jugbirds – Gillian McMillan — Rara Avis https://www.gillianmcmillan.com Thu, 08 Oct 2026 19:10:52 +0000 en-US hourly 1 October Pots https://www.gillianmcmillan.com/blog/2026/10/08/october-pots-2/ https://www.gillianmcmillan.com/blog/2026/10/08/october-pots-2/#comments Thu, 08 Oct 2026 19:08:04 +0000 https://www.gillianmcmillan.com/?p=16988

October Pots

I couldn’t wait any longer to see the results of my experiments with the PSH400 earthenware clay, and get the latest jugbirds fired, so this was not a full kiln load. Thank you once again, Shelley, for allowing me to use your fine kiln. Now I can plan a trip in to Granville Island to leave most of these new pots in Circle Craft Co-op. 

First, here are the five jolly jugbirds.

Black-headed Grosbeak jugbird 5"tall
Pileated Woodpecker jugbird 5" tall
Eagle jugbird 5" tall
Spotted towhee jugbird 4.25" tall
Seagull jugbird 5" tall

I’m very pleased with the two carved pieces I made with the white earthenware clay. Spraying the bone-dry pieces with watered-down coloured slip is much nicer and easier than dipping them in slip or painting it over all those grooves. Tell me what you think of the effect. I think the black and grey spray on the lidded one looks like marble. Of course slips sprayed like this on stoneware clay and fired in soda would have a totally different effect. There’ll be some in the November firing..

Carved vase, blue & green 6.5" x 4.5"
Carved lidded jar 6.25" x 6"
large carved bowl 5.5" x 7"

I was pleased with this large bowl, made with D’Arcy Redart earthenware, when it was freshly carved. But now that it has been sprayed with Fall colours  and clear-glazed, the effect is not very different from giving it a coat of terra sigillata.  It’s still useful! 

Otherwise the kiln contained four very different plates. Clearly I was just having fun. There’s a boldly painted large slab one, a thrown one and two featuring sgraffito over my coloured slips.

I’ve been reconstituting some decades-old D’Arcy clay from Burnaby potter Rosemary Amon. It slakes down beautifully. She’s holding a Final Pottery Sale on Saturday before her big move to Victoria. You should go, there are lots of her fine pots still available!

Big slab plate with porcelain brushstrokes 11" x 9.25"
Blue Tea plate 7"
Leaves slab plate 9" x 8"
tiny triangular plate 6.5"

Now my wheel has been thoroughly cleaned out and I’ve started working with a box of Plainsman H555 stoneware clay. I think I’ll make more than the required two cubic feet for my next group firing in the Vault kiln. It never hurts to have extra pots at the ready, and we’ve heard that TriCity Potters have been offered another firing in the Spring. I’d still like to have some pots fired in a salt kiln. The all-over orange peel is the best. But I do appreciate the unpredictable results of soda firing and will do that as long as I am able. Here are the pots I have made so far.

Wishing you all a grand Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. Our super platter by now-deceased British potter Richard Godfrey is perfect for a Fall welcome in our hallway. I found it in a Parksville, Vancouver Island ‘junque’ shop. Imagine its journey from Devon.

Richard Godfrey platter with gourds
]]> https://www.gillianmcmillan.com/blog/2026/10/08/october-pots-2/feed/ 2 Colourful Clay https://www.gillianmcmillan.com/blog/2026/08/01/colourful-clay/ https://www.gillianmcmillan.com/blog/2026/08/01/colourful-clay/#respond Sat, 01 Aug 2026 21:04:08 +0000 https://www.gillianmcmillan.com/?p=16930

On Thursday I drove over to Port Coquitlam to open Shelley’s kiln. Production is slow these days but I felt I had enough finished pieces to warrant bisque and glaze firings now. I have a soda firing to look forward to in the Fall but I was happy to return to my favourite D’Arcy Redart earthenware clay for a month or two. I also wanted to make some more pots using Pottery Supply House 400 white earthenware. Here are my efforts, some jugbirds, bowls, mugs and plates. I’ll be taking them down to Circle Craft along with selected soda pieces very soon.

Really, just for fun, I made a couple of large carved garlic pots. I’ve made one like this before, but with them needing only a single 04 firing I should do more. They aren’t glazed, just coated with warm terra sigillata, so the garlic should keep properly in them.

garlic pots 5.5" wide
pouring bowl with coloured slips & sgraffito 7" x 4.25"
bowl painted with blue slips 7.25" x 3.5"

I do enjoy throwing and trimming bowls. These two were painted with my usual coloured slips. All are clear-glazed.

