Kilns - moving them, the Epic! Part ONE

When we bought this block of land in suburban East Fremantle we were optimistic parents of three gorgeous young lads and my clay education was on hold indefinitely.  We had the hideous old sixties Fibro house removed and knew from the outset that the land slopes dramatically down from the street kerb to the back of the block and that we'd have to be smart about planning the landscaping.  Getting the garden terraced with limestone walls was the easy part, then we built a third garage down the end of the grassy driveway for Henry's vintage Citroen cars along with a 7 foot 'pit' (though he is 5'8').  We refer to the pit as 'where we keep the bodies',  and alongside his garage I got my small studio with paved verandah.   Why am I telling you this? Well we were brilliant planners, except for one thing, a potter needs a kiln, a kiln is very heavy and must be handled by experts in heavy goods and moving a kiln down a steep grassy slope is not for the faint hearted.  I spent Friday morning dealing in kiln movement, I needed to get my new one delivered, the old one removed, the divine german one I got in a garage sale moved from the family garage up top down to his lower garage.  In fact I really want to evict Henry and have his lower garage and my studio all to myself but I suspect he'd object.  He doesn't repond when I raise the subject, I wonder why.


We'd tried to have the new kiln delivered months ago but it proved hazardous and unstable trying to get it off the Hiab crane on truck onto our grass 'driveway 'for a start. That time John from Kilnswest drove off into the sunset with my kiln still on his truck,  leaving me with suggestions of larger cranes and safe removal experts.  Months passed, eventually Dean, the new Sales and Development Manager from Kilnswest phoned, determined to get my kiln to me and he did it .... except ... we only got it halfway down the side of the garden, well more than halfway, within metres of its destination actually and now it sits on a  patch of lawn (on boards 'cos sunken kilns aren't in Vogue this season).  It took Dean, Henry and our son Emmet a good couple of hours to get all this movement going including the truck getting bogged as WA soil is basically sand.  The day was very hot I noted, as we crouched on roasting metal floor the back of the truck to weigh it down to help it get leverage and move up the driveway.  I wore jeans as protection, I hadn't worn jeans for 6 months as the Summer here is long and hot.  Jeans on a hot sticky day when you're climbing on and off the tray of a bogged truck = one hot cross bunny let me tell you.  I love my house but I would NEVER recommend a potter live on a hill if they fancy getting a kiln delivered.  Jeez I slept well that night.

Now Henry is hatching cunning plans to move the new kiln from lawn ornament mode into it's resting place - and I am 100% certain he will do it, eventually.  I'll keep you posted.  

CLAY AND CULTURE CELTIC STYLE

We assume a lot don't we, well I do. I figure if I know something, there is a huge chance that the person with me knows just as much if not more.  I had my students printing on slabs for the practice, experience and well, look it is FUN.  We weren't doing much on curved surfaces as it proved difficult to keep some curved items prepared in advance and for students to bring in their clay work to decorate.  Storage, transport and parking do not work in our favour.  I'd thrown several cylinders an hour before class but it was so hot they'd dried out too much by the time we came to transferring our tissue monoprints prints and screenprints.  In the CIT clay studio we had some square frames nailed together from lengths of profiled timber.  When I showed a couple of students how to prepare a nice soft slab and lay it over the frame like pastry, trim with a margin of extra clay, then place it on a board and drop them horizontally onto to the table so the soft clay fell into the cavity and formed square platter - it was a TADAA!! moment.  Some of the class knew this method and the rest took it up with such gusto they didn't have to be shown twice.  Soon we had several printed dropped plates.  Above is a zingy slab painted with red and blue  slips and then printed with peacock green underglaze by Nicole.  I can't wait to see how it comes out after it is glazed.  OK back to the massive studio overhaul I have planned ... despite this debilitating heat but first ... do you like what Google came up with for St Patrick's day today 17th March below?  I think they are sweet.  

          Saint Patrick's Day          

Saint Patrick by Jim Fitzpatrick (Ireland)

Oh and Happy Saint Patricks Day, I will toast your health and clay success this evening with a lovely cold dark Guinness product of my hometown Dublin and say the Gaelic toast 'Slainte', pronounced 

'S-lawn-cha' and meaning 'health'.  Seeing as I have your attention I might as well celebrate St Patricks Day (never EVER St Patty's America!) by bringing Jim Fitzpatrick to your attention.  You see Ireland has its own unique legends and myths, some very sad and anguished and some very fierce and passionate,  Jim's art celebrates these stories and their characters in his work in an exquisitely wrought manner of drawing.  You should check it out, it used to be only in galleries and books but of late he sells directly in Etsy.com.  In my high school days Jim Fitzpatrick was the contemporary artist on a pedestal for me, now I am a Facebook friend!  He is said to have been the originator of the infamous Che Guevara poster click that 'Che' link for some interesting reading.  

 but I remember him better for his poster art for the wonderful Irish Rock Band 'Thin Lizzy' and their Album cover album Playboys of the Western World ( a play on the name of a the stage play Playboy of the Western World by another Irish success J.M. Synge.    Here's a bit of the history of Lizzy covers.  

