Just a Few Words On
PROCESS
Much of my pottery begins with recycling clay. Scraps from my pottery wheel, broken pots, and leftover slip all get tossed into a bucket to be reconstituted into new workable clay. After the recycled clay is mixed uniformly, I need to dry it out to get it to a usable consistency.
At this point I can begin shaping, throwing, or building my clay. If throwing a piece on the wheel, I generally wait a day between throwing and trimming the pot. Depending on the complexity and shape, this process can take anywhere from two days to two weeks.
After the piece has dried completely, it is loaded into the kiln for it's first firing. After the initial firing, the piece is called bisqueware.
Next I mix glazes from raw minerals that I then suspend in water. The glazes must be sieved multiple times to ensure the correct dispersal of ingredients. Each glaze recipe is unique and must be tested before applied to the final pot.
The glaze is applied by dipping, painting, spraying, or more often than not, a combination of all three. After the glaze dries, the piece is loaded into the kiln again for its final firing.
I generally fire at a mid-range temperature (cone 6), with a top temperature reaching nearly 2270F. Between the heat-up and cool down process, I generally count on leaving my pots in the kiln for a couple of days before I see the final results. Opening the kiln after the final firing is kind of like walking into your living room on Christmas morning when you were a kid, except with the real possibility that Santa may have decided to stomp all over your presents before he left.
Pottery is full of variables: everything from the temperature and conditions of the weather, to the precise speed at which the kiln is heated and allowed to cool, to how the shelves are arranged within the kiln can produce vast differences in color, texture, and usability. Even two different types of glazes fired on pots sitting next to each other can change the final result.
Little Lump
of Clay
A lot of art forms claim to be the oldest known to man, but I quite think that pottery has them all beat. Manipulating the clay beneath your fingers, you get the feeling that you are connecting with something ancient.
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From Adam in his body of clay, to fragile shards left by our most ancient civilizations; from terracotta warriors, to magnificent celadon treasures: pottery connects myth and legend, time and space. From every corner of the globe, the ceramic arts bind us together as people of clay: bound up in earth and captivated by our ability to shape it into something beautiful. Clay is where pure creativity meets perfect functionality. A single pot could be used for carting water, baking, storing seeds, or an almost infinite variety of other uses, however also contained within this pot is the potential for an exquisite work of art.
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Simple clay, dug from deposits that have been buried for centuries is now ready to be reborn and reimagined into something completely new.
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RENEW, REUSE, RECYCLE
Each clay color is sorted into buckets and carefully kept separated during the recycling process. I have tried many different methods for recycling my clay. One of my favorites involves using a paint mixer attached to a drill and mixing the clay until it is smooth and the consistency of a thick milkshake. I then scoop the clay into canvas bags and hang them until much of the water has evaporated and the clay is ready to use.
SHAPING
THROWING, EXTRUDING, HAND-BUILDING
When it comes to making pottery, there are almost as many methods of shaping the clay as there are potters. I find that throwing on the wheel brings me peace and helps me feel centered. However, I also love experimenting and using many different building methods to produce my work.
Top Right: Extruded shapes that will eventually be made into test "tiles" for trying new glazes. Bottom Left: Teapot body, spout, and lid just off the wheel. It will be assembled after the pieces have firmed up that the body has been trimmed. Bottom Right: Platters thrown on wheel and then altered with a slip decoration slowly drying out on the shelf.
STAGES
Greenware, Bisque-Ware, Glaze-Ware
Top: Leather hard teapot just set aside to dry on the shelf with its newly attached handle. Bottom Left: Bisqueware teapot that has just been sprayed with glaze. The color of this glaze once fired will be a smokey blue-gray. Bottom Right: Bisque fired teapot and cups just unloaded from their first kiln firing.
BISQUE
Firing
In the bisque firing, pieces can be stacked and piled against each other. As long as everything is stable and the heat and air can move freely around the pieces, it is safe to pack them in. For this reason, I always end up needing to fire multiple glaze firings for every bisque firing I do. My kilns are both older models that I was able to pick up very inexpensively from retiring potters. Although I used to fire with a simple kiln sitter (device that turns the kiln off when a cone begins to bend), I eventually bought an electronic kiln controller to better regulate my firing schedules.
If the process is rushed, the results can be disastrous. In this firing (right) I loaded pieces that were not bone dry and then fired the kiln too quickly. The result: many of the pieces shattered. Some even shattered so violently that they broke neighboring vessels.
Time is everything in pottery. Waiting on a piece to be dry enough to trim but not so dry that it is brittle; moderating the drying process to increase strength and adhesion of parts; waiting until each piece is completely bone dry before firing; firing slowly and steadily and waiting with patience before the kiln is cool enough to pop that lid at the end of a firing: Every stage forces the potter to slow down and let go of control and wait for the correct moment.
MIXING GLAZES
Mixing glazes is really an art in itself. It takes practice, precision, and patience to make sure that each ingredient is properly measured and incorporated. Exact measurements are crucial since imprecision could result not simply in an undesired finish, but also in glaze spills that could potentially ruin very expensive kiln furniture and equipment. Unlike painting, the color of the glaze when it is applied to the pot bears almost no resemblance to the finished product, meaning that organization and proper note taking are crucial to keeping track of which glazes you have just applied to which pieces.
GLAZE FIRING
Far Left: Bisque fired cups awaiting glaze.
Near Left: Those same cups after the final glaze firing. I love the juxtaposition of graphic lines with the soft, subtle affect of a barely translucent glaze over the top. At it's best, this application creates a hazy, layered, beauty that is both elegant and multifaceted. I love this particular combination. The white slip applied when the clay was leather hard provides a light backdrop for the soft greens and blues in this glaze. At the same time, the higher iron content of the red clay body underneath produces depth and color variation.
From Green to
GOLD
Before clay is fired it is called greenware. All building and manipulation must be finished before the clay enters the kiln for it's first firing. After that, the clay has begun the process of vitrification: it is changing from a raw earthen material dug out of the ground, into durable, impermeable glass. Although glass is not generally thought of as strong, it in fact holds incredible powers of strength and durability. The same basic substance in a fragile porcelain teacup also makes up the solid bricks we build with, or the tiles still visible in the floors and mosaics of ancient buildings. Firing to very high temperatures begins to meld the particles inside the clay much like lava in a volcano. Firing to precisely the correct temperature for your clay body enables you to achieve maximum glasslike properties without compromising the shape and structure of your piece. Glazes further develop the durability, beauty, and functionality of a design. At its most basic, a glaze is simply colored glass applied like a powdery coat to the exterior of a pot. As the piece fires, the glass melts and flows across the surface of the clay creating a stunning variety of colors, textures, patterns, and finishes. As the glaze cools, more colors develop and sometimes crystals begin to emerge and grow. The resulting piece is always original, always itself, and is as different from its original substance as an acorn is from an oak. It has transformed from something fleeting and fragile, able to be washed away by a few drops of rain, to something that could be used and admired for centuries.
