Found Clay Prints and Revolutions…
I am happy to say that I have a glaze fire in progress as I write this post which includes my effigy doll! I’ll have to see if I can whip out a body for him in the next couple of days so that I can post the results before leaving on our Griswold family vacation. Meanwhile, I found these 2 clay “prints” above the other day while doing a little studio clean up. These are the simplest of clay prints one can probably make. Simply take a leaf, flower or other item and impress the whole thing into the clay. For these, I added black underglaze and wiped it away which highlights the impression.
I remember making these when I was in school a few years ago for a clay book that I was working on, but never finished. Both sides are printed and it was to become an accordian book bound by wire. The only problem now, is that I can’t find the other “pages” so I’ve decided to glaze only 1 side and will then devise some kind of rustic hanger so these may be wall mounted. I glazed these with a celadon glaze and am interested to see what the transparent pale green glaze will look like over the red clay body.
Last week, I received a phone call that surprised and inspired me – so much so that I had to wait a few days before I could blog about it. Out of the blue, Paul Wandless called me after seeing my blog post about his book, Image Transfer on Clay. He confessed to me that he normally doesn’t call people like that, but he happens to know both my former college ceramic professor, Ray Chen, and my ceramic’s mentor and dear friend, Mary Cay. It’s a small world, isn’t it??
At any rate he gave me some excellent advice on making my own ceramic decals and other alternative processes for transferring imagery onto clay. Did you know that you can do intaglio and solar plate printing on clay? I didn’t either, but am excited to read about it in Paul’s new article coming out this September in Pottery Making Illustrated.
We talked a good bit about stretching the boundaries of traditional clay work and printmaking which excited me so much. I have thought a lot about my push to bring my work to the market versus making work that truly speaks to me on a deeper level. You know what that work is when you’re making it. Your insides sing and time ceases to matter. It’s a bit different than production work – not that there’s anything wrong with that because, of course, we all need to make a living somehow.
Our conversation reminded me of a sentence that I recently read in Art and Fear on the topic of approval and acceptance…
The only pure communication is between you and your work. (pg. 47)
I’ve thought about that sentence a lot and what it really means. Can we live in a vacuum so pure that the rest of the baggage that comes with making art doesn’t matter? I myself have a hard time turning the noise off and it seems to me that must be a most Zen-like disposition to possess.
Meanwhile, Paul is trying to ignite a revolution if anyone is interested!
Thinking in Colorado,
& 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,
Lazertran Image Transfer on Glazed Ceramic Ware
Yesterday, I was playing around with some Lazertran paper that I purchased at my local art supply store and I’m quite pleased with the results. I first saw some finished projects in Paul Wandless’ book Image Transfer on Clay a few weeks ago and decided to give it a go. Lazertran can, however, be used on any number of surfaces besides clay – check out the Lazertran Gallery for specific examples. Pretty exciting!
Using Paul’s book and the instructions on the Lazertran package, I achieved great results:
To keep it simple, I used clip art to start along, with some glazed ceramic canvases that I had already prepared. This is a cold surface technique, meaning that the decal is not fired onto the finished piece. But, since these are meant for the wall and are functional – that is just fine.
After cutting out the images, I soaked the decals in water until they began to slide off the backing papers
While the decals were still damp, I positioned them onto the ceramic pieces.
Once the decals had dried, I painted on 1 light coat of real turpentine. If you’re going to try this, use the turpentine sparingly – I went over the decals a second time which caused the decal to disintegrate slightly. I don’t think it detracts from the image, but depending on the artist’s intention it could.
After the turpentine had completely dried, I sprayed on a coat of satin polyurethane to seal the image onto the glazed piece. I used Lazertran formulated for inkjet printers which dries white where there are unprinted areas. The polyurethane causes the unprinted parts to become transparent.
I think that there could be a lot of exciting possibilities using this product – including reusing original art, photographs, digital art etc. The sky really does seem like the limit here!
It’s mid-morning on Wednesday and I must get in a few hours in the Studio before taking my daughter and her friend to the Denver Art Museum this afternoon – which should be a muc more enjoyable venture compared to the last time I chaperoned a field trip there.
Glaze Tests, Lino-Cut Update and EZ Screen Print
Working at the ceramic studio at the Art Student’s League of Denver allowed me extensive use of their bucket and commercial glazes which was fabulous. I had a great deal of options available to me. Now that I am going to be working from my home studio, I am faced with the daunting task of making my own glazes or purchasing commercial glazes. Stocking and furnishing my studio has proved to be expensive and I have a wish list a mile long. I knew it would be like this in the beginning so I make do where I can. I have the basics and it’s amazing how many common every day things can substitute for the “real” equipment.
For example, I’d like a slab roller but a good one cost $1,000+. So, I use a humble rolling pin, 2 wooden slats as guides to get an even thickness and regular old canvas. It works but not with the same ease as a slab roller. One of my first tasks is deciding which glazes I want to use in my studio. For functional ware, it’s much more economical to make my own glazes. For the time being, I’ve decided on a clear, white, pale blue, blue/green and celadon. I, know they’re all related colorwise. I do think I could have some versatility with the clear and white by adding mason stains for the colorant.
I decided to make 3,000 gram batches of each glaze for my studio to start. I already know that this isn’t enough. I made these in 5 gallon buckets – and initially added too much water to the raw materials when I made the glaze. I won’t be able to dip my work, but will have to brush on the glaze. I’m lazy in that regard and want to dip my work. I don’t mind brushing on the glaze, but it’s difficult to get an even application of glaze. So, I’ll most likely be making larger batches in the future. After making the glaze and then firing these test tiles, I decanted a lot of water from the buckets. They’re a-ok right now.
I had a glaze fire in my mini Aim 88T Test Kiln yesterday and just peeked in the kiln this morning. I’m so pleased with the outcome of the firing and my new work! One of the items that went into the kiln were these little stoneware canvases above. I’ll share the glaze fired results in my next post. I brushed on black underglaze and then wiped off a good bit of that so that the black would sink into the recessed areas of the relief prints. Twitters about…
Last week, I ordered the EZ Screen Print Kit. On Saturday, the kit arrived in the mail and I’m excited to try it out. I think I’m going to start by screening underglaze onto a couple of test pieces and see how that works, because I still have to order the decal paper and the overglaze. Mile Hi Ceramics doesn’t carry overglazes, and Stone Leaf Pottery is closed on Mondays, so I might have to place an online order for someAmaco Water Based Versa Color Overglazes. This would be awesome if these worked because they’re water based vs. oil based and they’re lead free. China paint and overglaze traditionally include lead as an ingredient which would not make this type of work suitable for functional work – nor is lead something I want to expose myself to.
Meanwhile, today, I’m going to go to Meiningers or Jerry’s Art-O-rama to pick up some Lazertran to do some cold surface image transfers onto a glazed surface that is already prepared!
Have a good week everyone,
