Being Your Own Inspiration

Many times we go to workshops, seminars and conventions, listen to lectures, buy books, watch demonstrations, try our hand at new techniques and become inspired to create new works.

It's good to feed that creativity and sharpen skills,

But

Sometimes in all the flood of the new, the exciting, the dazzle, we can lose ourselves.

That's why it is a good idea to keep alive all the essence of what you and you alone can do.

Keep a good record of your work to remind yourself where you were going with a certain piece; make a note of construction, alterations, glazing and firing as well as what inspired you to make it or what your thoughts were while you were in the process.

I used to think I would make only one piece each time, but I have come to think that making two is better, at least for me.

 I also like to set the finished work in front of me and take a good look at it. I make notes about what problems I encountered, what surprises happened and what I would do if I made it again.

Those are written in the margins of my journal that I keep as I throw or construct work, through the glazing process and after firing. That way the whole history of a piece is located in one place. And I don't really care if it is messy or not. Sometimes fast is better than neat.

A "Racer"

In every kiln firing, there is usually one piece that comes out better than you dreamed. Some people call them "Racers". 

Here's my racer.

This thing has been setting around on a shelf waiting to be fired for a long time. It's big. There hasn't been a firing that allowed a free shelf, so this piece got put off and putt off. 

But this guy made it into the OVERFIRE kiln. Yikes. All these glazes are supposed to be good up to cone 6. I don't know how hot the last kiln got because the thermocouple malfunctioned. The chances of duplication? almost nil.

I do know that this is celadon and iron applied over it.

 

It did blister a bit, but no explosions or craters. 

I just love it. It's a keeper.

Bottles

This grouping of bottles are from a few years ago....They are a little bottom heavy, but in the case of making bottles, that's not a bad thing.

I was experimenting with corks and came up with an idea to cap a wine cork by glueing a top onto the cork after it was fired. Getting the measurements just right is a bit of a hassle, but the cork is secure and fits. I used Goop to attach it to the top.

I really like the way the celadon pooled over the white glaze in the short pot.

I made applied 'buttons' as decorations. The button is actually patterned with a real antique button mold. I made the mold with clay, fired it, then pressed the soft clay button into the bisque mold to reproduce the original button form. You could do this with many different kinds of molds to make all kinds of button decorations on your pots.

The small piece only has a sort of spike shaft at the bottom of the cap. It rattles around right now, but I will find the right cork and hollow it out to fit the shaft.

I like the balance of this tall bottle. Great for single branches and tall flowers. Ridges and finger rings add interest to the shape. There's a lot of exploring to do just in where the rings are placed on the form.

This smaller "buttoned" vase goes with the larger corked one. I believe I made it first, then made it's 'sister'.

Click below for a larger image

Veggie Porcelain

Just playing around with left over pieces of clay, I made these little pill/needles cases that can double as Christmas tree ornaments.

It's fun to try new ideas like this.

Each piece is about 2 inches long: A bunch of celery, carrots and beets and a single asparagus spear.

They are hand molded, hollowed out and a tiny cork is glued in to make a stopper.

They are glazed with a clear glaze and an application or layers of liquid stain thinned with water to make the finish look like watercolor.

I worked from light to dark, layering color over the last after it dried. I couldn't get a vivid red for the beets, so I used fingernail polish just as you would use a lacquer--after all, that's really what it is.

Maybe I should think of making fruit and vegetable whistles?

Two Pitchers

More from my files:

I often wonder if pitchers are going to be a thing of the past. At one show I where I had a booth, a potter remarked to me that the younger generation hardly knows what they are.

If you think about it, we don't use pitchers nearly as much as earlier generations did.

Nearly all our liquids come in either plastic or cardboard-like boxes.

These two pitchers are literally worlds apart.

The Chinese one looks like castle walls, roof tiles, curly toed boots and heavy fur-lined coats. I find it interesting that the structure above the handle serves no purpose except decoration. The pitcher is solid. straightforward and no nonsense. I also like the idea of the lid.

The glaze is perfect for the form.

This pitcher is all elegance and practicality at the same time. It is designed to hold a lot of liquid.

The spout would certainly pour and do that generously. I'm guessing it is a large piece meant to hold water or a liquid that would be used liberally. It's primary use was probably for water.

The handle is hefty, yet very decorative. It's almost too light for the rest of the vessel. Because it is decorated in a reference to a dog head, I would guess it was made in either France or Germany, since both those countries used that motif in their handles.

The design touch of banding serves as to emphasize the wonderful curve of the pouring lip, the roundness of the body. What an elegant piece.

