Page 75 - ClayCraft - Issue 35 (January 2020)

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 Amaco Storm brushed on using a  Not a bad little group!
 People, label your bottles – this banding wheel, with some Seaweed
was slip, not Amaco Oatmeal glaze! over the top.
the shard, to my social media channels Another of those occurred when I
NOTE
@pottlemuddery. The tool made a really made a classic rookie error during
You can see last issue’s bird feeder
nice foot shape so I have kept that little glazing. I had a few small squeezy bottles
upside down in one of the photos – I
card and it’s become a precious addition that I’d previously used to drizzle glazes
glazed the bottom by gluing some
to my toolbox. like Amaco’s Ancient Jasper and Oatmeal
wooden shapes to the base and
I don’t have any texture rollers, so the on the rims of pots. I did not label them.
glazing over them. Before firing I
first and second bottles were left with So after I’d glazed the first, conical,
removed those and used balls of
simple lines around the neck/shoulder bottle with Storm and a ring of Seaweed,
‘wadding’ (lots of recipes online) in
area. For the third, I attempted to use a I used Iron Lustre on the next one,
the unglazed areas left behind to lift
wooden bead, but unfortunately I’ve drizzling it with the little bottle of
the piece away from the kiln shelf.
mislaid my stash of interesting ones and Oatmeal. Or so I thought. It was only
only had a really basic option, which did when it came out of the kiln and looked
not make a nice pattern. It was so bad really odd that I realised… it was Parian As I said earlier, I had no real plan
that I decided to get rid of the evidence casting slip! You can see how the slip sat for corks or bungs. I had half an idea
by carving repeating vertical lines. on top of the glaze and cracked. Again that I’d make some from clay, rather
These turned out to look very effective, though, I absolutely love the effect and than buying them, as bought ones
especially with glaze over them, so I it’s something I never would have tried would necessitate making the bottle
chalked it up as a happy accident. in a million years! necks a specific size. My friend Claire
made bottles with bungs in our
summer camp this year, adding
fantastic shapes on top, which worked
beautifully. However, in my case this
never quite materialised. I have since
found a couple of stoppers in the drinks
section of the local supermarket, but
alas, I have no idea where I put them
when I unloaded the shopping. I expect
they’ll turn up eventually, though the
chance of them miraculously fitting
must be minuscule. I suppose the good
news is that I can attempt to make
stoppers at any point in the future. Or
maybe I’ll just enjoy the bottles as
ornaments. There’s plenty of space in
 My own glazes worked well but my house for more pots, after all.
the Seaweed/Storm combo wasn’t
 A first foray into pouring a glaze as striking as I’ve managed before, Follow me on Instagram, Facebook
I’d mixed myself… this is the aqua/ perhaps because that was on or Twitter via @pottlemuddery
blue bottle before glaze firing. porcelain.
Issue 35 ClayCraft 75