Part tu(lip)

[offcntr]

First thing I did, on my return from Wisconsin, was to address the elephant in the studio--no, not the elephant banks, though they were high on the list. I mean the giant tulipière. It came through the bisque fine, back in January, and had been hiding in a box while everything else for the firing got made and dried and bisque fired.

Somewhere along the line, while I was diligently not thinking about it, my subconscious had an idea. Since the customer wanted blue-and-white ware, as Delft-ish as possible, why not glaze it in my electric kiln? While I love the warm tones and iron-spotting my white glaze gives in reduction, I was reasonably sure she wouldn't. And this way, I wouldn't have to stack around the huge enormous thing in the big kiln.

So I bought an oversize tub at BiMart--the bottom section being too big to fit in a standard 5-gallon bucket--brought home three buckets of Best Possible White, and unpacked my overglaze kit from the suitcase it flew home from Viterbo in. Asked if I could fit in a few small birds or butterflies and got a definite no. Flowers only please. So I channeled my inner 16th-century Dutchman and laid to.

Fanciful flowers? I'm good. Random arabesques? Let me at 'em. Completely mismatched foliage? Sure, why not?

I sent photos to the client on Instagram, explaining that the lavender was a cobalt mineral that would come out blue, really, and what did she think? She wanted more flowers. Fill in the white space, put some on the spouts. sigh. So I did, and you know? It didn't come out half bad.

Comments

[dine]

it turned out pretty keen! I do think they're such an odd-looking thing, but given the use the multiple spouts make sense

[ioplokon]

Wow, it turned out really well! I hope she sends you pictures of it in use!

Also, the spelling should be tulipière, with the accent grave. Though hopefully you'll never need to know it again!

[offcntr]

Thanks! Now I can copy/paste your correction and not have to find the proper diacritical mark myself.

[ioplokon]

alt+0232 ^_^

[offcntr]

No alt button on my tablet.
;-)

[rachelmanija]

It's cool! How much did you charge?

[offcntr]

I quoted $200-$300, gonna go the higher figure, just for all the stress she put me through--so many messages on Instagram. Plus cost of shipping to Georgia.