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Ancho Reyes is a Mexican liqueur made from Ancho and Poblano peppers. It is a sweet and subtly spiced with a hint of smokiness. Ancho Reyes liqueur adds a great lift to many traditional cocktails and works particularly well in Margarita’s.

These societies, shrouded in myth and secrecy, conjure feelings of distrust and envy along with endless speculation from outsiders. Many of these shadowy groups hinge on grand schemes of world domination and government subversion. 

“What about you? Do you hate big bags, love them, somewhere in the middle? For clarification, I’m not talking about a big bag for work or travel. I mean to carry to a lunch date or a day shopping, etc. To carry it for the style of it, not necessarily b/c you need to carry a ton of stuff.”

Nobody does a show better than Chanel, and this year the brand is back for Cruise 2022

All clays except terra cotta and sculpture are recommended for wheel.

Sand Clay. A finely grogged clay. This clay is beautiful, it looks like wet beach sand when left unglazed with a grainy, speckled surface. The speckles do not show through glazes and underglazes applied over this clay body but it will bring the color of glazes down.
Cone 6 Shrinkage 13.5% Absorption 3.0%

Brooklyn red. Standard 308.
This is one of the most widely used clays in public studios for a reason. It is a brick red stoneware body with fine sand and fine grog. Very resistant to warping and bloating. Yields a beautiful dark reddish brick color and can bring depth and richness to the glazes applied to it.
Cone 6 Shrinkage 12.5% Absorption 2.0%

Dark Brown Clay.
People love this clay because it is so dark. This clay creates major depth and richness in color as it greatly affects the glazes applied over it. The clay is smooth and plastic and good for all techniques. It may take longer to clean up your wheel splash pan with all the iron in this clay.
Cone 6 Shrinkage 13% Absorption 1.0%

Porcelain. Wins most vitrified award meaning that this clay is nonporous and very food safe even without glaze. Porcelain boasts a super smooth and creamy texture and contains no grog. Glazes are bright and brilliant on this clay especially semi translucent glazes like celadons. Its a great choice if you are staining clay bodies with mason stains or oxides (Nerikomi/Agateware). It is however more prone to cracking while drying and warping than other clays but worth it to obtain the super white color. Recommended for intermediate to experienced potters.
Cone 6 Shrinkage 13.0% Absorption 0.3%

White Stoneware. Fires a bright warm off-white color. This is a good clay for beginners because the glazes show up on it with very bright colors.  This clay has some of the finest grog we have ever seen which enhances its throwing qualities and strength while leaving the clay feeling smooth.
Cone 6 Shrinkage 10.0% Absorption 0.75%

Sculpture clay. Standard 420.
A highly grogged body, formulated for sculpture. Yellowish tan color at C/6.
This clay is a beautiful gray color when wet but don’t let that fool you, the clay fires a light straw tone. This clay is full of sandy gritty grog which can hurt some peoples hands when they throw with it. For this reason we do not recommend it for throwing (although some do). This clay is highly moldable and sticky. It is an excellent sculpture clay, producing works that dry evenly with less cracking and low shrinkage (only 8% vs the usual double digits).
Cone 6 Shrinkage 8.0% Absorption 1.5%

Speckled clay. Standard 112.
This clay is definitely having a moment. This is THE most popular clay at Mouse Ceramic Studio. Maybe its because the speckles in the clay show through glazes and underglazes, effectively making every glaze you apply to it into a speckled glaze. This clay will not reveal its speckled surface until its fired to glaze temperature.
C/6 Shrinkage 11.0% Absorption 2.25%

Terra Cotta Sculpture Clay. Standard 108.
This clay gives the lovely earth tones associated with terra cotta but its actually a high fire stoneware. Great for sculpture, very rough for wheel throwing although we have seen it done. This clay is rough and not recommended for wheel use (although we have seen it done (Matt K!)).
Cone 6 Shrinkage 10.5% Absorption 5.0%

Hazelnut Brown. Standard 211.
Lisa Common turned us onto this clay, she uses it a lot in her test tiles. It is maybe one of the most beautiful brown clays available, not to light and not too dark, full of rich deep tones that really bring out the beauty of glazes. The grog is light and the clay is dark, producing a brown surface speckled with light dots.
Cone 6 Shrinkage 12.5% Absorption 2.0%

Last Friday’s Zoom topic is on for today. Betty Woodman!

Born in Norwalk, Connecticut, Betty Woodman attended the School for American Craftsmen at Alfred University in New York from 1948 to 1950. She has taught in the Fine Arts Department of the University of Colorado.

A leading ceramist whose inventive forms and painterly use of color have won her international renown, Woodman began her career making simple functional pottery. Although her ambitious experiments with clay have wrought great changes in her work, it still refers to some practical function even if her baroque, expressive forms are no longer strictly utilitarian. Woodman's art has been inspired by diverse sources, ranging from Etruscan and Minoa to Tange and majolica ceramics.

The recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1980 and 1986, Woodman has also been a guest artist at the experimental atelier of the Manufacture National de Sevres in France.

Kenneth R. Trapp and Howard Risatti Skilled Work: American Craft in the Renwick Gallery (Washington, D.C.: National Museum of American Art with the Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998)

Artist Biography

Betty Woodman first became interested in crafts because her father was a woodworker. In high school, one ceramics course was sufficient to convince Woodman that she wanted to be a functional potter. Studying pottery at the School for American Craftsmen at Alfred University, she developed a strong interest in the history of ceramics. Her first job after graduating in 1950 was as a production potter, and that technical facility and experience were to be the foundation of her subsequent innovations. In 1952 Woodman traveled to Italy, where exposure to traditions such as majolica opened her eyes to the potential of clay.

