A really useless jug!

For some random reason I decided to make a useless jug.  

I wanted it to be a challenge to pick up due to a strangely shaped handle, and just in case someone fancied using it as a jug or a vase, I put holes all the way down the back to make it totally leak if water was added.

Why?  No idea.  Just a strange idea.

Anyway… I hand build it using rolled out slabs of clay.

I then painted it in a few coats of different coloured slips.

Can’t even remember what colours I used as I was just grabbing anything from the cupboard, so it will be a nice (or not) surprise when it comes out of the kiln.

I decided to do some random designs on it too with my Sgraffito carving tool.  I marked off some sections to begin…

… then lightly marked a pattern so I could go back and carve it properly once done.

Quite pleased with the outcome so far, it will look a little different once glazed and fired.

Making coloured slips for clay

 Today I spent most of the day making loads of coloured slips, for my Sgraffito work.

I had 7 different coloured stains, which I bought from Bath Potters.

I bought…

Azure / Black / Emerald / Coral / Violet / Honey / Sepia.

The first thing to do was to get my equipment together.  I needed a clean bucket, water jug, 120 gauge sieve, a bowl and a stick mixer.   You can use a wooden spoon but it’s a bit quicker with a mixer.

 

I weighed out 200g of ball clay powder, 200g of china clay powder, 20g of stain and roughly a litre of water.

I put all the powders (whilst wearing a mask of course) and the water into a large clean bucket.

Then I blitzed it with my stick blender until it was nice and smooth.

Once that was done it was time to run the coloured slip through a 120 gauge sieve, and into a clean bowl, to make sure there was absolutely no lumps left.

Lovely and smooth.  Ready for painting onto leather hard clay.

I then poured it into a lidded container and labelled it.   As slips can look a bit different to the powder colour once mixed.

Then I had to thoroughly clean every piece of equipment properly so not to cross contaminate the next mix.

Can’t wait to try these out now.

Carving little dishes

 I was working towards making a tea set in a Moroccan style with little lemon dishes and a dish for a sugar cone.

The design I wanted to use was the one from the Ben Yusuf Madrasa  (A place of study) in Marrakesh.

I followed the instructions from Eric Broug’s book on Islamic Geometric Patterns and drew the design using a pair of compasses and a ruler.

I had previously made the little bowls and they had been dried to a leather hard state (not fired) and then coated with three coats of yellow coloured slip. 

(The colour comes out when the firing process is finished.)

I printed out the pattern in various different sizes and placed it into the prepared dish.  I then pin pricked the lines.

I then went in with my new Xiem carving tools and followed the lines to carve out the pattern.

It took a while, but it is quite a mindful and therapeutic process… so you get lost in it a little.

Using different parts of the design I made each one a little different.

Can’t wait to see these once they’ve been fired and glazed and refired.

Mini Kiln Building

We were given a little challenge by our ceramic tutor to research and build a mini kiln – no bigger than 6” high.

I decided I would build something that resembled a hand-built wood fire kiln.

Using this photos taken from Google images, as inspiration.

I grabbed a lump of clay and some tools and got to work.

It was easy enough to build the bottom part, brick by brick, with a gap in the front to allow the air to fuel the fire.

I added some little clay ‘sticks’ as detail.

Next job was to make a little grate, that would sit on top of the brick kiln for the potter to sit on to be fired.

Then I made the top part of the kiln, where the posts would be housed for firing.  This was a round shape, which I made with little bricks again, sealing the inner walls with smooshed up clay.

I also made a lid and some little pots.

Unfortunately the grid snapped when drying, but it wasn’t going to be fired so all was ok  😊

I assembled and presented my little kiln and got awarded 8 out of 10.

Two marks off, as I didn’t put a hole in the lid, and I didn’t label it saying what type of kiln it was .

It’s an updraught one by the way!  😊

Sgraffito dish - glazed

 A few weeks ago I took part in this collaboration - it was part of a tutorial to learn Sgrafitto.

I designed the middle part of the pattern using Sacred Geometry, then I carved it into the clay.

Other decoration was added by other students and some mark making too.

So, I was lucky enough to be allowed to keep it, as long as I glazed it and fired it – well, I was more than happy to do that!

I used a clear earthenware glaze, which was a little disconcerting as it turned the whole thing white!

Then off to the kiln it went to be fired at 1100 degrees.

The finished piece is fabulous!  I love the depth of colour that the stained slip gives, much better than experimenting with glazes I think.

I really enjoy this process and can see me taking it a lot further.

Making a teapot / sugar bowl / jug

 

Still at home with COVID, I joined a uni class using video calling so I could see what was happening in real time.

This lesson was how to make a jug, sugar bowl with lid and a teapot with handle, lid and spout!

Much harder than it looked!

I switched on my pottery wheel and got to work.

I started off with a shape – this was supposed to be the teapot, but ended up being the sugar bowl.

Next I attempted a lid…. Didn’t manage to get a nice round ball on the top for the handle, but let’s call that a design feature  😊

Spouts are evil!  I mean, just how hard can it be to make a small thin spout?   Very hard.  I made four spouts and this was the most spout like, even though it looked like a stumpy elephants trunk!

And finally a jug, quite pleased with the shape of this one I have to say.

 

Now it was time to let them all dry a little, while I make some handles and try to figure out how to attach them all together!

Attaching the spout was a tricky procedure, I trimmed to much off it trying to get it to fit the shape of the pot.

…. And we have to address the elephant in the room, that that spout is just a bit too trunk like.   But, at least it should pour well!

Handle on, spout on, lid trimmed to fit!

We have a teapot… might not be the prettiest teapot, but I am rather pleased with it  😊

The sugar bowl was next for a trim – maybe it looks more like a small ginger jar, but again, the lid fits, so I am happy with that.

And my milk jug has a handle!

I found the handles quite tricky to deal with, they either got to dry and cracked, or I just couldn’t make them even enough. More practise needed there!

So, my teaset is not really in good proportion to each other, but I feel a sense of achievement that I have managed to make one.

Let’s see how the firing goes.

Geometric Sgraffito

 Having really enjoyed the process of Sgraffito, I thought I would try and make a largish bowl with an interesting geometric design.

 I created a slump bowl into a towel tied across a lampshade,  smoothed it out and left it to dry to leather-hard.

Next I painted it with 2-3 coats of pale blue coloured slip.

Then I decided to add some random splashes of dark blue coloured slip.

Now it was time to draw out a design.

 

I followed the Mustansiriya Madrasa pattern from the book  ‘Islamic Geometric Patterns’ by Eric Broug.

I placed the pattern onto the middle of the dish and pin-pricked around the outlines.

I then peeled the paper off, replaced it so it would tessellate, and did the process again.  I added the pattern 5 times in total.

Then it was time to carve out all of the mark lines. 

 

This is such a satisfying process.  Very zen like – until it goes wrong of course!

Once done, it was time to leave the bowl to dry out some more (fingers crossed it survives) then off to the kiln to be biscuit fired.