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Volume 18 • Issue 93 AUTUMN 2012
Volume 18 • Issue 94 SUMMER / AUTUMN 2012
Janis Hughes Daring Forms with an Undulating Twist Controlling the Delicate Stage of Early Bisque Firing Helene Fielder: From Sketch to Sculpture Recipes for Success in “Sheri's Glaze Kitchen” New Tools for Great Impressions State of Clay 2012 Exhibition
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contents
TIMES
Clay
Summer / Autumn 2012 Volume 18 • Issue 94 Cover photo: Variegated Slate Blue Pagoda Olive Oil Bottle by Janis Hughes. Thrown and altered white stoneware fired to cone 6 in oxidation. See story on page 14. Cover inset photo: Yellow Red Sculpture by Lisa Graf, State of Clay 2012 merit award winner. Story appears on page 22.
features 14 Janis Hughes: Daring Undulations Fluidity and motion are captured and celebrated in the ‘Dali’ forms made by this potter, who has developed a practical step-by-step approach for altering her pots while still on the wheel.
30 Helene Fielder Large, colorful, and electric-fired to cone 6, the sculptural works by this artist are slab-built with the help of hand-sketched templates.
14 Jay Blue and Waterfall Brown Dali Mug by Janis Hughes. Thrown and altered white stoneware fired to cone 6 in an electric kiln.
30 41 Sheri’s Glaze Kitchen The process of glazing is surprisingly similar to that of baking a cake. See how Art Department Chair Sheri Leigh of Sierra Nevada College simplifies the process for her students.
exhibit exhibit 22 State of Clay 2012
This 7th biennial exhibition of Massachusetts ceramics featured works by 72 talented clay artists from across the state.
Mississippi artist Helen Fielder uses simple paper sketches as templates for building complex slab sculptures in her studio.
5
®
contents
TIMES
Clay Summer / Autumn 2012 • Volume 18 • Issue 94
departments
22
columns 19 AS FAR AS I KNOW
9 EDITOR’S DESK
“Maintaining Control During Early Bisque Firing” by Pete Pinnell
Where did summer go?
11 WHAT’S HOT Clay world news, events, and calls for entries
25 BENEATH THE SURFACE
34 THE GALLERY
“Clothespins for Design Inspiration” interview by Lana Wilson
A selection of unique works by CT readers
40 CLASSIFIED MARKETPLACE
29 KILNS & FIRING “Port Authority” by Marc Ward
Goods and services offered especially for clay artists
37 TOOL TIMES 44 SLURRY BUCKET
“New Tools for Great Impressions” by Vince Pitelka
Studio-tested tips to save you time and money
45 POTTERY CLASSES
43 STUDIO HEALTH AND SAFETY
Where you can learn claywork in your community
“Titanium Safety Update” by Monona Rossol
48 GREAT GLAZES Featured artist Janis Hughes shares recipes for cone 6 oxidation
50 ADVERTISER INDEX A quick reference to find your favorite ceramics suppliers in this issue (as always, please be sure to mention you found them in Clay Times!) 6
47 BOOKS & VIDEOS “An Edmund deWall Collection” review by Steve Branfman Above: Catch by Claudia Olds Goldie. One of two State of Clay 2012 “People’s Choice Award” winners. Top right: The Company of a Like-Minded Individual by Meghan Sullivan. State of Clay 2012 “Juror’s Award” winner. Turn to page 22 to see more images of work featured in the show.
49 AROUND THE FIREBOX “Confessions of a Distracted Potter” by Kelly Savino
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Clay Editorial & Advertising: Polly Beach claytimes@gmail.com Accounts & Customer Service: Nanette Greene clayaccounts@gmail.com Proofreader: Jon Singer Regular Columnists: Steve Branfman, Books & Videos David Hendley, Around the Firebox Pete Pinnell, As Far as I Know Vince Pitelka, Tool Times Monona Rossol, Health & Safety Kelly Savino, Around the Firebox Marc Ward, Kilns & Firing Lana Wilson, Beneath the Surface Contributing Writers: Antoinette Badenhorst Janis Hughes Sheri Leigh O’Connor ✦ Printed on 100% FSC-certified and 75% post-consumer recycled paper ✦ Published by: CLAY TIMES INC. Post Office Box 100 • Hamilton, VA 20159 800-356-2529 • FAX 540-338-3229
Toll-free subscription line: 800.356.2529 Clay Times® (ISSN 1087-7614) is published quarterly, four issues per year. Periodicals Postage Paid at Waterford, VA, and at additional mailing offices. Annual subscriptions are available for $33 in the U.S.; $40 in Canada; $60 elsewhere (must be payable in US$). Digital subscriptions are just $20 worldwide. To subscribe, call toll-free 1-800.356.2529, or visit www.claytimes.com.
POSTMASTER: Address service requested. Send address changes to: Clay Times, PO Box 100, Hamilton, VA 20159. Copyright © 2012 Clay Times, Inc. All rights reserved. The material contained herein is derived from various sources and does not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. All technical material is offered as general information only and should not be acted upon without expert supervision. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the publisher.
M
y, how time flies ... seems like the summer was just beginning, and now autumn is already here.
