Ceramic 45 - Foxy drinking bowl for Brooke

 

Dish, OC.157-1946, Fitz Museum.  

I had a small palm sized bowl that I had bought to experiment with and it's been sitting on my craft desk for a while. Inspiration struck when I was pondering Pennsic and all the people I enjoy hanging out with and I realised I hadn't indulged in the tim-tam port slam recently. The tiny bowl will make the perfect port bowl and who better to make it for than Brooke? It's a pity I didn't have it ready for Great Northern War because she put a lot of work into that event. Ah well, I'll take it to Pennsic and we shall drink and make merry.

Bowl, C.53-1998, Fitz Museum.

I decided to use red again as it'll go with her other bowl. This time I did find a fox on a plate but it's on there with a mess of other animals and that would just be too busy in such a tiny bowl. I decided to make the bowl sort of Saltanabad-ish and copied the motifs on the spiky bowl below. I then painted a small Kitsune style fox in the base of the bowl for her to find once she finishes the port.

Ceramic 23 - Brooke's Fox plate

Dish - Egypt. 13th - 14th C. Mus Numer - W.40.1950 Wooden dish, with painted decoration of a long-eared quadruped, probably a jackal. Place of Origin Egypt Date 13th century - 14th century Dimensions Thickness: 2.5 cm, Diameter: 28.5 cm Object history note Purchased in London, said to have been found in the ruins of Fostat, Egypt. Located in the V&A. Item no. W.40-1950

 

I've been looking to make a fox plate for Brooke for a while. The only foxes I've been able to find are in illuminations and one on a cruciform tile from 13th century Iran. So when I found this Egyptian plate I HAD to make it.

 Fox in progress.

The extant plate has been turned out of ficus sycomorous, painted with gesso and sealed with a varnish. The colours in the original plate will not have been available to ceramic artists of the time as these are coloured pigments painted onto a wooden object, rather than minerals fused onto a ceramic

I changed the colors around a little on this one and edited the shape of the quadruped's ears to make it more foxy. I changed the background behind the fox from an orangy red, to a green to contrast with the orange of the fox better. Also, my friends favorite colours happen to be lime green, emerald green, bright blue and orange. I really hope she'll enjoy eating off this.

I found the curlicues a fun challenge on this one. I started by painting the entire section red, then scratching the curls through onto the bisque. I then backfilled with yellow glaze. The challenge was maintaining the thinness of the lines while applying the three coats. I think it worked quite well.

Again, this is posted out of sequence so as not to spoil the surprise - it'll take me months to get it to her, because she lives in ACT and I'm not sending it via Auspost. I ended up sending it via SCA-post - Thanks Mirriam/Waldo and Neil!!