I think that the prompts are hopeful and interesting enough that you don't need to do the exact challenge if your studio can't handle it. It's like drawing or writing prompts, express it to the best of your abilities with the materials you have, and we'll be glad to watch and support you :) As long as you're having fun and exploring your creativity, I think that's the important bit.
they definitely pop on the white! Anyway they'll hang on the white for a while anyway because I need to finish up our kitchen renovations before I take on any more projects 😅 Maybe it will grow on me.
I totally love what you do and as a novice I am learning so much! Thank you! ❤Please continue as I find noone as watchable and practical as you and I love your style of pottery. As for the wall an adobe straw bale kind of colour to match the bricks would be great like maybe a very pale mustard or sandy colour
You make it looks soooooo easy. I'm just watching and re-watching your videos just to learn how to work sooo clean as you do. Thank you for the vids, thank you for your explanations, please continue and feel free to do just what you and your studio can handle. P.S.: a little bit too late maybe? but I would definitely paint the wall like a sage or darker green.
Love love love this series! So i really don‘t care about the delay. I will watch every episode you do no matter when the video comes up! I only watched the first half of the sixth season so far but my favorite project was the trio of birds. So i was especially excited to see your take on this! Your blue jays turned out so pretty! Yes, the white parts could be brighter, but overall the shades of blue are so beautiful and calming 🦅❤
I made a salsa bowl with a hollow chile pepper attached to the inside rim. I remembered to add a tiny vent hole as it is fine non-porous clay. Waiting for dry weather to fire.
Wonderful! I just watched the whole thing with my ten year old. Your content has been excellent because I am wanting to diversify my art and learn how to work with clay. The birds are so pretty too!
Hi if you want to learn how to work with clay I highly recommend looking for a local ceramics class! If your kiddo is interested in pottery too your studio might offer an intro class that you can both take!😊
@@marymoran1015 Yes, I love that! It has been my plan as I homeschool her. She actually knows more than I do as she took a class last year. Thank you so much for replying.
So wonderful! I finally took a pottery class because of Throw Down and I love your channel! Keep going - I know you can do them all. And if it's a toilet challenge? Well, dollhouses need toilets, too 🙂
I laughed a little only because I live in Wisconsin and oh boy, do we have Blue Jays. We have one in particular who flies up to the windows of my partner’s office and mine and scolds us if he thinks the feeders have been empty for too long 😂
Yes, please continue- Love the series :) Would arrange the birds to give most perspective though so with the largest one first at the bottom and then progressively going up and getting smaller to give the impression they’re flying away.
Absolutely love your videos! Throwdown or not 😉 The colour you where talking about.. could be nice with one that matches the mortar between the bricks, to add a bit of colour but still let the brick-part of the wall shine 😁 But it’s such a question of Personal taste! Keep up the amazing work 🎉
Omg you did these so well! I would tell straight away that they're blue jays and they don't even live in my country. 😂 I hope you guys get an American Pottery Throwdown so that you can be a constant and create a huge piece, even if it were a toilet I know it would be the prettiest toilet in the US! 😂❤😂
These videos are fantastic. I just watched the final this evening on channel 4/7. I love your adherence to the format and the quality of your work! Jäger 9 SF has been my clay for over 20 year but it's been out of stock for a long time! 😮
omg yeah Jäger is really having stocking issues.... There is a supplier near me in Augsburg I am thinking about checking out, but I'm not sure I want to make a big leap to new clays...
I think since metallics would be really pretty on that wall. I think gold would be super pretty, but maybe also add some bronze and rose gold for dimension
Great job!! I dislike underglazes too but battle with the challenge of using them. Sadly the series has just finished here, you could when the larger challenges come along, make a smaller version that fits in your kiln? I know it takes away some of the size challenge but you'd still be doing some of the decorating and other aspects of the challenge - you could reduce your time to make it more difficult for you .... just a thought. Love watching
I think if they do bigger stuff that maybe you could just do a miniature version of it. Like if they do a sink or a toilet you could just do a little mini version. You're doing great!
hmmmmm Im thinking a nice light blue could be cool behind the birds. Would be like the sky. OR you paint some sort of gradient on there... maybe a sunset?? Can always play around with a photo in photoshop to see what might look good. OR go wild with a modern pattern perhaps. So many options!
