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papaya sunrise vase 7"
Klinsky Ceramics, San Diego, California
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'Dawning of a New Day'
colored pencil by Alicia Tirado
see Alicia's gallery page
My dear friend Alicia Tirado has an amazing gift with colored pencils. Her artwork has been mistaken for paintings or collage, but in fact is layer after layer of colored pencil, giving a painting/collage appearance. I'm posting a page of my website with her incredible art works, because many more people should see what she is capable of. For information or purchase inquiries contact Alicia at
atiradoartist@hotmail.com
*also below are some amazing abstracts by my friend Alicia Tirado*
see detail of storm clouds and pale green starlight glazes below
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malachite glaze vase 7"h
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contact Steve Klinsky @
cerfsky@cox.net or 760 942-1603
While the majority of crystalline ceramists use an electric kiln, programming it to fire automatically, all of my firings are done in a gas kiln, requiring my attention and hands-on adjustment of temperature for up to 14 hours. The little bit of fumes from the gas firing, compared to the pristine atmosphere of electric firing, have a slight effect on the colors, setting my glazes apart from many others.
My ceramics are all hand thrown on a potter's wheel. Whether made of porcelain or stoneware, the majority of my pieces are crystalline glazed. This process requires me to make a catch tray for each piece, and a donut/stilt for each piece to stand on as the glaze runs freely off of the piece. As the temperature climbs during the firing process, zinc silicate crystals form spontaneously and run down the piece fusing it to the donut/stilt and catch tray. At the right moment, the temperature is dropped rapidly to a specific temperature where the crystals actually grow in the still fluid glaze. This growing temperature must be carefully maintained for 3-8 hours. When cooled the crystals are a permanent decoration. After cooling, the stilt must be carefully removed and the bottom of the piece ground smooth to remove sharp or jagged pieces of glaze. With crystalline glazes, at least one third of the pieces fired are not successful enough to sell, but the successful ones can be spectacular. Because of the randomness of the crystal formation, no two pieces will be exactly the same, therefore realize that when ordering, the colors and crystals will be similar, but not exact. All are food safe, non-toxic and washable.
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'pillow talk' by Alicia Tirado 22" x 17"
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detail of storm clouds glaze
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lady in blue 14"
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