Handbuilding with Stiff Porcelain Slabs

I’m still in the process of creating a new Insomnia Pottery website where my pottery blog will live.  In the meantime, I am doing my blogging at another website.  I just did a post over there about some handbuilt work

Ginger, terrified, plays with fire again….

It’s been twenty-four hours since I salted my kiln and shut it down last night, and the temperature is still about 900 degrees on top.  It was a good firing, with a steady climb to 2250 F, the temperature I

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Ginger, terrified, plays with fire again….

It’s been twenty-four hours since I salted my kiln and shut it down last night, and the temperature is still about 900 degrees on top.  It was a good firing, with a steady climb to 2250 F, the temperature I

January 29, 2013 / No comments

Porcelain, the risks and rewards considered…

I’ve been looking at those porcelain pots for a couple of days now.  The best of them were priced and packed off to my show yesterday.  During the process of sanding the traces of wadding from each foot, and checking

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Porcelain, the risks and rewards considered…

I’ve been looking at those porcelain pots for a couple of days now.  The best of them were priced and packed off to my show yesterday.  During the process of sanding the traces of wadding from each foot, and checking

January 29, 2013 / One Comment

After the fun of firing….

I can’t imagine how I could load my kiln with conventional kiln shelves.  I use only recrystallized silicon carbide shelves, bar-stock, and posts in my firings.  After each firing, I carefully sand each piece by hand, removing bubbled glaze –

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After the fun of firing….

I can’t imagine how I could load my kiln with conventional kiln shelves.  I use only recrystallized silicon carbide shelves, bar-stock, and posts in my firings.  After each firing, I carefully sand each piece by hand, removing bubbled glaze –

January 29, 2013 / No comments

Making White… salt-fired porcelain

I really enjoy carving on this white porcelain clay.  This is a teapot form that I have thrown for many years, with a nice deep lid and and a handbuilt spout.  It holds about four cups of tea.

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Making White… salt-fired porcelain

I really enjoy carving on this white porcelain clay.  This is a teapot form that I have thrown for many years, with a nice deep lid and and a handbuilt spout.  It holds about four cups of tea.

January 29, 2013 / No comments

Finishing the Goblets….

The goblet pieces needed a couple of days to dry slowly under plastic. Here’s a nice stem ready for trimming.  I have several small Dolan trim tools that make this easy.  The base of the stem is still massive and

Still Makin’ Pots – Goblets Today….

Thanks to all of you who have encouraged me to post process and work on my Insomnia Pottery blog.  It’s been a long since my last post, but I continue to receive emails from potters who have found it useful.

Some Finished Knobs, and a Report on the New Salt Kiln

Yes, I finally did fire some of those knobs that I was blogging about back in January and February. I have been busy with other clay projects, daily work at my nursery business, and with learning to use my new

Building a New Teapot Form…

I’ve been thinking about handbuilding some new teapot forms for my summer shows. I like to apply patterns to my clay while it’s flat and helpless… much easier than individually incising whole pots. I also think that teapot users like

Deteriorating Salt Kiln Requires Rebuilding….

I’ve fired my salt kiln 77 times in the past five years. I thought in the early years that I might get 100 firings, but the condition of the kiln is beginning to concern me and it’s clear that it’s

Finishing up the Knobs…

Here are the blank knobs that were thrown at the wheel last week, with a little bit of incising added. I will probably make most of my knobs from low fire clay, especially those I need for my kitchen that

Knobs, Continued…..