Hi. I’ve just starting watching your videos as I’m new to pottery and I’m totally hooked. Can you tell me how to avoid thumb marks in my clay when I’m shaping. When I did a slab plate, you could see thumb marks after the bisque fire xx
I love the birds! If you want to paint that wall I would suggest a tan color because that’s the color wheel opposite of blue so the white and blue of the birds will pop!😊
What if you did miniature versions of the big things they do or on the weeks they do things you just can't, you do a challenge you THINK they should do, like you suggested with the 1 colour. You could also try idea's from a past series that you want to do too. Or just challenge yourself with something you've always wanted to & this is your chance (excuse) 🙂 Hello from the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia 🇦🇺
My thoughts? Where do birds fly? In the sky, of course. Think about a pale grey-blue background with maybe some fluffy or wispy clouds or go full on with a colorful sunrise effect. Do as many of the challenges as pique your interests and would be an artistic challenge for you. Forget the boring and mundane or those with physical requirements beyond your capabilities. Don't make the series into a chore that you don't enjoy and learn from.
I am really enjoying this! I'd like to see you continue by doing the best you can to come as close as you can but with what you have available. Thanks for sharing!
The blue jays are beautiful!! I think the medium sized one is also my favorite. (One critique, if you don't mind: I think the wings on the large one are a little too short or small.) There are so many shades of white! Maybe just soften the brightness of the white with a tinted shade. Someone pointed out that a complementary shade will bring even more life to the jays! Another suggestion is to highlight the texture of the wall by dry brushing or "antiquing" with a wash of a darker color that you would blot away, much like you did the cobalt oxide wash. In any case, please show us what you eventually decide to do!
I'm enjoying these videos SO much! I think the fun thing about taking on challenges like this, even if they don't work out 100% as expected, is that you can discover new areas of the craft that you otherwise wouldn't have explored and then apply what you've learned in unexpected ways. I'll be really curious to hear, once you've done however many of these you end.up doing, what you discovered about your abilities and assumptions that surprised you.
I’m not a fan of these types of contests - too much reality tv for me. However how you have approached this is awesome. Yes please keep doing these. As a Wisconsinite I love blue jays as well and will now look to try a hand build myself after watching you. With respects to the color I have an idea that may be a bit out there. The wall texture reminds me of walls I’ve seen in parts of rural France. Usually with a warm wash of color as someone else has suggested. It keeps aspects of the white but in a mixed creamy sort of way. French colors would be in some sort of yellow tone from creamy white yellow to creamy mustard. Would not look like a realistic backdrop but with the right light shade the birds would pop.
Thats a lovely idea! I'm definitely using a lot of warm tones in this house. Our kitchen is yellow and actually looks a little french now that I think of it! I want my house to feel like a big hug :)
I am learning so much from these! I find myself inspired to see what I can with my wild clay I dug from my backyard. The thought of some birds on my walls intrigues me!
I love the jays. As for the challenges, I'm going to break with the crowd here... If you are short on time, and a challenge you can't fully participate comes up (raku), skip the week. This perspective is coming from you saying they are hard to fit in to your schedule only. PS a pale sage green or pale yellow might look nice above the hearth. But would the birds still look good there? Maybe a pale sky blue?
You can mix underglazes like you would Acrylic Paints. Add a bit of another color to get the color variations. A little white to get a lighter color, red to get a warmer tone, blue to get a cooler tone, black to get a more grey/desaturated tone. Hope that helps.
They are lovely! I know the struggle with detailed decorative undeglazing, especially for those of us who prefer stoneware to earthenware and porcelaine. The Brits very much have a tradition of dainty English florals and figurative fussy designs, transferware etc I personally don't go for. I was always more interested in Eastern Aesthetics and techniques, and for earthenware more rustic style like provençal halfdip glazed terracotta clay in drippy strong monochromes. Form is everything, and to me great ceramics is the union of great form with the right glaze looking like they arent separate aspects but one, if this makes sense. And proper balance and function if functional pieces of course. I think you made really lovely Bluejays. Detailed and figurative as the brief required but not too fussy. Actually, the only figurative work (and highly decorative) I really find inspiring is in South Africa where there are alot of really cool potters making whimsical, vibrant and exttemely elegant pieces inspired by African nature and wildlife. Most of it earthenware of course. I recommend checking SA artists out to anyone in need of inspiration for colorful work, or animal decor. Ardmore is the most famous of the companies, but loads of great single indie potters are worth looking at. You were talking about Raku. (Rah-ku) It's a VERY different process. Take a short workshop! Once you've tried it, you can absolutely make your own kiln with simple materials that won't cost alot. Chickenwire, kilninsulation, bisqued buttons you can make yourself, and Kanthal wire is all you really need besides the gasburner, tongs and mitts. You can get quite alot of firings with this home made, set up and it's entirely mobile and light weight. So if you can't fire in your yard you can take it further away from any neighbors easily. It's the "rocknroll" of ceramics, intense and in the moment, loads of surprizes and virtually impossible to control entirely, so it's a great technique to keep any perfectionism and tunnelvision at bay. It's even more fun if you have a friend to do it with, as it takes time to heat up, and is an outdoor dramatic experience. You'd love it I'm sure! I found it a great contrast to the silent meditation of solitary throwing or meticulous carving as Its super physical, hot, smoky, dramatic and I've often felt like an archeologist at the end picking up the pieces covered with thick layers of black gunk and cleaning them up to discover how they turned out after all the elements I threw at them. You get used to busted pots, alien looking surfaces and every time a few magical glistening GEMS. If you make yourself that kind of simple kiln you can also du horsehair and feather techniques. So it's worth making. Most ceramic suppliers sell kits, and all of them sell the materials required. Even the buttons if you can't be bothered to make them. 😉
Your birds are beautiful!!! I love the second largest one the best too...if you want modern...black and white. Paint your brick white and paint that white black.
