How can it be March already? After concentrating on getting tiles and lots of Raiders’ plates fired recently I am now trying to catch up on making lots of my own work. There are jugbirds to be made but I have to confess that the idea of painting the new plate shape myself was rather intriguing. So I have been applying colours without having a planned image in mind and then watching to see which of several techniques I fancy using to accentuate the shapes. You’ll have to wait with me until after the next firings to see what was in my mind! But I have mainly used my luscious-to-paint-with coloured slips on leather hard ware rather than underglazes on bone dry ware.

Meanwhile I’d like to post photos of Philippe Raphanel’s plates. Along with another five ‘Raiders’ he donated his painting on the new rimless oval plate to the Gala Auction set of six. (They, and all other donations were happily snapped up at the Auction last Saturday.) Here are his other experiments.

Philippe was interested in finding a way to reproduce a colour-resisting technique he uses in his paintings on paper. After applying several layers of underglazes we agreed that paint strokes of water-based wax resist might get the right effect. Over that he swooshed another transparent colour.

Mostly the wax caused the colour to draw back as you would expect but I knew that some more hadn’t peeled away. After the bisque firing I brushed off some more that hadn’t really attached to the underlying colour properly and then glazed them with the usual clear glaze. In a couple of cases I re-fired them to heal little bare patches and they look fine. Philippe seems pleased.

Here also is a wheel-thrown (by me) medium-sized platter, painted by Mina Totino, one of Monique Fouquet’s oval ones and a tile by Rebecca Brewer.

Already there is word of another raid soon so further experiments will take place. I never know who will be invited. Another trip out to Greenbarn is called for, I believe.