Hand Building Pottery with Slabs of Clay and Kid Art
I use a banding wheel to construct my slab built pottery
Today’s post is down and dirty – lots of pictures, little text. Why? I’m working away in the studio and my in-laws are visiting which makes finding time for online activity a difficult. I’m still hand building work and thought I’d show you my set up. I tend to work on 4-6 mugs at a time now because it’s more efficient and it allows the clay to rest a bit while I go through the assembly line.
My tools are pretty basic. I use a drywall board, banding wheel, X-acto knife, sponge, water, paper clay slip, scoring tool, wooden kitchen spoons (both ends), mini Kemper extruder for coils that I force into the joints, along with beverage at the ready and music or favorite podcasts. What you don’t see is my wheel that is acting as the base of my work table. That’s going to change today though since I feel like throwing a bit.
Fat bottomed mug
A prerequisite for any mug that I buy nowadays is that it has to have at least a 10 oz.+ capacity and a very stable wide bottom, capable of sitting on the arm rest of my sofa without spilling because this is my favorite place to drink the first cup of coffee of the morning while I wake up. Most likely, you’ll find me answering emails, blogging and otherwise engaging in online activities in this very same spot. Sometimes I even read the newspaper, but I’m currently taking a news sabbatical for a bit for my mental sanity.
Bottom
I’ve also been playing around with making the bottom of my work as interesting as the visible portion of a piece.
Same linocut – different shape
Bottom
Linocut used to print my mugs
Kid's Mugs 2nd – 5th grade
I really love teaching kids – they’re a lot of fun and very high energy. We recently made “soup can” mugs for a project. They’re a way for the kids to make something functional just for themselves, though, some of the kids were also making presents for their parents.
Pinch pot covered jars
Here’s a recent project – everyone went with a Halloween theme. They will be glaze fired tomorrow or Sunday and I can’t wait to see how they turn out.
Gotta run, have a great weekend!
~Cynthia
Custom Lino-cut Template for Handbuilt Mugs
This post is overdue by a couple of days, but don’t worry – I am not feeling guilty about it. On the contrary, I feel pretty proud of myself that I abstained for as long as I did since I’m trying to wean myself off my addiction to the computer.
I’ve traced the paper template for a large mug onto linoleum
I decided to take my paper cup template that Annie shared with us during a workshop I took with her 2 weeks ago and make a custom lino-cut in the shape of the template with very specific imagery. Before making this, I decided if it works out I’d make some more linoleum blocks to add to my repertoire. One of the hazards of taking workshops is that my work could end up looking like the presenter’s work and that’s the last thing I want to do.
Freshly cut linoleum
Since the template is basically a cone shape, I have found that the flat rectangular linoleum blocks don’t print the way I want them to since there’s a curvature once the mug is assembled. I used my poppy linoleum cut as reference for this one.
Freehand drawing in pencil
Traced the drawing in sharpie marker
Many of you thought that the black sharpie drawing was actually underglaze or some other material to transfer the image block to clay, much like a paper print. At this point, I’m simply using the lino-cuts as texture tools to transfer the imagery to clay. It sure as heck beats hand-carving each and every piece. Essentially, the carving is done only 1 time when I make the lino-cut and I’ll be able to use this for years. The sharpie marker basically firms up and simplifies where I need to cut since many of the pencil marks overlap.
Freshly carved lino-cut
Finished stoneware relief printed poppy mug
Well, it’s almost finished – this one is still green and must survive the bisque and glaze firings. I’m not in love with the handle template and am trying to figure out how to alter it to suit my tastes. I’m starting some glaze testing too using mason stains as colorants. I want a bright sherbet Technicolor palette. Some where in my blog travels one of you mentioned Colour Lovers – which is this wicked cool web based color and pattern maker. You can browse the libraries or make your own palettes and patterns. My daughter and I played around with this site the other day for hours.
I’m not sure whether or not I’ll be able to truly achieve this bright of a glaze palette since glaze chemistry is tricky. I’m going to start with the use of mason stains and need a couple of good base glaze recipes. I already have the celadon color so I really only need to work on the other 4. Yesterday, I spent the day reading up on the use of Mason Stains as colorants in glazes vs. oxides. From what I’ve read, the reds, pinks and oranges sometimes need a higher calcium based glaze to achieve the color shown and the presence of zinc can change the color. So, some testing is in order in the next week. I think I’m going to head over to the Colorado Potter’s Guild studio on Tuesday evening to mix up a few 100 gram batches of 2 different base glazes to start with. The glazes also need to be transparent to highlight the texture on my new work.
Frog Stoneware Box
On Saturday, afternoon, I finished up the second of 2 boxes I assembled last week. My relief printing efforts are the result of all the hand painted porcelain boxes I’ve made in the past couple of months. The boxes are incredibly time intensive and I need to be able to work more efficiently.
Duds
This became apparent when these boxes came out of the kiln either glazed shut or some otherwise damaged. I was heart broken, but if ceramics teaches anything it’s humility and working out the technical aspects of working with clay. So, after briefly flirting with getting a 9 to 5 job, wiping away my tears and frustration, I became determined to figure out how I can make better work with minimal losses. Somehow, the prospect of becoming a claims adjuster trainee for an insurance company just doesn’t sound too fun or glamorous.
