Just finished these mugs for the USS Renegade (Youngstown Star Trek Club) to sell at the Steel City Comic Con this weekend. They aren’t quite as professional as those made commercially but they are handmade and hand-painted. The club is only permitted to sell things that we make ourselves and these definitely qualify.  I  hope that they sell, despite the fact that no Star Trek actors will be at the show this time.

• “TEA. EARL GREY. HOT.” Picard (includes an Earl Grey  tea bag)
• “COFFEE FIRST!” Janeway (includes a coffee bag)
• SERIES MUG: The Original Series, Next Generation, Voyager, Deep Space Nine, Enterprise, The Animated Series, Discovery (starts in January)
• RAKTAJINO Klingon coffee mug (includes recipe–it’s a thick mocha coffee)

There were two more styles that didn’t turn out but may be salvageable for later. First is QUARK’S, a tall stein with the bar logo;  Second is the 5oth Anniversary, a large mug in black satin glaze with spatters (stars) and the logo in gold.

We also had a large coffee mug similar to the one Kirk used in the new movie BEYOND which was given as a prize at our annual picnic on Tuesday. (forgot to take a picture)

Not a Trekkie? This gives you an idea of what you can do with plain mugs. Perhaps you like Star Wars, or Harry Potter. What a thoughtful gift for a family member with a certain passion. Also, when you make it yourself you can put the person’s name on the other side.

Carousel Creations
Where having Fun is why we come!

Live long and prosper!

P.S. Just a note on yesterday’s post:
Jim says he is definitely more than 17″ tall, more like 6′ LOL

Here’s how Sunday went — did some running in the morning, took a nap, started glazing Star Trek mugs that I painted SAturday. After glazing all 32 mugs and loading the kiln I decided to do something fun for myself. One of my students is making gnomes for her yard so my husband poured an extra one for me.  He is over 17″ tall.

• But before I start — unload two five-gallon pails of slip and take to basement
• Get the gnome down from the top shelf (won’t fit anywhere else)
• Find the catalog picture on the computer
• Choose colors Confederate blue for the hat, summer blue for the pants, native flesh for the face (since he’s outside and has a tan). Paint hat, pants, face & hands.
• Choose colors for the shovel — walnut brown & silver. Paint shovel
• Choose colors for hair & beard — saddle brown & medium brown. Paint saddle brown, then dry brush with medium brown. OOPS! That’s not hair, it’s eyebrows. Paint flesh to separate eyebrows from hairline. Touch up eyebrows since there’s now flesh on them.
• Choose colors for jacket & shoes. Catalog picture is dark and boring, so chose garnet red for jacket and gold for shoes (Picture was more blue and brown) Paint red on jacket. Paint second coat of red. Outline with black and do fold lines. Paint belt black also.
• Take break for dinner
• Help hubby take six half-sheets of plywood to basement for mold shelves. Unload two more five-gallon pails of slip and take to basement.
• Back to the gnome. Red is streaky and too dark. Highlight with real red. Paint shoes.
• Help hubby unmold a gnome (takes two people).
• Still too dark. Try metallic red. Doesn’t work either. Go get navy blue. One coat of navy covers everything. Yeah.
• Choose colors for leaves. Have a bottle of light green not Duncan so use it to base coat all the leaves. Oops! That’s part of his pant leg.  Go back and repaint blue.
• Help hubby unmold another gnome (second).
• Back to painting. Oops! That’s not leaves, it’s part of his shoe. Repaint with gold.
• Paint flowers red (already out for the jacket). Three flowers on the front, lots on the back. Decide it’s too many red flowers so will pick more colors.
• Use holly green to outline some of the leaves, and drybrush one variety.
• Clean up for tonight.
• Next day. Paint belt metallic gold because the black doesn’t show up next to the navy blue. Also use gold to trim jacket.
• Finish leaves and paint flowers in a variety of colors.
• Paint face–eyes & mouth & add some color to the cheeks.
• Spray well & put outside.

[To be honest he isn’t quite finished but I had some other things that needed attention first. Like painting gold on some mugs because the light underglaze didn’t show up when fired. Then sorting decals and choosing which to use on sample cups & plates for next week’s Thursday night workshop.]

Carousel Creations
Where having Fun is why we come!

So paint a gnome, or something else. If you don’t like the color or you paint the wrong part just paint over it. Acrylics paints are very forgiving.

Overglazes and Lusters

Information about the use of ceramic overglazes and lusters or third fired colors.

Paint with Precious Metals like gold, and platinum! Apply over fired glaze to add brilliant accents that’ll make your project look like a billion bucks! Metallic Overglazes for the brilliance of gold and white gold, and lusters for a rainbow of hues like the pearl of an oyster shell.

