Going International

It's official...I've gone international!! Shipping these pots are going to France today.

Pelargonium carnosum

Received this plant a few years ago bareroot. To establish it I placed it in the six inch pot on the left with pure pumice, then the 6 was placed inside the 8 behind it to keep it from toppling over. I've looked at the plant for years and thought "how in the world am I going to stage that?"

A few months ago I made this pot and an experiment, it turned out ok but had nothing for it so I placed on the the shelf. This morning while looking around I saw the carnosum and took it over to the table thinking "what to do." As I was browsing through the pots I held up deep pots and it just didn't look right, then I saw this one at the bottom of the stack and thought it might work.

Winter growers

Unexpected surprise

Another commission pot that was supposed to shiny with some green variegation, instead it is has a stony matte finish. After it came out of the kiln I contacted the the customer and emailed a photo, she said she was happy with it. I delivered it last night and she loved the finish, now if I can recreate it....

12" wide planter

As far as I can guess...the only thing different was the clay. Since it was a last minute commission I used paperclay so it could be force died. Made it one day, bisque fired 36hrs later, glazed and fired it again in 48hr. This pot was complete in less than a week.

Cone 6 ash glaze

Cone 6 ash glaze with an oxide wash over the top

Cone 6 vs 10

Ash glaze fired to con 6 oxidation

then fired to cone 10

Pistachio shino

Shibui ice inked

Purchased this glaze months ago and finally had the time and the pieces to do a ^10 firing. This 5" square bonsai pot was made with paperclay, walls are 1/4" thick and perfectly square.

Dragon matte test

Testing dragon matte at ^6 over a RIO wash

Dragon matte without wash


Transparent green over dark fissured clay

Tylecodon paniculata

One my bigger paniculata staged in a recent creation, pot diameter is 7"

Out of the kiln

Cassius basalitic 6.5" round

Dover white 4.5" round

Dover white 2.5" octagon

The following are all made with Stoneware 1c

6.5" octagon twist

5.5" round

6" slight oval



6" round
4" round

Roots

Received a shipment yesterday of various roots/tubers, Tylecodon, Eriospermum and Boophane. All winter growers so I'll pot them up today and they should waking up shortly.

cdbc variation

A variation of a recipe I received from a flickr member. This was two coats brushed on, one more would may have been better.

Othonna Euphobioides

This is one of my more challenging stagings. When I got it about 5-6yrs ago it was tall and rank. The roots had grown out of the drain holes and into the soil at the nursery, plus in a bit too much shade. Instead of chopping it up I removed the lower branches and let the plant desiccate so the limbs would have some flex to them. After about 8wk sitting bareroot I wired it to the pot and around the rock as well as changing the position of the branches. It stayed bound up for 2yrs and bindings were removed in Sept of this year.

Among the first pots I made in 2007 and is 12" square x 1.5" deep and glazed blue to contrast with the greenish yellow flowers.

Gift of Orchid

My sister wanted an orchid, her birthday party is tomorrow and this is our gift. Made the pot last month, purchased the plant a couple of days ago and staged it this morning. Was worried the pot was too small but looks nice IMHO, what do you think?

Customer image-Monadenium ritchiei

A friend purchased a couple of pots from me last week, he was kind enough to share it with me and allow it to be posted it here. Great job Mr. T!

A few winter growers

Had to take a better photo of my most recent repot

Another Ceraria pygmaea

Tylecodon hirtifolius

underside of foliage setail

Tylecodon paniculata, a branch had broken off. I placed on top of some soil and a couple of months later it struck root.

Tall crackpots

Ceraria pygmaea

Picked this up in a trade approximately 10yrs and staged in this 6" diameter pot about 5yrs ago and there it stayed...

Until today...staged The Ceraria in one of my crackpots, a 5" oval. Thinned out the canopy of branches and shortened them about 2". I'll let it gorw out some before I remove any more limbs.

This container was an experiment to see if I could make an oval form from a round pot, it worked and I set on the shelf and forgot about it. A couple of days ago I was looking at the Ceraria and the pot color, I got the idea to glaze it with a similar color of the original container.

Pots are drying

I have about 20 pots drying currently, largest has a 18" diameter and not in this photo, biggest here is 14" wide. All are crackpots except the top right, it's made with rice as a burn out material leaving an interesting surface texture. A variety of clays used this time around, Black Mountain, Cassius Basaltic, Stoneware 1C, Santa Fe, ^6 Frost porcelain, Toki Paperclay and Dover White.

Commission pot complete

The final dimensions of the commission pot are 11" inside diameter with a 4" depth, manganese wash to highlight the fissures and opted not to glaze the rim. Staged the Operculycaria, pruned to shape and delivered it last night....and forgot my camera!! Grrrrrr...


Received an email from a grower with an Alluaudia montagnacii that had a height of 12", he wanted a black with vertical fissures. Had this pot sitting on a shelf waiting for an idea what to do with it. A manganese/3124 frit wash was applied to make the cracks and surface darker. This pot is 4" wide.