My ugly little teapot didn’t survive the biscuit firing.
It turns out that the base
was too thick, and it obviously still held a little moisture so it exploded in
the kiln!
A little disappointing, but a learning curve no less.
Next time I will concentrate more on the thickness of the clay throughout.
I am just pleased the explosion didn’t wreck anyone else's work.
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We were asked to do some test tiles for Triaxial Glaze Blending later in the month.
I decided to do Terracotta as my final piece will be in Terracotta and it will give me an idea of what glazes to use.
I rolled the clay out at 0.6mm and cut it into small squares.
Another way of making test tiles is to stand them up to
allow the glaze to run down – but my planned piece is going to be flat so I
have made flat test tiles.
Once cut, I put holes in them so I can hang them up at some point – I also added some texture so see how the glaze reacts and pools within that.
I then painted a couple of coats of white slip down the centre so I can get an idea of how the glaze works across different coloured bases.
These will go off and be biscuit fired now ready for the next stage.
I thought I would practise my new found Sgrafitto skills on my kidney dishes.
They had been dried to a leather hard state (not fired) and
then coated with three coats of coloured slip – orange on one and bright blue
on another.
They had been dried to a leather hard state (not fired) and
then coated with three coats of coloured slip – orange on one and bright blue
on another.
(The colour comes out when the firing process is finished.)
I decided on a kind of visual illusion pattern – which looks better on a flat piece of paper to be honest, but I think it did work quite well on this.
I started by marking the dishes out in sections…….
……then carved smaller lines into each of those sections.
This morning we had a ‘slip decorating’ demo planned, and our tutor had prepared a large dish to demonstrate on.
As I was hanging about the room as it was being prepared I
asked some questions about how to apply my Sacred Geometry designs to clay – I was
told to go home and prepare I pattern and he would show me during the demo.
So I went home and found a relatively easy pattern to draw on YouTube - https://youtu.be/m10l55vMTOw
And got to work.
Back at Uni, I placed the design onto the clay and pinned around the lines to give me a grid.
The clay had been painted with 2-3 coats of coloured slip.
Then it was time to carve out the marks with a carving tool. Through the coloured slip and into the base clay underneath.
There were lots of other
techniques going onto this plate too, but it was really cool to be able to add
some of mine.
This is the finished dish, with loads of decoration going on.
I have now been given the task of trimming it and getting it ready to fire – then I can keep it! 😊
As I am planning to do some terracotta tiles soon, I decided I would make a flat glaze tester to test out some glazes before I use them on my real piece.
I rolled out some clay to 0.6mm, marked it off, scored the
marks and added thin rolls of clay to create walls.
I stamped the letter of the alphabet in each box, this means I can make a note in a notebook of what glaze went into what square.
Now time to biscuit fire it and prepare 24 different
glazes!!
Remember this lovely (even if I do say so myself) dish I made ….. well, it’s now in the clay recycling tub ☹
I was looking through the firing shelves to see if any of my
work had been done, and there I saw it…. My dish, which a huge crack right
across!
I hunted down Mary, our technician, and asked why … there’s quite a few reasons, but in reality..”shit happens”!
Maybe it dried out too quickly, maybe I didn’t compress the clay enough. Either way, I was a little bit broken hearted I have to say!
I did ask if there was any way of repairing it, and was told
two or three times it would be easier and quicker to make a new one. (and basically learn to cope with disappointment).
So, with a heavy heart I took it to the recycling room and
dropped it in the tub.
It was quite sad to see it
sink down into the murky water…. But all good practise I suppose. Best go and make another one now!
For this slump mould I drew a shape on a piece of A4 mountboard and cut it out with a sharp craft knife.
Then I rolled out my clay to 0.6mm and laid it over the top.
Very carefully, with a slightly damp sponge, I eased the
clay down through the hole, until it was the depth I wanted it to be.
Once I was happy with the
depth, it was time to trim off the excess.
Then for some reason, I
decided to make a second one. I copied
the shape and did the whole process again.
I then left them resting in a couple of buckets to dry a little. The next lesson was going to be on slip decorating and sgraffito, so we needed to have something ready for then.
Today we had a demo in making Sling or Slump Moulds.
