Monday, February 18, 2013

cheesy inspiration

 A couple of weeks ago I saw a simple tutorial on Pinterest about how to make a wedding ring dish. I thought it was clever so I pinned it to my "crafty ideas" board. I don't feel it meets the criteria to be on my ceramics board because I don't think it takes much talent to make these.

I tweaked it some and cut the dishes into heart shapes. I have lots of doilies made by my mother and grandmother and they add a nice lacy texture.
The holes are used for ribbons to be tied on. Some couples use these little dishes for the ring bearer at their wedding ceremony. Jeff teased me about these, asking if I was going to start imprinting cheesy inspirational words on porcelain dishes... you know that whole "live, laugh, love" fad that's been hanging around for a few years... you can even buy inspirational paper towels these days. His teasing led me to think about making some in the vein of Valentine's Day conversation hearts and imprinting them with sarcastic words... boy could I have fun with that!


I used some bowls as a slump mold to get the curve I was looking for. Should I decide to continue with these I will throw some bowls and bisque them for this purpose. I lined these with plastic wrap so that I could get them out of the bowl once they set up. With a bisqued bowl they would set up a little more quickly as well. Today I will slip trail a few with a colorless porcelain slip. I used porcelain for these and my plan is to experiment with some Amoco underglaze on the texture and words and then glaze them in my Temple white. Lori Buff had some nice results with the underglaze and texture, you can check out her results here.


Aside from a little playing this weekend, I did complete a bunch of small pitchers. We will have another load of pots to bisque fire very shortly. Jeff fired the gas kiln yesterday, while I worked at the Co-op gallery in town. I glazed a few pigs in some new colors this time, I'll post some pics as soon as we are cooled down.


5 comments:

  1. I make heart shaped ring bearer dishes impressed with my grandmother's lace, those, sales of tea bag holders, small square dishes and oblong plates which don't take much time or talent allows me to keep working in clay and making the items I'm inspired to make from my soul.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Linda, I guess we have to suck it up and make some simple things that sell if we want to keep at this pottery thing!
    Do you have any of your ring bearer dishes? If so, post some photos on your blog or facebook, I would love to see your take on them.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I posted the heart shaped ring dishes a few weeks ago on my blog and there are a few in my etsy shop.

    http://bluestarrgallery.blogspot.com/2013/02/i-got-green.html

    http://www.etsy.com/listing/98538192/heart-shaped-jewelry-prep-soap?

    When I first started working in clay I used my grandmother's crochet in my clay and also leaves, now I've returned to them, might as well make what sells, I still haven't made any sponge holders though, one of these days. Ha.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I posted the heart shaped ring dishes a few weeks ago on my blog and there are a few in my etsy shop.

    http://bluestarrgallery.blogspot.com/2013/02/i-got-green.html

    http://www.etsy.com/listing/98538192/heart-shaped-jewelry-prep-soap?

    When I first started working in clay I used my grandmother's crochet in my clay and also leaves, now I've returned to them, might as well make what sells, I still haven't made any sponge holders though, one of these days. Ha.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Linda, I saw your heart dishes, and I didn't think of them as cheesy at all but well done! I missed that you referred to them as "ring bearer" dishes. I think because I stamped mine with "love" that makes me think they are cheesy. Perhaps I will feel differently about them once they are fired.

    Beware of making sponge holders... once you go to the dark side, there is no return... bwahaaaaaaaa!!!!

    ReplyDelete

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