Henry says ...

A useful discussion took place recently on the discussion list for TACA - The Australian Ceramics Association.  It was about wheels and how to tweak, service and generally look after them.  Lucky me I have a husband who steps in and fixes things as they break.  Although I am capable of having a go at such things, well, it makes him feel valued and needed to allow him to fix my wheels when needed.  Why rock the boat?  A response to the initial query about fixing wheels, Venco wheels in particular I think gained a massively useful link here.  Check it out and store it somewhere handy - ain't potters just great?!

Venco wheels are built to last but their grommets and collars get a bit dodgy with prolonged use and these are easy to purchase and replace (well thats what Henry says).

http://ceramicsnepean.westernsydneyinstitute.wikispaces.net/Wheel+Page


PLEASE NOTE:
All text in this blog posting are copyright of Elaine Bradley, Ceramic Artist, Western Australia.  All photographs in this blog posting are copyright of Elaine Bradley unless otherwise stated.  No responsibility can be taken for external links.  Please report any errors in crediting photographs, sources or facts to the author in order to allow her to rectify the matter.  

Oh Mary! MARY WALLACE ON PORCELAIN AT PERTH STUDIO POTTERS

Most potters tend to be generous in sharing our knowledge and enthusiasm but this weekend  I encountered that and a little bit more.  Mary Wallace of Spiral Studio in Denmark, Western Australia (about 400km from Perth) presented a well planned, super workshop on throwing and working with porcelain at Perth Studio Potters in Cottesloe.  In fact I have never left a workshop with a 'goodie bag' before, a trend I'd love to see established.  We each received a handmade ramekin dish, a razor sharp carving tool, Mary's business card and publicity postcards and picture cards from the Ganjin Celadon festival.

I could be boring and relate the day exactly as it happened but this is just my little blog and not a magazine article.  Suffice to say, it was a very rewarding day.  Mary is a trained production potter, working in porcelain and she gas fires.  Production potters leave me a bit awestruck and envious of their skills.  They are so precise and decisive as they work and just get on with making - efficiently and well.   While she filled us in on her background, started at Perth Studio Potters in the 70's, TAFE, trained with Ian MacRae at Beaufort Pottery, moved to Denmark (the Denmark in Western Australia not the one in Europe) set up her own wonderful pottery and works there with her pretty great husband Daniel Webb, Mary was swiftly throwing repeat forms on the wheel.  She explained her interest in porcelain and celadons and her connection with Korea.  The day moved fast filled with demonstrations, quick slide shows, great explanations of clay bodies and how some behave when carved.  I had forgotten what the poster at Central Institute of Technology Ceramics noticeboard had advertised, I had just seen that Mary Wallace is coming to Perth, recalled her exquisite work - and signed up immediately.  I'd forgotten that carving was part of the agenda too - BONUS!  and we learnt how to make our own carving tools too and to temper the metal - double BONUS! and we got a goody bag - Oh I need a lie down.

Mary’s lotus tea set  (below) won the Judge's Prize in this years CAAWA Selective Exhibition as blogged here closer to the time.  She spent some of the day showing us how she carves these pieces having observed and learnt from Master Carvers and other craftsmen during her trips to Korea.  She made carving feel very achievable and worth doing. 

Image from CAAWA Facebook page.  Photographer, Cher Shackleton or Natalie Acton

Mary Wallace drawing the pattern of lotus flowers onto the leatherhard vase

A freshly carved outline ready for slip inlay (photo Elaine Bradley)

Coloured slip inaid into lines then trimmed away

Mary showed us how she inlays slip into carved lines in trays like the one below and several leatherhard trays for us to work on using our new carving skills.  There were about twenty two or more attending the workshop, everyone had a go.

