Two vases: Leaves, soil and Sun, 3 and 4

Leaves, Soil and Sun

Wheel-thrown; decorated with slips and glazes. Stoneware; fired to cone 6, in an electric kiln. Ht: 5″; dia: 5″

Life returns, yet again, each spring. I see grasses, reeds and blossoms, bursting forth from the still damp grainy surface of the earth; all bathed in the sun.

To enhance the variety of tones, I trail lines of thick slip onto the still raw clay. These create a surprising roughness, contrasting with the smoothness of the light glaze wash, green for foliage, ochre for soil. Grains of ilmenite sprinkled from my fingertips create an added sense of depth. Sometimes, as a reference to twigs and branches, I apply light dry-brush strokes of black.

Moss on Black

Height: 30 cm, 30 cm; diameter at base: 9 cm

Here, I was trying to find colour combinations that worked, that complemented one another, against the dark clay. With these two cylinders, I first darkened the black clay (which once fired turns into a dark tan shade) by sponging black underglaze all over, and, in places, with two coats.

Once bisque fired to cone 06, I used a glaze which is sensitive to the thickness of the coat, and to the surface beneath it. I knew the mossy green glaze would give me a variety of tones, and then all I had to do was add another squirt with a slip trailer, and a few splatters with a glaze-loaded toothbrush. Finally, I used the atomiser for a light spray of transparent over the remaining blackened surface.

The result was Moss on Black.

Stoneware. Black clay, underglaze and glazes, poured and splattered. Fired in oxidation to cone 6

Liana

Pair: Height: 30 cm; diameter at base: 9 cm

Creepers, reaching to the light.

Stoneware; black clay, fired in oxidation to cone 6

The black clay, which once fired, turns brown. Here the raw clay is coated with sponged on black underglaze to achieve a darker colour. Yellow slip is then squirted with a thick swoosh onto the still raw surface. Once bisque fired, other glazes are applied using either a slip trailer or a brush.

Ironwood bark

Slab-built, with white stoneware clay; textured, cut away at rim.

Twice fired to cone 6. For the first firing, I poured a shino glaze to cover the entire piece. For the second firing, I first made adjustments to the amount of glaze on the ridges, then added a matte, dark glaze into the crevasses, enhancing the contrast between the thicknesses of the bark).

Stoneware, fired to cone 6, in oxidation. Height: 30 cm; width at base: 10 cm

Sign of Spring

Slab-built, using white stoneware clay, then coated with a porcelaneous slip, turning the surface into a white canvas for my design.

A tree emerges from the long, dark winter, to bloom with the first hints of spring. I throw, blow, squirt and drip glaze and oxides onto the lightly-damp surface. A small amount of transparent glaze, blown onto the bright yellow heaps of of yellow stain held it solidly in place during the firing.

Fired to cone 6, in oxidation.

Swirling depths

Slab-built, with a dark black clay, finished on the wheel; the rim cut away to firm waves.

To provide a variety of dark black tones, darker than the grey that the black clay would become once fired, I dipped a small, rough sponge in black underglaze, and swept it up the length of the vase, several times. I wanted to create a sense of moving waters, and swirling vegetation in the depths. The first step was pouring a thin layer of a matte, olive-grey glaze, from the top, and down, holding the cylinder at a sharp angle. This glaze, when applied thin over the dark surface, turns ashen, a lovely surface over which to squirt streams of yellow slip, tinged with rutile, sunlight reflecting off the swirling kelp. A few quick strokes of black, high-grit glaze applied with a hard-bristled brush, further break up the surface.

Stoneware, fired to cone 6, in oxidation.

Paired cylinders: Bark

So many possibilities, as I plan my cylinders. Shall I use porcelain, or black clay? Shall I create a highly-textured surface? Shall I forcefully distort the surface? Shall I use slips? Squirt the slips, adding grit, frit, sand, rust? Shall I throw the slip on, pour it on, blow it on? Make it so thick that it cracks in the firing? When, while the slip is still damp? Or wait till tomorrow? Slab built, then finished on the wheel.

For the pieces shown below, I shaped them using slabs of white clay, keeping the neck wide enough for my hand to reach down inside, allowing me to finish them off on the wheel. Did I use porcelain? No. But to enhance its whiteness, I coated the leather-hard piece in a porcelaneous slip (Frost). Did I create a highly-textured surface? No. But using a hard-bristle, broad paint brush, I roughed the surface by adding heavy grit to the dark glaze. Once bisque fired, I applied a few quick free-hand squirts of a yellow/orange slip. Finally, using an atomiser, I applied a fine layer of a glossy, transparent glaze over the remaining white surfaces.

Stoneware, fired to cone 6, in oxidation. Height: 31 cm; Dia. at base: 8.5 cm.

Bark vase: shino and crawl

Some of us at ClayWorks have been experimenting with Falls Creek Shino, which works quite nicely in oxidation to cone 6 (depending of course on application thickness, specific gravity, clay used, and all the other parameters that come into play). Initial tests were promising, so I used it on this piece. The result was good, but I hadn’t really thought about this shino actually giving quite a glossy finish, something I didn’t want for these pieces. I hid it away for a while, and wondered.

What about pouring another, more matte glaze over the entire piece, and hope the cylinder survives a second glaze firing? Given the ruggedness of the vessel, I wondered whether a crawl would do the trick.

Whether it still looks like bark, I don’t know. But the satin white glaze has broken up beautifully as it slipped into the crevasses of this shino-glazed cylinder.

Hand-built, stoneware slab, moulded against bark.

Fired to Cone 6, in oxidation.

Ht: 31 cm; dia. at base: 8 cm