This week, it feels like I have made quite a leap in terms of directions of enquiry and where I hope to start developing my practice from now on. My early test pieces have now come out of the kiln and there are some pleasing results as well as some not so pleasing results. I have also experimented with shape and size, throwing larger vessels which offer a bigger canvas to play with texture, shape and form. After speaking to Nick, it is interesting that there seems to be 2 distinct threads of enquiry. One looking at the means of excretion onto the form and the other drawing on my sketch book to replicate these landscape scene onto painted surfaces. In its simplest essence, liberation of application VS control and precision.
Pot 1: Vulcan Black , thrown pot with reclaimed stoneware clay, application with fingers whilst the wheel rotated at a steady speed. I have glazed the outside of the pot as well as the interior.
Pot 2: Vulcan Black , thrown pot embedded glass found along the Swale whilst mud larking. There is also specks of Swale mud pressed in around the pot. Glazed on the inside.
Pot 3: Vulcan Black , thrown pot with reclaimed Vulcan Black clay applied to one side of the pot and glass embedded. A small amount of white slip was also applied. This pot is glazed on the inside with a small amount of glaze dabbed onto the encrusted exterior. I applied a very small amount of lava glaze to see if this would add anything further
Pot 4: Vulcan Black, thrown pot with Vulcan Black and swale mud applied whilst the wheel was in rotation. Application of white slip using a brush flick was also applied.
Pot 5 : Vulcan Black , thrown pot, left for 30 minutes upside down in the reclaim slops. The exterior was embedded with found glass. Glazed on the inside.
Pot 6: Vulcan Black thrown pot with Vulcan Black reclaimed added with brush stroke
You can see on Vessel 4 and pot 6 the more controlled application on the clay. I’ve decided to leave these pieces as they are as the imprint that has been placed on the pots closely resemble the landscape scenes created in my sketch book and as such has encouraged me gain further inspiration from the artist Kyffin Williams whose use of oil paint applied on the canvas I think best represents the animated landscape in pictorial form. I’m interested in how I can represent this through ceramics, using light and texture to create this illusion.
Kyffin Williams Artist Study
I think the use of the vessel here is more as canvas rather than an integrated addition to the excretion on forms like my other vessels. With these vessels, using application of clay and extraction of clay, I’m trying to recreate some of these evocative scenes, similar to Kyffin Williams, using clay instead of oil to draw out 3 dimensional qualities. In doing so however, do I somehow loose that immediate feeling of horror presented in the pots which become encrusted/ consumed by the excretion onto form?
Porcelain Stoneware Mix
Reversing the materials used- Vulcan black encrusted on porcelain stoneware mix
I decided to change one of the variables to see what the outcome might be. Having used Vulcan Black for throwing for a number of months I thought it was time to shake things up a bit. I had not thrown porcelain before and although this was a porcelain and stoneware mix, I was surprised by it’s unusual texture, smooth to throw but quick to dry, creating a somewhat sticky feel. Taking these vessels off the hump proved to be a bit more tricky because of this. Although the shape of the pots were somewhat similar, varying size of the pots was obvious. I would like to work towards throwing more uniform pots with completely unique encrustations. I need to therefore get better at recording the dimensions of the pots thrown and be more disciplined in ensure that I take time to measure, throwing off the hump however means that this isn’t all that easy to do.
I was pleased with this particular tester pot and I am intrigued as to how this will come out from the kiln, will the shrinkage of the porcelain and stoneware mix warp and how will this affect the encrustation? If you look closely, you can see that I have also embedded glass found on my walks along the Swale, it will be interesting to see how this also reacts during the hire fire glaze stage.
Vulcan Black encrustation on porcelain stoneware pot
Vulcan Black slops with porcelain and stoneware shavings, dabbed with swale mud on a porcelain and stoneware pot
Stoneware and porcelain slip plastered onto a Vulcan Black thrown pot.
Porcelain Stoneware Mix
Experimenting with painted surfaces- Using the vessel as a canvas
Porcelain and Vulcan Black applied using brush stroke and the wheel in motion.
Porcelain and stoneware mix, carved and then Black Vulcan and white slip applied with sponge