Yet when summer was “just around the corner,” I found myself back at the wheel, working on 30 stoneware vases requested by my son Cody and daughter-in-law Jennie, to hold the reception table flowers for their June 2 wedding. It was great to be back at the wheel—a place where I can never seem to get enough time. As a busy mother of four, publisher, and business owner, I’m always distracted by other more ‘practical’ and pressing matters. But this time, I told myself, the vase project would be a number-one priority. The vases took a lot longer to complete than I had anticipated. They needed to be just right to earn a role in my first-born’s wedding. Silly me—thinking I could try out some new glaze combinations on what were supposed to be “final” forms! I ended up having to re-glaze and re-fire several of the pots to meet my self-imposed wedding standard of excellence. As it turns out, the vases were completed just in time (hot-wrapped fresh from the kiln, with a few hours to spare before I left town for the wedding). They served their purpose quite well, and I was a proud mama in more ways than one as I watched my son commit to and celebrate a promising future with his dream gal. I’d publish a picture of one of the vases here, but they were all snatched up as souvenirs by wedding guests! (I guess they liked the fact that I had inscribed the bottom of each vase with the name and wedding date of the happy couple.) Anyway, with the wedding over and back at work, I realized we had passed magazine deadline for summer. At the same time, we had just completed a thorough review of our circulation data and discovered that too many “summer” issues of the past were not being properly received, due to the fact that so many schools are out of session at that time. This has been a great waste of resources for all involved. We now have even more schools than ever subscribing to Clay Times, thanks to the many bulk classroom issues ordered by schools during our spring educator promotion. So, rather than shipping out so many
magazines to schools that weren’t in session, we made the decision to delay press date of that summer issue (or shall I say, this issue that you’re now reading) until September. As such, “Summer” has been updated and transformed into “Summer/ Autumn.” We have re-adjusted our production cycle so that this issue is received by all schools following resumption of the fall semester. This production cycle change also puts us on track to ship next, and future years’ summer issues, in May—before school is over. I know this adjustment may have caused some confusion, but in an industry where “late” means “stale” or undeliverable, we felt it was the best thing to do. Meanwhile ... I must admit ... I was able to spend a bit more time establishing the new potters’ gallery & supply business I recently founded in the Northern Virginia area. It has been wonderful to get back into the person-to-person clay scene and not be chained to my desk all summer! I also took advantage of an invitation to take a kiln repair seminar at the Skutt Kilns plant in Portland, Oregon, and found myself touring the Laguna and Aardvark Clay production facilities in southern California. As I update this column in late September, I have just returned from lecturing on ceramic publications at the 3rd annual ‘ScanCeram’ conference in Hjorring, Denmark. I’m pleased to say that during all of these recent travels, I was exposed to a great deal of exciting new artists, materials, and information that promises to find its way to you in upcoming quarterly issues of Clay Times. Meanwhile (as always), our subscribers & advertisers will continue to receive the total number of issues they’ve signed up for, and will not be charged for anything they do not receive. Sorry about any confusion. I sincerely hope you had a great summer, and hope this back-to-school issue blesses you with loads of inspiration, and the creation of lots of great pots! [ — Polly Beach, Editor
CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER / AUTUMN 2012
Freelance editorial and photographic submissions are welcome: Please contact Clay Times or visit our Website at www.claytimes.com. for writer’s and photographer’s guidelines.
You Haven’t Missed a Thing!
Spouting Off I Editor’s Desk
Where did the summer go?
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• ceramic art world news • events • • calls for entries •
Conferences
Calls for Entries
‰ Mark your calendar now for NCECA 2013, the 47th Annual Conference of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts, to take place March 20-23, 2013 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas. The conference theme, “Earth/Energy,” was developed specifically for the Houston/ Southern region, where more than 100 related exhibitions will be sited. The event is expected to draw nearly 5,000 registrants including artists, educators, collectors, nonprofit organizations, commercial vendors, schools, and enthusiasts. For continuous updates and details on the conference, visit www. nceca.net
‰ Artisphere 2013, a top-ranking annual arts festival located in Greenville, South Carolina, is accepting entries through Oct. 12 for its May 10–12, 2013 exhibition. The event will feature 120 exhibitors, $12,500 in cash awards, and a purchase awards program. $30 jury fee. Applications are available at www. artisphere.us
Residencies & Internships
‰ The ACGA National Clay & Glass Exhibition will be held Jan. 26-Mar. 1, 2013, at the City of Brea Art Gallery, Orange County, California. The exhibition will be a showcase for handmade ceramic and glass artwork from across the United States. This juried competition is open to all forms of handmade clay and glass, functional or sculptural. Entry deadline is Oct. 31, 2012. There is an entry fee of $30 for up to three entries. (Brea residents and ACGA members pay $25 for up to three entries.) Cash awards for first,
‰ Pro Arts of Oakland, California is accepting digital entries through Nov. 2 from artists of the San Francisco Greater Bay Area for its Juried Annual 2013, to take place Dec. 7–Jan. 11, 2013. For details, log onto www.proartsgallery.org, e-mail info@ proartsgallery.org, or call 510.763.4361. ‰ HOT Clay of the University of Florida, Gainesville, is accepting digital entries through Nov. 9 for Currents 2012: Phenomena of the End! The show, to take place Jan. 8–Feb. 2, 2013 will feature functional and sculptural ceramic interpretations of armageddon. For further information, visit www.ufhotclay.wordpress. com, e-mail cdc13@ufl.edu, or call 941.772.0949. ‰ Digital submissions of ceramic works completed within the past two years by residents of AR, CO, KS, LA, MO, NM, OK, and TX are eligible for entry through Nov. 17 for the University of Dallas 2013 Regional Juried Ceramic Competition. The event takes place Jan. 22-Mar. 1, 2013 at the University of Dallas in Irving, TX. For details, log onto www.udallas.edu/art/ regional, e-mail art@udallas.edu, or call 972.721.5319.
continued on next page
CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER / AUTUMN 2012
‰ Clay Times Magazine and The Art Spot Gallery & Studio Supply of Hamilton, Virginia (metro DC area) are now accepting applications for ongoing residencies in studio ceramics, plus part- and full-time internships in photography/video production and graphic/web design. Successful candidates will be quick-minded, creative self-starters with strong work ethics and solid commitment to their craft. To apply, e-mail resume, artist statement, 6 to 12 images/samples of your work, and letter of intent to claytimes@gmail.com
‰ The Morean Arts Center of St. Petersburg, Florida is accepting submissions of functional and sculptural works comprised of at least 90% clay for its Functional/ Dysfunctional exhibition. Entry deadline: Oct. 15. Exhibition dates: Jan. 12-Feb. 24, 2013. Open to U.S. ceramic artists ages 18 and older. For complete details, visit http:// www.bit.ly/functionaldysfunctional
second, and third place, plus the People’s Choice award, will be given. Log onto http://www.acga.net/_pages/ entrythingy.html#show=539 to fill out the online entry application.
