& Honeysuckle Vase Update">Colored Porcelain & Honeysuckle Vase Update
After starting up my own studio last spring, I’ve been doing a lot of experimenting with different techniques to find my own voice, if you will. It seems like there’s just no end to the techniques and processes in the ceramic arts. I have really been enjoying image transfer on clay and just ordered 100 sheets of traditional decal paper from Ceramic Supply, so expect a lot of this to crop up in my work in the future.
Meanwhile, I have been meaning to play around with some Millefiori/Murrini techniques using colored clay. Some of the artists who inspired me are Jane Peiser, Vince Pitelka and Chris Campbell among others who all use the medium quite differently. I am truly inspired by Jane Peiser, who according to her website is 73 years old (though the website is older – she talks about it being winter in NC and we know that’s just not true) and is still producing art- my hero! Forget about retirement when you’re doing what you love.
Anyway, last spring, I had colored some porcelain with Mazerine blue mason stain and another 1 pound block with a green stain. I forgot about them until recently when I discovered them sitting on the shelf behind some glazes. I decided to whip out a couple of pendants to see how they would turn out. I have to say that I’m pretty pleased. I think today, I’m going to mix up a few more batches of colored clay, but instead of wedging the color in, I’m going to mix the stain in with 2 cups of porcelain slip which I already have made up and then dry them on a plaster slab for later use. I wedged in the color for these and I remember thinking that there had to be a better way because that was a lot of work to throughly mix in the stain.
I’m going to load my bisque kiln today with some of the work from David’s special order. I had hoped to have more work at the bisque stage, but it just hasn’t happened. I’ve been too busy doing something close to nothing (who knows who sang that ditty?). Actually, just enjoying the summer with my daughter and watching lots of movies – just saw Miss Potter and The Last Mimzy this past week. Loved them both!
Till later,