Card supplied by Mary and Daniel

Perth Studio Potters aka PSP is an amazing resource for new and experienced potters without a studio or for the potter who likes to work in a bit of company.  There is a well equipped workroom, handbuilding table, slab roller, Venco wheels,  a brand new kiln shed out back and a glazing area.  This historical and important club which has been going for over fifty years has a small kitchen, a library and at the front of the building a modern gallery to show and sell work of the members.  A book on the club's history was authored by Janet Kovesi-Watt and which names many WA potters having had a connection at some point.  PSP runs day and evening classes and when there are no classes the members come and go using the place as their studio.  Neighbours on this suburban street often pass by and see club members sitting outside the gallery cheerfully sharing their lunch and clay tips.  As always at PSP workshops, everyone brought a plate of food to share and a delicious lunch was enjoyed with Mary outside in the springtime sun.

Peacock stained slip has been applied over the carved pattern and is being scraped away once firm.

I believe the Japanese term for slip inlay is Mishima, and I have used and appreciated the technique but now I've been told the Koreans were using it long before the Japanese or Chinese and the technique was adopted as a consequence of the many invasions of Korea down through the centuries.
I haven't mentioned Mary's husband yet.  Daniel Webb was with us all day too contributing in many ways especially when after lunch he demonstrated and advised how to make our own carving tools from umbrella spokes.  Golf umbrellas are made from better metal than cheapies are and the spokes or ribs inside can be cut out and adapted to make superb carving tools.  Daniel showed us how to cut the brolly spokes, flatten one end, trim with cutting pliers and grind to sharpen and then, bend into a useful hook all the better to carve with.  He used a variety of tools - pliers to cut, hammer on a metal block to flatten, tin snips or pliers to trim, some jewellers pliers to form the style of 'hook' desired, flat square edged, angular or gentle curve.  Fortunately I have all of these tools required, so tomorrow I will be hitting the Op Shops in Fremantle for an old golf umbrella.   I will also be plundering the garden shed and the retic risers to use them as handles for my new carving tools.  Thank you Daniel.

a mini tutorial card provided by Daniel and Mary

See how fine and sharp the carving tool is, the edges are razor sharp having been refined on the ginding wheel

I found a little more on the web about Mary, particularly here on the very informative pages ...

'Identifying Australian Pottery 1960s to Date' on Flickr.com.  

Mary's potter's marks, image from Identifying Australian Pottery Flickr.com page

NOW if you are  regular reader of my blog you will know that I always redirect my blog pals over to the Mud Colony blog where you can read more of the antics, lessons and discoveries of many other clay bloggers.  The numbers are growing, there are nineteen blog links there already.  Perhaps you blog occasionally and would like to join Mud Colony?  Give it a thought.  Meanwhile hop on over here to Mud Colony.  Ciao potter pals.  

PLEASE NOTE:

All text in this blog posting are copyright of Elaine Bradley, Ceramic Artist, Western Australia.  All photographs in this blog posting are copyright of Elaine Bradley unless otherwise stated.  Please report any errors in crediting photographs, sources or facts to the author in order to allow her to rectify the matter immediately.  Thank you  

CLAY POWER

In the Cert IV class at CIT Ceramics Studio which focuses on investigating and experimenting, we've zipped through a really busy program of skill sets this term.  We've done handmade teapots, boxes and now we are pushing on with the subject of wall art.  Last week we had a short slide show via my iPad and the digital projector (so easy) to illustrate the diverse possibilities, looking at artists in working clay and other media.  Then we got started on our designs and clay models.  The purpose of this wall art project is to teach the students how to make a simple model from which to make a one piece plaster drop mould and then go on to make multiple copies to arrange as wall art.

Mel is working on a cluster form

At first I thought the students weren't keen on the idea of wall art and all the processes involved, but that gave way quickly to some enthusiastic sketching and planning.

