Ceramic Work, Spring Semester Review

Below is a review of the pieces I made during the spring semester.  Gordon Humphries graciously photographed my work again... I am so grateful.  

This set of tableware was a lesson in repetition, challenging myself to repeat the same form with precision.  It took about 2 weeks of about 4-5 hours of work to produce the set.  I made 10 of each piece which allowed me to throw out at least 2 that are odd, warped, cracked, ect.  These are all washed with cobalt and then soda fired, which has an effect similar to salt firing (the speckles).  The interior is white volcano ash.  The were all fired in the same firing, the kiln was still cooling when we left for Kenya.  I was really pleased with the work when I returned!

Bowls, small and large, as wel as a couple of serving bowls.  I really like the way they look stacked, it becomes very sculptural.  The foots are trimmed rather narrow which makes them appear to float.

The coffee mugs.  

I really like these, Matthew doesn't like the lip - they don't drink as smoothly as he would like.  

I really like the teapot.  Great placement in the kiln -it got plenty of soda, great coverage.  Leaf motif on lid.  It pours well too.

Pitcher and bread jar - both with great kiln placement.  Leaf motif on lid again.

These pieces were the experiment where I discovered the reaction with cobalt in the soda firing.

Avery slip, soda fired.  Spider legs

This is another play on the African motif, wax resist decoration.  The glaze was suppose to blush pink and green in the cone 10 gas firing but I must have mixed the glaze wrong.

I stumbled upon this glaze and mixed it up having no idea how it would come out... a nice surprise in the kiln.  Not sure the function of this piece... but I like it.

I really like the shape of this piece.  Lau luster glaze, copper carbonate, sprayed cone 6.

Lau Luster, Chrome Green glaze, sprayed, cone 6.  This piece reminds me of both a pine cone and an artichoke.  I was definitely playing with organic forms.

Lau Luster Glaze base, Chrome Green and Copper Carbonate, sprayed, cone 6.  I was definitely playing with organic forms here - bulbs and onions.  Love how dynamic this piece is - its different from every angle.

These vessels are wood-fired.  USC just build a wood kiln this year, these were included in the first firing.  The wood firing process takes 4 days, during which time the fire has to be constantly stoked with wood.  Pieces aren't glazed, the wood ash creates all the variation and patterns seen here.

These sculptures were soda fired with a cobalt wash.  The pair of forms is a play on the reversal or inversion of a form, challenging our notion of visual weight and stability.  I gave them to Gordon in exchange for the photography.

Last Big Push....

.... to get work through the kilns.  This is basically the last ceramic work I'll produce in South Carolina.  This weekend I tried to finish all my pieces before leaving for Africa.

In the last couple of weeks I made an 8 piece place setting of tableware.  Dinner plates, soup bowls, cups, saucers, and dessert bowls, as well as a tea pot, salt and pepper shakers, a pitcher and a large canister.  Alot of stuff!

These are packed in the soda kiln, being fired today.  Cobalt wash on the outside with a white liner glaze.  Loading this kiln is a chore... it's large and deep.  I spent a few hours squeezed in the kiln, stacking the shelves and arranging wear.  This is always a team effort... ceramics is a community endeavor. 

The kiln was fired today, it will cool tomorrow, and unfortunately I'll be in Kenya by the time they unload the wear for the big reveal!  Dang.  I hope it turns out well - can't wait to see photos!

Skirts for Africa

In preparing for our trip to Africa (next week!) (follow here!) I learned that women in rural Kenya are quite conservative in their dress.  Women do not wear pants or anything that is tight fitting.  I needed to find some long, loose fitting skirts to sustain me for our 3 week trip.  I did look in a few stores before deciding to make the skirts myself... but apparently skirts this season are widely available in two different styles: short and shorter.  This made my decision easy:  I'll just make a few skirts.  This coincided nicely with the work I was doing in my independent study printmaking class.  After choosing a simple pattern and deciding on fabric (the spring linen was on sale at Hancocks!).  I decided to give the skirts a new life and make them a bit more personal by printing them with original designs.  Using the same basic process that I used on my quilt: I carved various designs from the rubber stamp material and went to work printing with the textile printing inks.  

So these are the 3 textiles I created for the skirts.  Mums, gingko, and a bird motif.  Mostly fairly simple patterns that each repeat in a different way.  The gingko pattern (printed on the heaviest weight linen) is a simple grid type repeat.  The mum design (printed on a lightweight linen) was simply a large flower, about the size of a plate, and I masked out sections to create overlaps.  This was the pattern that was easiest and most fun to print.  I was able to design as I went, creating voids between flowers and overlaps.  

