front page news!

it isn't too often that i get featured on etsy's front page, so when i do, i do a little happy dance! (insert happy dance here!!).... check it out!

Before and After

So, i will never stop being amazed at the dramatic difference between a piece of pottery in the bisque state, covered with glaze waiting to be fired a second time... The chalky colors, dull surface etc... transform so completely in the glaze firing, that every time i open up the kiln, i almost gasp aloud! I am so familiar with the colors i use, and do many designs with frequency, you would think that i might not still be so blown away by the change, but i always am-- and i love it!! Of course, i am often working with underglaze colors under a clear glaze, and so when i am working at least i am seeing a shade of what i will end up with. What is more stunning (and nerve wracking frankly!) is when i am working with stoneware clay and using mid to high fire glazes. You would never be able to tell by looking at a bucket or other container full of glaze what the finished glaze color will be (well, once you are more familiar with glazes, you might recognize a certain glaze and then have some idea... but to the untrained eye-- no way). There is a rutile blue glaze that i love, for instance, and whenever i use it i can barely believe that it will turn out to be blue as i am applying it... in its wet form it is dark terracotta... so unlike its finished state! i'll show a before and after look at that another day....

but TODAY i want to show you a "before and after" of an earhenware piece that i am excited about... it is my entry for this months Etsy Mud Team challenge-- "the Critter Challenge". (Check out the Etsy Mud Team website for more information and some of the other critters as they are being uploaded and entered into the challenge http://etsymudteam.craft-sense.com/). So here he is, my little critter in his bisqued and painted with underglaze state, and then in his finished, shiny and bright glazed state. I hope you enjoy seeing the difference!

The first two photos are of my little clay friend

painted in underglazes before the glaze firing.

These next three pictures are of my little turtle

in his terrifically colorful and bright finished glaze state.

This piece measures 10.5" long from head to tail,

8.5" wide from fin to fin,

and the shell is 7.5" long and 5.5" wide.