Tales from an Apartment Dwelling Potter

While my clay classes at the College are finished for the Semester, I am not certainly not finished with clay!  I am now back to hand building Micaceous Clay Pots... which is why on any given day off from work, my apartment may look like this~

or this~

Mixing & Wedging Clay

 or this!

That is the nice thing about hand coiling pots, or doing clay sculpture work. While it would be great to have a real studio, if you are determined enough & are willing to deal with the mess & clean up involved, you can make it work in a fairly small space... in my case, it's my kitchen.

But luckily, I have another place to learn & work, because as it turns out, just as my classes were finishing up at the Community College, my  Micaceous Clay instructor was offering a clay class at his studio in Tijeras, NM. I've been spending my Saturdays there, and then trying to put into practice what I'm learning in my little "Kitchen Studio" back at home.

Above, my first pot from class. (In the drying stage. Keep in mind, all these pots are all Raw, needing several stages of scraping, sanding, burnishing/polishing & firing before they are finished!)

For my second pot, I chose to make a casserole. They are pretty challenging for me, so I  was pretty excited about this one!

Until I flipped it over for drying & this happened~ Arrrrggh! I've never had a pot crack this humongously before!

Bummer.

But! A perfect opportunity to test out what I like to call "The Apartment Dwellers Clay Recycle System." 

I had another pot to recycle as well. (During the drying stage, it had developed a very small but critical crack near the bottom of the pot.)

After a bit, it looked like this.

In goes the cracked casserole.

I smashed it into pieces & let it soak in water.

Over the next several days, I stirred it & let it soak... pouring off the excess water at the top.

I then transferred it to an old pillow case, and lined a clay box with a trash bag, so that the excess moisture wouldn't make a huge mess all over the floor. After several days of flipping it, it still was not getting dry enough, so I transferred it to another pillow case- this one split open to increase the surface area to air ratio. 

I put it outside in the dry summer air... keeping an eye on it & turning/mixing it as needed. Is this exciting stuff, or what?!

 Soon enough it was back to the right consistency & I wedged it back up as you see above...

Recycled Clay Pot

and gave it new life in the form of a bean pot.

:)

I also made another casserole to replace the one that didn't make it.

Pics before & after the handle is added.

This time it dried fine except for a crack in the lid where the handle was added, but that can be repaired, which I am working on now.

Another bean pot...

(I cut the rim down significantly from what is shown here.)

and another.

:)

This pot I made w/ the help of my instructor last saturday. It's a fluted casserole dish, and I find the form to be quite lovely. I found it so lovely in fact, that I made another one today! Getting over my attachment to every piece, I also recycled another pot today. It was a little on the thick side, & I decided I wasn't really crazy about the shape, sooooo...

After a few hard thunks on concrete, and a little hammering action... back into the bucket it goes.

It'll be interesting to see what this one turns into after the recycle process!

:)

My Favorite Piece Ever... & Other Clay Stuff :)

Polar Bear~ Hand Coiled & Shaped, Ann's Soda Clay Body, Cone 10 Soda Fired,
 Satin Mint Green Modified Glaze.
Dimensions: 13" Long, 9" High, 6" Wide

I had built this bear a few weeks ago & it was one of the last of my pieces to go into the kiln. While I will generally find something that I don't like about whatever it is I'm making, when I finished building this piece, I absolutely fell in love with it. The posture, form, & shape of the bear all came together in terms of what I have been working towards. Now, you know that can all change when you do your glaze work... I have had many a piece that I have ruined with funky glazing. Fortunately, I had been testing this glaze (Yup~ Satin Mint!) in my Glaze Calc Class for the last half of the semester at least... on various clay bodies & with different variations & additions of color, so I had at least a general idea of how the glaze would look. I've included several views so you can see the glaze effects form different angles.

Click to enlarge any image for greater detail :)

I was really beyond ecstatic with the results! The guys that loaded the kiln had placed it facing the Soda... so the blueish crystal effect on his nose & foot are a result of that placement & the reaction of the soda & the glaze. While soda firing can be unpredictable, I think sometimes that is the beauty of it... and I don't think it could have worked out any more perfectly in this case!

