Underglaze Experiments

I want to use the underglazes, which give more color variety than the regular glazes, but I also want them to be glossy. I'm trying to figure out which underglazes work with which glazes.

















Some recent miscellaneous clay objects:



From Danielle's Skull Stamp:









I don't remember making this, but it's from my press mold:

Bender

This is the latest in a series of cartoon figures. I like how it came out even though I think it looks less like Bender and more like a guy in a Bender suit.









Like most of my cartoon figures, this one is open in the back to make balancing easier and exploding in the kiln less likely. Therefore, sadly, this Bender has no shiny metal ass to kiss.

Chamsas 31 and 32

Chamsa 31 utilizes a bird mold, but since the hole is on the palm, they look more like teardrops.









Chamsa 32 

Tieflings

These are tieflings, a race of humanoids who interbred with devils in the D&D universe.









This tiefling superhero lost a horn.









This tiefling is so top heavy that he can barely stand up.









This tiefling is actually a collaborative effort. Sara made the figure and I added horns and glazed it. The head and cross are from a monstrous nun toy.

Chamsas 29 and 30

Chamsa 29: Those are small skull molds.




Chamsa 30: I'm mildly embarrassed to admit that that pattern is made from a doily. Yes, a doily.

Grell Cup

Although the title contains the word cup, it's more of a bowl. Although it's masquerading as functional pottery, it would be very difficult to use, which is fitting for a bowl shaped like a grell. It's actually meant to be a grell polyp or larva.

Tar Devils

These are tar devil brawlers made for a recent session of D&D Encounters. They didn't get done in time for that particular game and I'm not sure there's going to be much need for tar devils in the new season of Encounters.





This one lost a horn in the kiln.




The three brothers together, just like in The Darjeeling Limited.

Fingers Up or Fingers Down

Snake Mold Objects

I would love an excuse to use these as D&D miniatures. I was thinking they could be shadow nagas.

Chamsa 28

In addition to my initials and the year, this one has a serial number on the back. I stopped doing this around April, so I'm not sure where this chamsa has been hiding all this time. Maybe it was stolen and the thief decided to give it back.

Stormtrooper Menorah 2, Finished Version

This is the reglazed version of the Stormtrooper Menorah. It's still cracked, but the cracks are a little better camouflaged.



Details of the extended stormtrooper molds on the center columns:




A stormtrooper with broken legs:




The chaotic back side of the menorah. I think the large slab of clay is the only thing keeping the whole thing together.







Hannukah in July: Stormtrooper Menorah 2 alight:

Grell 3

Grell 3 stands erect and proud on its tentacles. The head is bulbous yet proportionate. The beak has a regal if not suggestive expression. This is a grell you can take home and have wild drunken sexual adventures with.

Grell 2

Grell 1 survived the kiln but was damaged when I dropped it while glazing. This is Grell 2, the Cousin Sven of my series of grells. The head is too large, the tentacles are too short, and he looks like he would whiz on the electric fence.

Tonight at the Studio

Tonight I went to the studio with no clear concept of what I wanted to make. I found the object on the right in the photo below on someone else's shelf and decided to make a copy of it. It looks somewhat like an apple with legs and a face or possibly a crude depiction of a woman's torso with a stem instead of a head.




There was still time and clay left so I also made a Grell Cup, a member of the dysfunctional pottery line.








The present cast of weird clay objects on my shelf:

Scared Kid in Bed

At one point I wanted to make a story called The Angry Mop Head, illustrated with clay images. It was about a kid who is afraid of a vicious mop in his closet. He has a nightmare about it in which it chases him through a maze. He trips, the mop catches up with him, and when he wakes up, the mop has replaced his face. The rest of the story illustrates the milestones of the rest of his life, all with a mop face. I made some mop heads (see below), but I found this object at the back of my shelf and decided to glaze it.




The Mop Heads:

Chamsa 27