Pics Before Saying Goodbye

I try to make time to take pictures of all my work, great or small ("Art" vs. "art" if you see my meaning), before it goes off to where it needs to go. So it is with The Halloween Tree plate.

I started this piece a couple of years ago, and had abandoned it a time or two due to time constraints. I dug it out again, this time because I was on a quest to get 'er done!

I can tell I had worked on this two separate times, as the black underglaze is two different colors. (I used two different brands/shades of black.)

A little more progress made...

 A pic of the plate with Joseph Mugnaini's original illustration for The Halloween Tree, pre-first firing. After it came out of that firing, I put several coats of clear glaze on it and re-fired it, hoping for the best!

The finished plate, fresh out of the kiln.

And a quick shot with my camera before I did the shots with the macro lens and the Canon 3Ti. And just to prove that within the same firing, not everything goes as planned:

One of the Christmas plates I was finishing up from last season split right down the middle during the glaze firing. No, it can't be repaired, as it also twisted and it doesn't match up any more.

Since posting the Halloween Tree plate on Facebook, a bunch of people want one, and I told them I couldn't make any more. Not only does it take a ton of time, but it was a one-off. I'd rather develop my own designs, as much as I love Mugnaini's. (There's also the whole copyright issue, which I don't even want to think about!)

Well, onwards to other things! The new kiln comes in this week, the screw comes out of my foot on Wednesday, and due to an alarming burned mark on the plug of my old kiln, I have to schedule an electrician to come in and test my line before my house burns down!