Some Recent Finished work

Here are some of my recently finished works that I just photographed. I've been working a great deal lately on my photography and it looks to be paying off!

Amaco's Tenmoku under Seaweed

The above piece is fired to cone 6 and is Laguna's misfire b-Mix clay. The ceramic piece was first dipped in Amaco's Tenmoku, then the piece had Amaco's Potters Choice Seaweed brushed on towards the top. I've really enjoyed this combo, as the below piece was also glazed with this combination.

I also very much enjoy how the Tenmoku accents the sodium silicate texture that was applied when I was throwing this piece of pottery.

 

Thanks for reading!

- Mark Barta

 

Pottery Tea Bowls Galore!

Amaco's Fire Brick Red over Lustrous Jade

So I have been exploring the tea bowl form lately, here are the results! What I love about the tea bowl form is the multiple uses it can be used for. The ceramic piece can be used as a coffee or tea cup, and it also could be used as a small serving bowl. You might also notice that I have finally broken down and bought a professional backdrop. I find that the investment in the backdrop has been worth it though as it has helped generate more sales on my etsy website.

My dry Amaco glazes came in last week, and it has made it a lot easier to glaze. Having the ability to dip the piece in the glaze instead of brushing on the glaze has created better looking glazes in my opinion, as they appear much more uniform.

Vert Lustre over Jade

I have also been experimenting with glaze combinations using Amaco's Lustrous Jade glaze as a base glaze. I have added captions to the pictures of what the glaze painted on top of Jade is, so that if you are looking to repeat any of the combinations you can see what to expect.

Iron Lustre over Jade

Tenmoku over Jade

Thanks,

 

Mark Barta

 

Posted with Blogsy

First Cone 6 Firing in my Kiln!

First firing in my kiln to cone 6, 2300 degrees fahrenheit, was a success! I have been trying some new glazes at this temperature by Amaco, and I have to say the results were quite magnificent.

Jade Pear
by Mark Barta

To the left is a pear shaped form glazed with two coats of Amaco's Lustrous Jade on the body form and two coats of Tenmoku. Where the glazes meet there was a nice variegated color that I will have to try on a larger scale.

 

 

Jasper Vase
By Mark Barta

Another glaze I tried was Amaco's Ancient Jasper. I really like the way the glaze breaks over the edges of the form and creates another color. The glaze was applied with three coats of glaze and the results were great! The inside of the vase was glazed with Amaco's Seaweed glaze, it's a little hard to see from the picture, but the glaze flows very nicely downwards to create a sense of movement. The two glazes combined create a nice contrast between each other.

 

Jasper Cup
by Mark Barta

The cup to the left is another example of Lustrous Jade over Tenmoku. On this cup, I created more of an overlap between the glazes and as you can see the variegation in color made for a nice effect.

Thanks for reading!

-Mark Barta