed.

Next, I tape across the lid in both directions and I tape all exposed edges with the packing tape. When properly packed all sides of the box will be solid with no soft spots.

All ready to go….I put a layer of the clear packing tape over the address label to protect it from moisture. I also add Priority Mail and Fragile stickers. I often wonder if the fragile notices do any good, but I do think it makes an impression on the receiver’s end.

I love my tape gun…..

Lots to Look at on a Petite Piece

This stoneware Yunomi Tea Cup is glazed with Turquoise Copper Matte and Nuka and reduction fired in my custom designed gas updraft kiln high (7800 ft) in the San Juan Mountains of Southwest Colorado.

This Petite Jewel Like Yunomi has an unctuous feel in the hand and an incredible visual depth to the glaze finish that demands close and careful viewing. The AMAZING and UNEXPECTED red band is a result of the two glazes overlapping and the Nuka causing the copper in the Turquoise Matte to reduce, which achieves this result. Very beautiful where the copper in the turquoise matte reduced and created an almost brick red color and the teal line between the turquoise and the red is an added bonus. Lot to study in this small tea cup.

Dimensions: 2-1/2″h. x 2-3/4″dia. @ widest point.
Volume: 3.75 ounces/ 110 ml

***If you double click on the images they will zoom.***

Shots of Pots on the Cheap and Low Tech

 I’ve been shooting images of my ceramic works for the last 20 years. I learned out of necessity, simply because, I wasn’t going to pay the high prices that “professional” photographers wanted for less than expected results with strings attached. I tried working with several photographers but I was really never happy with their results and the whole “who owns the negatives” thing was always a problem.

I teach a workshop for artists titled, “Photograph Your Work”, several times a year at SHY RABBIT Contemporary Arts in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, USA. The two day workshop covers a lot of ground relative to the proper way to shoot images of 2D and 3D works of art. The ridiculously simple and cheap set-up in the images below will give you an idea of the concepts of how to use the gray background paper, how to set-up the lighting using a bounce board and how to create the classic gradient using a background sweep.

I use this set-up for small guinomi sake cups all the way up to my larger sculpture pieces, some as tall as 60.” If you understand the principals in the images below, you will be able to exploit this set-up’s flexibility.

I use a Nikon D40 Digital SLR with an 18-55mm lens

I use 2 – 500 watt, GE PhotoFloods (Tungsten), color temp. 3400K

I use a Neutral Gray or Dove Gray PhotoPaper Background (I don’t use a gradient paper, the gradient is created by the light being “cut-off” by the back of the “bounce Board.”)

I shoot on Manual setting at f25 with the exposure set using an 18% Gray Card. Then I disregard my light meter, as it will indicate a different exposure for every different piece, depending its lightness or darkness.

Remember to set you camera’s white balance to 3400k or tungsten or incandescent, whatever your camera uses.

As I think a picture is worth a 1000 words, please view the images below and ask me questions. Please consider subscribing to my blog, that way you will receive emails of other’s questions and my responses.

A sample of an image taken with this set-up. Also, the images in the header of this blog were also shot with this method.

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Collecting Nuka…

Here’s today’s Ash Tenmoku and Nuka glazed Matcha Chawan from last week’s firing. I was fired to ∆10 (2345F) in reduction in my small kiln. It measures 3″ h. x 5-3/8″ and feels real nice in the hands. I never seem to tire of this combination, while it’s only two glazes, every piece fires differently and I’m learning to control the flow of the nuka a bit, by using ridges and marks put in the clay when the bowl is made to “collect” the Nuka as it flows. The pattern on this bowl is a result of collecting the nuka in deep throw rings. Please let me know what you think and/or let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks for visiting…

I Got Interrupted…Redux

In my previous post “I Got Interrupted”, I talked about being interrupted when mixing a shino glaze and making mistakes in the batch which resulted in unusual and interesting results.

I fired the small kiln a few days ago and thought I would throw in a piece glazed with the “I Got Interrupted Glaze” to see if the previous results were repeatable, they weren’t. What I did get, was again, a complete surprise. This time the glaze had turned a Smokey Rose with a similar Dry Matte finish on the exterior with a Pale Cream interior. This glaze has no colorants or oxides added, not sure where the color is coming from(?) Is it possible that the volatile copper from the Chun Red and Oribe glazes in this firing might have caused this color…not sure.

I’ve posted images below as a comparison of the two different effects. I would be interested in any ideas as to how this color was achieved.

Front of Cup

Back of same cup

Result of the first firing of the “I Got Interrupted Glaze”

I Got Interrupted…

The past holiday season was quite busy around the studio and gallery, with lots of people coming and going. It’s one of the drawbacks of having your work space adjacent to and in combination with an art gallery (SHY RABBIT Contemporary Arts). I’m not complaining, mind you, just stating a fact. I’m almost always happy to welcome visitors to my studio and the gallery, after all, that’s what we’re here for. Having said this, there is one particular time that I don’t welcome visitors and that’s when I’m mixing glazes. I generally try to reserve this task for those times that I think will be slow, early morning, late afternoon or after closing. Against my better judgement, because of a looming deadline, I set about to mix several batches of glaze, mostly shinos, in the middle of the day…not a good idea, I got interrupted…

Somewhere in the middle of mixing a satin crawling shino I was “interrupted” by an, at that time, “unwelcome” visitor. I marked my place in the recipe with a Post-it note and attended to the visitor. Twenty minutes later I’m back to mixing my shino. The next ingredient on the recipe to be weighed out was the felspar, but I reached for the calcium carb. instead. I didn’t realize the mistake until an hour later when a strange sense of.. uh oh! came over me. I replayed, in my mind, the addition of the last few ingredients and that’s when I discovered my  mistake.

The glaze had been mixed with water and sieved twice and was otherwise ready to go. I thought, calcium carb and feldspar are both fluxes so lets see what happens, so I test the batch on several small pieces including the sake cup pictured below. I fired the pieces in my last glaze firing to ∆10 in reduction, boy was I surprised by the results. What surprised me the most was the stoney like surface finish and the charcoal grays to lavenders and the golden hues on the inside. There were no oxides in this batch, this I know for sure, the iron rich clay body added some. I really like this glaze, a lot. I will test some more to see if it’s repeatable…It’s very possible, on that day, I got more than one ingredient screwed up and this glaze is just a short lived, one-of-a-kind.