The Kiln Filler Parcel Pass

It sounds like a really odd dance routine and one at which potters would excel, The Kiln Filler Parcel Pass. The Australian Ceramics Triennale is getting revved up in anticipation of the big conference later this year in Adelaide.  Guy Ringwood has been keeping us in the loop by writing a wonderful blog as the plans develop.  If you plan to attend the conference - end September 2012, you should subscribe to the Triennale blog.  It seems like the BEST time to be a South Australian Potter, the excitement is palpable.  I love this idea for the Kiln Filler Parcel Pass, especially as I seem to do well in ceramics raffles.  

First up is The Kiln Filler Parcel Pass…

We are also hosting a little sale during the lunch break on the Sunday so bring a suitcase full of pots and see if you can make a little moolah to support your trip over for the conference!As is the tradition with the Triennale this year we will be throwing a shindig of sorts, from what I can find out (not  much at all, right now) it should be something to let your hair down for so make sure you bring some dancing shoes…

The idea behind this tasty morsel is that you bring a little kiln filler gift with you to the conference and on Sunday everyone will walk away with something different. The potential is there to walk away with something very special so I hope you all get your Kiln God on and bring a beautiful little gift with you to share. 

BIG STUFF

A magnet on my fridge door reminds the four males in my house that 'Only dull women have immaculate houses'.  I have no wish to be 'dull', nor to be dazzling either.  I suspect that taking time out to say, clean the bath, dust the blinds or vacuum, would rob me of time spent on more interesting things to me like -  clay, glaze, art, books, friends, movies, studio time. In addition to this weak argument for being a hint slovenly at times - I am allergic to dust!  That kind of justifies my approach I think.  I am only protecting my health, right?!  Fortunately a blindness to mess prevails in our very tolerant home.  So I was torn last week between doing the necessary housey stuff and spending time on clay at CIT Perth for this my first ever Artist's residency. I clocked up enough time to get about four 60cm platters made by forming the clay into a mould I'd made.  As I observed them, firming up slowly, and contemplated how I'd decorate them - the inclination to splash brush loads of slip just took over.  What am I doing here?  I am indulging myself in some time to make what the heck appeals most to me just now, to make large platters from crunchy robust clay, play with my print techniques on clay, explore some hot textural glazes and get some pretty adventurous quadraxial tests up and running.  I haven't used my Matrix software for ages and I love it so. The platters are made through a technique Ian Jones, ACE Woodfirer of ACT taught us ways to make BIG STUFF.  It was novel and liberating to be making BIG stuff but sadly I could not take my work back on the plane with me to Perth.  A 60cm platter on Qantas?  It wasn't happening.  I can throw larger pieces but have a dodgy shoulder I must work around. So I make the slightly (maybe more than that) imperfectly formed hand built platters, and let my first instinct tell me how to finish them.  I think I am overwhelming myself with all of the ideas I want to try out but gosh it is fun to just 'play'.

Looking through the vitrine.

I wasn't planning on blogging today, but spotted this interview with Edmund de Waal - maker, observer, writer - being interviewed for the Royal Academy here.  I just figured I'd share, you may not be a fan of the RA in London and  miss it, and still be a fan of porcelain.  Have you read his book The Hare with Amber Eyes?  Very popular, good read - quite a tale. Off to make some porcelain goodies of my own.  

Dry ink

What would dry ink be?  Pigment?  This post is about screen printing using ceramic underglaze powders, through a screen - in this case a Riso screen 70# instead of a traditional silkscreen.  It is almost as messy as using wet materials PLUS you MUST wear a dust mask.  I normally mix dry underglaze or oxides with a printing gel medium into paste of syrupy consistency and squeegee it through the screen in the usual way.  Some people like to use honey as their medium but that attracts ants in my studio.  Steve Allen in San Franscisco screens dry materials sometimes on his incredible sculptural forms, something he demo'd at CAAWA's Potober in Perth in 2010.  What I like is the blendability factor that using dry materials allows.  You can use this method when screening directly onto a soft leather hard form (probably using the mesh unframed) or screening onto a slab of soft clay about to be draped over a mould.  All you need is a suitable Riso Screen (thermal printer screen), some underglaze powder and a bristle brush - the cheap oil painting kind.  I add a small amount of a fritt like 3124 to ensure it the colour bonds to the surface in the bisque firing or it could get messy, especially if you are planning on glazing the work. I find the powder colours by Walker Ceramics are especially bright and glowing.  Here we have the lightweight A4 sized Riso screen just lifted from leather hard clay tile below.  I think the screen looks prettier than the tile - but you get the idea.  I had just been showing students at Rockingham TAFE ceramics department how to do this.  My Thermal Printer is from Nehoc Australia, I use it for printing on paper, ceramics and textiles, infinitely useful - even  for T-shirts to order for my three teen sons. Every school should have a Nehoc Thermal Printer.   In Perth, Western Australia we can just pop into a Jacksons art store and ask for a screen to be made from our hi resolution black and white art.
Hey do you want to know more about what potters are getting up to look at Mud Colony where some chummy potters share their recent blog postings regularly.

Progress

Easter is over and on to another term.  I am enjoying the kickback time with our boys who have a few extra days at home but it plays havoc with my work habits.  This week I start teaching a class at Challenger TAFE in Rockingham, Print on Clay stuff, over three Thursdays.  I will try to grab some snaps of the progress there.

For the Introduction to Throwing class last term at CIT we spent the last class glazing and the students took to it like a duck to water.  They were the perfect students. I explained why not to double dip pots from one bucket of glaze to another  - to avoid contamination of the glazes and they were hyper vigilant about it.  Now their work is ready to be collected, and I hope they will be thrilled. Here they are signing their work before putting them in for bisque firing,.