One of the joys of my small production pottery lies in the variety of wares I create. I recently received an order for my Tuscan Luminaries which means I can play with textures and oxides for a while.
Here are the slabs cut from templates, ready for doors and windows.

 

 

Here are some of my texture tools for these houses.
Some are made from clay, some are latex molds and still others are fashioned on the spot with a hot glue gun.

 

 

 

 

The windows and doors are cut before the slabs are assembled.
This way it is much easier to work the designs into super soft clay.

Depending on the humidity conditions in the studio, I may have to let the slabs dry a bit before I can assemble them. I prefer movement in the houses, so I join the pieces while they are still fairly soft.

The final touches are adding the roof and a chimney for venting the heat from candles.
Each house is unique and sports its own special personality.
It’s also a lot of fun to play with such forgiving clay!

It takes about three days for the houses to dry. Since I am using my own blend of paper clay this is not as crucial as working with plain clay.
Paper clay adds a lot of green strength, so they can withstand all of the manipulation I do before the first firing.

Before the first firing, I paint the roofs with Red Iron Oxide and the body of the house with a healthy wash of Redart Terra Sigillata.
I add some brown to the wooden features and some green underglaze to the ‘moldy’ areas. Then they are fired to Cone 2.