It was not until the seventies that Woodman completely abandoned her functional approach. Collaborating with important figures in the Pattern and Decoration movement, such as Joyce Kozloff and Cynthia Carlson, she began producing colorful, witty—and nonfunctional—vessels decorated with scenes from the Italian Renaissance or slathered with landscape clouds. Woodman's eccentric shapes and glazes are often appropriated from other cultures; her work in a sense functions as a very personal interpretation of art history. While the artist still produces human- and tabletop-size works, in recent years she has increased her scale, creating environmental installations for museums and galleries in the United States and abroad.

Check out the video below of the late artist talking about her work.

551
Cone 6 White porcelain. Wins most vitrified award. Super smooth and creamy. Glazes are bright and brilliant on this clay. Great if you are staining clay bodies with mason stains or oxides (Nerikomi/Agateware).
Cone 6 Shrinkage 13.0% Absorption 0.3%

630
Gray (White) Stoneware. This is the clay we used to provide in the communal buckets. Contains fire clay and mullite which (supposedly) enhances thermal properties. Fires grayish and the fired unglazed clay looks like white stoneware at cone ten. This is a good clay for beginners because the grog in the clay helps prevent cracking during drying.  Some people have experienced bloating issues with this clay body.

Cone 6 Shrinkage 13.0% Absorption 1.5%

240
Ivory (White) Stoneware.
A very smooth, plastic throwing body. This clay doesn’t have grog so it is more prone to cracking during drying, dry slowly to avoid this, not having grog allows you to sponge smooth this clay. 240 is a great clay for those who are nervous about trying porcelain but want a very smooth lighter colored clay. It is the brightest stoneware we have, it is very low in iron. The glazes show bright and clean on this clay.
Cone 6 Shrinkage 13.0% Absorption 1.5%

420
Sculpture clay.
A highly grogged body, formulated for sculpture. Sand color at C/6.
This clay is a beautiful gray color when wet but don’t let that fool you, the clay fires a light straw tone. This clay is full of sandy gritty grog which can hurt some peoples hands when they throw with it. For this reason we do not recommend it for throwing (although some do). This clay is highly moldable and sticky. It is an excellent sculpture clay, producing works that dry evenly with less cracking and low shrinkage (only 8% vs the usual double digits).
Cone 6 Shrinkage 8.0% Absorption 1.5%

259
Lite Brown Clay
a beautiful clay that is great for throwing. This clay is a lighter brown color with lots of light specks of grog that show up in the glaze firing.
Cone 6 Shrinkage 12.5% Absorption 2.9%

760
Sand speckle clay. A finely grogged speckled clay. This clay is beautiful, it looks like wet beach sand when left unglazed. The speckles do not show through glazes and underglazes applied over this clay body.

Cone 6 Shrinkage 13.5% Absorption 3.0%

211
Hazelnut Brown
Lisa Common turned us onto this clay, she uses it a lot in her test tiles. It is maybe one of the most beautiful brown clays available, not to light and not too dark, full of rich deep tones that really bring out the beauty of glazes.
Cone 6 Shrinkage 12.5% Absorption 2.0%

108
Terra Cotta Red Sculpture clay.
This clay gives the lovely red tones associated with terra cotta but its actually a high fire stoneware. Great for sculpture, very rough for wheel throwing although we have seen it done.
Cone 6 Shrinkage 10.5% Absorption 5.0%

308
Brooklyn red. 308 is a brick red stoneware body with fine sand and fine grog. Very resistant to warping and bloating. Yields a beautiful reddish brick color and can bring depth and richness to the glazes applied to it.
Cone 6 Shrinkage 12.5% Absorption 2.0%

266
Dark Brown Clay. People love this clay because it is so dark. It is described as giving a reduction look to any cone 6 glaze but its just the visual influence of all of the iron and manganese in the clay body showing through to create major depth and richness in color. The clay is smooth and plastic and good for all techniques. It may take longer to clean up your wheel splash pan with all the iron in this clay. Some have reported issues with warping and bloating.
Cone 6 Shrinkage less than 12.5% Absorption less than 1.0%

112
Speckle clay. This is one of the most popular clay bodies because the speckles in the clay show through glazes and underglazes. Bisque looking unblemished brown? This clay will not reveal its speckled surface until its fired to glaze temperature.
C/6 Shrinkage 11.0% Absorption 2.25%

Mouse Ceramic Studio is currently offering firing services to all. We charge $0.04 per cubic inch to fire in a community firing. (Except for members), each time the work is fired, it must be paid for. Measure your piece with an inch ruler or measuring tape, you will need the length, the width, and the height, the length is the longest dimension of your piece (usually) from side to side, the width is usually front to back, and the height is the measurement from top to bottom or how tall it is. Each measurement needs to multiplied by the next so length x width x height. This will give you the cubic inches of the piece; take that amount and multiply by 0.04 to get your dollar amount. For example, a cup with handle that is 6x4x4 is 96 cubic inches; 96 x 0.04 = 3.84 so the total for this mug would be $3.84 per firing or $7.68 for bisque and glaze firing. Members only pay for bisque firings and glaze is included as a courtesy and benefit of membership.

Since debuting in late 2019, Louis Vuitton’s Multi Pochette Accessoires has positioned itself as one of fashion’s most sought-after handbags. Receiving a significant amount of exposure whether it be via influencer marketing or a general social media presence, the bag spawned a multi-bag revolution of sorts. A variety of other brands released multi-bag silhouettes, and Louis Vuitton themselves even designed a slew of other multi-bags for both women and men.

The Brough-engineered concept AMB 001 bike seen at last year’s EICMA show has hit prototype stage and looks like it’ll soon be ready for prime time.