Charmer

Since I can't get to my studio to work, I thought I'd share a few pictures of pots I've grabbed off the web to dream over.*

This little gem comes with not much information. All the information is in what the eye can see.

It's either Japanese or made during the period of high influence from Japan and China. You can guess just by looking at it that it isn't large; it's probably very light in the hand.

It's interesting both in form and decoration. The piece probably was mold-made. It is more than likely porcelain and has an applied lid knob and handle. The triangular shape is unique.

Two things tip you off to know it's made in the East: The side-mount handle and the spout, which hearkens to saki-pot pourers.

Just look at that glaze design! Almost like someone had taken glue and layered the pot with fine brocade. And what a sensitive bounce of bluish white and dark navy. That fine white line all around the rim sets off and calls attention to the triangular shape. A sensitive design element that adds grace to the pot.

How I would love to handle this pot. To turn it over and see what the base looks like, what clay was used, to try pouring out of it. (Although you already know it would do an excellent job with nary a drip.)

What an inspiration to use for shape and decoration.

*If you have a Mac, it's easy to click on a jpeg, drag it to the desktop, let it go. It will sit there waiting to be opened or drug into another folder to be stored for later viewing. I usually re-name the file as a memory aid, or if I know who made the piece, the artist's name.

Two Beauties

A few weeks ago, I went to a flea market/antiques fair and found these beautiful pieces. They are porcelain lab ceramics made by the Coors company. Both are about 5 inches in diameter at the rim.

I just couldn't resist......Their shape is so beautiful and the form of the pour spout is perfect. The smaller one is only glazed on the inside and about an inch down the outer rim. The bisque is a pleasure to feel. They are perfect on the inside--no cracks or stains. The spout on the smaller one has a tiny chip on the lip that will grind out easily.

I felt I 'rescued' these pieces. They were sitting on a bargain table labeled, Each Item - $5.00. The vendor sold me both for a total of $5.00!

My first thought was they would make perfect molds, but I brought them home and put them on a cabinet in the living room and there they have sat ever since. They are just nice to look at.

Mystery Flower Pot

Every once in a while, I run across a pot on the web and wonder about making one similar.

Here's a rather strange one.

I wonder who designed it and why.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Saint-Cloud_porcelain shows a detailed photo of the piece.

The side portions are designed to be flower holders.

They would keep a stemmed flower upright. Daffodils? Tulips?

But what are the four other holes in the middle for?

Maybe to hold cord for a hanging pot? That would then mean it wasn't designed it sit on a table as a centerpiece. But somehow, it doesn't look like a hanging pot either.

This was made in a period of highly experimental china making. So who knows how it was used. One thing I know, pieces were not made with holes without a reason.....so I like to imagine: An elaborate Dutch shoulder yoke sat between two of these pots suspended with cords?

A search for St. Cloud yields several short articles about the company and lists collections that pieces can be found in, but not much else.

A mystery.

A Square Bead

This is a solid bead. Made of porcelain.

I haven't a clue what I'm going to do with it.

I just like it.

Think I'll make some more.

A Porcelain Pendent

This is a test of using porcelain to create a pendent as a centerpiece for a necklace.

I'm thinking multiple strands of seed beads, possibly blue, to flank both sides of the pendent. It would need to have a central anchor threaded through the top with discrete loops on both ends to support the addition of the beads. --Still a work in progress-- The thread is to remind me of an alternate way to attach the pendent.

This piece was made primarily to see how the particular clay I had would turn out and the firing technique would work. The piece is unglazed on the back.

The piece is glazed with a clear glaze and fired at a cone 5-6 oxidation.

I think it has potential.

Sometimes ya just gotta do something tedious.

I really don't know why.



I learned how to do this technique when I took a class from Galina Rein, a Russian artist who emigrated to Seattle several years ago. It's basically forming tiny flowers and design elements with the fingers and attaching them to a basic form. I use cast-off dental tools to attach the tiny components. This topper is about 4 1/2 inches tall.

After the class I went nuts making porcelain Christmas tree ornaments, light string-pull endings, pins, earrings, and wedding cake toppers.

The second topper pictured has two components. It is a bell and base. The bottom of the bell is slightly out of round so that it sits on top of the base and, by twisting it, seats onto the holders so that it becomes one unit.





I experimented with texturing the base with a needle tool. I rather like it, but it needs more experimenting.

This piece stands about 5 inches tall.






They take FOREVER to make.
They can't dry out AT ALL.
I don't know why I make them; nobody could afford one, I'd have to charge so much for it.