 Zach was the first to get his model ready and out into the plaster area to form the mould.  Here you can see he's built up cottle walls with bits of MDF and recycled clay to hold the retaining walls in place.  He was at home with mixing plaster having used it previously in a sculpture unit and had worked in the trade at some point.  His clay model was not very big and the walls were firm enough to resist the pressure of  the plaster as we poured it in.  We were in and out of the outdoor plaster area in ten minutes while the sculpture class slathered plaster onto their self portraits behind us.  Then the rest of our class noted what Zach had done and followed suite with little direction from me.

One great thing was that the students were passing on the still soft clay with plaster in it for shoring up their subsequent moulds and the MDF walls were leftovers from the workshop area so the wastage was very low.  Meanwhile back in the classroom the students were working away on their models ...

Tanh, who has the concentration and determination of an athlete and works rapidly, was finessing her two cylinder model with a cool faceted surface texture, we may have to address some fine undercuts near the base though. 

Actually here is a little image transfer tip we used in class.  Rowan, below, had drawn his character in his visual diary and needed to translate it into clay.  We went over his drawing with a pen we'd tested to ensure the ink was water soluble.  We tried a couple of pens out to find the right one.  NB Must buy more!  

First we rolled two slabs of clay and placed them on top of each other, with no slip or water between them, the lower slab is about twice as thick as the top one.  When he pressed the image face down onto the top surface of the 'just rolled' slab of clay, the image transferred easily, a mirror image of the original  We'd also tested this simple transfer technique out with a printed 'inkjet' image earlier in the class to good effect.  For a curved surface such as a cylinder you'd just trim the paper to fit the curve.  

 

We used the print as a guide for cutting around it through the top layer of clay with a sharp knife and a with bevelled edge all round.  Some of the background layer will be kept as a foundation for the 2D image to enhance the sense of dimensionality.  The bevelled edge is to ensure we have no undercuts for when we make the mould.  Next week Rowan will be softening the edges of his clay character with his fingertips and brushing a small wet paintbrush into the cut edges to meld the two layers.  

Of course the ink lines that were transferred will disappear in the firing as the ink has no material content to withstand such temperatures but this transfer system works as a guide for carving, sgraffito or for painting on oxide or under glaze decoration.  I learnt most of these methods from Trudy Golley, Head of Ceramics at Red Deer College in Alberta, Canada while I was at ANU.   No photographic models were needed for this blog posting, I just happen to have a very good looking class.  

You may have learnt something new here or been enthused to try something out as a result of reading my blog, if so I would LOVE to get some comments from you.  Want more?  Pop on over to the Mud Colony Blog, we link our blogs up to Mud Colony between every Thursday and Sunday night - and there may be heaps more clay stuff there for you to enjoy.  

3D PRINTING IN PERTH CIT, a continuing story.

Left an early trial 3D print in clay (unfired) , right, a plastic 'raft' printed by 3D printer

The blogging mojo has been absent in the past couple of weeks due to plain busyness, and yet, of course, so much has been going on in my world.  For one thing teaching at CIT ceramics department has been a wonderful challenge and I am loving being part of the place.  The students are a great bunch and often surprise themselves when they dredge up a previously unknown resourcefulness or ability to put into their clay work.  I loaded a kiln last week full of their handmade teapots and boxes, we are moving onto Wall Art now and making simple drop moulds to replicate their  forms with. 

Meanwhile Graham Hay continues with his residency at CIT and tweaks and twiddles with the 3D printer CIT recently purchased.  It came in kit form and took a while to build. I imagine a ready made one would have cost a lot more given how many man hours went into building it.  The 3D printer was designed to print with a low temperature meltable plastic, this is fed into the printer from what looks like a roll of cable – but the cable is in fact the plastic consumable it prints with. 

In normal parlance the concept of printing entails the laying down of an ‘ink’ of some kind onto a flat substrate – usually paper.  The ink sits on the substrate and dries whether it is a screen print or an inkjet or laserjet of text or images.  Sometimes an ink or paint is printed where we can see and feel the change in surface where the ink sits upon the surface. 

