Pillow Vases II: Rosette

One of the reasons I wanted to investigate the "Pillow Vase" concept was because I was interested in a mostly-closed form that could be very stable and hold a fair amount of water, minimizing the necessity for refilling the reservoir. I also thought it might be worthwhile to develop a form having a low profile, making it more functional as a dinner table centerpiece - something that wouldn't necessarily interfere with guests' eye contact with one another. I also liked the idea that, in the case of the vases with a single large opening, a pin frog could be used as desired but wouldn't be necessary; once could cut the stems short and fit them tightly into the opening. I also felt that the pieces should be able to stand alone - without flowers - as objects of beauty in and of themselves.

Once the vase sections have dried enough to release from the molds, they're ready for assembly. In the case of the Tiny vases with the multiple openings (much like an old-fashioned pansy vase), I use a Kemper 1/4" Hole Cutter to create an array of 17 holes in the top of the vase, as seen in the piece at the far left of the photo to the left, before assembly. The array is cut entirely freehand but I'm usually able to eyeball it fairly well. I often use a large loop tool to clean up the inside of the top after cutting the openings.

I slip all the pre-scored cut edges of the sections and join tops to bottoms, sandwiching them together. I use a combination of a fairly soft rubber kidney and a metal kidney to marry the pieces to one another. I use an elephant ear sponge to clean the join and work out any inconsistencies.

When I made my Lace, Embossed Leaf or Striped Bowls, I noticed that they would often warp. This is not a problem with these pieces as the two sections hold one another in tension - I have never had one warp (yet!) By using fairly consistent slab thicknesses and joining them firmly together, they seem to stay true to form.

If the pieces are going to be plain, I set them to dry. If I'll be decorating them, I may set them aside to dry some more if they're too plastic such that they may deform in the application process. It's a fine line between being firm enough to not distort and being too dry to take the decoration successfully.

The Rosette pieces are decorated with rosettes cut using Kemper Klay Kutters 5/8 inch "Basic Shapes" set. I either slip the vase's entire top surface or score and slip each individual rosette as I apply it. I apply two to three graduated circles around the center opening (three on all but the Tiny vase with the pansy vase opening). I then set the pieces to dry.

Goth/Steampunk Pillow Vases

In developing a possible product line for the upcoming DetCon1, I thought it might be worthwhile to take some of my existing designs and revisit them with more of a Goth/Steampunk sensibility. For those of you who are unfamiliar with either of these aesthetics, "Goth" relates to a post-punk era subculture which draws upon influences from 19th-century Gothic literature (think Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, for example) and horror films, often characterized in popular culture through fashions reflecting Victorian styles, most often with dark clothing, make-up and hair styles. "Steampunk" is a sub-genre of science fiction typified by steam-powered machinery, particularly in a context inspired by early industrialized Western culture - especially the 19th century. Like the Goth aesthetic, Steampunk is inspired by the works of Mary Shelley, as well as those of Jules Vern and H.G. Wells.

Back in September, when my friend Sharon (who frequents these events and puts a great deal of effort into creating unique costumes for them) first suggested that this might be a new market for my work, I took some of the Pillow Vases I had already bisque-fired and tried the four metallic glazes in my repertoire. Metallic Black is a glaze recipe I was given by my first pottery teacher, Gene Pluhar. The other three glazes - Saturation Metallic, Saturation Gold and Palladium - are all from Amaco's Potter's Choice Series. With the exception of the Palladium glaze, all are food safe. For this reason, I never use the Palladium on any piece that might conceivably be used for food or beverage for any species - not just humans. I felt the Pillow Vases were a safe bet, though; I can't imagine someone deciding to use them for food service - in fact, I'm not sure they could!

I glazed up at least one of each style - Rosette, Lace, Frosted, Scrolls and Sea Urchin - in sizes ranging from Tiny to Medium. (I wasn't willing to take a risk with a Large Pillow Vase, as those are sufficiently demanding of materials and my effort that I didn't feel it necessary.) I got together with my best friend, Catherine, to celebrate her birthday with a nice meal out and brought the pieces with me for Show & Tell afterwards; I needed some feedback and Catherine has always been willing and able to provide me with useful insights regarding my work. Generally, she was favorable in her critique; she really liked how the Saturation Metallic and Saturation Gold glazes looked on the pieces, especially the Saturation Gold on the Sea Urchin Pillow Vase.

(The example I had for that was a Small Vase. She liked it so much, she showed me how she would display such a piece in her living room, making the observation that it would have to be much larger to work in that space; I later made her, especially, a Large Sea Urchin Pillow Vase in Saturation Gold and left it for her one time when I stopped by to surprise her.)

Catherine was less taken with the Metallic Black and Palladium glazes, although she did not reject them entirely, merely observing that they did not seem to work as well for the particular designs I was showing her as the Saturation Metallic and Saturation Gold examples. She also suggested that I might investigate doing some plain Pillow Vases - with no decoration at all; she felt those might show of the glazes to best advantage.

I decided to do a series of 24 Tiny Pillow Vases: four of each of the five existing designs plus four plain ones; I also varied the openings - the single small opening, or Ikebana vase; the larger single opening that could take a small pin frog; and the "built in" frog with an array of 17 openings for flower-arranging novices. (Being the obsessive-compulsive person that I am, I made sure that there would be an equal distribution of the three openings across the 24 vases and amongst the 6 designs and four glazes.)

I was very happy with the results, especially with the Saturation Metallic and Saturation Gold glazes. The pieces
glazed with Saturation Metallic looked particularly metallic, especially the plain Pillow Vase (see below, the vase farthest left). The experiment seems to confirm our initial determinations, that the Saturation Metallic and Saturation Gold glazes are both safe bets, with the other two glazes less successful but still acceptable. I'm looking for some additional glazes to try - I've been working with Coyote's Gun Metal Green and have some of their Bronze Temmoku to try. So, it will soon be time to glaze up some more pieces and see how they turn out.

As for the photo shoot, Don and I felt that we needed a different background for these pieces, rather than the wood slice we've used so successfully in the past. We concurred that something more "industrial" would be more appropriate. I found a piece of expanded metal in my store room, one side of which still had some black paint from a previous use. It turned out to be the perfect background for the Goth/Steampunk Pillow Vases and Lace Bowls, as well as for the masks I had done almost 20 years ago.