Overglazes are an accent product that are applied over a fired glaze and then kiln fired to a relatively low temperature. They are sometimes referred to as “third fire” glazes. Mother of Pearl is a luster, an overglaze; it is applied over a shiny fired glaze of any color. (Copper glazes should not be used). Any natural hair brush will work, it should be clean. Apply MOP in swirls, just one thin coat. You want to see brushstrokes; they will be the swirls in the finished piece. Fire to cone 020.

We just purchased some OG801 Bright Gold.  This is real liquid gold that you paint onto finished pieces and fire. It comes in a 2 gm. bottle (about 1″ tall including the cap)  for $31.95, at least this week — the price of gold changes with the market.  We will have to figure out how to charge for using the gold to add detail to pieces as you only use a very small amount. I am going to add some to the carousel teapot I am making so there will be a sample that you can look at. (This angel is a web picture, not one of ours.)

The other overglaze that we have in stock is called Mother of Pearl. Last year a student wanted to replicate a Christmas tree that her mother had made.  It was done in white glaze, with MOP painted over the glaze and fired again. You often see small figurines or nativity sets done in plain white with MOP. The luster is like the inside of a seashell with swirls of rainbow colors. It is difficult to see the MOP in the picture of the ballerina but the web picture of this lamp shows it a little better.

Another Third Fire product that we have is Ceramic Decals. We are having a Decal Diva Workshop on Thursday, August 18th to learn how to apply decals. For the workshop we will be using purchased cups and plates that are already fired and plain white. The decals are water-slide and work just like the kind the kids use on their models. However, these will be fired. When purchasing decals it is important to get ceramic decals rather then glass decals as they fire at different temperatures. We recently purchased a huge box of decals for you to choose from–mostly flowers, but lots of others, too. Here we see a carousel horse head on a soap dispenser, a daisy decal, and a round carousel horse decal designed for a plate.

Besides the nonfired products that we use to paint decorative pieces, we have three levels of glaze products. Underglazes (Underglazes), glazes, and overglazes.

Carousel Creations
Where having Fun is why we come!

Ask about using third fire products–gold, Mother of Pearl, and decals.

We added another specialty product to our inventory yesterday–glitter .

Sparklers Brush-On Glitter

These premixed glitter colors are permanent and won’t flake or rub off. They work on almost any craft surface (except washable fabric). They can be applied directly on the surface and over other acrylic colors. Dries to the touch in 2 hours.

It comes in 2-ounce bottles and is located at the bottom of the Metallics Paint Rack. Colors are SG880 Crystal, SG881 Glittering Silver, and SG888 Ruby Red. (Although more colors are shown here, we purchased what was in stock at OCS)

Ultra Metallics™

Ultra Metallics are rich, gleaming water-based metallic colors that won’t tarnish. Ultra Metallics can be mixed with other water-based nonfired colors to create an even wider range of metallic colors.

Basic Instructions 1. Shake bottle thoroughly. 2. For solid coverage, apply 2 or more coats. 3. Base coat first with an OS acrylic makes it easier to use. 4. For detailing, apply 1 coat. 5. Apply to shelf cone 04 bisque.
Tips & Techniques 1. No need to seal, as Ultra Metallics are self sealing.      Nontoxic.

We  replenished the Ultra Metallic Colors UM 957 Red, UM958 Blue, and UM959 Green. These are in addition to the Ultra Metallic Metals Brite Gold UM950, Solid Gold UM951, Antique Gold UM 952, Bronze UM953, Copper UM954, Pewter UM955, and Silver UM956.

Pearls

The Duncan pearl colors are currently only available in PL175 white mist and PL195 golden white. However, we have an assortment of discontinued pearl colors on the shelf. Pearls give a satin finish especially nice for ribbons and satin dresses. It is often easier to apply over a base coat of a similar color opaque stain.

Glitter

We have an assortment of different colored glitters in small shaker  jars. Apply thinned white glue with a brush in areas where you want the glitter to stick. Take a pinch of glitter between your thumb and finger and apply sparingly. If you want solid coverage you can shake it on. Work over a piece of foil so that you can return excess glitter to the jars.

Jewels

We have an assortment of different colored rhinestones in three sizes and also some small hearts. Some “jewels” come connected and are useful for draping on trees or making necklaces and bracelets; it’s called “bling on a string”. We currently have gold and pearls.

Snow

There is a product called nonfired snow that we often use on Christmas trees. But it can be used in other ways as well–fur on Santa hats, fuzzy cottontail bunnies, and of course, snow on any item such as sleds or reindeer antlers. Adding a bit of clear or white glitter will also make it sparkle.

There are other add-on items available to finish your project. We have ribbon, lace, hats, silk flowers, bells, and a variety of small glue-on accessories. Ask to see them when you come.

