This week I narrowed the scope of my work to focus on texture. The approaches I took involved the utilization of sgraffito (applying slip and then removing it in the leather-hard state) and carving into the form to remove some of the clay body. In both cases, I created the texture through removal of some kind.

Platter
The Platter was wheel thrown (measuring about 14 inches) and trimmed. While soft, the black slip was added and allowed to slowly dry wrapped in plastic over the course of about a week. Utilizing a circular loop tool, I carved the texture into the clay surface.  


Basket
The basket was created from 2 slabs of bmix clay. It was hand shaped and augmented over a plaster slump mold. Once near leather hard, I carved the lacey pattern into the clay body. Hopefully this will help keep the piece from collapsing in the high fire kiln. I used a damp sponge to soften the edges of each cutout. To support the form, I will construct a clay support system to accompany the basket during the firing process.


Lidded Vessel
I threw a single closed form to create this lidded vessel, carving into the body to create the gallery and flange. Black slip was painted all of the interior and exterior surface and was removed using a similar process to the platter. I removed some of the clay from the lid to facilitate ease of opening the container since it doesn't have a knob.

I came across these old glazing process photos which I thought I'd share. I particularly like the wax resist stripes (vertical and horizontal) on the pieces toward the bottom. So cheerful.

Lately, as I have been brainstorming themes for my ceramics work, my mind has been drawn toward the earth's creations. This week, I started working through ideas for glazing that would allow me to color match some of the geodes and gemstones pictured below. My hope is to make functional things of beauty, modeled (somewhat abstractly) after nature.

On a Detroit visit at the end of 2013, we were lucky enough to spend a few hours getting lost in the DIA. Here are a few featured ceramic and sculptural pieces that were truly inspiring.

Back in December, Ryan and I moved into a new apartment which, unbeknownst to us, has an enormous downstairs storage space. For my birthday, Ryan rolled up his sleeves and set up the beginnings of a ceramics studio- equipped with an Amaco 100 2 speed potters wheel, a huge bag of black mountain clay, and all of the necessary tools to have an at-home setup. To continue to develop the functionality of the space, i made a Lowe's run and for $40 bucks and some imagination, i was able to build out functional shelves, buckets for hanging tools, and other storage options. Here's where we are so far. Hoping that once we shed some of the actual storage items in the storage space, we can convert the room to a shared art studio. It has a concrete floor, which would be awesome for working on larger scale paintings and sculptural pieces.

Alameda flea market was the quietest I've ever seen. Intermittent showers chased away the mid-century furniture vendors (phooey) and my chances of finding a new end table for our living room went with them. In spite of the limited number of vendors, I had a fantastic time milling about, ruddy cheeked, in the grey. As i wandered, I snapped some photos of inspiring items including a Resin lamp from the 70's, a small, lilac ceramic bowl, and a green vase (which i'd like to reference for glazing techniques). 

Every morning i make a half mile journey from our lovely home to the muni station where I catch the train and go to work. I have about seven minutes between my front door and the steps that deliver me to a morning scented, human sardine can. As I walk, I try to take in as much of the outdoors as possible, knowing that i'll spend the next 8 hours under fluorescent lights, breathing recirculated air. 

I play a game with myself, collecting specimen that represent colors, textures, and shapes that i find moving or creatively stimulating. As part of the process, I collect physical objects (like fallen branches), sketch images, and take photographs. This week's assortment leaned heavily toward mossy greens and rich browns. I thought that an interesting way to translate this visually into my artwork would be to incorporate these varied colors while glazing some mugs i've been working on. 

I started with 3 bisqued mugs of varying sizes. They all had fairly rough surface textures which, for purposes of this project, really excited me. With a 1 inch acrylic paintbrush I applied the same Dark Umber Oxide to each mug, carefully removing some of the stain with a sponge (to create further variation in color saturation). While the oxide itself was the same, the applied pattern varied from piece to piece in order to give each it's own unique personality. 

Once the oxide dried, i applied a single dip of a Celadon glaze to two of the mugs to see what variation i could achieve with oxide and a single glaze alone. On the final mug, i drizzled a bright green glaze, and a turquoise glaze across the outside surface, wiping some away and creating a distressed look. The final mug will be dipped in celadon glaze this week.

I'm excited to see how these all turn out. Pictures to follow in a MOSS MUGS 2.0 post.