17 October 2009

Ceramics, week 5

The saggar box, packed with pots among the layers of sawdust, lentils, banana skins, etc etc and fired and cooled, is opened -Here's what came out of it - a lot of charred "organic matter", and some sooty pots - lovely!
Elsewhere, my "barnacles" have matte white glaze now. I'd like to make the outsides glossy (transparent glaze) while not affecting the insides. Or vice versa, maybe ... or both?
More glazed results - the scratches need to be deeper to retain "enough" glaze. And the "midnight blue" inside the round pot is disappointingly pale and uneven (because the bottom is too lumpy) but this is all a learning experience -
On to the demonstrations of the day - using a press mold -
and a slip mold -
Results! The air bubble makes the paint tube look squeezed. The "waster" at the right (where the clay was poured in) makes it look like a caryatid ... could be interesting to have a row of those, said Robert -
Next, glazing - consistency of glaze, and the dipping technique. This is glaze waste, so the effects will be unexpected (and probably unrepeatable) -
You can just about see the lumps, from the bottom of the bowl of glaze, sticking to the pot - wonder what that will look like when it's fired -
A more structured use of glaze - layers of white and grey, with some sgrafitto along the way -
My leap forward (if such it was) is to use glass shards (thank you Joanna!) to texture one side of a slab, which had already picked up a loopy texture from being rolled out on this cloth -
This is what went onto the shelf, for bisque firing during the week -some Richard-Serra-like shapes, and some slabs with patterning. The newspaper at bottom left is hopefully forming the clay into a slight bowl shape -
Next steps? I'm still overwhelmed by all the possibilities (and my lack of skill), but it's time to start focusing on the term's project - imagined interiors, thresholds, doors, black spaces, enclosure,insides and outsides - something along that line.

1 comment:

Deb Lacativa said...

I knew I was creeping up on pottery.
You confirmed it.

http://morewgalo.blogspot.com/2009/05/spellbound-by.html