Hot Stuff I News & Events
$
What’s Hot
11
Hot Stuff I News & Events
What’s Hot (continued from previous page) ‰ The Ceramics Museum of Westerwald, Denmark has announced that in mid-October, it will begin to accept international entries of ceramic figure sculpture for its The Figure: Sculpture in Ceramics exhibition, to take place in autumn, 2013. Acceptable work for entry should be realistic depiction or free interpretation of the subject. Of
four best of show awards, two will be presented to artists age 35 or under. Entry deadline: Feb. 17, 2013. For complete details, visit http://www.keramik museum.de or e-mail info@keramik museum.de
Exhibitions
‰ A wide variety of functional claywork devoted to the theme of “containment” will be on exhibit Oct. 3-Nov. 7 during the Clemson Ceramics National in Clemson, South Carolina. For further details, call 864.656.3883 or log onto: http://www.clemson. edu/centers-institutes/cva/ccnprospectus.pdf ‰ Fifteen great makers of functional pottery will exhibit their work during Pottery on the Hill, to take place Oct. 26-28 at the elegant setting of the Hill Center at 921 Pennsylvania Ave. N.E., Washington, DC. Featured works are by potters including Briscoe, Chapman, Dalglish, Finnegan, Frederick, Gholson, Greenheck, Henneke, Hyleck, Hunt, Kline, Shapiro, Snyder, Taylor, and White. Friday evening preview $25; free admission on Saturday and Sunday. For info, call 202.549.4172 or log onto hillcenterdc.org; potteryonthehilldc. com
CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER/ATUMN 2012
‰ The Art Center of Estes Park, Colorado will feature fine ceramic and glass art with its 16th Annual Juried Lines into Shapes Art Competition and Sale, to take place Oct. 26–Nov. 11. For more information, log onto www. artcenterofestes.com or call 970.586.5882.
12
‰ The Nellie Allen Smith Juried Pottery Competition will be featuring functional and nonfunctional ceramic works during its 18th annual show, to take place October 26 through November 20 in Fayetteville, North Carolina. To learn more, visit www.cape fearstudios.com or call 910.433.2986. ‰ Juror Robert Briscoe’s selection of works by U.S. artists age
Hot Stuff I News & Events
18 and older will be on view at the Bemidji Community Art Center from Nov. 2 to Dec. 22 during the 10th Annual It’s Only Clay National Juried Ceramics Competition and Exhibit in Bemidji, Minnesota. For details, go to http://bcac.wordpress.com/its-only-clay/ ‰ The 18th international CraftForms exhibition takes place at the Wayne Art Center in Wayne, Pennsylvania Dec. 1, 2012-Jan. 26, 2013. This annual event is dedicated to enhancing public awareness of contemporary craft, while providing a venue for established and emerging artists to share their functional and sculptural creative endeavors. Juror: Cindi Strauss. For complete details, visit http:// www.wayneart.org/exhibition/ craft-forms-2012 ‰ The Workhouse Arts Center of Lorton, Virginia will be featuring functional and sculptural ceramic cups during Drink This! The Workhouse International Ceramic Cup Show. The exhibition, juried by Linda Arbuckle, will showcase ceramic drinking vessels by contemporary artists worldwide. The show will take place Jan. 9-Feb. 10, 2013. To find out more, visit www. workhouseceramics.org or www. workhousearts.org
9 4 0 Ne w H a m p s h i re St re e t L aw re n ce, K a n s a s 6 6 0 4 4
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TWO DAYS OF CERAMICS WORKSHOPS WITH
Christa Assad Pattie Chalmers Sam Chung Charity Davis-Woodard Course and Workshop Offerings Visit www.hood.edu/ceramics for full schedule. VISITING ARTIST
Josh DeWeese Russell Wrankle
Jack Troy
Unrounding • Sept. 21-23
Catherine White
Developing Personal Aesthetic Direction Sept. 15-16, Oct. 6-7, Nov. 17-18
Phil Berneburg Properties of Clay Sept. 8-9
Register online at lawrenceartscenter.org PS DBMM for more information. Sponsored by
Kiln Technology with Brad Birkhimer Sept. 26-30
To list your events, clay conferences, calls for entries, exhibitions, or ceramic news items in Clay TimesÂŽ, please e-mail complete details to: claytimes@gmail.com, or click the events link at www.claytimes.com to fill out an online submission form.
Properties of Glaze Nov. 8-11
Shawn Grove Wood Firing • Oct. 27-28, Nov. 3,4,9 Hood College Graduate School Art Department (301) 696-3456 ∙ Fax (301) 696-3531 www.hood.edu/ceramics
g o u l d e v a ns A F F I L I A T E S
CLAYTIMES¡COM n SUMMER / AUTUMN 2012
‰ 100 Teapots VI takes place Jan. 12-Feb. 13, 2013 at Baltimore Clayworks in Baltimore, Maryland. For details, log onto www.baltimoreclay works.org [
CERAMICS SYMPOSIUM
Hood College subscribes to a policy of equal educational and employment opportunities.
13
Daring Undulations STORY AND ART BY JANIS HUGHES
W
orking with raw clay is my favorite part of being a potter. There are times I’ve looked at the leather-hard surface of a pot and wished that it could look the same in its functional state as it does when it has just been freshly formed. It has a humble beauty in this unadorned state of being wet earth that has been sculpted, yet is still alive with moisture and deceptively delicate. While I have not pursued the formulation of a glaze that would fire to look like leather-hard or wet clay, this adoration of clay itself has influenced my aesthetic.
I’m drawn to daring forms finished with fairly simple glaze applications. I revel in making forms that are angular or undulating. The majority of my functional work is created on the wheel. Typically a piece begins as a meticulously thrown, straight-sided cylinder, and then it undergoes concentrated alteration in either the wet or leather-hard stage. I often create my own custom-made, fired clay tools to alter my forms on the wheel by pressing the clay in from the outside (see sidebar, page 17).
To throw the body of a Dali mug, I center about 1¼ pounds of clay on the wheel (Fig. 1, opposite page). Then I use my thumbs to press an opening in the center of the ball of clay by pushing down toward the bat and leaving about a quarter inch of clay for the bottom of the pot (Fig. 2). In three pulls, I raise the clay into a straight-walled cylinder by squeezing clay between my fingertips and pulling it up (Fig. 3). I touch my left thumb to my right hand while pulling the clay up so that I can move my hands as a unit (Fig. 4). I take special care not to flare out the walls while raising
Roulette Mug Pair by Janis Hughes (featuring her Jay Blue and Waterfall Brown glazes: recipes on page 48).
