Bob Brehmer Pottery

Peg's hanging planter bowls

2009-12-19T13:18:00.000-08:00

A new order for hanging planter bowls is the subject of this post. the bowl shape, and pattern that is impressed in the rim of the bowls is derived from an antique cream-white hanging planter bowl brought to me to make some replicas of. they did not have to match exactly in color or pattern, but I happened to have a leaf and flower stamp that simulated the pattern of the original. the color chosen is a new mustard yellow that is a satin matt glaze that is very nice to feel in your hand, plus it lends itself well to the "antique" like nature of this particular piece.

The photos with this post are of the pieces mentioned. these will probably lead to some new colors of this shape and pattern. sometimes customers can inspire an artist to try something that is out of the normal rhythm of their creative process. My thanks to "Peg" for a new direction in my patterning and glazing processes.

new fish pitchers

2009-12-15T09:21:00.000-08:00

I unloaded some nice fish pitchers from the kiln last week,eight in all. I now have seven of those left, ranging in size from 11-12 inches tall, and priced from 65-80.00. these are some of the best ones I've made to date, and wanted to share them with anyone who wishes to see fish-inspired pitchers. I have 4 of the pale green based ones;2 of the yellow, and 1 of the lime green ones left. enjoy!

cone 3 floating blue glaze

2009-12-09T16:02:00.000-08:00

This last week, I wanted to glaze some new pots with some nice texture with a blue glaze that would pool some in the texture that was applied to some nice pots. the glaze I wanted to use for the inside of the pieces didn't match temperature-wise;the blue fired higher than the rutile gold/brown that I wanted to use for the inside. I fluxed the blue down to my usual temperature, which is cone 3, and a real nice "floating blue" was the result.

Here are some more pics of recent pots, including fish pitchers and fish mugs to go with them.

recent pots

2009-10-08T18:49:00.000-07:00

these are some pics of recent firings. I've been introducing some different clay bodies and glazes for cone 6 into my work. one clay body is a porcelain from Matt and Dave's clays called "porcelain for the people" a very white body that goes as high as cone 11-12. I used it at cone 6 for some bowls and a platter that just came out of yesterday's firing. this platter has a mottled blue on it,that provided a nice finish on this particular clay. Other recent work involves a luster green with some iron sprayed around the edges. It is a very nice look, and the iron turns brown when sprayed on the rim. I hope to be posting more often as new work is unloaded from kilns, especially pieces that are the best from the firings.

August 22 firing

2009-08-24T15:32:00.000-07:00

this firing had some pieces that involved revisiting an old glaze combination that I haven't used in years; a luster black/white combo. most of my glazes are fine being overlapped with each other, but this particular black isn't the same base glaze,and when overlapped with my white, it forms a "lava"like effect as you will see in the picture of it. I also included a couple of pics of the peephole glowing at the end of the firing, and the final readout of the temperature of the kiln when the firing was finished. One pic is the first shelf of pots as I look down into the kiln.

Jean's casserole

2009-08-20T20:29:00.000-07:00

This is one of my best celadon green casseroles yet. A friend of mine named Jean ordered a celadon green one after seeing a lime green and blue one I had made earlier. This is the resulting piece; A nice confluence of creative design,function,and calming green glaze as well.

new pots

2009-08-19T13:29:00.000-07:00

I'm finally posting again after too long in between posts. these pics are of some bowls I'm working on at this time. not so many with the "wave" going around the rim like my sun bowls,but more of a flower shape. also some of the pieces are being textured with squares and free-hand lines around the rim as well.
I've also included some images from my last show in minneapolis about a week ago. enjoy.

24 new bowls

2009-04-10T20:05:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day to make 12-13 inch diameter bowls; I want to do more of the altering the rims so that the bowls will be a soft square or very slow wave to 4 points,so also square,but not with rounded corners. I'm including a photo of thirteen of the bowls made this morning. I was pleased that they were not as deep as some of mine are,which is fine normally,but I really wanted these to be rather shallow,almost a deep plate. I'll be altering some of them tomorrow; i'll post the freshly trimmed bowls so hopefully I'll receive some feedback; it's nice to test the waters of public opinion,whether it's compliments,critiques,or criticisms. until next time...

new square bowls

2009-04-06T15:20:00.000-07:00

this past week I finally tried something that had been on the shelf for awhile; altering the thrown rim of a bowl into a square. not a hard-line square,but one that is a softened square with rounded corners. I then pressed 4 "dimples" into each corner with the end of a peg. here are two photos of the bowl.

Handmade Pottery

2007-04-03T16:33:00.000-07:00

these pots are the first of many to be posted on my blog. the first piece is what i call a large "sun bowl". this piece,like all of my work, is thrown on the potters' wheel. The rim is cut when semi-hard,then smoothed to give the "sun wave" like appearance. The piece is then dried,bisque fired,then glazed. The bowl is then fired to 2140 F in an electric kiln. This bowl is about 17 inches in diameter, and about 5 inches high.
The second piece is a sink that i make in the same way as the sun bowl,but the rim is cut a little different. The glazes are sprayed on and the piece is fired in the same manner.
The third picture is a grouping of "fish pitchers". These are thrown on the potters' wheel as well,then handles and fins are added later. They have dipped and sprayed glazes,with scale-like texturing and gill-plates and eyes.

2007-04-03T15:48:00.000-07:00