Pottery and different finishes by Kolene Spicher

Nautical Mugs with different finishes 

It has taken me some time to get this down.  I had a friend from the Harrisburg area that looked at me and said, "Pottery is humbling, isn't it!"  I couldn't agree more with her.  She's well past that humbling point in her career and is so talented.  She may or may not know how talented she is!  HAHA.  Anyways, about these mugs, I have two different types.  I finally found a clay body that was compatible with a darker clay body that will receive the slip (to paint on) that will not cause pinholes.  OMGOSH, too much info, not to mention the dozens of mugs I had to make to get it right.  Blah. 

These all look basically good, I would sell them.  They are pretty light and really there is only one visible flaw on them and it is the mug that is the third one in from the left.  It has a small crack that is surface only, meaning that the glaze went in and it sealed fast.  You can only see it on the inside and barely so because it didn't crack thru to the outside.  It is superficial.  

I included the hairline crack (that I repeat is superficial) just so that the potential buyer could buy being aware of it :)  

I am quite happy with the finish on these, and the colors are very vibrant.  The surface is entirely smooth.  The next set with the same images are thrown about the same size but the surface is flat and is meant to mimic salt glaze, but I didn't do that process.  I don't know if it is as good as the real deal, but it is the Kolene version.  I am basically an non-academic at this and it is quite daunting.  

I usually go for the shiny, but there's something I really love about this.  As my son and husband says, it reminds them of blue jeans.  I agree. 

You can really see the finish on the above cup.  Like I said, I really like it. Like the imagery, it has an old fashioned look to it.   It is deliberate and I intend (if well received) to do more.  

I adore whales... 

Here are the two finishes side by side.  

I also love how the blue from the inside slips onto the outside, a marrying of the two sides! 

Isn't the sponge gorgeous!??  

Which do you prefer?  I don't know how to get people to see this blog.  I do get some feedback but it needs updated and I am ready to try a different blog.  If someone has a suggestion which forum is better or best, please advise.  Happy Friday. 

Kolene 

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Pottery

Nautical one of a kind pieces

of art on pottery 

Kolene Spicher 

I am working on a painting at the moment for a gentlemen who wants the Smeaton Tower painted 

from Plymouth, UK.  As I drew the lighthouse (and I will blog about it later), I was thinking this would be cute on a pot.  

I decided to put some of my Polkadots on this piece.  I have them on the opposite side of the lighthouse painting.  

This is slightly blurry, sorry! 

This little guy needs fired yet.  It is still in its basest form, almost! 

This also needs fired.  The colors will change.  Unfortunately, a lot of times as you fire, some of the colors are less vibrant.  What you paint is not always what you get, almost never, actually, LOL. 

The shape is slightly different from the other lamp bases, but I think it will go well with the one that I still have (in living room).  I will use it till it sells, smile. 

I loved the big round light that I sold at wilton.  Here is a peak!

This has a great gold lined shade, compliments of Restoration Hardware.  I love their shades, actually. 

This vase is hand formed from a slab.  The top is sort of irregular and this was done on purpose.  See how the rose sort of falls in that V.  

This vase in the front is porcelain.  The vase in the back right, which happens to be of the Bay (any bay you'd like), is earthenware.  I am really into the uneven top edge, don't know why, smile. 

These sort of speak for themselves.  But, you can see, there is a lot of artwork on these pieces.  They are all one of a kind.  

I got some mugs back recently, too, unfortunately they had some issues.  However, I know what I did wrong.  

Here are some pictures.  I have 8 more mugs ready to paint with similar imagery.  

This one with the green sails I LOVE.  The surface has some issues, though, so I will keep this one and make more that are similar because the imagery is good and attractive. 

Black sheep mugs for the farm! 

I love  making mugs.  They sell easily and they make people smile, that is a good thing.  People that have followed my artwork over the years know that I love primitive art.  I found this little girl so sweet.  This mug turned out, too! 

That's about it for now.  I will have some more to blog about next week because I have already started to paint my Christmas orders.  I have a good bit to fill so I will be talking away in the near future.  

Thanks for looking.  

 

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Nautical Pottery by Kolene Spicher

Christmas Gifts! 

I am working on a number of pieces right now.  With Christmas right around the corner, I think they will make fabulous gifts.  I have a bunch of stuff getting fired as I type this.  Here are a few pieces that were still too wet to go in! 

