Ceramics Summer 2009

Ceramics Summer Inro Class 2009

Measurements and drawings for scaling up an iron for the second project.
The assignment was to enlarge an object.

I enjoyed the drawing, but making the iron was much more of a learning experience than the creation of a piece with which I'd feel comfortable putting my name on without a disclaimer!

Here the iron is, I left the flat front (separate piece, separate drying time, smaller size than desired - oops!) of the iron without any glaze. There were no slips applied to either piece, the white color on the body of the iron is what the clear glaze looks like before firing.

Our first project for the class was to design a "tile" from clay and make a mold of it, to then reproduce it in whatever manner fit for our initial design. I was allowing myself a simple enough design with ample negative and positive spaces to play with after the mold was made. And so, many variations were made, different underglazes were applied, or not applied, and clear second-fire glaze was applied very selectively. Please enjoy!

Here is the mold, above, made from plaster.
The tiles sit in the background.

A tiny button, also pressed from the mold!

I was told that they looked like they had been washed upon the beach and found. I was flattered by the comment, as it was my essential aesthetic goal!

Cervix and nipple patterns, no doubt. Merely concentric circles before the pink underglaze was applied! No clear, second-fire glaze. I had another that I made quite similarly, mostly regarding the pattern, but compressed it more after removing it from the mold so that it was simply more compact. I glazed it heavily, and I must say I prefer the one pictured above ten-fold!


Lovely experimentation. I played with a few underglazes, slips really, mostly achieving different colors from mixing them on my tiny palette. You can see the shiny parts are where the true "glaze" was applied. Glaze has silica in it that melts onto your ceramic piece and essentially becomes a thin layer of glass. To put it simply, this is the same thing that happens with colored enamel on metal.

When asked if I am going to take a course with glass, blowing molding, whatever, I always say no! It would be too easy to fall in love, I already have too many interests! Glaze and enamel will have to be enough glass for me, for now anyway. :)