14
1. Center the clay. 5. Begin at the bottom and compress the walls against a wooden rib.
9. Starting at the bottom, impress a groove with a pointed rib while lightly pressing out from the inside along the top of the rib.
6. Continue compressing all the way to the top to strengthen and smooth the walls.
10. Make the groove with a single pass to create one continuous, undulating indention.
2. Open the clay.
3. Begin pulling up the walls. 7. Use a wooden knife to create an undercut.
4. Brace your hands together with your thumb to move both hands as a single unit and keep the walls vertical.
8. Smooth the undercut with a sponge. 12. Completely smooth the outer surface of the clay with a second pass of the sponge.
(Fig. 7) and smooth the edge of the undercut with a sponge (Fig. 8). This defines a termination for the swirling indention to come. Creating the undulating indention is the tricky part. This should be performed at extremely slow wheel speed. First I press in an undulating spiral starting from the bottom and working toward the top (Fig. 9) using a custom rounded stoneware rib with a subtle point (see sidebar for rib information). As I press in with the rib, I lightly press out from the inside just above
the top edge of the rib. The key to attaining the loose look is to smoothly move the rib up and down as you gradually create a swirl from the bottom to the top of the pot. The swirl should be completed in one continuous pass (Fig. 10). Then I use a fine sponge on the outside to press in and smooth the groove while simultaneously pressing outward from the inside just above the groove (Fig. 11). More than one pass may be necessary to create prominent bulges with a smooth outer surface (Fig. 12). These steps are done with the wheel turning very slowly. This process tends to
CLAYTIMES¡COM n SUMMER / AUTUMN 2012
them. Once the walls are of even thickness from top to bottom, I use the tip of my left middle finger on the inside of the pot to press the wall against the flat side of a wooden rib held vertically against the outside of the pot (Fig. 5). I start from the bottom and work all the way to the rim until the outer wall is perfectly smooth (Fig. 6). This compression against the rib removes the throwing slip from the clay, strengthens the wall, and removes throwing lines. It’s almost time to add the Dali undulations, but first I use a wooden knife to form an undercut at the foot of the pot
11. Accentuate the form by further pressing in on the groove with a smooth sponge while pressing out the bulges from the inside.
15
CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER / AUTUMN 2012
13. Use a chamois draped over the rim to gently smooth the lip of the cup and coax it back into round.
16
Jay Blue and Waterfall Brown Dali Mug by Janis Hughes. Thrown and altered white stoneware fired to cone 6 in an electric kiln.
throw the top of the pot out of round, so after I have created the undulating bulges I drape a chamois over the rim and coax it back into round with the wheel turning at a moderate speed (Fig. 13). When you’re done, you should have a form with smooth bulges spilling over one continuous but
undulating groove (Fig. 14). Generally, I let these forms firm up to soft leather-hard before running a cut-off wire beneath and removing them from the bat. Trimming can be tricky because of the altered nature of the Dali forms, and here I find my Giffin Grip® to be helpful. When attaching
14. Let the pot set up to leather-hard before removing from the bat.
handles, I take special care to examine each pot to determine the best handle placement both for clean joints on the bulges and to present the most appealing side from which to drink. The clay used will certainly affect the success of these techniques. I use a clay that is low in grog to avoid uneven surface texture or surface scratches from the interaction of the tools and sponges with the surface of the pots. Little Loafer cone 6 white stoneware from Highwater Clays meets my throwing and shaping needs, while cooperating beautifully with my glazes. For each family of forms that I make, I choose simple surface finishes to call attention to the underlying clay structure by highlighting texture and shape without the intention of creating decorative surface designs through color alone. I gravitate toward glazes that give me uncluttered surface finishes.
Perfecting the Dali technique took me quite a while, and it evolved over time through many rounds of trial and error. While it may take time to get comfortable with it, it’s both versatile and somewhat addictive. This technique for creating undulating bulges may be applied to any cylinder-based form, including mugs, cups, vases, bottles, and decanters. Just be careful — once you start, you might not be able to stop! [
The signature on the inside of each rib provides texture to help secure grip during use, when the rib is wet.
Making A Custom Stoneware Rib
Many different throwing tools can be made from clay itself. I use the same clay I throw with, Highwater Little Loafer cone 6 white stoneware, to make my tools; but any smooth clay will work. For my Dali rib (the rounded rib pictured above), I cut a pointed circular shape out of a 1/8" thick slab of clay and smoothed the edges with a damp sponge. I draped the rib over a golf ball to round it. At leather-hard I used a rasp to thin and further taper the edges and to refine the point. I fired the rib to cone 6. After firing, I polished the edges by wetting the rib and buffing it with a 3M Diapad. The polishing step ensures that the surface is perfectly smooth so that the tool will not leave scratches on your pot when you throw with it. I thoroughly wet the rib before throwing with it so it will not stick to the raw clay. Because it has been fired to vitrification it will not absorb water and is very durable as long you don’t drop it. Using similar techniques you can make various ribs, throwing sticks, and sculpting tools out of fired clay.
