Recently in Ceramics Category

Looking back on the last two weeks I feel more like a ceramic artist now than I have in a while. I like everything I have made and have been proud to send it through the kiln. I have also made more work and spent more time working on ceramics than I think I have in this period of time before. A lot of my throwing in the past, outside of an academic environment, has been very random and almost spastic. I have been making whatever came off the wheel, but in the last few weeks I have been declaring things that I was going to do, or at least attempt. I dared to try a rolled lip, it worked out. I tested the limits of "squared" bowls (bowls with a harsh angle and not a curve) and they fought back, but I still got some good examples from it. I held my breath and put my weakest bottle on its head to trim, they were resilient. I have had more kiln loads running in the last few weeks than I used to do in a month. Doing all of this makes me feel good, it makes me feel like a ceramic artist, or at the very least, a potter.

Picking a new clay body (Standard 563) was very important to this happening, it has made me feel like I am starting again with things, and taking off in a more positive direction. I am also working with a stoneware body again, not falling back to earthenware, so it is like I am growing up ceramically.

I feel like I am getting a lot done lately, but I look over at my bisque shelves and see lots of very white pieces that really need to be glazed. I really hate glazing, I must be a potter.

In several days I will start my first ceramics class without Tweedy. I have grown quite attached to Tweedy's ways of doing things, and the ways of the UNCC ceramics studio.  I  will be in a new studio and under a new instructor. I am terrified.

I have never trimmed a clay as smooth as 563. The clay shaves off with no disruption to the piece, and I don't get those nasty little grooves that some grogged stonewares do. I am liking more about it than I am hating about it. I will likely keep working with 563, maybe as a replacement to 105 as my normal throwing clay. I had no problems getting the wobbly bowl to trim to a beautiful foot.

My first throw in Standard's 563 was interesting. It centered fast, and threw smooth. The texture of the clay was great, but the particular batch this bag is from seems to be a little overly moist. The clay has no structure... it isn't good for throwing wide bowls at this point (but as with all clays, it will stiffen with some time). I threw one wide bowl in it, which had difficulties with staying even, it attempted to slump. In future wide throws I will spend some time giving the clay a serious wedging first. After the failing of the wide throw I tried for something I had problems with on 105G recently, bottles. 563 works beautifully for bottles. It is a very plastic clay that goes where I point it. It's properties are very similar to that of 105 in that it is a very smoothly workable clay, but 105 has never given me the type of finish that 563 has. Just a simple rubbing of the metal rib before running the wire under gave me a really beautiful, almost burnished appearance.

I am going to continue working  with 563. I feel that once I learn its properties I will be well on my way to throwing whatever I want in it.

My normal throwing clay for home is Standard Clay's 105 or 105G (with grog). Also I work with a red clay in the same series, 104. Recently my mother (who does a lot of glazing for me) asked if she could use mid-range stoneware glazes. This brought about a question in myself... can she? I know my 105 earthenware would never survive to those temperatures, but on the other hand, if I were to change clays, then it would be possible to fire higher without risk. In some ways, 105 is not a very versatile clay, but its easy to work with. I had previously used Standard's 551, VP Porcelain as my mid-range white clay. I had a love-hate relationship with it. It would throw thin, light and stretch easily, but it wasn't durable at all... many pieces in it broke before they were even fired. I was running low on clay the other day so I have obtained 100 pounds of a clay I have never worked with before... Standard's 563, a white mid-range stoneware that is completely vitreous at cone 6. I'm looking forward to trying it next week. The description I have read for it sounds a lot like 105, so I might be very happy with it, but no way to tell until its on the wheel.

ok, so I didn't start working with clay today until about 1:30... but it was 9:30 when I stopped for the day... so I'm not far from a full day of working with clay. I started the day with the intention of practicing bowls with rolled rims, and I threw several of them. A friend had asked me to make a q-tip container, and it came out more like a cotton ball container, so I might have to try that again tomorrow. In addition, I tried making a bottle... twice, and ended up making a vase both times. I have to go back to my artistic drawing board and remember how I used to throw bottles... maybe I should document how I do things and keep a record for my own reference. After throwing those pieces I made dinner, then went out for a bit and in general mucked around (WLW's suggested phrasing) for a while until some of the pieces were ready to trim. The 3 smallest bowls and the lid for the qtip container were ready to trim.. the other bowls wait to be trimming...most likely in the morning. The vases are good as is (and very light as is). 

Here is an instructional video that I used to get started with roll rimming my bowls by European ceramic artist, Simon Leach.

Many times people have asked me how to load a kiln. Many times I have failed to have the right words to describe it... tonight, Jared asked a simple question that summarized the process..."is it like playin Tetris?"... YES it is very much like playing tetris.. fill in as tightly as you can, leaving no gaps, but only putting pieces were they fit.