The bird motif, which is printed on a rust colored cotton knit, was the biggest headache.  The design was intended to be continuous, lines that were fluid meant to unite the individual repeats of the patterns.  This was a pain to design and almost impossible to keep consistent and straight while printing.   But after review the areas that don't line up aren't all that noticeable and, as my husband said, I'm the only person who will ever know the flaws of the print.

There are a couple of nice things about the skirts.  Its a nice medium to work with because a long skirt accommodates a large pattern easily.  I wasn't burdened by trying to repeat a small 2"x2" design on yards of fabric.  I each design is roughly in the 7"x9" range.  I cut the pattern pieces for the skirts first and then printed (so I didn't waste time printing areas that would not be used).  Each skirt took about 2.5 hours to print.  And as I mentioned, a nice long skirt is forgiving and I think the inconsistencies of the heaviness or lightness of the ink, and the areas that don't line up, all add to the handmade charm and nature of the product.

And this leads to a comment about process.  The process of printing on fabric by hand is still widely practiced in Africa and India.  The act of creation and participation in this process was a nice way of meditation and preparation for the trip.  There is something so basic and fundamental about textiles and clothing... a universal need and a universal method of expression.  I was engaging in a process that is not unique but a natural instinct, and greater than myself.

The final product!  Nicely modeled on my dress form.  I did go ahead and make a skirt without any  printed pattern because at heart this simplicity appeals to me, and it's also quite practical.  I also used another variation of the pattern for the odd skirt.  Each pattern is really simple: side seams, elastic waist, and a hem. I probably spent as much time printing each of the skirts as I did constructing them.  I was weary at first, during the printing and the construction, that I wouldn't like them... but the patterns have grown on me.  I hope (and this is the true test), that I will wear these again, outside of my trip.  That is always the sign of success for homemade clothing, not whether it fits well, or if it is well made, but if it is used.

Glaze Testing: Triaxial Blend

This is the world of glaze mixing.  Weighing different ingredients on a triple balance beam.  Many of the materials used in glaze chemistry are toxic - best to wear a mask to avoid inhalation.

I experimented with glaze colorants recently.  A Triaxial Blend is a precise and mathematic way of testing different glaze colorants.  This is how it works:  take a glaze base that produces a surface you like and you know is stable (I chose Lau Luster, a cone 6 matte glaze).   Make three equal batches of the glaze and mix a different colorant in each batch.  I chose Copper Carbonate (produces a pale blue green) (A), Cobalt Carbonate (strong blue) (B), and Chrome Oxide (chartreuse) (C).  

The colors are methodically blended using a percentage of each.  Each cup has 5 tablespoons of glaze.  At the peak of each of the triangles is the pure glaze, then as you move towards the center the glazes blend with each other.  A tile in the center may be 20%A, 20%B, and 60%C, which would be 1 tbsp A, 1 tbsp B, 3 tbsp C, and so on.  

Test tiles and color chart.

Glazed test tiles.

A stripe of copper carbonate oxide wash on the back of each.

This is much easier to understand, right!  The glazed results.  You can see the spectrum of colors created by the blending of the glazes.  It's easy to tell here that Cobalt is a very strong colorant compared to the copper carbonate.  I like tiles 9 and 14.

Look how nicely the oxide reacts with tile 9 glaze.  So now I  have created a unique glaze and can mix up a batch using the new colorant combination.

Soda Fired Pieces

Atmospheric kilns are a magical thing... an artist must wholly let go of all notion of precision and control and be ruled by the process.  Not two firings are identical and there isn't a sure way to predict the outcome.  With hesitation I let go and I was so pleased with the results.  I used Cobalt oxide wash and a variety of soda slips on these pieces.  Glazes used only on the interior.  

This series was originally fired to cone 6 in an electric kiln.  You'll notice that the following pieces that were re-fired in Soda are much changed.  I didn't make any other adjustment, the raw pieces were fired with the light oxide wash.  When soda is introduced into the kiln it becomes a glaze itself, and the way it interacted with the oxides left the speckled, shiny surface.  You will also notice the effect of being packed with many other pots - some areas receive more soda than others.  I love the effect - 'flashing'.  It implies movement within the object.  It invites you to turn the forms to see what happens on another side. 

 

 

 

These are all part of my initial series of African pots and forms.  I was so pleased with the way they came out in the Soda kiln - they are raw and organic and more beautiful than any type of prescribe surface I would have applied.