Janis Hughes is a full-time studio potter and part-time instructor in the northern Atlanta, Georgia area. She may be reached via her Website at www.evolutionstoneware.com
CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER / AUTUMN 2012
Because I have a strong background in chemical engineering, I am uncompromising on the safety and stability of the glazes I use on my functional forms. I often rely on recipes that have been lab-tested, such as Variegated Slate Blue and Waterfall Brown from the book Mastering Cone 6 Glazes by Ron Roy and John Hesselberth. But at times, I am unable to easily find a lab-tested recipe that suites my needs. In the case of my Jay Blue glaze, I was forced to develop my own formula. I wanted a glaze that delivered a consistent, glossy, blue surface that would highlight my Dali forms without pinholing or crazing on my clay body during my firing schedule. It also needed to integrate well with my liner glaze, Waterfall Brown. I consulted with Atlanta Clay owner Deanna Ranlett, who is an expert on glazes and glaze components. We identified a couple of stable base glaze recipes to start with. After I mixed test batches and experimented with them, I settled on a Chun Clear recipe, to which I add 1% cobalt carbonate. I tested the stability of this glaze using the simple home test recommended in Mastering Cone 6 Glazes. I placed a fired test tile with the glaze partially immersed in a container of vinegar for three days. Then I washed and carefully dried the tile and examined the glaze for any signs of change in the color or surface quality (glossiness). No change indicated that the glaze is reasonably stable for functional use. I ruled out a similar-looking formula due to its tendency to show drip marks or uneven spots. It also showed an undesirable hard line of color change when overlapped with my liner glaze, unlike the Jay Blue, which feathers oh-so-nicely with Waterfall Brown. For me, the more foolproof a glaze is, the better. On most of my forms, I pour the liner glaze on the inside and dip the rim. Once the inside is totally dry, I dip the outside of the pot in glaze and clean off the foot. The time and effort put into honing a glaze to suit my forms has paid off with a safe and reliable formulation that is easy to use. With Jay Blue, I am able to highlight the underlying structure of my Dali pots with a beautiful-yet-simple surface that doesn’t draw attention away from my undulating forms, while being striking in its own right.
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CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER / AUTUMN 2012
Maintaining Control During Early Bisque Firing
BY PETE PINNELL
Lesson Number 1: Pots explode in the bisque firing from residual moisture — not trapped air!
I
n my previous column, I discussed ways to control drying in order to reduce the stress on clay objects (and, by extension, on the person who is making the clay objects). In this column, I’ll discuss the drying that takes place during the first part of a firing, and ways to avoid pitfalls at this point of the process. Once the piece is dry, we’re on easy street, right? Well, somewhat. For one thing, clay objects often aren’t quite dry when we put them into the kiln. There are all kinds of reasons why this might be so: perhaps the weather is very humid so there’s no way for the clay to completely dry, or you’re under a deadline to deliver fired work and you have to fire NOW rather than tomorrow. Sometimes the piece may be large or thick, or portions of the object might be hidden within the object or trapped against a kiln shelf. For whatever reason, we sometimes need to complete the drying of the object within the kiln.
The first rule of firing is to avoid letting any water in the piece reach boiling temperature: 212° Fahrenheit or 100° Celsius. At that temperature, water turns into steam, causing a violent and powerful expansion that can force the clay object to explode. While heated air does expand, it does so in a slow, even, progressive way. However, when water turns to steam, it does so explosively—expanding more than 1600 times by volume. So, if you think there is any chance that there is residual water left in a piece, it’s a good idea to “candle” the kiln, keeping it under 200° F until all water has had a chance to evaporate. What could be more simple? The problem is knowing that everything is dry, rather than guessing (and hoping) it is. When a piece is very large and has a thick base (which is hidden in the depths of the kiln), how will I know it’s dry? Since I’m often firing large electric kilns crammed with student work, this is something I’ve wrestled with over the
years. One trick I’ve learned is to put the driest work on the bottom of the kiln and the dampest work on the top. I do this for several reasons: the top shelves tend to heat more evenly (since they’re heated from both the sides and below) and the top shelves are closer to the lid, which I keep open (“cracked”) a little bit during preheat. Another reason is that I can open the lid during the preheat phase and touch or pick up the damp pieces to see if they feel dry. When these pots are dry, then I know the rest of the kiln is ready to roll. What this last tip illustrates is that the best way to know that things are dry is to use your senses. It took me years to learn this one basic idea: just because I turn on the kiln doesn’t mean I have to stop looking into it. A kiln with damp ware feels and smells different when it’s heating. In fact, if you pay attention, you’ll find you can sense even a tiny bit of water by just lifting the lid and both feeling and sniffing the atmosphere. A damp atmosphere will feel damp and have a slightly swampy smell. If you’re not sure, then a cool glass mirror can be placed next to the opening of the cracked lid and it will fog if water vapor is present. The pyrometer reading on a kiln can give you a false sense of security. The temperature of the air in the kiln (which is what the thermocouple is reading) will always zoom ahead of the temperature of the clay objects. It can be tempting to starting turning things up a lot more quickly when the pyrometer is reading 300° F or more, but don’t get too carried away. When I’ve heard pots blowing continued on page 20
CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER / AUTUMN 2012
Years ago, I taught at a community college that offered a lot of classes, most of them consisting of beginners trying to work on the potters wheel for the first time. A technician loaded the electric kilns for bisquing and did all the turn-ups (there were only manual kilns in those days). The task of unloading these bisque kilns often fell to my evening class, and it was fairly common to find a pile of rubble on the spot where a beginner pot had been loaded. I finally broached the topic with the tech, asking him about his turn-up schedule. His reply was “I pack the kiln, shut the lid and turn it to high.” When I mentioned that a number of pots blew up, his reply was surprisingly Darwinian: “Those were the pots that deserved to die.”
Unlike what many have you may have heard, those pots did not blow up because there were air bubbles trapped within them. Yes, those were almost always the thicker “doorstop” pots that many of us make when we’re first learning to throw, but the reason they exploded was residual moisture, not trapped air. I’ve long theorized that the reason why this myth of “explosive” air bubbles is so prevalent is because it serves teachers: if the pot blows up due to bubbles, then the student can be blamed for not wedging the clay well enough. If the pot blows up because the piece is damp, then the blame falls more onto the person who loaded and fired the kiln, who is often the teacher (hey—now that I think about it, bubbles probably are to blame).
