Thursday, September 17, 2015

What's in a Tray?

Note that this link: Table of Contents will help you find specific items of our work within this blog.

Serving tray, tea tray, ash tray, pipe tray, paint tray, jewelry tray, vitamin tray, teabag tray, spoonrest tray, business card tray, food try, mushroom sorting tray....


~How do YOU use a tray?~

My newest and most exciting (to me) work is a series of hand-built trays. Their forms are very free and the glaze in the flat bottom is over the top! with depths of glassy glaze in pools of colors and swirls. Here are a few examples:

This 9" tray has especially rich glazes:
2 1/2" x 9" x 4"
 I needed a wide shallow vessel for my big brush to dip water-based pigment; the smaller trays made handy brush holders for small brushes:
paint tray lg: 1 3/4" x 5 1/2" x 1 1/2" smaller ones 
When sketching--and erasing--the eraser will blacken with graphite. The bottom of stoneware pottery is a dry and slightly rough surface, perfect for cleaning the eraser. As a bonus, while doing art work you get to USE a sculptural little piece of art to hold your tools:
green one is 1 1/2" x 4 1/4" x 3"


One size small tray is perfect for business cards:
Amazing color under those business cards 1 1/4" x 4 1/4" x 3"

This 8" tray was just the thing for grading an abundant harvest of fairy ring mushrooms:

Fairy ring (Marasmius oreades