AusBonsai

My Mum has over 30yrs experience in pottery, she has recently moved back from living overseas for a while and is setting up again here in Melbourne. Since moving back she has developed an interest in my bonsai, so I've coached her into producing some bonsai pots!

Here is a quick preview of some early experiments - these were mainly to test the newly installed kiln, some possible clay types and also some glaze test samples. I think they are promising! The clays didn't turn out as we had hoped - they are bit light and terracotta like, we were hoping for darker redish-brown colors, so more experimenting there will be needed.

Please feel free to comment, she hopes to eventually produce pots for sale so any critique/feedback is welcomed!











Accent pots:


Smaller/Shohin pots:


No glazed pots just yet, but the glaze samples did look promising so hopefully next firing will feature some glazed pots!

They appear very well made, look forward to seeing some glazes.

Tell her well done. Very nice looking pots. Is she selling them and if so how much. Also looking forward to seeing some more glazed ones.

Josh

Hi there,

Your Mum is an impressive talent. I hope this project goes further.

Cheers,

Brad75.

Josh wrote:Tell her well done. Very nice looking pots. Is she selling them and if so how much. Also looking forward to seeing some more glazed ones.

Josh

Thanks Josh I'll be sure to tell her she's on the right track! Her plan is to eventually sell them, if she can pry them out of my hands! Maybe not these ones as they were just test pots. She's been visiting lots of bonsai shows with me this year and doing plenty of research so I think she'll produce a good product once everything is fine tuned!

Brad75 wrote: Your Mum is an impressive talent. I hope this project goes further.

Cheers,

Brad75.

Thanks Brad, she'll appreciate the encouragement

Hi

Great looking pots. I have been keeping my eyes open for some rectangular glazed and unglazed pots.
Do you think she will give it a go?

Color wise, I am interested in some darker brown.

The bulk majority look great to me.
Would love to see some glazes as well but I still think that these would suit some tree's in their current guise.

longd_au wrote:Hi

Great looking pots. I have been keeping my eyes open for some rectangular glazed and unglazed pots.
Do you think she will give it a go?

Color wise, I am interested in some darker brown.

She's planning to do some ovals - not sure about rectangular at the moment, her main thing is the wheel. I might be able to get her to try some rectangles at some stage.

Yeah clay is something she is working on - these came out much lighter than expected.

Boics wrote:The bulk majority look great to me.
Would love to see some glazes as well but I still think that these would suit some tree's in their current guise.

I definitely will be putting them to use - just in the name of quality control/R&D of course

Very nice work, for a first try, they are bloody amazing!

Jase...get a Cooper's Red up there mate and VOILA... perfect photo !

P.s. Nice pots.

Nice and good on ya Mum

particularly like the right hand ones in pics 2 & 3

Ken

ToddB wrote:Jase...get a Cooper's Red up there mate and VOILA... perfect photo !

P.s. Nice pots.

I was thinking a glazed pot would better compliment the Coopers Red

JaseH wrote: we were hoping for darker redish-brown colors, so more experimenting there will be needed.
!

Looking good. There's some great Pots there.

Out of interest and maybe some advice, what type of Kiln firing are you doing? If you are just firing in an electric kiln then you will find it difficult to get the really rich dark colors you are after.

What you want is an Iron rich clay and you need to Fire it in reduction (removing the oxygen) generally happens in Gas or wood Kilns. Also if you Fire to stoneware temperatures you tend to get much richer colors.

I have the same problem as I don't have access to a Gas or Wood Kiln.

Some clay suggestions.
Ironstone - http://www.keaneceramics.com.au/535ironstone.htm (Cone 10 reduction)
Toast - http://www.keaneceramics.com.au/582toast.htm (Cone 10 reduction)

I've been using the Toast for both Hand building and on the Wheel. It's a little rough on the hands when used on the wheel but throws well.

I just need to find someone on the central coast of NSW that can help me with some Reduction firing now (shout out here to anyone that knows someone!)

Keep up the good work!

Cheers,
Rick

Rick, thanks for the info! Much appreciated.

Yeah she is only using an electric kiln at the moment and a lot of what you have said sounds familiar to me from conversations with her. I will definitely pass on the clay suggestions and firing advice.

She just dismantled her large gas kiln which she built over 20yrs ago as it was too costly to run and bring up to spec to meet the current regs. She still has options for gas firing but they aren't quite as convenient as the electric!

I haven't used a kiln since school but i can tell you we used Sawdust.

Adding sawdust,around at the highest temperature(can't recall detail) will make lighter clays darker.

What type of gas Kiln,send me a pm if your selling would like to dabble myself.