Perspectives I As Far As I Know
A Very Dry Topic, Part Two
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Perspectives I As Far As I Know
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Controlling the Early Bisque Firing (from page 19) up, it has often occurred with a reading of 400° F or more on the pyrometer. Once everything in the kiln is dry, the swampy smell will disappear and it will be replaced by a toasty smell. Soon after that, the organic materials in the clay will begin to burn and you’ll start to see small, soft-edged black spots on the surface of the clay. When you begin to see these spots, then you’ll know that the clay temperature is over 450° F and is most certainly dry. I usually preheat electric kilns with the lid cracked a half inch or so until the air temperature within the kiln is at least 600.° This allows any residual moisture from thicker objects to escape, and the comparatively dry room air to enter the kiln and pick up more moisture. My students sometimes prop a small, squirrel-cage fan (the kind we use to build burners) at the bottom spy hole of a candling kiln. The combination of moving air and mild heat can dramatically speed drying. If all this opening, closing, smelling, feeling and fanning sounds like a lot of extra work, you’re right—it is. The easiest, and best, way to avoid preheat problems is to let the work dry completely before loading it into a kiln. If drying must be hurried, then during the final stage (after the piece is leatherhard) you can use a large fan. This uses a lot less electricity than a kiln—even one that is just candling. Bisque firing in a gas kiln produces an entirely different set of challenges. To begin with, gas kilns are fired with gas (well, duh). Gas—whether natural gas or propane— contains a lot of hydrogen. When we “burn” hydrogen, we’re simply oxidizing it. This oxidation process occurs quite rapidly and a by-product of this rapid oxidation is heat. There’s another by-product that a lot of potters don’t really think about. The oxidized version of hydrogen (H) is H2O, or water. Kilns fired with gas tend to have very moist atmospheres. This causes no problem later in the firing, but can have a big effect on raw clay in the earliest part of the firing, like when we’re candling. Another thing to remember (also from the department of “well, duh”) is that hot gasses rise. When the low, slow flame from a candling burner enters the kiln, the heated gasses will tend to rise to the top of the inside of the kiln. If there isn’t some process to force the heat down, then the candling may
heat the top of that large piece of sculpture, yet may also do nothing to preheat the lower extremities. In fact, I’ve seen students preheat a large piece of sculpture for two or more days, then find the bottom of the piece colder and wetter than when the piece was placed in the kiln. Wetter? To make sense of this, think about that tall, cold glass of ice tea on a hot summer day. The surface of the cold glass is below the dew point of the atmospheric moisture, so water condenses on the glass. The same thing can happen when the warm, moist atmosphere created by candling meets the cold pots and shelves at the bottom of a kiln. I’ve worn glasses since I was a kid and I’m well aware of what happens in the winter when I walk from the cold, dry outside air into the warm atmosphere of a house. My glasses fog up and I’m instantly blind (all the while the person I’m visiting is pointing to vague shapes in the fog and saying, “have you met Tom and Susan?” In those socially awkward situations, I usually just stare blankly through my now-opaque glasses and say something witty like “Huh?”). This situation illustrates that even the dry interior air of a house in winter can have a dew point as long as the condensation surface (in this case, my glasses) is cold enough. So yes, the kiln atmosphere actually is moist enough and the bottom of the kiln can certainly be cold enough. Most gas kilns are outdoors (for good reason) and the outdoors, in most of North America, tends to get cooler in the winter months. This can greatly exacerbate the tendency for the bottom of the kiln to stay cool (like my glasses) even while the pyrometer (which is usually wired to a thermocouple near the top of the kiln) reads a reassuringly warm temperature. “See?” says the student, “the pyrometer reads 200º!” As with an electric kiln, it’s important to open the door to the gas kiln periodically to see what is actually occurring inside. I’m a fan of blower burners (a.k.a. “forced air” burners) for this kind of situation. We build our own burners where I teach, using squirrel-cage blowers and large pilots. The pilots alone do a pretty good job of preheating a kiln as long as they’re run with the blowers on high. The blowers circulate the heat, injecting enough air to gently pressurize the kiln. You can tell this is happening because air will blow out of the peepholes when they’re opened (we usually keep them closed during preheat). This combination of a little heat with a lot of air
A final tip from someone who has to load outdoor kilns in very cold weather: light the kiln and let it run it for 10 or 15 minutes, then turn it off and open the door for loading. See ... that’s much better, isn’t it? You’re welcome. There are parts of the ceramic process that are exciting, creative, and satisfying. Drying is not one of them. No one has written a rhapsodic ode to the pleasures of preheating. However, unloading a kiln load of whole, healthy, happy bisque ware—all pink-cheeked and begging for glaze—can be a pleasure all its own.[ Footnote: 1. For all you sticklers to detail, I know that water boils at a slightly lower temperature at higher altitudes and at a slightly higher temperature if there are dissolved salts or other solids. For the sake of clarity and simplicity, I’m going to forget that and just stick to nice, round numbers. Peter Pinnell is Hixson-Lied Professor of Art at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. You can reach him at ppinnell1@unl.edu or through his Facebook page at www.facebook.com.
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Perspectives I As Far As I Know
is ideal for evenly preheating (and drying) large work. Speaking of large work, if you are going to do a firing that contains just one large object, don’t load it low in the kiln. Instead, load it so the top of the piece is nearer to the top of the kiln, leaving more of the empty space in the kiln below the object, rather than above. This placement helps prevent the kind of cold foot I’ve been describing and allows you to move from the preheat phase to the firing phase more quickly. Structurally this is counter-intuitive, but thermally it makes great sense.
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State of Clay 2012 D
oug Casebeer of Anderson Ranch served as guest juror for State of Clay 2012, the 7th biennial exhibition of Massachusetts ceramics, held earlier this year at the Parsons Gallery in Lexington, Massachusetts. Finalists included 72 talented clay artists from across the state, whose works range from utilitarian vessels, bowls, and tableware to sculptural and decorative fine art. A production of the Lexington Arts & Crafts Society, this exhibition empowers its viewing public to look at art critically and have a say through their votes for the “People’s Choice” award. This year’s vote resulted in a tie for first place awards. To learn more about this exhibition and view the entire show catalogue online, please visit www.stateofclay.com
Pictured, this page: Above: Teapot by Tyler Gulden. Best Function award winner. At left: Bottle by Zachary Shaw. Juror’s Award recipient. Opposite page: Top: Pasta Bowls by Hollis Engley. Juror’s Award recipient. Bottom: Lotus Group by Iris Minc. Tied for People’s Choice Award.
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more images appear on page 24
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State of Clay 2012 (continued from page 23)
CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER / AUTUMN 2012
Blue-green Bottle by Bob Kulchuk. Honorable Mention.
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Full Moon and Energy Basket by Fumihiko Mochizuki. Juror’s Award recipient.
Treasure Box 1 by Joanna Mark. Merit Award recipient.
