Decorating

It's been a busy winter, and I've been slowly creating a new body of work. For the past two months I've been facilitating an artist residency with Yoko Sekino-Bové at Manchester Craftsmen's Guild.

Her work is amazing, and it's inspired me to focus on decoration. I've definitely become more confident in my use of the paintbrush in the past few weeks, as evidenced by this photo of a current work in progress.

Visit my Facebook page to see more works in progress.

Porcelaine 150

Porcelaine 150 is on overglaze, similar to enamel but baked on at a considerably lower temperature. My friend Junji suggested that I apply red paint into the recesses of my stamped logo to make it look more like my printed logo, which is inspired by the Asian style of stamped seals, commonly referred to as a chop.

It really works best on white pottery, but it looks good on the yellow pieces I tried it on, as well.

Of course, the real intended use of overglaze is not to be applied into recesses, but painted on as a decoration. I'll be trying my hand some of that here shortly!

Happy Birthday Saya!

One of the things I love most about ceramics is that I have the ability to make unique, personal gifts for my friends. In this case, I made a porcelain cup for Saya's second birthday. Although this tea cup isn't terribly unique (even copyright infringement, actually) it's never the less very special.

Both of Saya's parents are potters, and her father is Japanese, so an Asian-style tea cup is rather fitting. But what's more important is the Minnie Mouse decoration. Saya's parents recently took her to Disney on Ice, and she was lucky enough to get within arm's reach of Minnie. For weeks after, Saya told everyone and anyone, "I touched Minnie!"

So now, Saya can touch Minnie every day of the week.