Deco-style bowl 6" x 3.25"

Of course I needed to get some more jugbirds made, and I could get tired of doing that one of these days. But once they’re all finished I grin and plan on which birds I’ll make next! There are matching sugar bowls for a couple of them this time.

Seagull (in white clay), penguin, crow & flicker. all c 5" tall.
Cardinal & goldfinch jugbirds
just playing with triangles.. 6.5" x 1"

I made these slab plates just because I felt like working with hard edges and sgraffito again. 

Rain Forest coupe. paper stencils with coloured slips 9" x 1"
mugs coated with terra sigillata
yunomi, thrown with white earthenware. 3.5" x 3.5"
wee plate 5.75"

So that’s my most recent collection of pots. Raiders might be interested to know that I have also bisque-fired a number of slab plates so we can plan another Raid. And there are some other pots dried and awaiting more to fill a kiln.

Yesterday Alan and I made our way over to West Vancouver for Harmony Arts Festival and the opening of featured artist Tam Irving’s show at the Ferry Building Gallery. When I’ve sorted some photos I’ll share those here next. Tam says I should buy a kiln!

]]> https://www.gillianmcmillan.com/blog/2026/08/01/colourful-clay/feed/ 0 Useful Pots https://www.gillianmcmillan.com/blog/2026/05/30/useful-pots/ https://www.gillianmcmillan.com/blog/2026/05/30/useful-pots/#respond Sun, 31 May 2026 01:06:33 +0000 https://www.gillianmcmillan.com/?p=16822

Now that I don’t make many pots I tend to consider whether each piece is actually useful. Is the pot destined to be admired on a shelf or will it hold cookies, vegetables, milk, sugar, tea or, most likely in this latest batch, flowers? Even if the pot is decorated, carved or just amusing I’d like to think that it will be used for mashed potatoes or a jade plant. These resulting pots from a much-anticipated soda firing are all designed to find a use in your home. Now that Summer is fast approaching I have made four different vases for your garden gleanings, and also consider the jugbirds to be cool flower holders.

Carved round vase 5.75" x 6"

I’m particularly pleased with the round fellow, top right. It feels lovely to hold. But the other three are all special in their own way. I adore the dimpled one, the flattened-side one was fired on its side, and the taller one has sweet variety in its surface. All will have their special moments when holding the right flowers.

wadding marks on one side. This would be even better in a wood firing, right? 6" x 5" x 4"
Skinny vase, with pale blue orange peel 7.25" x 3.5"
another view of the dimpled pot 5" x 4.5"

The robust pot with a hole is also a vase, of course. The interruption in the middle helps to keep tall delphinia upright!

I made two jugbirds for this firing. The beak on the bigger one was painted with my pale blue earthenware glaze and his body is ‘Blair’s Red’ flashing slip. The other fellow has a fine ‘Lorna’s Yellow’ breast.

Taller vase 9" x 5.5"
Big Jugbird 7" x 10"
Jugbird with terra sig beak 6.25" x 7.5"

Another piece I had high hopes for was treated well by the flames and soda. There are pleasing orange peel and warm colours all around the lidded jar. I can see this filled with homemade cookies!

Carved lidded cookie jar. 6.5" x 6.5"
The lid fits perfectly!

I fired this carved bowl on wads on the plate. The cranberry red in the bowl is super! But the plate is warped because it was on the edge of a shelf and one side got lots of flame/heat/soda. Never mind..

plate & bowl fired together
plate 1.5" x 8.75"
Carved bowl w. copper red liner glaze

I used the same copper red glaze to line this comfortable yunomi and one of my squared wiggle-wire dishes. Both are useful I imagine and have surfaces just the way I like them.

fairly tall yunomi 4.5" x 4"
practical nut dish 2.75" x 5.5"

What else to show you? There was a more traditional jug for your milk or cider and mugs with comfortable handles.

Jug with pale salt blue slip. 6.25" x 6"
pale blue salt mug with flat bottom & round-bottomed mug with Blair's Red slip. both 4.75" tall

Finally, there is a tea-pot that had a 2nd go-round in the soda kiln, and is much juicier, and a sweet little carved dish for your salsa. Jennifer, the teapot is yours if we can get Mike to take it with him to Edmonton.

Thanks for looking at all my useful pots, folks. Now I need to decide which ones should go where.

teeny carved bowl sprayed with Lorna M's yellow slip and lined with Yellow Salt glaze. 2.5" x 4.25"
Re-fired teapot 6.5" x 10"
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