When using any of these sparkly products or add-ons, remember that a little goes a long way. And try not to use too many different sparkles on the same project. For example, on my carousel horses I use jewels on some, glitter on some, metallics on some, pearls on some, but rarely do I use more than one (except for using pearls on the ribbons).

As  the saying goes, All that glitters is not gold!  But gold is another topic and we will deal with that tomorrow.

Carousel Creations
Where having Fun is why we come!

So come add a little sparkle to your next project.

 Gifts for our Family

We glazed this large frog for our daughter-in-law Vanessa’s birthday and are excited to see how it turns out. It is in the kiln tonight. Nowell 0318, it  is about 12″ long, a really large garden frog. (Picture is one we made last year.)

These large Realistic Rabbits, Scioto 1080 and 1081, are 12″ and 15″. Pretty big rabbits for in your garden but they don’t eat much. Our daughter-in-law Deana made one last year for her birthday and is making the other one now. Mama and Papa Rabbit also have three young bunnies — 1077, 1078, and 1079 that are about 5-6″.

Birthday Club — Gifts for our Ceramics Friends

June is one of our Ceramic students and she  just had a birthday on July 31st. She was able to redeem her Birthday Club Coupon tonight. The Carousel Birthday Club provides a $5.00 lesson and $10.oo towards the purchase of bisque. If you have not registered for the Birthday Club, you can still do so at any of our workshops or open classes. The coupon must be redeemed within two weeks before or two weeks after  your birthday.

Gifts for Your Family and Friends

For the family gifts mentioned above, one gal preferred to make her gift herself and the other preferred to have us make it for her. You can do the same thing — that is, either purchase a gift certificate so that they can come here and make something OR make something and give it as a gift.  You can even personalize by adding a name or painting in their favorite team colors.

Birthday Parties

Another way to gift some ceramics is by hosting a birthday party here in the studio. See Birthday Parties for detailed information. We can do parties for kids or adults, and for 8 to 20 guests.

Carousel Creations
Where having Fun is why we come!

So come celebrate with us.

Last year I purchased some Hartland Stoneware Carousel Cookie Molds. For some reason I ended up with a goat, a lion, and an elephant but no carousel horse. So I just ordered the horse mold this evening. It does not appear that there are any other designs. These are rather large cookies — about four inches on a side or about six inches tall. The cookie molds have a hole in the top so you can hang them in your kitchen. In fact, some that I purchased already have ribbons.

My question is, “Has anyone ever used these?” When I look up shortbread molds it appears that the dough is baked in the mold. But with the cookie molds, it appears that you tap the dough out onto a cookie sheet and mold more cookies before baking.

All say to lightly oil and flour the molds before pressing in the dough. Then flour again for subsequent cookies but do not oil again. I found several simple cookie dough recipes online. All say to form a dough and chill several hours or overnight before using. I guess I will try this but I was wondering if you could also use purchased cookie dough?

One article mentioned that you can paint them with food colors. Now would that be before or after they are baked? And do you thin the food colors or use them full strength? Or is it better to color some thinned icing and paint that on instead?

If I can find some time this year I would love to try making carousel cookies. If there is any interest we could even have a cookie-baking craft night. But first I need to figure this out.  [Jim says if I don’t like making cookies I can always press in clay.  Now there’s an idea, ceramic carousel cookies!]

Here’s another thought — we have carousel candy molds, and patterns to make carousel cakes and carousel cupcakes, and we have regular carousel cookie cutters as well.  Plus there’s  a carousel cupcake box to print on cardstock and glue together. That would be another division of Carousel Creations called Carousel Confections.

Carousel Creations
Where having Fun is why we come!

Would you be interested in a Carousel Confections Craft Night?

Duncan still makes and sells the original Cover Coat underglaze that is used to paint greenware utility pieces. One usually finishes the piece with clear gloss glaze after the first firing, but that is not always the case. Cover Coats are used for “solid three-coat coverage on greenware”.

Duncan still makes and sells E-Z Stroke translucent underglazes. They are also used on greenware but can be used on bisque. These paints give a watercolor effect which is especially nice for flower petals and leaves.

So how are Concepts different?

Concepts Underglaze for bisque

“The first coat is translucent. The second is semi-opaque. The third is opaque. Normal use is to apply 1-3 coats on bisque, let dry and cover with two coats of your favorite clear glaze.

Use them as  Majolica paints on top of unfired non-moving opaque white or light covered glaze. No need to clear glaze as Concepts are shiny when fired. Try using them on tile, at cone 6 (on appropriate clay), in a spray bottle, these paints are versatile.”

In your Grandma’s day

(and when we first got started), ceramic studios provided greenware which each student cleaned themselves. Then they painted designs with underglazes before the greenware was fired. In today’s ceramic world, most students purchase bisque–that is, greenware that has already been cleaned and fired. This can be in a traditional studio (such as ours), a PYOP (paint your own pottery) store, or ordered online. Because of this change from greenware to bisque, a new product was needed. So Duncan developed a product called CONCEPTS which is used on bisque. Other companies have developed their own product.