How could a clothespin be so helpful in design? Just wait ... you’ll see. Debbie Thompson is a Michigan clay artist who has taught at the high school and university level and has shown her award-winning work since 1977. She developed this design exercise for her students.
Wilson: How do you use clothespins to teach design?
by adding and deleting portions of your original drawing. You will want to fill areas in while leaving others blank and thus choose where the positive and negative spaces will be. Positive spaces are the dark areas and negative space are the white or blank areas. See Fig. 2 and Fig. 3.
Thompson: We start with a line drawing of a clothespin. At the end of the whole process, a design emerges that surprises and delights students. Wilson: This sounds like an intriguing project. I suspect you could translate it and use it with three-dimensional forms as well as flat surface design to get ideas percolating.
Fig. 1
What are you are teaching to students with this assignment? Thompson: I want students to realize that we need to be willing to spend time and focus when creating designs, plus take risks and try something new.
Fig. 2
Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7 on page 26 are examples of piecing together and repeating parts of your favorite photocopied design. Notice how Fig. 6 shows more repeats of Fig. 4. Fig. 7 shows repeats of the far right clothespin design from Fig. 3, but arranged in a grid form of squares. Fig. 5 is a slight variation and simplification of the middle clothespin from Fig. 3. Figs. 8 and 9 show the final design. Both of these are complex repeated designs that started with a clothespin.
Fig. 3
continued on next page
CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER / AUTUMN 2012
Thompson: The first step is to create a line drawing with a pencil of a clothespin. Draw the clothespin at least life size or a little bigger. After you are satisfied with your drawing, go over the pencil lines with a fine, black sharpie pen. See Fig. 1. Look at your drawing carefully; forget it is a clothespin and think of it only as a shape to work from. Begin to morph the drawing into a design. You will change the shapes
Make a viewfinder by cutting a piece of 4" x 4" cardstock paper. Fold the paper in half and cut a 1¼" square in the middle of the paper to make a window. Use this window to find the part of your design want to use. Put the viewfinder on top of your design, look through the 1¼" square, move it around, and identify the areas that you find most interesting. Cut out those parts and glue them to a blank piece of paper. Take the paper to a photocopy machine and make multiple copies, which you can cut out and glue together to create patterns.
For broader inspiration, I encourage my students to visit museums and galleries. This can be crucial motivation for them to try something that is fresh and different. Wilson: Can you explain the steps in your clothespin design project?
BY LANA WILSON
Perspectives I Beneath the Surface
Need Design Inspiration? Try a Clothespin ...
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Perspectives I Beneath the Surface
Design Inspiration (continued from previous page)
Fig. 4
Fig. 5 Wilson: What else helps make designs successful?
big), and value (light to dark) make a crucial difference.
Thompson: Many students hesitate to do this next step, but seeking out constructive advice from a trusted source can be crucial.
I tell students, “Jot down your ideas in a sketchbook to use as starting points when planning your work. Pay attention to both your mind and your heart. This means to consider design principles and identify sources that inspire you. Consider botanical references, geometric forms, mechanical forms, etc. Do you respond to symmetry or asymmetry? Heavy or delicate forms, dark colors or light colors, complex or simple forms, etc.?”
CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER / AUTUMN 2012
Wilson: Critiques can be key to the eventual creative product. The sandwich style of a critique makes them easier to hear. Say one good aspect of an artwork, share one point that could make it better, and state one more positive thing about the piece. Students can do this sandwich critique with each other. I have learned about details I have overlooked by asking for critiques of my work.
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Fig. 6
Thompson: I would add that learning to struggle is sometimes how we grow as artists. It is important to pause, appreciate, and recognize your improvement and successes. Wilson: What is the biggest challenge in teaching design? Thompson: The hardest part in teaching design is to help students realize that good design is not random, and that it has an order of some sort. An awareness of the formal design elements like line, form, color, space, texture, size (tiny to
Fig. 7
Wilson: Readers may want to change or add to this clothespin exercise or use it exactly as explained ... and then pause to appreciate all their successes, no matter how they used this exercise. To understand more about formal elements of design check out these websites:
Fig. 8
www.wiu.edu/art/courses/design/elements. htm www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/files/ elements.htm www.johnlovett.com/test.htm Columnist Lana Wilson may be reached via her Website at www.lanawilson.com. [
Fig. 9
CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER / AUTUMN 2012
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Shop Talk I Firing
Port Authority BY MARC WARD
I
t is far better to err on the side of too big rather than on the side of too small. It’s not true with all things, but it is with these. We sell more replacement burners, burner heads, and thermocouples because of this miscalculation than any one thing. It is burner port size. A burner port’s size should always be a function of the burner’s size and the amount of secondary air that the kiln needs. However, lots of kiln builders view burner port size as a function of brick dimensions — unfortunate advice they have accepted as universal truths. The industrial world uses many types of ‘closed-port’ burner systems. Closed port means that the burner is sealed into the side of the kiln or furnace. You don’t see any flames and all the necessary air is provided by blowers or compressed air streams. So why don’t potters use these? There are several reasons. The safety systems of a closed-port burner are more expensive, and involve some sort of spark ignition system. If you can’t see the burner head from the outside, how are you going to light it with a match or torch? Yet perhaps the main reason clay artists don’t use closed-port is because of the back-pressure associated with reduction. Reduction would prove problematic to closed-port systems, as would other fun habits such as salt and soda injections. We potters have almost universally used ‘open-port’ burners. This type of port is open and you can see the flame entering the kiln. In these types of systems, some of the necessary combustion air needs to be entrained around the head of the burner. Venturi burners usually only get about 50% of the air they need for complete combustion through the back of the burner. The rest needs to come from air around the burner head (secondary air). This secondary air serves several purposes.