In the case of 3D we are printing but layer upon layer and building upwards from the horizontal plane into a 3D form instead of across a flat 2D surface. 

There were weeks of calibrating our 3D printer and once that was done the hard part now starts.  Now the development of a suitable clay body is underway, one that will pipe through the printer under gentle hydraulic pressure – there is a large pressurised air pump attached.  So as well as the 3D printer a source of compressed air plus a computer are required to make anything happen.  The printed/extruded/piped clay mustn’t be too liquid or it will flop and flow, but must be soft enough to extrude and sit upon itself to build up layer upon layer to create a 3D form. 

I am assuming that you dear reader are smart enough to ‘get it’ if I threw in some hi tech terminology, I am putting this all into my own ‘laymans terms’ to try to explain it. 

So the printed clay, think of a coil pot but the printer is placing the mini ‘coils’, has to hold itself up and take weight while the printer head moves around the form laying down the clay – as directed by the computer.  Personally I find this whole subject completely fascinating.  I love modern technology and materials and I literally lie in bed at night thinking of what the printer might make and what might make the perfect clay composition to work best.  

Here is a short clip of me asking Graham about the printer.

There have been lots of trials and observations of the result of each tweak and change.  Graham lays out the tangible evidence of each test print in sequence on the long table at his station in the ceramics area to be handled and noted, prompting enthusiastic interest and discussion. 

 More – as it happens! 

Now, although I have missed the Mud Colony deadline – let’s hop over there anyhow and see what the other clay bloggers have been doing.  

SKILLS WEST - PERTH CONVENTION CENTRE

Andrea Vinkovic getting a new potter started

What did you do last weekend?  On Friday I went to the Hale Cocktail Preview of their Annual Art at Hale show, sold a lot, spent a lot more and had a great time.  On Sunday at Skills West Expo at Perth Convention Centre I helped on the Central Institute of Technology stand for the Ceramics department.  We demonstrated throwing and helped people to have a go on the pottery wheel.  Practically every single person who saw our stand expressed a desire to 'have a go'.  It was staggering!  I chuckled inwardly at the popular perception that pottery classes are dull - HAH!  Clearly Pottery is the new Knitting.  (Tune in darl, knitting had a huge renaissance about ten years ago.)

Holly Courtney giving guidance

The idea was for anyone considering potential areas of study or apprenticeships they might apply for next year after high school to 'Try a Trade'.  Is Ceramics a Trade?  Mmmm the jury is still out on that, and that would take us to the Art Vs Craft discussion,  - I am long over that one.  Rolls eyes, sips wine.

Tomoko giving throwing tips

There were TAFE stands all over the place at Skills West - the one I most wished to visit was right beside ours, they were such friendly and busy people and they were offering massage!  We had a couple of CIT clay staff (Andrea and me) and some top students manning our stand, two wheels and a whole lotta clay.  People were literally lining up to have a go on the wheel, and it was hard to get them off the wheels once they started getting the hang of it.  We were trying to get them 'processed' as quickly as possible as we had a constant queue of people waiting, right up till the very last minute and ended up turning people away so we could pack up and leave on time.  Just look at the photos to see what I mean.  There were quite a few kids, egged on by their Mums, and then, predictably, the Mum's had a go too.  One couple were so keen on the wheel I suggested they buy a wheel and take some classes.  I believe they will!

So this is a call out to say well done to Andrea Vinkovic - the dynamo whose aim is winning people over to take up clay whether by studying or just taking evening classes.  The students who came to help get people skilled up fast on the wheel were Holly, Isis and Tomoko.  They were enthusiastic throwing instructors and all showed potential for being blooming great teachers.  It was utterly relentless and intense.  I bet numbers for our future classes at CIT will be up as a result!  I am confident that some day in about ten years some young potter will tell me that trying the wheel at Skills West sent them in their career direction!  Hey let's shimmy on over to Mud Colony to read more clay related stuff!  

Young Nadia did really well.