Recent Work - Terracotta and Raku

We've had a busy week in the studio now that the weather is hot - Katherine and I did two raku firings over the last two days, with mostly successful results. For the first one, we used long dry grass for the reduction - you can see the pattern it left on my white crackle pot here:

We also used a couple of green copper-based glazes which gave some great 'copper penny' colour flashings. For the second firing we used dry pine needles which put out a lot of dense smoke and turned the unglazed part of the pots a deep black:

I've finished two large terracotta amphoras now and have started on another two - these ones have a rounded shape, including the rims and handles:

One of the great things about working from home at Brighton is taking your lunch break at the beach! Here I am yesterday checking out some of the rock pools and natural swimming holes on the coastline, just a couple of minutes drive away:

More photos on our Flickr photo stream, here.

Bees, Birds...and Big Pots

We had to stop potting for the afternoon yesterday when a bee swarm showed up out of nowhere. According to this fascinating article in  Wikipedia, 'the bees are usually not aggressive at this stage of their life cycle' but I wouldn't want to test it - they sound intimidating enough. It's incredible the way such tiny animals can communicate with each other so effectively that they behave like a single organism.

The swarm buzzed around the house for a while looking for a way in (fortunately we remembered to shut ALL the doors and windows) and then settled in a branch of a tree above the woodshed. They stuck around there in a big humming ball until lunchtime today, when they swarmed off again in search of their new home... but where did they go?!?

Katherine also took a photo of a white-faced heron this morning, trying to blend in with the buttercups:

We get a lot of interesting birds out here in Ocean View, from introduced English species like swallows and magpies, to natives like bellbirds, tui, Paradise Ducks and even a couple of  kahu, or harrier hawks, which have been circling each other high in the air lately, doing their courtship dance. An amazing thing to watch.

To get back to the pottery theme - here's a photo of a couple of big planters I've been working on. They are made with local terracotta, in a combination of coiling and throwing techniques:

Clay Preparation Videos

I put up a video on YouTube here of the process I go through when making my own terracotta clay body, using nearby clay. (Apologies for the quality, the video was filmed on an old digital camera, but you get the idea!)

First, I dig up the clay, dry it, break it up with a sledgehammer and seive it through an old bed frame. Then I put it into buckets and saturate with water.

I 'blunge' it with an electric drill attachment and seive it again through a mouli seive. Then I pour off the excess water once the clay has settled. I put the clay on plaster bats to dry, then process it through a pug mill. (You could also wedge it by hand if you want). Finally, I store it in plastic bags.

Another YouTube video I like:  The Potters of San Marcos, showing a more traditional method of preparing clay from raw ingredients, by the potters of San Marcos Tlapatzola in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Glenfalloch Potters Cottage

We went for a trip to Glenfalloch Gardens on Saturday for a family celebration, had a wander about while we were there, and took some photos:

The old homestead is no longer lived in, but the gnomes seem to have the garden under control

Another gnome, by the fountain...

A mysterious package....

 

The gallery has a lot of nice crafty stuff for sale

The Potter's Cottage runs classes and sells work by nine Dunedin artists. Note the gorgeous old terracotta urn on the porch

Just some of the work for sale in the Cottage - a good range of well designed, functional pottery with a genuinely New Zealand feel  - definitely worth a visit

Filtered sunlight on a nikau palm

:

A Japanese style pond

A canon dated '1914'

The ride home along the Peninsula road is always an adventure....

Raku Firing

On Monday we tried a raku firing. The sun finally came out, after a week or two of wintry weather (very strange for late September!) and we took advantage of it. I decided to make miniature bottles as test-pieces for 6 test glazes and threw, glazed and fired a load of work in the same day, which was a lot of fun.

12 test pieces before firing

'Raku' means 'pleasure'. It is the Japanese art of quick-firing pots (usually tea-bowls) at a low temperature and taking them out of the kiln with tongs while still red-hot. They are then buried in sawdust to finish off the reduction, and dunked in cold water. The process is fast, risky, and exciting, both to watch and take part in. Usually one person opens and closes the kiln and sawdust bin, while the other person handles the tongs. Glazes on raku ware are often irridescent and brightly-coloured  in a way that you can't always get at higher temperatures. Because of the heat shock there is often a high breakage rate. Results are random and unexpected - but that just makes it more addictive - you get instant results, and you never know what you might get.

The four best pieces, after firing

This one is my favourite - I like the crackle effect around the rim.

Cat-to-pot ratio... to give an idea of the scale...

Kiln opening

Here are the results from the gas reduction firing we did on Thursday. The pieces were glazed in two classic Chinese reduction glazes - Celadon and Copper Red. They were fired to 1300 degrees C (Cone 10).  A 'reduction' means that the oxygen is shut off to the kiln, creating a smoky atmosphere, starving the glaze components of oxygen.

The iron that gave the celadon glaze a pink appearance before firing (see the last post) is transformed to a beautiful pale green, and the copper- which would turn bright green in an oxidised firing - is a deep red, hence the name: Copper Red.

Here's a short video we made showing the kiln just after opening the door - you can hear the celadon making little 'ting' sounds as the glaze cools down and cracks. Days later, the pieces are still going 'ting!' from time to time as the glaze continues to develop its crackle effect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUtkAU3IXAo

And a You Tube video showing the traditional techniques of Longquan celadon in China:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3kU52xtu4E

Glazing

Crocuses

Spring has arrived here in Brighton. We spent the afternoon yesterday glazing a load of bisqued stoneware out in the sunshine:

Bisqued ware waiting to be glazed.

Pouring glaze into the inside of a bowl

Dipping

Glazed forms, waiting to be stacked in the kiln.