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.

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

Shine a light

Put up a video on YouTube here of me putting the 'roof' on one of my Chinese style lanterns.

I first started making these back in art school..They're based on an ancient Bizen piece I saw in a magazine in the Bill Robertson Library -  a six-sided slab piece with hand-cut designs, attached to a slab base with a wheel-thrown pagoda-style roof on top. Here's one of mine,  in red:

.And here it is at night with the candle lit:

Some of the geometric patterns were taken from a broadcast on China TV (like the one above) and others were based on swallows flying over foxgloves in the garden - something we see a lot of out here in in spring. Here's a photo of foxgloves from a summer or so ago, and the unglazed lantern beside it: