Giving It Another Try (598)

598, 1998, untitled, fired to cone 8 over three days, and cooled 

for three days, oxidation. $1200

This platter never received a wonderfully descriptive or artistic name. It still sits there, with it's original designation: 598. It wasn't the five hundred and ninety-eighth platter... rather it was made in May 1998. That really just takes into account when it was thrown. In many instances it was months between when the platter was thrown and when it was glazed and then fired.

When it first came out of the kiln I was so disappointed with the glaze blisters. I almost smashed this platter into gravel, I was so frustrated. I kept it on my shelves for a few weeks in hopes that I would find something redeeming about the flaws. Over the next month it began to grow on me. By the time I put it on the way for its first vertical exhibition, I was quite taken with it.

Some of these details may end up as posters. The level of detail is staggering. So much rich color and texture!!

Untitled: 5198II

Trying to describe the slight metallic pearlescent cream glaze, and how it interacts with the fluid blue gloss glaze is downright impossible. The recrystalization of the fluid blue is almost like watching ice form on a still pond.  This platter was shown in the Ithaca Ceramics Exhibition back in 2008 and is still available for purchase or for exhibition.

As you get closer and closer to the details, you can see that there are crystals that are partly submerged in the blue glaze. I wonder if they are growing up or down through the glass!

Waves Upon the Shore : 9298A

 9298A, Waves Upon the Shore, cone 7, fired for three days and cooled for 1 day, 1998.

Purple-Black Storm (9298B)

Purple-Black Storm, (9298B), 16" diameter, fired to cone 8 over three days and cooled for two days.

It is amazing seeing these platters again. The level of detail in the closeup images just blows my mind. I wish I had enough wall space to show them all off, all the time! They really need to be seen, with good light, at eye level, to really appreciate them.

A Pale River - 9298H

A Pale River - 9298H 

It's hard to describe the feathery crystals that create the movement along the edge where these two glazes meet. Like the shoreline at high tide, with the waves pulling back... the shore gives some and takes some. In this case, the glaze changes with every layering interaction.

Mossy Green - 9998C

9998C, Mossy Green, 1998

When this platter first emerged from the firing, after cooling for four days, the fluid glaze I had expected to find a rich glossy red... had cooled to this lovely matte green. The rivulets and crystals had had so much extra time to cool and coalesce. Just enough of the glaze had overlapped the edge of the rim of the platter, pulling the black slip and drawing the cobalt and chrome and copper into the very edge of the main glaze... giving it an almost blue fade.

Unexpected, most definitely, but certainly not unwelcome.

Untitled - 11298A

11298A - Untitled

 This platter turned out so differently from what I expected. To this day, I still dont really understand how the white under the pink/purple/red came into being. My original design had this turning out matte orange, with a pale blue green underneath it. I think the three day firing and crash cooling may have had something to do with the results.

If you can come up with a groovy name for this platter, I want to hear it!

Nailing Jello to the Wall - 11799B

Nailing Jello to the Wall, 11799B, 1999

This platter was glazed on one of those nights where I was definitely burning the candle at both ends. Never mind that my ex-wife and I were fighting non-stop... so being home wasn't worth being there for... and never mind the strife in the studio.... I just kept right on glazing. Sometimes I would glaze for two to three days, non-stop. Would load one kiln and get it rolling after days of glazing, and completely forget what I had put into the kiln. Then I would resort to my glaze notebooks which looked like sick mixed with coffee stains (I dont drink coffee)....covered in dry glaze powder. And I wonder why some of my glaze ideas turned out completely backwards. Yeah... I was my own worst enemy as I worked on these platters. Once in while, they resulted in some fantastic colors and textures... other times, not so much. Of the dozen platters that went into this firing, only two survived and of those, only this one made it to NY.

Many Worlds In One - 22698C

Many Worlds In One, 22698C, 1998. 

This platter came out of the second firing I ever did with this series. I had only thrown 4 disks/platters. Everything else in the firing was handbuilt, almost like square or rectangular trays. I don't have many images of the rectangular pieces. I may have to spend some time this coming month trying to get new images made of them. It is exciting seeing the earliest pieces, because the ideas were so fresh. Nothing had become expected. Each platter was such a new experiment. The uncertainty bordered on insanity. The loss rates exceeded 90%. But, there was such a phenomenal learning curve happening that it was heady. Each successful platter gave birth to ten more of which one of two might survive.

Much Too Much - 23098A

Much Too Much - 23098A, 1998, fired to cone 8 over 2 days, and cooled for two days.