:)

It is my piece de resistance! Everything else I got of the kiln seemed to pale in comparison, and I had A LOT of stuff in the final firing. I will not bore you with it all, but will share a few things. I tried to do a series of bowls/cups with the dark brown clay in attempt to achieve the same results I did here. No such luck! I used the same clay body, same glaze, and same firing technique.

The two above were about the closest I got to the effect I was looking for.

But check this out- and I am not kidding you! The inner glaze on the bowls above are the same glaze on the inside, same clay body... and were in the exact same kiln!

Same thing with this bowl! This tells me two things- this particular glaze & the soda fire combination yield very unpredictable results!

This was one of my last bowls of the semester- the shape is not great, but I love the glaze... it's the Ronbeck Blue that was developed in my glaze calc class- over Bailey's Red.

This was the inside of another bowl w/ the Ronbeck Blue... I didn't have time to photograph it properly... off it went to it's new home in Seattle w/ my best friend who was here visiting.

:)

"Oso"

This was the bear that I had made for a friend at work. It was supposed to turn out with that coppery somewhat iridescent finish... but It came out more of an oilslick finish. I can live with it... though it is no Satin Mint Green!

:)

These were some of the series of little bears that I had made... I was actually going for the oilslick finish on these. These are not glazed- the effect is simply from the clay body & the soda fire. I did not photograph them all, as they would not all fit on my little background paper. I've enjoyed making them, but I think for future sculptural clay work, my plan is to keep working on the larger Polar Bear form. It's been a great semester & I feel like I've learned a lot. Though I am a little sad to see it end, I'm also looking forward to having more time to get out & about & do some of the other things I love. 

Happy May Everyone... and thanks for visiting!

:)

Kiln Alchemy :)

Just got some work out of the kiln that I am really excited about! As you may recall, I was not getting a lot of results that I was super crazy about w/ the recycled clay I was using this semester. After seeing some results a classmate had using a darker (but more expensive) clay body, I figured I'd give it a go. I had actually used this clay while taking a class @ Santa Fe Clay last year & had liked some of the results, but never achieved results like this. FYI~ these were all fired in the soda kiln, which is also a new experience for me... & I find the results quite intriguing.

Laguna Dark Brown Clay- Spotted Shino inside, Coleman Teadust outside, Salt Fired, Cone 10

It's my favorite piece of the semester so far!

Check out the inside surface- It is truly Alchemy!

I tested it on one of my little bears too & thought it made for an interesting surface.

I ended up making 32 of these little guys. I was going to glaze them all like this, but I changed my mind. While I'll definitely glaze some more like this, I also wanted to test some other glazes. I currently have 12 still drying, 10 in the bisque kiln & 9 glazed & awaiting firing.

Interestingly, this bowl was dipped in the same glaze as the top one, but 2 dips instead of one- the effect came out totally different. I like it o.k, but nearly as much as the top one.

This was a test cup. The glaze was made in my glaze calc class from mixing 1/2 of the slop from my Satin Mint Triaxial & 1/2 of the slop from a classmates triaxial (Peach Bloom Glaze- modified.) It's a little drippy, but I like it for inside surfaces. (I also tested this clay on one of the bears w/ the dark brown clay- can't wait to see how it turns out!)

More test cups- using Ann's Soda Clay, flashing slip, Purple Haze liner & dip.

Ooooh, I also got all my new triaxial tests back, minus 1 tile that went MIA. (It's like the 1 sock that goes missing when you do laundry!) I retested the Ann's Soda clay body on the left, and High Hills on the right. 

Out of the 21 points on the triaxial, these 3 were my favorites. I hope to use a combo of these three to glaze the big bear, which has been patiently waiting on my shelf for the past 6 weeks or so! We are quickly coming up towards the end of the semester- just when I feel I'm getting into the swing of things. I've been super busy, trying to get as much done as I can... because the more I do, the more I learn... and that learning is just good stuff!

