The pots in this post are all from a firing last week. (oxidation, cone 7)

...2 views of a departure from "round". -about 12" diam.
The next 5 photos show the use of a slip of Death Valley Clay from Laguna, applied at the leatherhard stage. I'm getting color variations from brown to blue and lavender. The covering glaze is a creme color with specks of volcanic ash from northern California.The bowls are 9-10 inches in diameter. The plate is 10.5".Nine inches in diameter. The creme glaze doesn't show off the carving too well.This pot is 7 inches high.


Six inches high.

These cups were from my last firing, but I decided to make saucers for them, so they reappear here.
The tops of these sets were all dipped in the creme glaze.
The coffeepot is 7" in height.

This is a glaze test of something called "Old Seto Yellow"...didn't work for me, obviously! It has only 3 ingredients: feldspar, ash, & yellow ochre. The little sample piece is only an inch & a half in diam- I used the macro setting to take the picture. You can see a few specks that are y. ochre color.

...a small pitcher w/ meander design, 5.5" in height. This one is 8" in diam.

"3d Yin-Yang" is the name of this stoneware sculpture. It is suspended, to enable it to slowly rotate, as seen in these three pictures. It is about 12" diam.

This concept has interested me for a while, and I have made several copper tubing pieces which are essentially the circumfirence of the stoneware one. Here are three views of one, below. It's fascinating to watch the shape change as the piece rotates. A slight breeze on our patio is enough to make it turn.

These six wall sculptures were made utilizing bisqued plate forms that weren't quite right for plates. I tried some crawl and crackle glazes and played with clay shapes. The shapes were bisqued separately and dipped in glazes, then laid on the plates. They are 9.5" in diameter.

Here is a flat beach ball; an experiment in going from 3 dimensions to two.
The text on the round paper in the lower right-hand corner reads:
"A beach ball,
cut along an endless meandering line,
loses a dimension
and becomes two puzzle pieces,
intricate and flat"
I liked the total change of state: sphericality to flatness. The frame measures 21"x37".

"Communication" is the name of this wall sculpture. The large disc is 17" in diameter. The piece is high fired stoneware.

This is "Wheel of Fortune". There are small bits of clay inside the revolving wheel, which jingle. In my more pessimistic moments I feel the bits of clay are a metaphor for humanity- trapped in an unknowable situation, subject to unknowable events and conditions. Of course this is too extreme; we do have some choices and can affect our situation, within this unknowable setting. Anyway, this sculpture is actually a fun piece; people like to give the wheel a gentle turn and listen to the sound. The base is of birch wood.

This sculpture is called "Death of Innocents". On 9/11/2001, I had to do something related to what I was hearing and absorbing, so I sat down at the kick wheel and began throwing small jars, one after another, of earthenware. I was making miniature urns. The next day I did the trimming, separating the lids, and applied white slip. Each of the jars has a heart sgrafittoed on one side, and the date on the other side. After single-firing them, I inserted a rolled paper into each, with this on it:


"Death of Innocents"
"This memorial urn is one of a series
Made on September 11, 2001,
to mourn the sudden death of thousands
who were taken unaware
by murderous acts of terrorism
unprecedented in our land,
and to signify the grief and sadness
felt by all who knew each victim."

I constructed the "tower" and the piece was in a show at Alan Hancock college in Santa Maria CA. After the show I gave away several of the urns to people who had lost loved ones that day. I would have liked them all to go to family members, but haven't known how to go about this. I think at some point I will just keep one, and bury the rest somewhere.

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Here are two views of a ceramic sculpture of a lotus seed pod. It is of high-fired buff stoneware, finished with Barnard clay slip and iron oxide washes. The first view-head on, shows the moveable seeds, each in it's own pocket. The head of the seed pod is 19" in diameter. When you jiggle it, the seeds rattle nicely.
I fired the pod and stem separately, then joined them . The overall length of the piece is 31".

I went to a rummage sale Saturday and bought this little cup; it's about 4" in diameter. Has character stamp on the bottom. I wonder if it's contemporary, or old. It looks press-molded instead of slipcast. I could swear I've seen something in this style in one of my ceramics books.

These are earthenware. The exteriors are partially unglazed. Six cups-same motif.
Creme-glazed earthenware serving dish-11" diameter.

This is an 11" dish; the sides are 3" high. ...a slightly smaller version, with a creme glaze instead of green.
This is a 15" platter. Some of the striping drifted when the background glaze shifted a little. Will fire somewhat lower next time.