You create a sling over a frame, using a towel (or other fabric) – but first you need to find a form.
I had an idea that a lampshade frame would make a good form,
so I trotted off to the charity shop to see what I could find. I found a vintage lampshade that was plastic
with a veneer inside.
I draped a towel across the top of the lampshade and tied it
tightly with string.
Then I rolled out my clay and laid it over the top.
Very carefully, with a slightly damp sponge, I eased the clay
down onto the towel sling.
Once I was happy with the
depth, it was time to trim off the excess.
Then it was time to smooth the whole thing out and make it all neat and tidy.
I decided I would like to
experiment and see how rubber stamps might work. I only had a set of two
different sized flowers, so went with those.
Have now decided to get some more in different designs 😊
Once leather hard, I could trim the lip off a little and tidy it up, then it was ready to dry properly and be fired.
Watch this space for the next update on this dish :)
We were encouraged to try the three different types of clay available in the workshop – Stoneware, Earthenware and Porcelain.
I decided I would try and make a hand-built pot out of porcelain! I failed, miserably.
Nothing I did worked, not like the other clays that were
much easier to handle. Everything I
tried in porcelain just kept collapsing…… so for the sake of not wasting any
more product than I already was, I made some little hedghogs out of the lump I
still had out.
I think I will practise with the other clays before attempting
porcelain again 😊
Another first in ceramics today for me – learning how to slab build.
With slab building you have to roll out the clay to your desired thickness (using a clay roller, rather the by hand) and leave it to dry to the correct dryness.
If it is too soft the slabs will not be sturdy enough to
build with, and it it’s too dry then with just crack and break. – this may take
some time to get right!
Our task was to build a box with a fitted lid, a knob on the lid and feet on the base.
I thought I would do a hexagon shaped box, I had to mitre the sides so they all fit
together nicely – this was a good bit of guesswork to be fair, rather than mathematical
preciseness.
My feet were a bit rubbish to be fair, a bit clunky – but it had feet so I had ticked that box.
The lid needed to fit without
falling in – but because my hexagon wasn't a true shape, my lid would only
fit if placed in one direction. To
solve this I added a knob to the front of the box and cut a gap in the lid,
which means the lid can only be put on in the way it will fit. (Hope no one notices !)
I will be really interested to see how this turns out, I hope it survives the kiln firings.
These boxes are going to go
into a Raku firing later on in the module. Before then it will be fired in a biscuit fire
at 800 degrees, then glazed with a Raku Glaze.
It was the first of my ceramic lessons today – not a module I was particularly looking forward to, I must admit.
Having done ceramics at school (I was bad!) and then at Adult evening classes (I was just as bad!!) I didn’t hold out much hope at all for being even half decent at it.
Our teacher was the marvellous Rob Winter – a superb ceramicist.
Our first lesson was handbuilding and to make a pinch pot.
We took a lump of stoneware clay and formed it into a nice smooth ball by banging it slightly with the palm of our hands whilst turning in the other hand.
Once smooth I would continue to turn whilst pressing my
thumb into the centre.
This wasn’t so bad after all – I managed to turn and press my thumb into the hole making it bigger and thinner each time.
Then I added a ‘signature’
button so I could tell it was mine when it came out of the kiln.
Considering the very first effort that I had made way back in school over 40 years ago… I don’t think I did too badly.
This piece is going to go
into a Raku firing later on in the module. Before then it will be fired in a bicuit fire
at 800 degrees, then glazed with a Raku Glaze.
My first attempts at making coil pots.
With this technique you make a base then build the sides of the pots up using coils, which you then squish together.
First I went for a straight sided pot, which I then textured to look almost like wood.
The second one I wanted to be more sculptural – this was
harder – and yet, it looks like it’s a mistake! 😊
I don’t think I like it at all – but maybe it will be a little more exciting once it is glazed.
I thought I would have another go –
this time I build the shape of the pot then added loads of curly features to
the outside.
The weight of the extra clay on the outside caused the pot to sag a little, so I held it up inside with a wooden tool while drying it with a hair dryer. It helped a little but is still a little misshapen.
They went into the kiln for a biscuit firing at 800 degrees