:)

Fixing What's Broken

Well, my big cartoon bear didn't make it through the bisque fire. Interesting though, the way the chunk of him popped off. I expected perhaps he'd crack or something... rather than lose a chunk. When I opened the kiln, there it was... a chunk just lying there... all nondramatic-like! I did feel my heart sink... but it was for only a brief moment...this is just what happens in the clay game when you're learning. (Not to mention when you're trying out new clays,& trying to go bigger than you have the skill level for!)

When I built him, I recall having to add clay to the inside in certain areas where the slabs felt too thin. It looks as though I trapped some air or moisture in between the two slabs... and my slipping & scoring looks poor upon examination. I couldn't see giving him the heave-ho, just because I can't glaze & fire... so I decided to patch him up. 

I used a little E-600 industrial strength glue to put him back together, then a little outdoor paint. 

You can still see the outline of the crack on the top, but that honestly doesn't bother me. I may or may not add a bit more texture, but definitely he'll need some sealant to finish him off. Now, if I just had a yard & a garden, I'd put him in it!

The Blank Canvas... AKA Experiments in Clay

For a painter, it may be a blank canvas. For a printmaker, a copper plate or block of wood. For a clay loving girl with Big Ideas...  my blank canvas is a couple of bags of clay & a space to work. Given some of the dilemmas in class, I decided to start working at home & see what I could do. (Have I mentioned how small my place is??) My goal was essentially just to push my own boundaries of what I could do w/ clay & to experiment w/ going bigger... with limited knowledge on how to go about doing it.

For my first work space, I covered my little kitchen table with canvas and tried to keep things neat & orderly... ha ha! What was I thinking?! It soon looked like this~

I know, I know... what a mess! But once I started, I was committed to seeing it through... which made my little apartment less of living space & more of a studio. I started with legs... building a foundation first. Beginning with the coil method, I then added slabs to build up. After many hours, I had four misshapen "legs." These I brought over to workspace # 2... just a few feet from my kitchen to my living room. (I had gotten a piece of scrap board from Home Depot, some canvas & blankets & placed on the ottoman... and Whala! A stable workspace.)

I  have to admit, I was beginning to feel a bit frustrated at this point. Not just at my lack of skill, but at the lack of adequate space... and the fact that despite my best efforts, I seemed to be getting clay everywhere! But I had to keep going!

I rolled out some more slabs and began to build the belly,

and the sides of the body. Each slab must be slipped & scored, and you must try to keep a the moisture level at a consistent level, otherwise they won't adhere properly to each other, and can crack or explode in the kiln. Hence the bag over the neck- trying to keep it moist while letting the midsection dry/stiffen up just a bit.

Adding more slabs... piece by piece. Too big of a slab will just collapse.

The body in its rougher form. Rolled foam to support the weight outside...

and inside!

Hmmmm... this is where things got really frustrating: the addition of the head. I wasn't sure if I should build a loose formed head & attach, or keep going piece by piece. I chose the former... and that just didn't work~ so I cut the head off & continued with building from the neck out.

This was tricky work!

And I found it hard to maintain the shape of the head.

The last addition... closing the form.

Still not happy w/ the shape of the head... I tried paddling it into shape, which ended up making the head even smaller. I thought at this point it looked more like a giant thumb!

So, I had to do surgery... and split his head open to try & widen it a bit.

Still too small, but at this point, having redone the head three times, I was done!

I was going to leave it at that, but it was looking a little "bald" to me, so I decided to add some features.

I'm not so great at features, which is why I usually leave the face blank! 

The semi- finished bear, shown with others I've created to show scale. It's about a foot tall & roughly 2 feet in length.

While not at all realistic (I call it my "cartoon bear") and perhaps having a head that resembles Yoda... It seems to be drying well & with only some tiny superficial (I hope) cracking on the underbelly. We'll see what happens... It's still got quite a bit of drying... then there's the transport from apartment to school... and if it survives all that, into the kiln it will go! So, only time will tell. It's all a learning experience right?

But I'll tell you what... I don't think I'll be trying to build anything this large again in my little place anytime soon!

:)