Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Towers


 More with the red majolica clay:

I made some oil carafes. One is very large - it should be called an oil tank. They are the columnar shapes in the middle ground. There are some little pinched bowls behind them. The rest is my attempt at an even taller Garden Tower than the previous post.


















This is the base. I photographed it with a candle inside. It has a ledge that you can see is slightly warped. It is big and heavy and it was hard not to exert  pressure on it as I worked to shape, smooth, carve and incise the surface. That pressure was its downfall because now, level two does not set properly on it.









Here is level 2, the next section, also with its flange meant to support a third level. Notice the warpage.

The third level has not been fired. It had so much breakage that I may have to recycle it

It's pointless to put so much time into something and just throw it in a closet, so I am hatching a plan.









On the left, the top three sections are alright. I have decided they are a piece by themselves. They fit together securely, but since they're without their comrades, they need more support to make a good impression. That will be done with some glaze color, but leaving plenty of the red clay unglazed.

This too has a candle illuminating the inside. Women stand gazing out the arched windows.


So my plan is to use the bisqued sections 1 & 2 and build another level
on each that will fit exactly, then maybe another level until we have a tower. It should work, and I don't have to worry about the base level warping anymore - it is stable.