Who Was That Masked Bear

[offcntr]

Been playing around with masks again, partly from an order, partly just for the fun of it. I made a couple last spring, thanks to the Oregon Potters Association. Their charity project at Ceramic Showcase was a mask installation, and making a bear mask for them has gotten me inspired.

Of the first three I made after Showcase, the cat and fox mask have been purchased, and I've a request for a bear and wolf to go with the fox. And masks are a fun, not-too-time consuming way to play with clay and sculpture when I'm not motivated to be otherwise productive.

So I've taken some of the hard brick that I'm supposed to be using to build a stoneware kiln and made a pit fire smoker instead. I've scrounged some sawdust from the UO Craft Center, mixed up a couple of terra sigillatas, and have half a dozen masks to finish before Clay Fest.

The red terra sigillata is mixed from a native earthenware clay I dug some years ago on the family farm in Wisconsin. It takes a very nice shine, and fires pumpkin orange. The grey one is plain old ball clay. It bisques white, but in a heavy smoke fire, will absorb carbon and become grey or black. I've also mixed up a little bottle of sig with black stain. It doesn't polish up nearly as well, because the stain particles are neither very fine or very platelike, but it guarantees me black on places like fox ears and noses.