Week 7 Research, Reflection and Goals
Notes: I feel like I did really well on throwing larger pieces than I typically do, and still having them be centered and clean. The pieces that I made are by no means large compared to what other potters create, but for me I feel like they are significantly bigger and I was really proud of what I did. A couple of the pieces were just thrown larger, and a couple of them are stacked pieces that are thrown in 2-3 separate pieces and then connected together through slipping, scoring, and adding clay to reinforce the seams. Above are a couple images of the larger pieces I worked on.
Research: This week I read through Glaze: The Ultimate Ceramic Artist's Guide to Glaze and Color, but I'm not sure how helpful it was. After reading through the other glaze handbooks that I had listed, I feel like I didn't get much out of this one. I think this is in part due to the fact that none of the books have sample images of the glaze recipes listed, so you are really just going off of the names of the glazes. Each book has about 5-10 different clear glaze recipes, so it's hard to tell the difference between them just because one is named Pinnell Clear and another is named Kitten's Clear. I think it is probably for the best that the books don't have images of each glaze recipe in them though because I am finding out that a lot of the times, things beyond your control affect the glaze and a recipe rarely turns out the same on different pieces. Below are images of a few pieces that I threw, all glazed in Pete's Cranberry, some fired in the same kiln and some fired in different kilns. You can see how much a single glaze can vary depending on how tightly the kiln is packed, what the pieces around a work are glazed in, how hot the kiln gets, how quickly it cools, and I'm sure a hundred other variations that I didn't even know could happen.
Goals for the upcoming week: Incorporate stamped patterns into pieces.
Research: This week I read through Glaze: The Ultimate Ceramic Artist's Guide to Glaze and Color, but I'm not sure how helpful it was. After reading through the other glaze handbooks that I had listed, I feel like I didn't get much out of this one. I think this is in part due to the fact that none of the books have sample images of the glaze recipes listed, so you are really just going off of the names of the glazes. Each book has about 5-10 different clear glaze recipes, so it's hard to tell the difference between them just because one is named Pinnell Clear and another is named Kitten's Clear. I think it is probably for the best that the books don't have images of each glaze recipe in them though because I am finding out that a lot of the times, things beyond your control affect the glaze and a recipe rarely turns out the same on different pieces. Below are images of a few pieces that I threw, all glazed in Pete's Cranberry, some fired in the same kiln and some fired in different kilns. You can see how much a single glaze can vary depending on how tightly the kiln is packed, what the pieces around a work are glazed in, how hot the kiln gets, how quickly it cools, and I'm sure a hundred other variations that I didn't even know could happen.
Goals for the upcoming week: Incorporate stamped patterns into pieces.