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

 

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

 

Raku!

Brackers hosted a Raku firing event this past weekend and I want to share the results!

The first of two pieces that I raku fired is a 1 foot tall bottle form. When performing a raku firing, you superheat the piece of pottery to a couple thousand degrees, then while it is red hot and glowing you open the kiln and pick up the piece with tongs. Once you have a good grasp of the piece, you place the piece into a bin of combustible material and it instantly ignites into a fireball. While the fire is going, you place the lid on the bin to create a seal, all the oxygen is then burned out of the bin and the fire goes out, this creates a reduction environment. Once cooled, you pull the pot out of the bin and quench it in a water bath, solidifying the metallic results. As this was a rather large piece, you can imagine how nervous I was to drop the piece when it was molten hot and break it, but luckily all went well and I got a great piece out of it.

 

 

 

Another view of this piece is on the right.

 

 

 

 

The second piece of pottery I Raku fired was a platter. I especially like the teal tones that came out on the piece.

I hope you enjoyed these two pieces!

-Mark Barta