Stall at PCA

Recent Work

I am currently working on 3 projects- a technical project where I am developing and making my own earthenware glazes, an externally set brief for Plymouth Museum and a competition to design and make the award for next years Media Innovations Award. I have also been making some more slip cast pieces that I started developing last term, to try and sell at a number of events being run at PCA.

These are a number of small glaze test pieces I made for the technical project. I practiced throwing off the hump and this has helped me greatly in learning how to centre large pieces of clay, as well as practising the delicate hand movements involved in pulling up and shaping on a small scale.

This is a plinth idea I first had for the Media Innovations Award, however I have decided that I will not continue with this idea. 

 This is a maquette showing ways in which I can interpret their logo into a 3D award design.

Other thrown vessels which can be used in an interpretation of the spikes on the logo.

My plan for the Plymouth Museum brief is to bring one of the scenes on the Chinese or Chinoiserie porcelain "to life" i.e making it as a 3D sculpture rather than as a painting. These are images of a slab built Chinese house that I have made, based on one on a piece of porcelain.

This is a piece meant to mimic a Chinese tree. I have used a small extruder to produce lengths of clay which I have screwed into a ball to form the leaves of the tree. 

Slip cast bowls to sell at PCA.

Final Day and Assessment

All of my pieces have come out of the kiln today. Sadly I am not keen on the pieces with the Shino glaze, and I think that this is because I did not apply it thick enough, the effect is very brown and there is little variation within the colour. The oxides have not bled in the way I hoped, but do a good job in defining the features. The Magnesium glaze however has worked very well, although perhaps not with the manganese oxide in a way I would have liked. Next time I am definitely going to complete some glaze testers first. 

Some of the lids have stuck to the bottoms on the teapots, which is because I did not clean where they touch well enough. This is something that I need to take more time over in the future to get it right. 

This afternoon I was able to set up for the assessment tomorrow, and for the first time I decided to use a white table cloth to make the setting look more professional. I have also used one of the plinths I found in the classroom to display my favourite pieces. I have set up my thrown pieces on one side of the table, and the slip pieces on the other, as if they are two separate installations, and I think they contrast each other well.

Week 4 Diary

Week 4 Diary -
My pieces all came out of the kiln from biscuit firing today, and I have glazed the final pieces with a magnesium glaze, and used manganese oxide in a similar way as before - to define the features.
During the last unit I tested many different ceramic finishes, and the one I most liked was this piece -

Photograph: Tom Coghill

The piece has magnesium glaze inside, and a colourful stoneware glaze on the outside, and a thick manganese oxide rim, which has bled well into the glaze, especially the magnesium, which is the effect I would love to have on my finished piece. This piece has been quite a lot of inspiration for this unit because it is a piece I worked into with a ribbon tool when leather hard.

After speaking with Dan the technician, I have chosen to put my pieces into a reduction firing with the magnesium glaze rather than an oxidation, because the glaze has been known to work better. 

My slip trailed tester pieces came out from being glazed today. The glaze has strengthened them so much, it is just a shame that I now do not have enough time to glaze the rest. I especially liked the one where I used the copper oxide, as it has bled into the glaze and given a green tinge. Next term I would love to experiment further with these, making my own moulds and perhaps using tints to colour the slip beforehand. 

I now have to wait until Thursday when all 10 of my pieces come out of the reduction firing, before the final hand in on Friday!

Week 3 Diary

Week 3 Diary -
Success for the slip pieces! However they are very fragile and still break easily when handled.

The easiest way to further strengthen them will be to fire them to a higher temperature, although this risks them warping when hot. I have glazed a few in the spray booth with a white earthenware glaze, and tried one with oxide to see what happens. The pieces would look very nice in porcelain, however these will definitely warp in the kiln - to get around this I would have to make a pot, possibly on the wheel, with the inside the size of the piece I would like. I would then trail the slip inside and leave to dry. the two types of clay should separate whilst drying. The porcelain should then be removed, the inside of the clay bowl lined with sand and the porcelain placed back in for firing together. This stops the porcelain warping out of shape. This is a process I would really like to try, although have not got enough time to finish now, and will have to be left until next term to try.

The thrown domes, which I turned into non functional tableware last week have come out of the kiln and I have glazed them this week.

I am using a Shino glaze on all of these pieces, in reduction. One of the ingredients of the glaze is Iron, and so I am using an Iron oxide to define the edges. The Iron will darken the glaze in those areas. When applied underneath the glaze the oxide will bleed out into the glaze. When applied over, it will remain a more defined line. On the first two pieces I have applied it underneath, and then sprayed the piece with the glaze. On the second set of pieces I have applied the oxide over the top. I am helping with a kiln packing next Tuesday so will have to wait til then before they are put in for a firing. 

This week i have also made 5 more pieces - 

These four and another jug - the two teapots in this series use different ways of throwing a lid for a piece - the first is a lid thrown the right way up, where the inside of the rim underneath is turned out on the wheel, and the top is thrown. The second is where the lid is thrown upside down, and the base is thrown with a split rim, and then the top is turned into shape. 

I am not as pleased with these two jugs as I was with the other ones, as I don't think they have worked as well aesthetically. 

I now have 10 pieces for this unit, as well as the slip trailed pieces. I glazed the first set with one glaze and have decided to glaze the second group with the Magnesium glaze in Oxidation. I would also like to define the  edges with another oxide, and I will have to look at the ingredients of the glaze first to decide which ones. 

Non-Functional Vessels

I have chosen to focus on non-functional vessels for my personal project this term. Mostly because I have found myself drawn to working on the wheel, which, for me, seems to lead to making nothing but functional items.

This brief will force me to look past the idea of the uses of pottery, and more to the aesthetic qualities. It should help me improve both my throwing skills, hand building skills, and finishing techniques.

Personal Project Diary so far - 

Week 1 - 

After doing some research and sketches, I chose to first start with the idea of a vase, where the opening is not at the top, but on the side. To do this I needed to learn how to throw hollow closed off pieces, and i felt the best way to do this was to just practice. 

I began throwing a open shape and slowly began pulling the top together - during the first attempt I stretched the clay past it's limits and it rippled after a few pinches in, but after a while i got the hang of it and they worked quite well.

Week 2 - 

After more research and sketches I came up with ways that I could alter these humps to produce pieces that looked like they should be functional, but were not, such as this teapot and jug - 

The jug's sides are too low for it to hold any liquid, and the teapot's spout is too low that if it were filled with water it would gush out. I made a number of these pieces and I hope to continue making them throughout the project. 

While researching I came across this piece - 

Sadly I didn't get the artists name however I really liked the organic look of the piece and thought it would fit in with my project well, as it obviously could not be functional. I chose to try it out with my own earthenware slip and some moulds that were lying around the ceramics room. I thought the effect was stunning - 

They remind me of little birds nests, or the bare branches of a twisted tree. They are so delicate though, I hope they survive the kiln!