Finally some photos done!

This is my TAFE work for 2011. Pretty happy with the results. Again another journey and lots learnt!

Can wait to get on with some new ideas over the summer!

Another year over!!

Assessment was last night. Amazing stuff from everyone – can’t wait for the end of year exhibition!!

My volume of work was certainly down this year – I started of well but hit a few glaze and clay problems…house moving antics… all things considered still a successful year!!

I will photograph all my stuff better this weekend but here’s the out come of this year

 

  

Lots of fun either way!! On to more projects that have been sitting on the backburner!!

Finally!!

3 months after moving and I have finally done my first bisque firing!

Cone 6 glaze firing to follow this weekend so watch this space!!

Work in progress

Snow gum inspired work...

Janettes mugs all finished

Finally they are all done!




Also a line blend for a clear mid fired glaze which is still alluding me.





Line blend of recipe 22 + boron and normal 22 the one with boron is better but I can't remember why I put boron in a glaze I wanted to use for functional wear.

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Playing with images

Still throwing ribbons…

New idea

Yet again my ideas have changed.

Stained ceramic tile landscapes



Jeanne Opgenhaffen














Last one is my favorite. Need to split it into three and create directional movement on image with small arrows based around colour gradations. Then create mock up with paper tiles in different colours.

After thought... as much as I'm really liking this idea the project is meant to be thrown... at this point there are no thrown elements in it which make this a little tricky... same concept but now thinking about thrown elements...

Snow gums

I love the different colours snow gums have.






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Move complete - holidays to start

After weeks of not having a studio I am in our new house and ready to it all up again and get firing!!!

First a little holiday though to get some inspiration!!

Origami bowl

Chris' kmfp with Keanes red Terracotta don't like to be put together... Back to the drawing board!



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Results from Cone 6 firing

Test 26 was a matt glaze good for oxides. Not great but the glaze was really thick – should re-test with more water

Test 25 was meant to be a clear but is a nice white matt

Test 24 Was thick again and wants to start crawling

Test 23 meant to be a wide firing clear base glaze which is ok but on Keanes red terracotta changes to a slight green tinge – needs to be retested with more water added

Test 22 is another clear that is ok and needs to be re-tested with more water to get rid of gas bubbles

Test 21 is my favourite – its a great crawl glaze I can’t wait to use somewhere!!

All tests were done on Keanes red terracotta, Keanes terracotta and MQF

Sues test which I loved was TAFEs celadon with 1% cobalt fired at cone 6. It has lovely speckles and a green blue kind of look and is a little satin.

Tests of Keanes red terracotta and terracotta with Crysanthos clear. Great glaze that if I am going to start buying a clear glaze this would be it!!

Shrinkage was 12.2%

Porosity was 2.38%

Amy's mid fire white test. Not the nicest clay, the shrinkage bar warped a bit… bit of a dead end this one…

Shrinkage is 11.2%

Porosity is 0.68%

Amy's mid fire brown. Nice to use and is a light brown colour.

Going into bisque and cone 6

Chris kmfp test 1




Brt tests for crawl crackle glaze





Keanes brown Terracotta test




Keanes red Terracotta tests





These are all in queue for a TAFE bisque firing.

Crysanthos clear tests for cone 6

Test 1 & 2 clays and Keanes red Terracotta and brown Terracotta





Daves tagine


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News and update

We have just bought a new house… well hopefully… we just need to get the pest inspection done.

I will need to pack up my studio for about 8 weeks so we can sell our house. I will put down some carpet so it is presentable to home buyers.

I am on the look out for what to use as a studio floor in my new studio at the new house, it need to be flexible enough that we can reclaim the space as a living area if need. The floor underneath is concrete but I don’t want to work on concrete.

I am thinking laminate…

Clay results test 2

Clay 1 test 2 bisque






Eck 2 30
Clay ceram 40
Neph syen 10
Talc 8
Flint 12

No warping but clay got dry when working with it

Clay 3 test 2




Keanes terr 18
Fire clay 14
Eck 2
Fx 18
Neph syen 18
Silica 200 14

Increase silica to reduce shrinkage

Status of affairs

ok I need to recap on a few things.

At the moment I have some red terracotta test bowls in a bisque firing. I will get them out tomorrow. These have a white engobe on them and I will then need to test some clear glazes on them to figure out what glaze to use or whether the engobe does what I want it to do - which is stay white and one the bowl.

There are a few clear glaze options with this one

1. Cesco mid fired clear - have tested this before and is ok but not really excited
2. Chrysanthos mid fire clear - haven't tested but its at TAFE
3. My own - C1 - this hasn't come up great with the terracotta ts not overly transparant (can be seen in an earlier blog)

New texture for origami bowl

Brown terracotta bowl test and some little test ribbons in front to test some clear glazes etc...

Another testure for my origami bowls

Also in the bisque firing is some clay shrinkage test which will need to be documented.

There are some red terracotta mugs that will need to be glazed with a clear glaze or something!!

At TAFE is a white clay test that Chris gave me that will need to be bisqued

More work is needed on my non functional project - I have discovered two glazes I will use on the objects but it would be good to have a few more glazes Slate Dry Blue and Tomatoe red - test bowl posted earlier

Need to do a test with Slate Dry Blue and Tomato Red brushed on 5B and fired to cone 6 as the last bowl test I did was dipped. I probably won't be able to dip the pieces I am working on by maybe able to spray?? Talk to Chris

Need to make and bisque some terracotta tests and some BRT

BRT project is a plate with a crawling white glaze

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Crawl/Crackle glaze ideas

Texture/Crawl Glaze c 6 ox or red.
Nepheline Syenite 70%
Magnesium Carbonate 25%
Ball Clay 5%

adding colorants or stains will give this different colour

I didn't want to use a whole heap of Nepheline Syenite as it is expensive...

One technique to make this happen is to add 15-20% magnesium carbonate (testing required to determine amount) to a low fire transparent glaze.

I'll be trying this out in my next glaze firing!!

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Janettes mug

Terracotta



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Test firing results

This is Keanes red and brown clays with my c1 and cescos mid fired clear






I have to get the names of these ones from TAFE again


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