Ceramics Saturday: And Yet Even More Surface Decoration

I had brought all my pieces that had been in the kiln in the week before, but I also knew on this last day of the winter quarter that I wanted to make some mugs.  I've been thinking of doing a pop-up plate and then adhering a slab round on top to make a mug, and that was the first mug of the day:  he's a granddaddy, H U G E with a 6" diameter.  Definitely, it will shrink when it gets fired and more vitrified.

I had rolled these speckled buff slabs the week before, and so next was the "Mama" mug after I had constructed "Papa."  Her diameter is about 3".  And of course, there was enough clay left to construct a "Baby" mug and a catch plate.  I'm guessing the diameter of the lil'un to be 2.5"

The kiln had also revealed my latest offerings.  I especially love my red rice paper decal on B-Mix.  In the background, you can see my blue floral rice paper decal mug on which I adhered a gold luster butterfly on the marred rim.  I forgot to upload to this blog another mug I rescued from the trashbasket, a mug that my claymate Patsy made and on which I "watercolored" many blue glazes and then overglazed and then adhered a whale decal.

I was careful to use a dry brush to apply the first coat of overglaze over the rice paper decal.  I might have even used a sponge for the first coat.  And then let the layers completely dry before brushing on the second and third coats.

I was pretty pleased with my lipstick red-accented mug.  On my yellow-striped mug, I really liked the beetle on the bottom.

I had also constructed a teal striped and sky blue mug on which I affixed a spider in the interior.

I love the subtle contrast between the yellow underglaze and yellow rice paper floral decal I adhered on the mug below.

But once these overglazed mugs were out of the kiln, I couldn't resist embellishing them more.  On the blue striped mug, I adhered this commercial flower decal.

On my pink-striped mug, I adhered gold luster butterflies.

And on my yellow mug, I adhered this big yellow flower decal, which layered over where the rice paper floral decal had smudged and blurred.

And the petite pink striped mug also called for floral embellishment or roses.