After make one of these, I gotta go sling some glaze or something.

What a Difference a Glaze Makes, part 2

These examples are roughly the same shape. They're the salt and pepper shakers I make both in singles and/or in sets. These are singles because they are experiments with form and glaze. The pear on the left is glazed in only celadon. It's an early one. The second has an underglaze of black applied to the piece when was raw clay. I brush the underglaze on using a slowly spinning wheel. Same form - very different outcome: One composed, quiet, the other zany and playful. The black & white one reminds me of an Italian clown's striped leggings.

This is how I make them: I put about 1 1/2 lbs. porcelain on the wheel, center, then make a donut shape by opening a hole that goes straight down to the wheelhead in the center. I form a cone-shape that's about about an inch+ tall, wide at the bottom, narrow at the top with a tiny hole at the apex. The hole is small enough that the head of a dressmaker's pin would pass through--bead sized.

Then I carefully pull the sides up into a pear shape closing the form at the top and sealing the air within. (You can modify the shape once the pear is sealed, manipulating the trapped air.)

I set it aside for a day or until it becomes firm enough to have the application of a stem and/or leaves on the top. Keep it on the batt. Sometimes I carefully indent the top before affixing the stem. A leaf or two can be formed and added too, but keep in mind how you're going to deal with the underside of the leaf when it comes time to glaze. I usually make them pretty form-fitting to the pear.

Then I let the pear dry on the batt. When it's ready to come off, I smooth the bottom, sign the clay and set it on the self to be fired. Sometimes I wax the very bottom and just set it on the kiln shelf; other times I stilt the piece, as in this shot.

How do they work you ask? You will notice there are no holes in the top. Everything goes it and comes out the bottom. It's physics. You turn the pear over and pour the salt/pepper in through the cone which now acts as a funnel, gently rotate the pear upright and when you want seasoning, just shake the thing straight up and down. The cone has retained the granules inside by forming a donut-shaped reservoir inside, when you shake it the salt or pepper flies up to the top on the inside and some falls out the tiny hole at the top of the cone. Depending on how large the hole is, the more stingy or generous the fall-out is. One customer, after puzzling over how the thing worked, suddenly 'got it' and said, "Isn't it great when physic works?"

Ray Guns

I just noticed an article in Wired about a potter who is makeing raku ray guns. They're really nice. You can find them at http://blog.wired.com/tableofmalcontents/2007/04/ufo_ray_guns_in.html.


I've been making ray guns for several years and also do them on the wheel, but they're made from procelain and used a clear glaze fired at cone 6. On the first two, I selected primary colors in order to relate to the colors used in cheap, shiny plastic toys. Sometimes I have used underglazes and sometimes overglazes. The first one is named "Molecular Redistributor".

The second is "If Mars Attacks" and has more overglaze treatment, though it is difficult to see the difference. Both "If Mars Attacks" and "Molecular" were exhibited at "Toys Designed by Artists" at the Arkansas Art Center in Little Rock AR and "The Whmsical Clay" show in Beverly, MA a couple of years ago.

The white ray gun, "Ectoid Extractor" , has not been shown anywhere yet. I have a mate to this one still in the studio yet to be assembled. I like the white shiny surface and glass combination.

The darker fourth gun is "Lunar Artifact" and it was included in the Whimsical show at the end of last year.

Paul Lewing's China Paint & Overglaze

Paul REALLY knows his stuff. This is a great book. This book covers so much territory, it's a mini history of an area of ceramics that has not been addressed in such a contemporary way. With this book, Paul has created benchmark and a major reference as an example for others to use in this kind of research. It's a great resource not only for potters, but historians, china painters, antique dealers and collectors.

I know how long he has been working on this and the results are stunning. I'm savoring this book in bits in order to absorb the amount of information that is packed between the covers. Paul not only is tackling the subject full-on from the origins and progression of china decoration through cultures, there's a complete data dump of technical aspects; tools, chemistry and technique. Makes ya want to run, RUN to your studio and start working! (Big problem there, since I usually get my reading in while all tucked up in bed between 9 p.m. and 10 or 11 o'clock at night.)

Beside being a luscious book to look at, it's a generous one. The narrative is easy, just like talking to Paul, and completely comprehensible. He holds nothing back, giving everything he knows and he knows a lot. I'm so glad the publisher, The American Ceramic Society, splashed out in heavy-duty slick pages and beautiful color photographs.

You may need two copies. One to keep pristine in your house and one to paw over in the studio! Go to Paul's webpage at www.paullewingtile.com to order the book.