Lucie Rie: Modernist Potter by Emmanuel Cooper.

Have you got a copy yet?

Green bowl.

Just add noodles...

Kiln sitter.

My kiln sitter cup.
Fired probably 20 times now. It feels so fragile, but has a wonderful deep gloss as a result.
I suspect the glaze has become well and truly part of the clay body.

A floating platter.

I've been away from the studio for a few weeks. 

This platter was one of the last pieces I made and it sat on the bench  for weeks waiting for its glaze fire. It's a rare thing for me to leave a piece glazed but not fired.

I've been otherwise distracted by the renovation of my old home, in need of some structural work to an external wall. The local council have a heritage overlay on it so it has required a site visit, followed by engineers report, building plans and building permit.

I'm not sure that I'm ever going to tackle an old build again. Besides the heritage requirements, it's almost impossible to get a builder interested in an old building. I've heard it said a few times now that builders are only really interested in assembling new houses. It all arrives in sections on a truck and they put it together on a nice new concrete slab.

Seems like ceramics, building is a dying skill too.

PS. The smell of those coffee beens to the left of the platter had me thinking of little else than how quickly I could pack up and make a double, double shot espresso. Which I've unfortunately just finished; perhaps another.

This piece; Hand thrown (potters wheel).

Clay for sale.

Do you need some clay?

I have way too much stuff in my studio, in my shed and outside the back door. Time to start off-loading.

Glaze request.

Mamo glaze outside, subtle iron glaze inside.

Green (no copper) glaze request.
Trading for Mamo glaze below.


I made a full batch of glaze that was supposed to be a subtle green.
I was so sure I knew how to make a green glaze (oxidation atmosphere) with iron oxide (no copper) that I didn't test it before using it on a desired piece.
I understand the basics. Alkaline glaze should make iron green instead of brown.
So I simply replaced potash feldspar with soda feldspar. Didn't come close.
So now I have to do some research and many line tests.


Hoping you can give me a head start with an iron oxide (no copper etc.) cone10 ox. glaze.


I'll trade you my favourite Mamo glaze.
Cone 10. Oxidation.


Whiting 5
Kaolin 25
Dolomite 20
Potash feldspar 50

Chawan.

Simple bowl form thrown then scrapped from foot up to middle with a kidney tool on four sides, to make indentations. Vessel was then cut off the wheel head with a stretched spring, and roughly pulled off (see lifted/distorted foot to right side of base) wheel head.

Small tenmoku bowl.

A favourite little bowl I made about 18 Months ago. Not sure if I've posted it before, but as I came across it again today (as I was looking for another piece (that I of course can't find)) I thought I would share it with you.
It's when I find an old piece that is so different from what I'm currently doing that I'm glad I save pieces that I particularly like.

Flat batteries.

I've spent the week trying to get my camera to work.

Camera kept saying "charge" and I had just charged it, and charged it again and again. So Yesterday I ordered a new battery. Guess what; last night I decided to disconnect the charger lead and insert again with full force and try one last time. Today my camera is working without incident.

Guess I'll have a spare battery now.

Pity I can't find the energy to work in my hot (29°C) studio.

The bowl in the image is one of many I made this last week. Will be bisqued tonight.

Am enjoying throwing at the moment (when the studio is cool enough); not so happy with my range of glazes though. Think I'll work on a dry white outer glaze over the next few weeks.

*blogspot have changed the post "compose" layout. I hope they don't start to change things as often as Facebook.

Where do I put the "tags".

Found it. It's now under "labels" though I like its new suggestion list.

Now what do I click to "publish".

Eek! I have to manually change the font colour now. 

Seems default is now black. And black on black does not work so well.

Trim free bowl.

Yesterday I made some bowls from a stoneware clay. As I was doing this as apposed to throwing it out, I decided to experiment. I decided to make some mixing bowls; and to make them with the least amount of work; and the least amount of water.
I have a direct drive wheel that has a keypad that allows me to dial in  the speed. So from stopped through just going and all the way to propelling the clay off the wheel. I've found that at a rather slow speed I don't need to keep dowsing the clay with water. In fact, I only need water for centering, coning up/down and first pull. Then it's just a matter of making sure the dampness of the clay is consistent/even. The only other steps I need water for are leathering the rim and sliding the bowl of the wheel head at the end. Also with a slow consistent speed it's like using a kick wheel, and so gives you the ability to really pull the clay around and even throw it off centre like a wabi sabi or tea ceremony vessel.
To minimise the work, I've basically eliminated trimming, by shaping the foot with a curved stick end as the last step of throwing.
I've trimmed the inside of the foot so that it sits properly. I used the scoop part of a bamboo wooden spoon.
When leather hard I just thumbed the foot to close the open clay.


