"Manly" mug

Today's kiln opening had some nice results and a few bloopers. First the good stuff:  "Manly" mug, which is another screen print. The underglaze is aqua, covered with Laguna's Clear Bright (which minimizes the speckling in this clay), and the rest of the mug is glazed in Sky Blue.

"Manly" mug - 3.5" wide x 4" tall

"Manly" mug close up 

The bloopers were glaze tests that uses a significant proportion of Cornwall Stone (which my local supplier has decided not to carry any more due to shipping costs). They've created their own substitute. So far it doesn't quite measure up. The test batch ran much more than normal and didn't have the color saturation of the original. I'll do another test run to confirm it wasn't an error in mixing it up on my part, but I'm pretty certain it wasn't.... Meanwhile I ordered a bag of Cornwall Stone from another supplier. 

Mermaid, owl and skull mugs

Here are the results from last week's silkscreen and underglaze experiment. The colors really change from "raw" to fired....

Here's the mermaid in navy blue waves with the rim glazed in sky blue.  

The terracotta background almost completely burned out on the owl nug.

And here's my favorite of the "Skully" mugs I made for Halloween. 

The iron oxide burned out more than I would have liked. Next time I'll have to wax over the oxide to preserve its dark color. I'll see how these guys do at Balboa Park tomorrow! I might have to go back and add some detail with underglaze and a refire...

(Yeah, I decided I can't put the others out there without a refire.

So I  just put 4 in the little kiln and hopefully they'll be ready for tomorrow.)