Sunday 23 November 2014

Ceramic Project 37: 1400's Dr Suess set

1400's Apothacary/Pharmacy Jar, Florence, Italy. Met Museum. Accession No 46.85.11

I found the above item while trolling through someones Italian Ceramic board on Pinterest. I fell in love with it. It's obvious I like the dark blue on white in ceramics, and this fish looked so Dr Seuss I just had to make it. I started by making a bowl with the original image because it was smaller and easier to handle while glazing. Originally I was going to have the same design on both items (below) and just change up the rim decoration but the curved sides of the bowl made that too difficult. As a result the bowl is very close to true-to-reference but unfortunately I didn't take a picture before dropping it off at Glazeit.





Once I'd finished the bowl, I decided to make a matching plate. Due to the difference in curves and size I could actually go with the original plan. I sort of photo documented the stages as I was posting the updates on Faceplant as I went.
Outline of the fish.

Background fill complete
1 part glaze, 3 parts water wash (I'm not sure how this will turn out)
The back is started before the front rim to reduce rubbing and removal of glaze as I work
Back rim is completed with two lines of floral pattern taken from the rim of the apothecary jar. Inner ring is the upper rim of jar, outer ring is the almost flat ring near the top of the jar.
Front rim is completed with a similar pattern to the back and to the bowl.

The bowl and plate are going to be my entries into the Fields of Gold A&S tournament so I'll post images of the fired items after I get back from FoG this weekend. Now I just have to write up and print some documentation.


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