I haven’t posted any of my tilework for awhile but I’ve been working on a few different things. I’ve got the concept for “Garage Panel 2” done but I’ll save the sketches for that project for a separate post down the road. The panel will, once again, feature animals of the Pacific Northwest. I’ll be using the orca tiles again but in a different way. I will also include the octopus tile I designed last year. I was never happy with the way the octopuses interlocked so this year I designed a squid companion for them. I’m using this incredible underglaze that Amaco makes called “Flame Orange”. It holds up to a cone 5 firing so much better than their other reds and oranges. I also designed a pair of interlocking sea otters that will float above the deep sea creatures. I’m showing them clustered together but there will be a lot of blank tiles separating them on the panel.

Although I won’t be incorporating it into the garage project, I recently redesigned the flying fish tile I made last year. This version is a bit more sculptural and a little less grumpy than it’s predecessor. I’ve also been experimenting with stamps to make ceramic frames. They’ve proven to be more challenging than I anticipated (lots of warping and cracking) but I think I’m starting to get the hang of it. I’m hoping to make a few to display more elaborately detailed individual tiles.