Hello! I haven’t gone to ground, honest! It’s been a very busy few weeks of thinking and making (while attempting not to completely freeze in the studio). As yet, not a massive amount to show here for all that thinking and making – other than some barnacles – but lots of ideas in progress, which is good!!
New clay – black clay
Firstly, I have diversified into a new clay. I’ve wanted to broaden my experience of different clays for a while, and black clay just has a certain allure. I’ve gone for a German Schwarz clay – in part because it was German, and I have a German wheel – and also because it was the smoothest in stock and therefore looked like the nicest to throw.
I was going to make vases with it, but having fired a couple of test pieces, the resulting smooth black surface made me think of the black, volcanic rocks on Mull. So, despite not having yet developed any decent glazes for use on it yet, I have gone waaaaay off piste now from my usual throwing and starting incorporating some handmade elements – starting, as you do, with barnacles, shells and anemones.
I’ve done these little curved forms before, but it’s always been a question of what to put in them – they sort of beg to hold something. Tealights are an option, but with this black clay taking my thoughts in the direction of Mull I started to think about rock pools. I really want the end result to feel like picking up and cradling a bit of the seaside in your hands. There’s a way to go yet (two firings and a glaze application) before I can see how these first forays turn out, but I’m very excited to be bringing a bit of the sea and Mull into my work. (I’ve swum in the sea there too, and I never promised it would be all Ullswater inspired.)
Glazing adventures
The second big, enormous, exhausting time sink has been Operation Glaze. I’m very lucky to have access to some beautiful glazes, but I’m keen to develop my own. It took a heck of a lot of measuring, mixing and time to make enough samples to fill even my small kiln, but I’ve made some good progress and learned a few things – although plenty more to learn yet. Nothing quite ready for use on finished pots – and a bit too soon to share on here I think – but I’ve got a direction of travel. I now need to repeat the operation again, tweaking some of the glaze recipes I tried, adding some new ones in and re-running a few tests all at a higher temperature than I used for round one – and finding something that I’m happy with on the black clay so I can finish those barnacles!
So my task now is to plan the next making schedule – it’s a balance now of making another batch of simple shapes for glaze testing (lots more tea bowls and test tiles) and making some interesting shapes like my little rock-pool vessels. It’s the ideas there which help to drive the direction of glaze making. I’m really excited for the next few weeks!