Meanwhile, I have been losing tools left and right in the studio. I know that they can’t just get up and walk out the door and that they’re in there somewhere! The problem is that my studio hasn’t been properly cleaned in months. 1/4 bags full of different kinds of clay littered the floor, dust was everywhere, clay bits and scraps everywhere, trash, bits of paper, notes etc. were strewn about. So, I spent yesterday afternoon cleaning my studio top to bottom. It’s sparkling clean (well as sparkling as a ceramic work area can be) and ready for a new productive making cycle.
Have a great week,
~Cynthia
New Relief Printed Boxes & Bevel-o-Matic Tool
I’ve rolled out a slab of “ash” white stoneware clay purchased from Mile Hi Ceramics. I’m going to give my new lino cut a try.
I found that I get a better print when I used a rubber mallet to set my lino-cut in place – otherwise it slipped a little when I ran the rolling pin over it several times from different directions.
After I printed the clay and before I lifted the lino-cut, I trimmed away the excess clay from the slab. I cut my linoleum pretty precisely before I carved it.
Voila, my print – see the bottom center? this is before I realized that I should use the rubber mallet to get a good print.
Here, I’ve got 4 sides of my poppy lino-cut printed and a large slab for the top and bottom. If you do your math, you’ll see that i actually printed 5 sides, even though I only meant to do 4. I turned the fifth one into a tile.
This could be why I printed out 5 sides instead of 4. 
It was after 8 pm after all.
A funny thing happened a few weeks ago. About a month ago, I ordered a Bevel-o-Matic tool from claystamps.com after reading a tool review on Emily Murphy’s Pottery blog. After 2 weeks, I didn’t receive an acknowledgment or the tool in the mail. I had used the Paypal link on their website to purchase, so I followed up with an email and canceled the transaction. About a week after that, I received an email from them apologizing and telling me that they’ll put one in the mail for me and that I should send them a check after receiving it. I wasn’t quite sure I’d see one or not, but lo and behold, a Bevel-o-Matic tool arrived a week later. It seemed so refreshing to me that the owner would trust me enough to send before receiving payment. So, I am definitely one happy customer and promptly stuck a check in the mail. By the way, it works like a charm!
I worked on 2 boxes simulataneously. These are larger than the porcelain ones I’ve made in the past couple of months.
Here, I am dutifully adding clay coils to the joints to strengthen them. I tried not adding them to a couple and experienced some cracking. The glaze covered the cracks up, but I was worried the whole time while they were firing.
Walls are up – only have to add the tops.
Vine printed box is now drying and setting up.
Here’s the poppy printed box. I think I like the way this print turned out. I suppose the real test will be after glazing. I’d like to see the glaze break nicely over the raised and recessed parts of the boxes.
Meanwhile, I am attending a one day hand-building workshop with Annie Chrietzberg tomorrow. I hope to report back on Monday with all the wonderful things I learned at her studio!
Have a good weekend,
~Cynthia
Relief Printing on Clay
Golden Cut linoleum from Dick Blick
After building my boxes and HAND painting each and everyone for the Colorado Potter’s Guild Show and the Summer Art Market, I decided that I should employ a different method to speed up production of my boxes. Hand painting certainly has a place in my work, but it is labor intensive. So, I decided that the humble relief print would be the perfect solution since I would only need to do the labor-intensive part (carving) up front. The lino-cuts will last years and years and leave a nice imprinted texture on the slabs of clay.
Did I mention that I like using the Golden Cut linoleum from Dick Blick? I hate battleship gray linoleum – ick petuie blech. One other cost effective option,is to carve actual left over linoleum if you have any sitting around your house. Someone in my printmaking class in college did that and it worked great.
I decided to start with a theme that I use frequently – a series of vertical vines. First I draw my sketch with pencil and then go over the drawing with a sharpie for easier carving later on. Pencil smudges, sharpie doesn’t. Love Sharpies – I don’t think one could ever have too many!
Starting to carve
I quickly learned that having the right tools for the job makes all the difference in the world. Forget the cheapo carving tools and invest in some nice palm sized wooden handled ones in a variety of sizes. I purchased my set from a wood working shop in Maine similar to these, though less expensive. One word of caution – carve away from yourself. I speak from experience.
Side View
Finished carving
Yesterday afternoon, I finished carving the vine and even did a little ginkgo leaf cut, since I broke the one I originally made. I tried cutting it out – didn’t work.
Poppy Drawing
My poppy box sold right away at the Summer Art Market, so I decided to replicate it in linoleum. Once again, I hand drew the design in pencil and Sharpie. This time, however, I decided to make this like a line drawing. Where I carve away, it will be raised when I print it on clay. Where the linoleum is left intact, it will leave an impression when printed. Don’t forget that this will be backwards when it’s printed – especially important if you want to add any text. When using text, I like to write words out in pencil and then I hold the linoleum up to a mirror before I carve away to make sure it looks right.
Today, I’m going to venture out to the garagio and do some relief printing on clay. My mom’s birthday is coming up soon and I promised her a box – so I’d better get to work!
Till later,
~Cynthia
