Return of the penguins

Here are a couple of images of the penguin pieces I am working on (see 29th March 2010 post for the beginnings). Lately, I've been having problems with cracking (there's always something in ceramics!) but I fired these pieces to see how the glaze works. I used my original aqua glaze with a glossy opaque white glaze. The glazes work well together and there seems to be no problems when they blend into each other. Also, I'm not used to glazing such awkward shapes so it was good to practise glazing them. The pieces need further development in particular the scale. I have some interesting ideas to work on.

New work - penguins

I've had a productive and enjoyable weekend working on my penguin series. On Saturday I threw some thick porcelain bases and then altered or added on different landscapes from my imagination. The images shown here are quite geographical - mountainous, lakeside and volcanic. You can see elements of the Giant's Causeway on the first image. I intend to dry these pieces slowly then fire and glaze them. The glaze will be a high gloss white and my own special aqua glaze. When everything has gone to plan (! - it could be a long and painful process until I'm happy with the results) then the penguins will arrive and investigate their new surroundings. If you'd like the have a look at some finished penguin pieces then take a look at my website.