To begin this week we had an independent workday. I took this opportunity to throw my mugs. I had never thrown in this way before, being told how much to use and try and duplicate the mugs over and over. I spent the day throwing and at the end, I had 9 mugs that I was happy with. I finished the day with clay down my jeans and tired arms!
On Tuesday Anna Barlow came in and spoke to us about the glaze, in the most fascinating way. In the past, i have only ever used premade glazes or plain oxides. The possibility of creating my own unique glaze was extremely exciting and I couldn’t wait. We were split into groups and asked to make one triangle, and two rectangle slabs which we would later use as test tiles to mix glazes on. In the afternoon I began pulling handles for my mugs. This was a new and strange technique to me, but after a few trys I managed to make three handles which i was happy with. Using the slip and score technique I added these to the mug.
On Wednesday I had perfectly leather hard tiles to decorate with slip. I tried the marbling technique and inlaying. They were harder than I thought they would be! Although I was able to do it I think my tiles were actually too dry for the slip casting, so for next time, i needed to make sure the tiles would be wetter.
On Thursday the 25th I used my espresso cup mould and created my first slip casted mug. Before attempting this I spoke with Josh and asked what had worked and what hadn’t for him. I also tried the tiles again, this time around it was far more successful. I think this was partially because the studio was so quiet. I rolled out clay and created some slab handles which i was able to attach to three more of my. mugs. For the base of all the handles i used the fishtail technique. Ian mentioned it and since the leach pottery was a starting point for my love of ceramics I do like bringing it into my work when I can.
On the weekend I visited Theaster Gates’s exhibition in Whitechapel. This exhibition held real power, especially after hearing Duncan talk about its importance of it. It was amazing to see such passion behind ceramics and to have the reminder of the power art can have, and the meaning pieces can hold.