WAIT A SEC!
Was there a 'plethora'?! Do I *know* what a plethora is? Cause I would not like to tell all you people that I had a plethora, when I do not know what a plethora is!
hehehe
errmm... yeah... OH! and I did raku a few (3) pieces. First was this stilty legged pot, with legs that look like roots or tentacles. Finished that in raku goldburst, but it came out really coppery. Second I did one of my illuminary in clear crackle. I wasn't sure how it would look, so I did ONE piece. Last I did a Raku Mogwai Servant of Cthulhu replacement. Nothing much more to talk about the first one, as I haven't even scrubbed it yet, but I'll talk about the other two pieces.
First the luminary. WOW! I had done that was supposed to look sort of like a giant barnacle, but with lots of holes. In the washed up coral and ocean limestones I have seen, I have noticed a pattern of holes, mostly of the same size. Surrounding these are usually smaller holes. These hole are usually caused by worms tunneling through or other similar sized sea creatures. And scattered all over are small scoops that sort of look like meteor impacts. These are caused by the sand and water coursing over the item, sculpting away. And also there tends to be these tiny little holes all over; I'm sure this is caused by tiny sea creatures looking for their own little place to cling to. So I carved out holes, made indentations then I washed the whole piece with a wet sponge to give it a weathered look. Came out nice. I applied the clear crackle glaze and raku'd it. The contrast between the white of the glazed portions stood out well in contrast to the black that was left unglazed. I glazed the inside as well, so the inside looked very coral-ish. The tiny pin pricks that I added had a nice surprise. They didn't catch the glaze too good, so what I was left with were these tiny black spots all over the piece. VERY nice effect. I wish I still had it to share, but it was given away already. I'll just have to make more! :)
My raku Mogwai, servant of Cthulhu- this was supposed to be the THIRD incarnation. The first two suffered some damage. The first two had a broken foot, etc... so I wanted to make a replacement. Similar to the first two, but always different. And keeping with tradition of the first one, this third was Raku'd. Mishy had quite a crowd around her this time, and someone decided to start asking her questions while she was pulling out pieces from the kiln. Let me just stop my train of thought for a second to explain this part:
The pieces are pulled out of the kiln when it hits 1900F. They are glowing RED HOT. The pieces have to be pulled out VERY carefully and placed into the reduction chamber. This takes a good deal of concentration because the piece is being moved from one place to another while GLOWING RED HOT. This has to be done precisely and quickly. This is *NOT* the time to start asking questions!!!!!!!
!!!!!!
*breathe in.... breathe out*
So, Mishy's concentration is broken by someone's questions and she drops my raku mogwai. I see a bright red tongue fly as my piece hits the floor. Little arms come flying off as the Mogwai rolls under a bush, igniting it. Mishy scrambles, but I can see she is upset. She puts the mogwai under a can that is too small for it. Mishy regains her composure and moves the mogwai, arms and tongue to another bigger can. And so my raku Mogwai sits in the reduction chamber an slowly smolders. Mishy apologizes for dropping it, and I explain to her that it's okay. This is the third incarnation of that piece, I tell her, and the Mogwai have made it a tradition amongst themselves that each will have some battle damage. So you see, I tell Mishy, it's not your fault at all. They have their own cosmic forces and your dropping that piece was inevitable; it happened by design!
Mishy and I have had lots of discussions on natural forces; the powers that be, or forces beyond our control. The GODS, if you will.
She has explained to me that potters are a superstitious lot, and there is a strong belief in kiln gods or spirits of the kiln. That each kiln does develop its own spirit, and a lot of potters create 'sacrificial' pieces for the kiln god or goddess. She half-jokingly suggested that I *DO NOT* create another replacement raku mogwai; that if I create another, to think of it as a copy and not as a replacement or re incarnation.
So my piece was finally cool enough for me to uncover it. The damage wasn't as bad as I feared. The one arm and tongue made clean breaks, meaning they were disembodied but intact. The one arm was lobbed off at the elbow, but even that just added to the character of the piece. The real surprise was that one wing had broken off and became fused to the side!
This is the second piece with wings I've made where one wing breaks off during the process and becomes fused to the body. And this is my third attempt at creating a Mogwai, Servant of Cthulhu and my third to suffer some unintentional battle damage. I don't know if this is the work of a 'Kiln Goddess' or some spirit, but I do know that it' unusual and unpredictable. And in trying to avoid the wrath of chaos, I will stand behind trying to appease the Kiln Gods and at least respect the unpredictable nature of it.
Besides my luminary, bonsai pots, clay amigurumi, servants of Cthulhu, and statuette of Cthulhu, I also did these cute little skull beads. Some look like a Jack Skellington/Dia de los Muertos skull. Some are dragon skulls.
I also did a spoon that is intended to look like a piece of marine limestone that was washed up, or something similiar. I wanted a nice, big spoon with which to eat up a hearty soup or stew.
That's all I have for now. I've posted my Cthulhu statuette and Raku Mogwai to my etsy shop. You should go check it out! Or don't.... :)
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