On Cruise at the Staycation

On the first day of my staycation I painted a cruise ship with biscuit porcelainslip.Beside all kind of facilities there is also a pottery on the ship.After some thin washes with the slip I did some quick impastos with thick slip.

Rob

Vacation versus Staycation

I think I ám in for a short vacation.With a boring book time would past slow and so it has the same effect as a long vacation with a lot of action.A staycation at home is also healthy recent psychological studies has shown.

I ám in the middle of fishes and seahorses and blue seas today.Guess where? At a staycation in my own stone mine.

Rob

Two Elephants and a Rooster

Greet said;"It is a great week".

Rob said;"Indeed,I fired 2 elephants and a rooster".

Greet ;"The rooster is baked a little dark".

Rob;"I painted to much black in the underlayer ".

Rob

Modeltrain

I am thinking of making trains from ceramic.I decided
to start my modeltrain with a loc and two cars for the
passengers.

Pâte-sur-Pâte

The painted claylayers are drying fast on the plaster.After the claybody is formed I paint and glaze the raw small piece.Because the fragile unfired figures break very easily I transport them as soon as possible to a tile.The unglazed tile has a function as transport and storage vehicle, and goes with the small pieces also in the kiln.

After the small figures are fired they are much stronger.I have some collection of small figures ; fishes,turtles,seahorses,sailboats,people etc.Then I attach a group to a relief to make for example an underwater scene.

Rob

Pâte-sur-Pâte

Pâte-sur-pâte is a slippainting procede from the late 19th Century.Googling the term Pâte-sur-pâte give a lot of interesting info. I use a simular slippainting procede to create small figures.Instead of painting slip on an unfired claybody,I painted the clayslip on a piece of plaster.Then I extract the painted piece from the plaster, and attach after I fired it,to ceramic tilework.

Rob

Raw Glazing

My pieces are low-fire work.Also I paint/glaze them in the greenware stage, so I have to fire only once,which saves energy.Today I sculpted and glazed a rooster.The colors looks dull in the greenware stage.

Rob

Cloud Figures

Some clouds have figures.I try also to make figures in the background of my reliefs.That could be strange animals,faces or landscapes.Here is another fishrelief.The fishes are really thin,and I plan to make invisible(from the upside) small supports for them,so the relief not become damage easily.

Latest Relief

This is my latest fishrelief.The little fish and seahorses are
not from a mold ,but painted with clayslip.(See the video)

The bigger fish is first sculpted and then painted with a layer clayslib.The background is a crackle glaze.

Preparation

Preparation time is important.First I form the fishes and Seahorses from photos and fire them;Then I lay them on the empty tiles and do the backgrounds.

With the backgrounds for the fish reliefs my strategy is; I start with no image or example and do just something, and when I have a start,the rest comes more easy.

Starting a Blog

Today I start my blog.At first it looks difficult all the new buttons, but I ám proud that I master a few buttons already.The first half hour I was hopeless and was not familiar with the buttons, every 5 minutes I turned my computer on and off...

The image is a minimural from ceramic; a fish family.As kid I had many aquariums with fishes and turtles.I ám thinking of buying an aquarium again as a hobby,but making them from ceramic is also fun.