Added elements and Ladi Kwali

I made some changes to the tile, adding a raised element on the left side and changing the raised bars on the top right. Much better. I went back to my color sketch to pick up ideas. The vague nature of the drawing really pays off now. Since a lot of it is amorphous, I can let my imagination run and see selective images that are effectively already there and working right. I plan to tap the same source when I start retexturing the raised parts.

I put three pots in the mid-range soda firing with a commercial celadon on them. I'm not very practiced at spraying so we'll see how they turn out. The glaze is one I'm considering for this tile and another one I made earlier. Glazing is a little hair-raising since I have a lot of time and effort invested in the tile. I made a series of mugs with a similar design so I can test, test, test. I seriously doubt I'll take a chance on firing them in an atmospheric kiln... Too much risk of warping and the kilns are notorious for dropping crud into the glaze. The results in soda will be interesting but I think it'll be electric in the end.

On to other things! I have a couple of place settings to make for a Habit for Humanity fund raiser. The theme is "Africa." I've been googling African pottery and thought I might like to do a sort of Egyptian motif, but I stumbled across Nigerian pottery, Ladi Kwali. She is very famous in Nigeria and is even depicted on their currency! The technique is one I have used before... I don't really want to take time right now to figure out something totally new. I think I'll make coil and slab constructions, coat them in underglaze and use scrafitto, maybe some water etching too. The challenge will be to return to my drawings or make new ones to glean content from. I might do some drawings from things in my yard... Lizards, ants, tropical plants, maybe palmetto bugs and then pull some motifs to repeat as bands.