Little Pig Tea pots & Other addictions

[coloradopu]

i like it i really like it

[Littlepig2]

It has been a lovely day in Ohio. I have just played in the studio--gone from sake to egg cups. I love eggs--to look at, to feel, to eat. They are such lovely forms. It is just fun to turn the clay around in my hand and think about how it will hold an egg. Well eggs are not what I bring you this post.

What I bring is another young teapot from my Royal Tea Culture collection. This one is slab built of stoneware then glazed in my one of kind corn kernel ash glaze. I love this glaze but it is a pain. (to wax philosophical here. Are not most things of worth?) I have to put the pots glazed with it on wadding. That way it will not be fused to the shelf when I open the kiln.

[Littlepig2]

Here are a couple small tea cups. They are slab built of stoneware and glazed with my fussy but lovely corn kernel glaze. They stand 3" tall and are 1.5" in diameter. Each cup holds 4 ounces.
I really like how the glaze works well with the very fine surface texture. It comes from a motor template given to me by one of my students. It is from a motor her engineer son developed some years ago. I find the pattern quite lovely. You will find this cup listed on my Esty site
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?li ... d=28344338

[coloradopu]

Lil pig love the texture

when you do the slab work do you put the impressions in first then form the piece or do you do it after

if you do it first how do you keep it from getting messed up.

i ask cuz i got a starter from my tractor all broken down and un repairable and it has all sorts of gears. cool stuff and i thought it might be fun to give it a go on something for my self.

and the glaze kicks but the way it fills the texture.

[Littlepig2]

Lil pig love the texture

when you do the slab work do you put the impressions in first then form the piece or do you do it after

if you do it first how do you keep it from getting messed up.

i ask cuz i got a starter from my tractor all broken down and un repairable and it has all sorts of gears. cool stuff and i thought it might be fun to give it a go on something for my self...

You got gears? Way cool!
I post a couple pics for you. The straight answer is I impress texture both before and after.
1. I recommend you use a nice toothy stoneware (think you got that).

2. Make the slab and let it set. A too dry to throw clay is good or you can roll out the moist clay slab the night before, let it sit in plastic. Then take it out onto canvass the next day for 20 min. or so then do the texture (the clay can't be too gooey or it won't take the texture well and it won't stand up.
That is the main thing--clay must be pliable, bendable but firm enough to stand on it own and it keeps its texture much better in that state. Have fun!

[coloradopu]

so coool

thanks

[shyrabbit]

lp,

Thanks for posting these process images. I appreciate being able to see others methods. I also think this helps to inform others as to how labor intensive the ceramic process is.

Michael

[Littlepig2]

These two also have been slab constructed which is fast becoming a favorite method of mine. Slab construction is slower than throwing on the wheel but like the wheel slab building can be as meditative. Another thing I like about slab building is you can leave the circle/sphere form that the wheel imposes. You can go a little funky as the slab allows the hand a better chance of leaving its mark. These cups are the same pattern and shape of the previous cups. They are glazed with layered ash which includes ash from my late backyard maple tree. You will find them listed in my Etsy shop at http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?li ... d=28347978 I shall be back later this evening since it is Tea Artisan day with more talk and pictures about hand building.

[coloradopu]

how did you get the rt on the cup???

i must know i want to do this on a coffee mug for my dad i want to put there logo for the B&B in mobile al.

the rt looks sweet and i bet i could come up with a rutile/pine ash glaze also to go with the logo.

i like your glaze though its got that look

[Littlepig2]

Really I have no business making a chawan. To begin with I don't believe I've ever had tea from one. Regardless I have found a particular inspiration in seeing bonjiri's hand made chawan. They remind me of my fascination and love affair with the fruit and tree called the hedge apple.

That picture of a picture is me on a slimmer & sunnier October day a few years ago. I was collecting the lovely and lumpy fruit of the hedge apple tree.

I was in love with their form and their color. Wow their color it is such a wild chartreuse! They also have a lovely sharp, citrus odor and the trees that bear this fruit are just wonderfully gnarly.

There also is a pleasure in being around these trees. I find a quiet and dark spirit in them. It seems to me their darkness is not a scary thing. Rather it is like sitting in the darkness of a chapel with the sun streaming in though the stained glass windows. In all I had a lovely time collecting these fruit. More later on how I made press molds from them & the difficulties I had trying to join the organic fruit form and surface to the mechanical forms that came from the wheel.

[Littlepig2]

how did you get the rt on the cup???

i must know i want to do this on a coffee mug for my dad i want to put there logo for the B&B in mobile al.

the rt looks sweet and i bet i could come up with a rutile/pine ash glaze also to go with the logo.

i like your glaze though its got that look

I wish I could send you to a source for the R & T as I have been looking for more myself. I just stumbled onto them in the art center studio I manage. They are old news print type and I have been looking for ones like them for some time. I did find some small ones on ebay. . .

[T-session]

I love the slab cups!!! We just came from a trip/honeymoon out to Michigan and went to an Antique Show near Saugatuck and I saw many of those printers letters there. Several dealers had some. Seems like a good place to look in the future.
Bill

[Littlepig2]

I love the slab cups!!! We just came from a trip/honeymoon out to Michigan and went to an Antique Show near Saugatuck and I saw many of those printers letters there. Several dealers had some. Seems like a good place to look in the future.
Bill

Welcome back Bill & thanks. I will be checking out a few antique shops in the area soon! Meanwhile I post a couple copper red porcelain teacups. These are oval cylinders shaped with two darts. I think their form looks a bit truncated but they do have a nice feel in the hand.

[Littlepig2]

I gave my self a treat today and took a 20 minute trip over to Lebanon Ohio. Lebanon Ohio's claim to fame is the historic Golden Lamb.

The Golden Lamb is recognized as the oldest continuously operating business in the State of Ohio. On December 23, 1803, Jonas Seaman spent $4 for a license to operate a "house of Public Entertainment." GoldenLamb.com Overveiw

There also are quite a few antique shops there so away I went. I eventually ended up in the Broadway Antiques Mall where I found the letters above among other things. I spent a lot of time looking down, up and down. My neck has a crick in it but I am happy regardless. There were all kinds of wonderful blocks--letters, numbers, renderings of animals, logos, cowboys, etc. I was not there for the image stamps but just had to get this sparrow. He is not that big--maybe 3/4" by 3/4" I am looking forward to seeing what he looks like in clay.

[coloradopu]

OMG!!!

i want some what a find !!!!