AusBonsai

What a sweet little tree Jase
I like that a lot.

Ken

Beautiful pot and a lovely tree

That's a sweet little pot! Love it


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Jase,
I like both! Tree and pot! Very promising!


Cheers
Elmar

Thanks guys - we got the new kiln up and running finally this week. Fired it last night for the first time. Unfortunately it was still too hot this morning to open so I have to wait until after work to see what comes out. Always exciting opening a kiln after a firing - you never know what your going get!

A few green pots lined up ready for the next firing.

JaseH wrote:A few green pots lined up ready for the next firing.

G'Day Jase,
does your Mother do her firing "Stoneware" style - forgive me if that is the wrong phrase, but my understanding (and Graham did well to explain it in another post) is that Stoneware firing is hotter and seals the pot (and glaze) and makes it water proof... to stop it from absorbing water and breaking during the cold months (water expansion due to freezing).

Hi Elmar, Marg fires to cone 6(which is about 1220C). She uses a few different clay bodies but they are all designed to mature(or vitrify) at those temperatures. So you shouldn't have a problem.

Test firing of the new kiln produced some successes and some failures - as we were expecting. A couple of things to iron out for the next firing.

Marg's rusty golden glaze worked well.



This cascade pot is something special!

That gold glaze is luscious. Fantastic!

Another one, a larger round:

Hi jase
I really like the rustic textures marg is getting on the pots and the golden glaze is nice , although it would need to be a bold tree not to be overpowered by it.
Regards
Peterb

JaseH wrote:

In my opinion. This texture is

I feel that pot would be amazing without the glaze. Just make the whole pot with this texture on the bottom, including the feet and it will be an absolute ripper. It doesn't need any glaze. Just make the whole pot this texture and you're onto a winner. And if you made it bigger and round, it would certainly tempt me too. Great rough texture of it...

peterb wrote:Hi jase
I really like the rustic textures marg is getting on the pots and the golden glaze is nice , although it would need to be a bold tree not to be overpowered by it.
Regards
Peterb

Yep your right Peter, these styles of pot/glaze combinations do limit options as to what tree they would compliment. In particular the rusty golden glaze would probably need a deciduous tree with fairly vivid autumn color to work well in my opinion. The stark contrast between the gold and dark oxide on some of these I find a bit distracting too - again it would require the right tree to work. Great for the person with that right tree but it does limit her market!

A lot of what Marg does at the moment is experimentation. Finding glazes, textures, clay types etc that work for bonsai and her style. We are well aware of the fact that some of what she has produced, although attractive as a pot, can be a bit overpowering for a lot of trees! But as she starts to refine some of the glazes and textures(as well as her bonsai knowledge!) I think we'll start to see some more complimentary results! I was particularly encouraged by some of the glaze tests and oxide finishes from the new kiln test firing!

Thanks for the critique, I think the more discussion and critique of pots the better, more knowledge means more interest and all our local potters will benefit!

JaseH wrote:

Also.... this one is a ripper too. Very nice! Make them bigger, bigger, bigger!