Added: 26/02/2012

Distorting the bowl and photo. Somewhat interesting result.

Vietnamese Ceramics: A Separate Tradition.

"The evolution of Vietnamese ceramics parallels the course of Vietnamese history, reflecting how people lived and how they related to neighbouring cultures. The vocabulary of ceramic shapes, glazes, and decorative motifs allows us to read the development of a culture that now has little remaining in the way of physical artefacts by which to trace its history.

The Chinese potter aimed for and frequently achieved perfect technique, characterised, for example, by the colossal and almost mechanist productions of the Longquan and Jingdezhen kilns. The Japanese tradition may be characterised by its consciousness of accidentally achieved beauty. The aesthetic appeal of Vietnamese ceramics, which combine informality with great technical skill, lies somewhere in between these two extremes.

It is the interface between art and technology that gives ceramics their flavour. Yanagai Soetsu, founder of the Mingei movement in Japan, was awed by the beauty achieved so casually by Korean potters. He wrote of the unconcerned manner in which a Korean would set up his wheel. If the wheel was slightly off-true, the potter would compensate in a very skilled way. Nevertheless, the results would probably not be straightened the potter simply would not care. The imperfections resulting from such an attitude can give great vigour to a vessel, yet they cannot be calculated, or the piece loses its quality of spontaneity.

It is this same serendipitous combination of spontaneity with technical excellence that makes Vietnamese ceramics so attractive.

The combination of skilled potting, rigorous shape, casual finish, free and calligraphic painting, and accidental glaze effects # all features typical of Vietnamese ceramic tradition # is powerful indeed. Perhaps the son of the former head of the Hue museum may be allowed to characterise the freedom and individualism of the Vietnamese ceramic tradition: "Chinese pottery is good for the eye; Vietnamese pottery is good for the heart."

The evolution of the ceramics of northern Vietnam over the last two thousand years reflects the links between a culture's artistic expression and its socioeconomic and geopolitical environments.

Editor's Note:

This above text is a very short and incomplete excerpt from a wonderful... book which is the first definitive study of the Vietnamese ceramic tradition in any language."

Vietnamese Ceramics by John Stevenson and John Guy, Art Media Resources, Ltd., Chicago, 1997.

White bowl.

A bowl with character. Not too much, just enough.
Getting the throw line just right. The transition from foot to bowl, then the rim. I find the rim to be the tricky part at the moment.
Then there's the glaze. You think a white glaze would be quite simple. Just a gloss with a heap of tin. Sure, that's a white glaze, but dead. I like a glaze that you can look into. So just enough tin or zircon to opacify, but still give a rich white.
I'm tending to like a sloppy glazing finish at the moment. Complete with marks from where I held its foot when dipping in the raw wet glaze. A thicker run spot adds character too I think.
So a simple white bowl with character is not all that simple to make.

Square platters.

It's February already...
I didn't realise it was way back in December that I last posted until my Brother surprisingly said "it's been a while since your last post" I didn't even think he took an interest. So I've made a special effort just for you Charlie.
Hope your flight back to Denmark was hastle free. I bet your feeling the cold after spending Summer on the beach in Australia.

Kobachi (small bowl).

I love how gravity merges a melting glaze into another.

The blue glaze inside this bowl has a lovely depth when held in the light. Unfortunately it really needs to be held in person to see.

I continue to be amazed by the nuka (white) glaze. It has 33% wood ash (saved from my studio fireplace over Winter) this glaze has a solid white obtained from the ash and some lovely yellow specs from what must be little bits of iron (I know it's from the course black bits of ash). The other ingredients are Silica_33% Potash Feldspar_33%.

This bowl along with some others is on its way to Planet furniture in Sydney. If your in the area perhaps drop in and have a look. 

Planet also has a great selection of other ceramics.

Saltbush berries on platter.

Saltbush berries (2.5mm) on a stoneware plater with nuka glaze.

Summer is here now and the house is getting hot. The saltbush berries are ripe and on mass. They need to be on mass as they are so small, but a small hand full is just the thing to end the day; sprinkled on a bowl of vanilla icecream.

The last of Spring.

It's just turned Summer.
Spring was a charged atmosphere of lightning and thunder and heavy rain to match, it's a stark contrast to a prolonged drought lasting 12 years.
My garden has almost become a jungle. Filled with flowers of all colours, and bees buzzing with a confusion for choice.


The Bud vases in the photo are available at SMALLpieces.

Espresso_large.

Coffee in hand, I'm right to go.
In my favourite cup, I'm inspired and nothing can stop me.

Curved platter.

Slab rolled.

Tenmoku glaze, with white stripe.

Lucie Rie.

When inspiration is lacking, an image search of Lucie Rie is always the answer for me.