Carol’s Carousel Ceramic Studio

Some of you have learned how to use Concepts with silkscreens. We have another silkscreen workshop coming up where we apply designs to a plain teapot. Mine is still in process but I used fall flowers and a few butterflies. (You don’t have to do a teapot.)

This week’s workshop uses Concepts to do marbleizing. It is applied over an unfired glaze and several different colors are swirled together to give a marble effect. The workshop is scheduled for Thursday evening’s class but you can request that it be done at another time if that does not suit your schedule.

Concepts and Rubber Stamps is another technique that we used in a Kids Krafts class. Besides rubber stamp designs, we also have several sizes of letters in case you want to add a saying or a name to your piece. This is a good way to personalize items, especially for gifts.

Sponging Concepts is how I like to add a background or border when using silkscreens or stamps. It helps to complete the picture.

Brushwork with Concepts is offered in several workshops including the Beautiful Butterflies from last week. The design is transferred onto the piece using clay carbon, then you get to be a real artist when painting the design. You will be pleasantly surprised at what you can do and we have lots of Club David designs to choose from.

In general, underglazes are used to add detail to a utility piece that is going to be glazed. Pieces  that must be glazed are cups and bowls used to serve or eat food, ashtrays, and vases or pitchers that hold water. Glazed pieces are microwave and dishwasher sage.

Carousel Creations
Where having Fun is why we come!

So come and learn a new technique.
We stock a complete selection of Concepts
and can  get the other underglazes upon request.

Taking the day off from the Studio and the Mud Room. But we will be busy all this week. Classes Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday with a few folks signed up for each class. Thursday is also a trip to OCS in Ravenna to pick up the new Christmas tree molds and replenish our slip.

So now is the time to get in your orders. If you want trees, you can save some money by ordering them during the Christmas in July Sale 7/25 to 8/25. We will do several big pours, then shut down the machine for a few days to build another set of shelves. The Mud Room is still not done but we are making progress. The goal is to get ALL of the molds out of the game room and onto shelves. And, of course, to finish building the bathroom.

Don’t forget this week’s Special Workshop on Thursday evening. See Summer Workshops Tweens and Teens would have fun doing this as well and are welcome to come to this evening session. However, most young children would probably not have the patience. One thing I especially like about this project is the creativity that it inspires, both with choice of colors and the design. We do not have the mold for this particular plate, but other plain plates and pieces are available to choose from.

Carousel Creations
Where having Fun is why we come!

Hope to see you some day this week! Give me a call to reserve your seat.

August is just around the corner. Folks are coming back from vacations and starting to get ready for school. We have just twenty weeks to get ready for Christmas. Now that may be a lot of time to shop, but if you are making gifts it’s time to get busy. And don’t forget your own Fall Décor including Harvest Time, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. Must leave a few classes open to work on those.

The Christmas in July Sale is underway. Remember, it is 20% off any trees ordered and paid for between July 25th and August 25th. We will pour as soon as your order is complete. (PayPal account is Carolwarneke@sbcglobal.net. You do not have to have a PayPal account to send money,  you can use a credit card.)

If you plan to make a nativity set, either  for yourself or for a gift, those will take you multiple classes. The time involved will depend on both size and type of finish. A clear glaze or semi-translucent glaze that fills in detail is the quickest way to go.  But I like to paint all the colors and details with acrylics and add metallics, jewels, and glitter to mine. Shown here is the large Holland nativity. If you want one you should order it soon. (Jim can build you a wooden stable if you want one.)

Take a gander through the catalog and start your gift list now. Trees are on the “Oh Tannenbaum” tab at the top of the page. “Carousel” items have their own tab, too. Everything else is under “Bisque”. You might also want to consider bringing the kids (or grandkids) so they can make their own gifts to give this year.

Carousel Creations
Where having  Fun is why we come!

So let’s get that list started.
And remember, almost anything can be personalized
or painted with team colors and logos.

It’s hard to know what to write about when all you can think of is your best friend, whose husband passed away this week. I wrote a tribute yesterday on my personal Facebook page. Denny was an avid golfer so we made him this ceramic picture to help cheer him up.

What does ceramics have to do with someone dying? Not a whole lot that I can think of.  However, some people do use ceramic urns for their loved one’s ashes. I know that I have been approached about making one, but the buyer was looking for a different design of Indian decanter than what we have on hand. Here is what we have available.

Carousel Creations
Where having Fun is why we come!

We also come to get away from the stress and sadness in our lives, to immerse ourselves in a creative project, and to share with those who have now become friends. Sometimes the studio is thought of as Dr. Carol’s Counseling Services.