Well- I had a couple minor disasters emerge from the kiln. One fountain base oozed all over the shelf, It reminded me of some of my step-son's ill-advised experiments with banana slugs on Vancouver Island in '03. Another base (like the chalice base from the last entry) splintered. Big, gaping crack of doom just waiting for Smeagol.

Still- I can't complain too much, given the overall levels of success over the past couple weeks. Without too much commentary, here's the current batch.

All of these guys are riffs off my original prototype from about a month back. Although it's the best basic design I've produced, the one thing I'd like to work toward in the future is a bit more asymmetry. Nature is not a symmetrical thing. Rivers wander and purl off into odd little crooks and kinks.

I've got some ideas for designs that should be a bit less tight-laced... but that's something for another day.

In the meantime, the planters continue to propagate. Here are some examples...

This little guy (about five inches in diameter at the rim) is more representational (less abstract) than some of my designs. I tend to like designs that are pared down and exaggerated.

This- of course- is an example of the basic grayling design that I like to endlessly tweak. I was selling at our local farmer's market this weekend, and a vender who was selling North African food observed that the eyes 'looked Egyptian'. Certainly, they don't look like a biologists take on a fish eye.

I should know- I dissected a ton of the things while teaching comparative vertebrate anatomy at WSU this past fall.

This, of course, is a flip back to the representational. Ling cod (Ophiodon elongatus) are the most gloriously google-eyed, needle toothed little cutie-pies you're ever going to see outside of Sesame Street. They slither up from the depths looking like a snake hitched a ride on a frog's bum. 

I've never managed to get a good photo, unfortunately- my best mate Matt and his big rack of rockfish is the closest I've come. Check the late, great Kawika Chetron's website for a good image.

I have caught a few of these, but always let them go. They're too bloody cool to eat.

Actually, I almost feel that way about all fish.

From here on, just images, no chatter.

OK- I lied again. I need to comment on this planter- which is reduced to the hilt... but still has that nice little streak of oxidized turquoise underneath the Mahi-mahi's belly. The whims of raku strike again.

I'm placing some wares with a Seattle-area gallery. Thus, the past couple of weeks have been a bit of a crank session.

Our house isn't exactly swarming with free storage space. At the moment, I've got a whole pile of pots under the kitchen table. Our Slovenian visiting scientist friend Maja almost juggled a couple of these around midnight the other night. With her feet. I can be pathetically blase about the things that I make.

The gallery is interested in displaying a range of my fountains... which is gratifying, as I've poured a healthy dollop of creative energy into the things. I already posted about the design on the right- (one image of a prototype on display in our house, the other an example from my raku run yesterday.

For a multi-angle view of the upper vessel, see below.

Here's a newer design. The base vessel is chalice-shaped, and holds the pump. The doughnut-shaped component is intended to function as a planter- while the upper vessel rests on a sculptural element with integrated wave shapes.

Definitely a few notches in complexity above your average bowl or mug... but that's a big part of the fun.

I haven't shot any video yet- but this one functions beautifully. See the page header for a full view.

Here's a similar design, but with the base vessel modeled on a basin rather than a chalice. Again- lovely functionality. You could conceivably stuff a couple of goldfish or betas into the vessel. I believe that they're both nimble enough to avoid getting sucked into the intake- wouldn't want them to suffer the fate of the dude on the far right.

(That's an obscure Firefly reference for the geeks among us).

I've also been grinding out a run of planters.

I've decided to stop making overflow trays for my planters using raky techniques. Not only does raku tend to be porous, but it all too frequently cracks in the fire. We've already suffered a couple counter-top blowouts.

The more I think about it, the more I believe that a neutral basal piece really suits a raku planter best- sort of a tabla rasa against which the planter itself can pop out.

But... let the viewer decide!