October 7, 2016

  • Seeing Red

    The kiln at the ceramics studio has been working over time. There was a little bit of a backlog of pieces waiting to be fired. Amazingly I got several pieces back! This piece was a little bit of an experiment. First I used white stoneware clay mixed with porcelain. That is not an ideal mix for several reasons. First the 2 types of clay have different shrink rates so it is really hard to gauge how big to make something to account for the shrinkage. Secondly if the clay is not mixed well when it fires (the shrink rates being different) might cause cracking or separation. And lastly, glazes look different based on the clay body color making it a gamble on what color you will get. Speaking of glaze I experimented with layering of the glaze. Usually when I use the glaze I will hand paint all the different sections so that the glaze colors will be "true" to the test tiles. In this case I dipped the orb in Evan's Red and then applied Super T in specific sections.

    20161002_223557

    As you can see the red turned out beautiful! I attribute that to the porcelain in the clay body. Red always comes out red on porcelain but more often turns a nasty brown on white stoneware. When the glaze reaches its full viscosity and mobility in the kiln, it melts fully and the oxides move about freely. During this period, the fluidity and surface tension of the glaze determines its ability to wet the surface to heal minor bare spots, and its ability to pass gaseous bubbles percolating up from the shrinking and vitrifying clay body. In essence the glaze runs and moves. This can be good or it can be bad. For this piece it was good and at the same time bad. The Super T parts melted and slid off the spots where they had been placed. I was thrilled that the red came out so vibrant and additionally disappointed that the Super T moved...

    As for seeing red, I got yet another email from the ceramic studio management. They are asking for "volunteers" to clean up the studio. You won't get a price break on the cost of the classes, nor any perks, just a warm glow knowing you are helping fellow students. Call me silly but I'm shelling out $152 for 8 classes and they have hired 3 people to handle the studio and they are trying to guilt, arm twist, and force me into doing their jobs! If I clean up the studio once a week I want to get paid for it - either with a class credit or cash money!

Comments (14)

  • The orb is beautiful! If you hadn't said where the darker glaze belonged, I would have thought you'd applied it where it ended up.

    • I have a hard time reconciling the the expected image in my brain with the actual end result. The color on this however is pure serendipity!

  • I agree that you should be paid or given perks of you help out there. Volunteering is great, but they already cut your days and times to be there. Allowing a little more time, or a reduced rate would be incentive for someone who loves it to help, especially knowing that there are already some paid workers there.

    • They haven't increased the number of student but the staff is (in my opinion) bloated with 3 plus the kiln tech. I won't be volunteering. If they start with that volunteer or have and increase in studio fees, I'll be looking into a home studio...

  • I don't blame you. They should give you something for helping clean up. I really really like the colors. How big is it?

    • I'm not planning on volunteering. No pay then no help. Anyway to answer your question - it is about the size of an orange.

  • You are most rightly justified in feeling "put upon" and for holding out for credit for cleaning up! BTW, the Mars red orb is quite lovely.

  • In your list of happy things in your latest post, Val , you forgot also the joy to get a so slendid scientist artwork! marvellous
    Love
    Michel

    • Ha! My artwork is my relaxation as is blogging... I do them so often that I think of it like breathing - and yes I am thankful for breathing!

  • That's a neat orb.

  • I love this one, Val! How nice that the red color came out as it did, and I agree with SaintVi that the blue looks as if it belongs there!

    • I am my own worst critic. I am very happy with the color since this is only the 3rd piece that has actually come out a rich red!

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