firing results 2

The contour/wire mark/electrical tape inspired small beaker set;

These look good, although it does not show up that well in the photos, the inside is a beautiful pale duck egg blue

And I like the way they look and interact as a small group.

While the strong colour contrast of the sgrafito lines works here, I would like to make a very subtle white-on-white / cream-on-white version. And maybe expand this design to other vessels and shapes.

contour beakers

Following on from earlier experiments trying to represent wire and contour lines on slip-cast beakers, I produced a small set carrying forward the more abstracted line idea. The outside is sponged with black slip with incised lines, the inside in sponged with pale turquoise slip. All will be covered in clear glaze.

Some of the random lines of each beaker line up nicely with their neighbours on this set so forming a continuous line across all four.

I love sponging on slip, especially on to slip-cast forms. It is a really old and rustic technique that adds texture while softens and de-industrializes the sometimes cold and uniform slip-casts.

rust tiles

Its half term so I have a little more time to play with clay this week. First up is an attempt to see if rust prints can translate into glaze.

I glazed two ready made biscuit fired tiles with a clear glaze. Then I placed a rusty and damp wire sculpture on top of the still slightly damp glaze, added a weight and left it all for 30 minutes. The result was ok but the wire a bit too bendy and the tile has no give so the pattern did not transfer completely. It looked a bit stark so I flicked some rusty water over the image and tried re-pressing a few times. It now looks a bit scruffy but more interesting than the first incomplete press. I cant wait to see if the iron oxide stains the glaze successfully...

kiln unloading; wire & paper

I did a biscuit and glaze firing over the last couple of days, firing the first few bits of my course related pieces. Being a bit experimental, some have come off well and others not worked. But I am excited by the process and it is throwing up new ideas.

1. wire

 

The basic wire sgrafito looks ok but a bit basic. The more abstract, contour based sgrafito however looks good and is an idea which could be taken further. I think a set with turquoise inner and this decoration outside would look great.

2. paper-cut

Less successful. The painted on cobolt solution looks scruffy and the sponged on slip is ok but too dark and the shapes too large for the pot. The dark colour against a white background is too stark for me too.

I do have ideas to take this forward though and am sketching more designs from a Portuguese tile source book. Rather than decorating the whole pot I am looking at doing a narrow vertical band, maybe two shapes wide, but with much smaller shapes than above. And maybe sponging a background colour to give texture and match the patterns tone more rather than stark white.

wire sculpture update

Taking the wire sculpture inspired beakers from a few weeks ago, I have continued and abstracted the lines a bit, referencing the electrical tape drawings we did in the first week and merged the wire and contour styles; 

I like this look - its definitely working a lot better than the earlier ridged wire replicating lines.

rust prints

Leaving a wire sculpture in salty sea water for a few days brings on a great coat of rust. Rust, iron oxide, is a stable pigment which can be used to create prints. Here I have pressed heavy paper under my rusted horse jaw wire.

I think this should be able to be used on ceramics - maybe worth trying pressing the rusty and damp wire onto a freshly glazed tile OR rolling the rusty and damp wire into fresh clay to make a tile with an impression and a stain?

wire sculpture

Week two and we are drawing and sculpting in wire bringing to life our cross-contour drawings.

The flat wire drawings can be left in salt water and left to rust, the iron oxide then being used to make a rust print on heavy paper. Could a rust print be done onto a freshly glaze dipped tile? Iron oxide would be a good heat stable stain. An experiment for later perhaps.

I think that the wire sculptures and cross-contour drawings will lend themselves well to ceramic decoration.

A small slip-cast beaker and a small wire sculpture. The idea is to replicate the wire lines on the outside of the pot...

Using sgrafito - a white pot is covered in black slip and then the wire pattern is carved through

Using a paintbrush, black pigment is painted onto the white clay surface. Less successful as I have little skill with a paintbrush and the black pigment spreads over the surface whenever the pot is touched looking messy. Think I will be sticking to sgrafito.