Somewhere along
the way the dreaded work got in the way and here we are by now in November
2011.
Making pots is
still the focus and for that first glaze firing I applied some of those
previously mentioned commercial glazes to a couple of my stoneware pots. These
are not small pots and so dipping is out of the question – the volume of glaze
needed would be huge. I masked the areas I wanted to remain unglazed (regular
masking tape), like the feet and then applied the glaze with a soft brush;
three coats.
This one was
with a Northcote glaze – SG277 Mottled Blue Grey. As you see more gloss than
not. Note also the crack in the pot on the far side. This happened in the
bisque firing and I tried to use the glaze as a filler and bonding agent, which
worked reasonably well. Next time I’d try to pressure inject the glaze into the
crack. Clay is interesting stuff – it has a strong positional memory. Unless it
is ‘well trained’ when still mobile it can and will struggle against the
position you put it in to go back to where it was, right through to final
firing. So the learning here is train it well and then don’t leave it too late
in the air drying process to make a correction to the shape or those stresses
you impose late will find a release in firing.
This one was
with a Northcote glaze – SG277 Mottled Blue Grey two coats with a top coat of
SG624 Jade. An interesting mix of colours and closer to a satin finish.
And this one is with
three coats of the Northcote SG624 Jade. It was fired to 1240C and came out
quite matte.
The three pots
demonstrate the challenge of maintaining dimensional stability from shaping
through drying and then firing. Through all that time the pot is shrinking –
first through the loss of moisture and then through vitrification – by about
15%. So don’t be surprised when you look at hand made pots which have funny
bends and deformations. And the bigger the pot the greater the challenge.
Different manufacturing processes for factory made pots are designed for
greater scale, faster production and greater stability. The craftsmanship in a
handmade pot is in its individuality of form and finish, it is in the bumps an
bends and happenstance. I can provide that individuality right now; the straight,
square, aligned pot may take a little practice, but it is the goal. I talk to my kids about being really good at doing anything as long as you put in your 10,000 hrs of practice. I might be really good at it by the time I don’t need to make any more!
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