There are a few Mame styles that are emerging: 'Mog', 'Turk', 'Crab', and 'Rocket'. For the bodies, I have been using 'Agate' and a blue glaze with darker blue . I'm not sure of the name of this blue glaze, I think it's blueberry something. The agate is a matte olive green finish, with glossy chocolate brown spots. There appears to be a style that is emerging in my work. The bodies are usually a glaze with chunks that melt during the firing process, giving the finished work a richer finish. Sometimes the feet are a different, solid glossy color. For my feet I am using 'cocoa', I think, 'sassy yellow', and 'dragon red'. I thought the red was 'dragon blood'. It might have been renamed, but it is a very rich, blood red.
Mog- I'm calling the small, egg shaped pots 'Mogs'. I was going to call them Mogwai, after the cute, fuzzy critters from the movie 'Gremlins', but this means evil spirit or demon in Chinese. Anyways, for the mogs I used an 'agate' glaze. I used the cocoa glossy glaze for the feet. The combination resulting in a very complimentary color combination.
Turk- when I brought the first one in, Mishy commented that it reminded her of a Turkish toilet. This one is based on a crescent shaped bonsai pot, with a high back. The combination of the high back and hole in the bottom reminded her of a toilet shape. I'm not offended by this descpription, as that is exactly what they look like! I've painted the turks in all blueberry.
Crab- I'm using a basic shallow saucer shape for the body with flat,thin feet. My dog, Daven, was my inspiration, but they look sorta crabby to me. Blueberry body with 'sassy yellow' feet
Rocket- Bowl or egg shaped body with what was supposed to be bubble feet. I found that two stacked bubbles work better than three. I also found that this design works better with shorter feet. I painted the bubble feet 'sassy yellow' and 'dragon red'. For the body I used the blueberry. Mishy really liked this style. I think it's the dragon red feet. Really makes a bold statement.
I have a Mog with a broken leg that I'm trying to fix. It's been bisque fired already. The foot simply came off while I was working it, probably an issue with the way the feet were joined to the body. I've painted this Mog's body with a black glaze. I'm not sure the name, but it's black with red crystals within. For the feet I used dragon red. I really like the dragon red, so I used this same combination of black/red crystals for body and dragon red feet on a smaller Mame pot that I had.
When I picked up my glazes at Marjon Ceramics, there was a pot full of 'business cards' for a local potter. He used clay 'tokens' for his business cards, stamped with a raised scorpion or butterfly relief and glazed with a semi translucent glaze on one side, and the name of his website on the other. On his website, he demonstrated a technique where he would wind rope around a cylinder, then use the wheel to impress the rope design on the cylinder. I took a queue from this guy and used my kids' Mardi Gras beads to make impressions on an egg shaped Mame pot. I made a couple of pots like this, including a couple of bowls for my reptiles. They're all currently in the kiln, or waiting to be fired.
I also switched to a low fire clay. This clay is much more plastic and fires to a white bisque. It's also not as sandy as the stoneware clay I was using. I don't know if I necessarily like this clay better, as it's drier. Cracks tend to show more when working this clay. This clay is less sticky, meaning it takes an impression better than the stoneware clay. Plus, it doesn't stick so much to my hands when working it. I bought fifty pounds of this clay, so I have lots of time to get used to it!
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