The result is absolutely stunning. And on a white wall they pop out so great. But you want your wall an other colour so i would say don't make it to dark. Maybe then beige is an option? Not plain but with a slight variation in beige tones. Succes with this challenge. 👍
Raku firing is so interesting, maybe you could find a way to do it your way. I saw Raku firing in an old oil barrol or in a digged hol in the yard. I would love to see it, probably the main reason is that I would love to do it. I know not everything is possible, but some things are, you need just to find how. And yes, I love to see you sticking as close as possible, that is fun. I am really in to such challenges and you did so well already. Thank you for entertaining us. The color choice should fit to the rest of the room. I would defenetly go for a warm ton. Maybe some creme, sand, teracotta (very light, would go with the briks) or honey, or more in the brownisch direction (like the wood area), a warm grey (light) would work as well. If color I would do greenish color or red like the briks
If I was on throwdown, and could do pottery, I would've pushed the idea of bird a little. Because dinosaurs are birds. And if the judges don't agree with that, then I cant wait for their peer reviewed paper turning up in Nature debunking evolution.
I LOVE how they turned out!! I don't know if you've painted that wall yet but I hope you went for an orange or yellow color!! or maybe a lighter green color!
Just found your series and it’s so wonderful! Thank you! It’s so helpful! I also hate underglaze lol PS - Don’t paint the wall! It’s perfect just the way it is 🥲
I don’t know if you use the fireplace or if you’ve already finished the project of painting the chimney, but I would suggest building a big fire and waiting for a while maybe an hour or more, then measuring the temperature of the surface you want to paint then checking that temperature against the label of the paint you want, if there’s any question of the surface of the chimney being too hot for regular indoor wall paint there is special paint for surfaces that might get to a high temperature, like for metal stoves.
Yes, yes and yes! I love your series on the throw down. We don’t get the series in Canada any more. Paint your white wall as a sky with clouds etc. that way the birds will have more of a realistic look. You did a fantastic job on this one - Bravo!!
You should still try to do the challenges to the extent that you're able. For the Raku, maybe you can fire in your kiln but then open it & take the pottery out while still hot to finish the raku process? And for the larger builds, just make the same thing but small enough to fit in your kiln.
You did really good! I appreciate you sharing. I agree it would have been nice to see more white. Hard to suggest a color for the wall not knowing the rest of the room. Its a challenge because of all the brick. The birds look wonderful in that spot. Maybe a light, bright yellow? Something light and bright to lighten the room from all the brick. Thanks again for sharing.
I think they turned out great! I really love the texture and the different stages of flight 💜 I agree, beak open is my favorite too 😊 What about like a light gray?
Loving your videos. I started pottery inspired by the GPTD - and amazingly Lois, who won this year’s GPTD, lives in Margate where I am. Total inspiration like you. For your gorgeous birds I would agree with others that a light sky blue background would be perfect. Am making your lovely teapot.
Thinking about it I’m not sure if they have done any particularly large builds this year. Bathroom week was a smaller build than usual and even the final build was something modular. Still it’d be nice to see you try out the different challenges even if it needs to be an approximation. Even without the actual raku, raku week is at least a chance to use burnishing and oxide to get colour rather than underglaze.
Yes I was relieved to see no toilet! I am debating making the sinks but they would be rather small and I have no where to install them 🤔 But I am OBSESSED with the final challenge. Can't wait!
Your birds look great! Blue jays are super common here in Virginia, so I like seeing those. When they do Raku, is there some kind of experimental glaze that you can do with your own kiln, that produces somewhat random results? As for your chimney, I am over solid plain colors. You have a nice texture there, so whatever color you pick, you can use the texture to help bring in some color variation. I like the idea of a sky with clouds, but I think more clouds than blue sky, so your blue birds will stand out against it.
Yesss green is definitely what I'm leaning towards. We also have a green couch so maybe a spot of green over the fireplace will bring it all together :)