Here’s a nice little trim chuck for trimming the knobs I made the other day. It has a broad surface to support the knobs, and adhere to them while they are trimmed. It will make a pleasing small vase after

Making Ceramic Knobs for Cabinets

As many of you know, I have been making tile for my kitchen as part of a home remodel. The tile is nearly done, and installation has started. In the dining area of my home are beautiful new oak cabinets

Tile Making for My Home

For the next month or so, I will be creating tile for my own home. I’m going to be making a door surround for my front door – a 12″-14″ border that will wrap both sides and the top of

Blog, Ginger Steele Workshop

Tile Making for My Home

For the next month or so, I will be creating tile for my own home. I’m going to be making a door surround for my front door – a 12″-14″ border that will wrap both sides and the top of

September 21, 2010 / 2 Comments

Making a Handbuilt Spout

First, a template is used to cut conditioned clay into a conic spout-shaped form. The clay is softer than what I use for most handbuilding – this will permit the spout to be curved without any cracking of the clay.

State of the Reliquary and Notes from the Workshop

Here are some cups and teapots made by potters at the workshop in my studio this past Saturday. White earthenware clay – LF06 from Seattle Pottery Supply – was used to build these pieces. Participants worked with conditioned clay slab,

Some other handbuilt pottery….

Here are some really big jars that are handbuilt. The shoulder and lids for these are thrown and added later.

Making a Reliquary, Part 1

This week, I am beginning an interesting new ceramic piece. I am making a latex texture mat, which has text and imagery that will be incorporated into a funereal reliquary. The reliquary will be used for the ashes of two

Step 9 – Finishing the Handle

Here’s where we left off in the last post, just having gently pressed the new, soft handle onto the scored spot that was prepared before the handle pulling started. The handle is very tender at this point, and it’s easy

Step 8 – Pulling the Handle

Here, I am holding the cup with its’ handle stub attached perpendicular to the floor. What you can’t see is that my right hand is in a container of water. First, I use my wet thumb to refine the join

Step 7 – Attaching the Handle

I can hear the groans about pulled handles resounding through cyberspace. Potters, this can be learned easily with practice.Start with some nice, fresh clay – not reclaim. Roll out a fat coil about 1.25″ in diameter for these big mugs.

Step 6 – Measuring and Attaching the Bottom

I have a set of nifty little round cutters – Ateco brand – that I purchased at a cookware store in Portland. I’m sure you could get them on the net…. I pick out a likely one and check it

Step 5 – Making a Cylinder from the Cup Blank

I use a section of paper mailing tube to “train” the cup blank to be round. I don’t wrap the blank around the mailing tube, I drape it over the tube in a horizontal position. I support the tube with

Step 4 – Preparing the Edges of the Slab Blank

Using a serrated rib dipped in just enough water so it can be seen wetting the surface, carefully score the left edge of your cup blank. Be careful not to distort or thin the edge of the slab – we

Step 3 – Texturing the Cup Blank

Here, I am decorating the cup blanks with a variety of texture tools. The first image shows a nice brass roller from a bookbinding shop applying a row of dots. I make many of my texture tools from thrown rollers

Step 2 – Pressing the Edges of the Cup Blank

Now, use a small brayer to gently press the right and top edges of your 5″ x 10″ clay cup blanks. Now, carefully turn your blanks over and press the reverse sides of the top and right edges. This will

Step 1 – Measuring the Cup Blanks

Here’s a slab that is about 12 x 12 inches. It’s dry to the touch, but still flexible. Shown is a quilter’s ruler that is really useful for doing handbuilding. With it, I will cut two rectangles that are 10″

Textural Mats

Here is a carved clay slab, and the textural mat that was made from it. I roll out 1/2″ thick slabs from LF06 clay, a nice low fire talc body that is smooth and grog free. When the slabs are

Textural Tools

Here are some of the stamps and rollers that I use to decorate my handbuilt pieces. Some of the longer rollers were extruded, and then carved. Most were cut from thick cylinders thown on the wheel. If you allow the

Making the Handbuilt Cup

I’m planning to post all the information for the handbuilt teapot, but first I’d like to go over the instructions for the handbuilt cup that we made first. I usually begin to prepare the clay for handbuilding the day before

Here are two slab teapots constructed at my recent workshop at Lower Columbia College. I’ll be posting the thicknesses and measurements of slabs to use, as well as the measurements for individual components. There will be step-by-step photos of each