I had a great week in the studio this week. Recently, I've been working in "Speckled Brownstone" which is a mid range light brown clay. I fired an entire kiln of work made in this clay a few weeks ago, but it didn't work great with my surface on many of the pieces. It has manganese in it, which gives it a highly speckled surface and looks just like iron spots.
So this week, I switched over to a low-fire terra-cotta that can be fired up to cone 5 (maybe 6) and turns a deep, creamy brown color at that temperature.
Working in a new clay body & color has given me new ideas and an entirely fresh look at what I making. Although, as I am making these new ideas, I've been finding myself thinking "that looks so much like ________'s work". So that is a struggle, but I am working through it.
I think these cups and saucers are going to have lots of beautiful, runny, colorful glazes layered on top.