This jar or pot is around 5 1/2 inches tall.  It is decorated the whole way around!  

This one is an order 

I love round things.  Here's some rounder scenes! 

I am in love with silhouettes! 

This is a Right Whale

For whatever reason, I didn't photograph the sailor.  There's one there!  It reads:

This 10th Day of August, This ole' sailor spotted his first 

whale right off shore!  He was 29 feet long. 

Love the orangey pinks on the horizon.

This is going to be another light.  My other lights turned out great.  

The one sold, so I needed to make a replacement to

keep my living room in balance LOL. 

This light is about 11 - 12" high.  It has my seascape colors, etc, the whole way

around it.  It looks slightly washed out in this photo but in real life it has 

nice color. 

I don't know if I showed you my finished vase.  This guy is about 18" tall.  It was slab built and carved.  I love hand-building. 

The platter is a Greg Schooner! 

Hydrangea was compliments of my friend Susan.  I planted that wonderful bush in 2008. 

Let me know if there's something that you might like for the holidays.  PM me or follow me on instagram, which makes it really easy to see all my new stuff.  Kolene_Spicher is what I go by! 

I love all things polka dotted!  

Sometimes you can do things with pottery that are a bit unexpected.  Like I had a bowl (cylinder shaped) with polkadots and I needed something to put an antique Christmas tree in that I had picked up about 30 years ago.  Every year, I struggled to display it in a pleasing way.  One day I did this! 

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas! 

Enjoy.  

Kolene Spicher 

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My pottery challenges

Navigating thru the clay and glaze choices 

Black clay vs a soft brown earthenware with manganese 

There are so many choices when it comes to clay.  I sort of gravitate toward the darker clays.  I just love the rich tones that come thru and the warms and browns that pop up randomly.  But this clay comes with problems.  It has to be fired to a lower cone.  People often push it to cone 6 and hope for the best, but I so heavily decorate my pieces that the likelihood of there being issues with the surface are very probable.  Still I try...sigh.

Many times I get one or two pieces back that I love, most of it is not acceptable and chalked up to "learning"and receive the hammer.  

This one turned out and I am going to keep it.  It's pleasant to look at but it didn't fully pass the Kolene test.  Are there blisters?  No,  Is the glaze smooth? yes. Does it hold water? UHHHH,  NO.  I had to put something inside it to place the flowers in.  Alas, this will be used (probably) for Christmas cards.  It really is pretty and someone would probably even buy it, but it didn't pass the test.  I am picky for a reason, folks. 

The bowls I will keep but only till I come up with ones that are more perfect, they have some blisters.   I will gift them to some friend who will appreciate them for what they are.  I should have fired them to Cone 5 instead of 6.    However, The vase is a keeper.  I like this vase and it passed all the above tests.  

These vases are pretty, very.  They hold water.  They look great, but I don't care for what they feel like on the inside.  They didn't pass.  It's really okay with me, finally, that I am not getting much back that I like.   At first I was so discouraged.  I would push and push myself, staying up to all hours, not sleeping, trying desperately to figure out what the Heck I was doing.  Now I just accept, there are rules to clay.  Until I figure them out, there will be learning curve of what not to do.  

I did not go to school for this, after all. 

This has a few issues and didn't fully pass all the tests, but it is very pretty and I am going to sell it.  It will be a table lamp when it is done and I bought a great shade off of Restoration Hardware for it!  It really looks nice next to my wall art.  

This is just plain white on the inside.  You can't see it but there was something
that fell into the glaze at the bottom, which turned it right away into a second. 

I am leaning toward letting the insides of the cups being plain without glaze, just maybe a wash.   Why try to hide that beautiful brown?  I am not going to anymore (for now).  It is just another step. 

This was a collaborative piece that I did with my friend Wanda.  She's a very seasoned potter.  Everything comes out shining colors with her.  I am so happy to know someone like her.  She's friendly and helpful and full of knowledge that she is willing to share.  Can you see the manganese in the clay?  That's the spots.  Some people love them, others not so much.  I do love this clay but think that it might be better without so much decoration.  

Thanks for looking.  When I finally have a website for the pottery, I will be ready to start selling some.  Once it makes it to that website, you can buy with confidence.  I will accept returns, but I don't have the website ready yet.  It doesn't much matter, I am not quite ready to start selling.  

Warm regards to you on this fall day. 

Kolene 

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