Catherine "Kater" Cheek is a writer and artist.
Author's posts
Jul 21
Green Celadon Cup
This was one of a series I made from my share of the batch of porcelain we mixed up. I tend to throw 1/4 of an inch walls on my pottery, and I’ve gotten out of the habit of trimming down to 1/8 or 1/16 of an inch walls, which is really what this porcelain …
Jul 18
Fish Tray
I made this using the porcelain that Bridget Harper formulated for us. One thing that I discovered about this clay is that it does not like to be thick. I made a set of twelve small trays like this (only smaller) using the same technique (slab rolled, then formed inside a styrofoam meat tray). All …
Jul 15
Latticework Tray
Here’s another thing that people do when they make fused glass pieces; they make slumped bowls and trays. I had less enthusiasm for this, because I’m a potter, and pottery makes functional, sturdy, dishwasher-safe pieces that don’t cost $60 in raw materials. There’s a flaw in one of the bands because I tried to cut …
Jul 12
Dichroic Keychains
This is what most people do with dichroic glass; they cut pieces and assemble them onto a plain background, then cap them to make pretty doohickeys. I’ve seen a lot of jewelry like this. In fact, almost all glass jewelry looks something like this. I admit, it’s amazingly pretty, but it’s so easy that …
Jul 09
Last Beetles
Here’s what I found about the iridescent glass. When you put dichro on top of it and fuse it, it doesn’t fuse completely because of the iridescence. This worked in that I was able to put masking tape over it and feel where the outline of the body and thorax were so that I could …