Thermocouples tips should be continuously immersed in blue flame during firing. But 3" or so back from that tip is the cold junction of the thermocouple. It needs to stay relatively cool to produce its signal. Too much back-pressure, and you fry the cold junction. If you fry the cold junction, then the
So, what’s the secret to burner port size? The dimension of your burner head and pilot determine your port size. Say you have a burner head that is 3.5" around, and a pilot that hangs down another 1.5". The profile of this head is 3.5" x 5". Your burner port should be 1" bigger all around, meaning a burner port that measures 4.5" x 6". Say you’ve built your kiln with bricks that are 2.5" thick. Make your burner port 7.5" tall instead of 5" tall. More air is always better. The smaller port will cause extreme turbulence, shortened head life, and more frequent thermocouple failures. And, here’s another heads up: if your kiln is located in an area more than a mile high in elevation, you will need to increase the basic size parameters another 50%. You’ll then want to have the burner port be 1.5" bigger in each direction than the burner head. There is one more placement issue that needs to be considered in this dance, and that’s where to place the burner in relation to the port. It should not be flush with the port in an open-port system. For horizontal burners, the rule of thumb is an offset of ½" per inch of flame tube diameter [not head diameter — flame tube diameter]. Say you have a burner made from a 2" pipe or a Venturi that has a 2" Venturi tube (widest point excluding head). Then your set-back would be 1". Smaller burners can be closer; bigger burners will be farther back. For soda kilns and especially salt kilns, I would move the burners back farther still ... say an additional ½" or ¾", just to keep some of the grunge from attacking them. Burners entering from underneath and shooting up can be a bit closer. Remember, a kiln is almost like a living creature. It needs to breathe. The burner ports are where it inhales — so let it take a deep breath! [
Marc Ward is owner and operator of Ward Burner Systems, PO Box 1086, Dandridge, Tennessee 37725. He invites you to sign up for his free newsletter, and can be reached by phone at 865.397.2914 or through the online catalog and Web site at: www. wardburner.com.
CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER / AUTUMN 2012
Not only does the secondary air provide the rest of the main combustion air needed with Venturi burners, it helps keep the head of the burner relatively cool. Even forced-air burners that have blowers need this cooling effect from the secondary airflow around the burner heads. Because most potters use thermocouple-based safety systems — if they use safety systems at all — they benefit from this secondary air flow.
burner shuts down at cone 8 at around 10 pm — usually leaving you little time to re-fire before you must leave for a show! We’ve all been there. This last-minute, late-night hassle is usually caused by poor burner placement and poor port sizing. Getting all this stuff right when building a kiln will keep you sane (well, maybe ‘saner,’ as we all know the universal questioning of our sanity as potters)!
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RAY FIELDER PHOTOS
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Pictured: Untitled sculptures by Helene Fielder. Fired to cone 6 in oxidation.
Helene Fielder’s Evolution as a Clay Artist
from
Sketch TO Sculpture BY ANTOINETTE BADENHORST
T
he
Mississippi countryside is mostly made up of rolling hills covered with luscious trees that fight for space against the narrow, curvy roads. It is on one of these roads that my daughter Linkie, armed with a camera, and I took a sharp turn to the right and immediately turned onto the gravel road to Helene Fielder’s studio. In early November, everything is covered with rich colors of gold, red and brown. Fielder was waiting for us in the driveway with an excited Alsatian at her side. I’ve known Helene for nearly ten years, and visited many times with her in the studio where she and her husband Ray have formed an unbeatable raku pottery team. Every visit I have made there has been special. Though I’ve often seen her ceramics in show scenarios, the guileless display of pots covering her studio shelves is always a feast for my eyes. Some of these pieces will never leave the studio, while others will become a part of some of the country’s finest ceramics collections. During this particular visit, I noticed a visible change in the studio. There was the added element of Ray Fielder’s life-sized paintings covering one side of the studio, while large and colorful sculptural pottery works, electric-fired to cone 6, dominated the shelves. Some years back, Helene and Ray attended a few Buyers Market shows in Philadelphia, after which art galleries across the country started carrying their raku work. With some additional shows and festivals, they pocketed an envious amount of money
with which they could live a decent living. However, it was some years since I first heard of Helene’s dreams to develop a fresh style. Raku work was physically hard to do, and Helene felt that her career had reached a plateau. There was little room for further personal and artistic growth. The endless repetition of the same designs started to wear through her inspiration, and the extreme heat during raku firings had been taking its toll on Ray’s health. Changing gears with one’s artwork is never easy. I learned that lesson myself many years ago, which was now reconfirmed by Helene. Because so many art galleries prefer that leading artists continue with what has proven to be successful, changing styles holds risks of losing customers — imposing financial distress on both the gallery and the artist. Apart from the marketing challenges for the artist, other challenges also arise. For Helene, it was hard to find her own niche with new glazes among the cone 6 potters community, especially considering how well she had developed her body of raku glazes over 20 years. This new undertaking would take her about five years to develop a style that married her intricate designs, rich textures, and new glazes with each other. Linkie was taking a series of pictures of Helene’s working process when she showed us a few pages of her drawings. Each drawing is an artwork in its own right! There is an unmistakable underwater theme connected to every drawing. Upon my question about that, Helene started to draw again. She explained that she strives to capture underwater life and growth, reaching upward, toward the sun. Shells, fish, and seaweed, while covered with water, have a colorful depth that she endeavors to capture through her glazes. Life and growth and the connection of one life to
another is very eminent in the many facets of her work. Whether it is a single standing sculpture or a group of sculptures, the movement of life and color come together in one harmonious celebration. Ideas that catch her spontaneously need time to incubate. Sometimes several months fly past before Helene uses one of those sketches. When this happens, she says, she needs to finish a piece in three days or else she will lose interest. Later we left her studio and crossed the bridge over the pond filled with catfish and fallen leaves, while two Alsatians pushed to lead the way to the house, where we were invited for lunch. Helene told us she was born in France and raised next to the coast in Slovenia, the former Yugoslavia. Her mother was a souse chef in some important government kitchen. As she roasted some cashew nuts in preparation of a delicious chicken-cashew stir-fry on rice, we were casually sipping hot Japanese green tea. I asked her to tell me the full story of how she became a potter and this is the story. It all started in sixth grade. There was a grumpy and distant girl in her class that always kept herself busy by drawing horses. One day Helene gathered all her guts and asked the girl to show her how to draw a horse and instead of a grumpy scold, the girl unexpectedly opened up, became friendly and taught her the basics. Helene was instantly hooked on drawing and from there on always carried a drawing book with her. She turned out to be good at it, so good that it helped her to become an illustrating artist in the military. Her artistic career took a four year detour through Fort Belvoir in Virginia
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