Coincidentally, my best friend Kate's grandmother was the well known Irish Actress Marie Keane who was in that play during her career, as did my own mother Pat Cleary in her younger days in Ennis in local amateur dramatics.  My other best friend Ger's big brother had a huge poster of Che in their living room - speaking of degrees of separation.  Anyway Hit it Lads!   

Crikey, clay AND culture, I should be charging you for this.  Here's more of Jim's work - tell you what though, if all Irish men and women were as um ...  'romanticised' and hot as this, tourism would be massive and the economy would surge once more.  LOL

The Myth of the Children of Lir being turned into Swans

 Did I mention that the Vikings made it to Ireland and settled by the River Liffey in what is now Dublin City?  Tatts, Hats and muscles ... not sure the parish priest would approve but I do.

 OK enough of a diversion let's pop over to see what is being spoken of at The Mud Colony where the other clay bloggers gather (for a pint no doubt).  There are thirteeen bloggers from all over the world over there already at Mud Colony .

PLEASE NOTE:All text in this blog posting is copyright of Elaine Bradley, Ceramic Artist, Western Australia unless quoting from another source.  All photographs in this blog posting are copyright of Elaine Bradley unless otherwise stated.  No responsibility can be taken for external links.  Images of art by Jim Fitzpatrick are from his Artist Facebook page.  Please report any errors in crediting photographs, sources or facts to the author in order to allow her to rectify the matter.  Your response and feedback is welcome.  

The local talent - Njalikwa Chongwe

I just thought it worth mentioning that here in Western Australia we have some very capable quiet achievers among us in the ceramic community such as Njalikwa Chongwe at Zinongo Pottery in South Fremantle.  

He makes and fires low fired Raku and high fired Stoneware ceramic pieces. He and his partner Jacqueline Rodrigues, set up the gallery 25 years ago.  He  makes beautiful colourful raku work with his own very distinctive palette and style and an online shop on his website.  He was a popular demonstrator at POTOBER 2013 put on by CAAWA and has a cool channel on YouTube.  

 Not everything happens in Fremantle but many of us are based near there.  Sandra Black and Njaliwke are in South Freo (yes we shorten the name of everything), Fleur Schell is in North Freo - (with some really exciting opportunities about to be announced soon), so is Alana McVeigh and I am just across the Swan River in East Freo.  Are there no ceramists in West Freo I hear you ponder?  Darl, if there are, they'll be pretty wet.  West Freo is THE INDIAN OCEAN and beautiful it is too (sharks aside).  See my new desktop image, by Peter Zuvela.   Image source Peter Zuvela , my fave photographer.  

T M I !

I'm currently teaching a six week evening class (at CIT formerly Central TAFE) on simple printing on clay techniques plus a few surface decoration mehods not commonly taught in an evening class e.g. Mishima, Sgraffito, sprigging and the like.  I write this knowing that some of my readers are also potter/teachers so I regard my blog as a discussion - feel free to chip in.  I usually teach this class in a one day workshop, mostly demonstrating, and it is pretty intense covering about six or more topics.  Breaking this down into small segments for two and a half hour classes has been a thoughtful process for me.  I've observed that students seem to want the instruction followed with time to try it out, with me within reach as necessary.  I factor in late arrivals, traffic and parking hassles and the fact that people need time to tune out their work day and into the class as something they've signed up for as a pleasure.  They prep some clay slabs as students gradually arrive, we settle into the mindset and the motivation is high. It is challenging to figure out how much depth into go into as each technique requires certain materials, certain tools and it is important to understand the process of what is happening with the materials in practice.  The class is a mixed lot, some are very up to speed on clay things and some aren't, but really want to be, so I have to modify my instruction accordingly.  Feedback indicates that I hit the right groove in general.  I set out to cover one technique and, having covered the basics I then cover the range of options with that technique.   I dread addling the class with Too Much Information or TMI and putting them off.  My aim is for them to go home feeling they've learnt and understood the process.  The reward is when the place falls silent and you realise the whole class is totally immersed in having a go.  While my students are in the handbuilding area Andrea Vinkovic is on the other side of the spacious open studio teaching her throwing class and her students also fall silent in their concentration.  All we hear is the hum of the wheels.  It is so satisfying.

I'm told that most galleries here won't accept work which uses the Japanese or Chinese printed tissue prints so popular in the last few years, due to the market being cornered by a handful of ceramists who excel in this method.  So we are learning to make our own tissue prints - less perfect than bought ones but unique to the maker.  

This week we covered Screen printing with Underglaze.  The image has to be put onto a screen creating a stencil on the mesh for the 'ink' to be squeegeed through onto some tissue or clay.   We covered the range of screen options, I favour Riso Screens (or Gocco) for their ease of availability from Jacksons Art Supplies here in WA.  You just provide a PDF on a thumbdrive, email your image or simply hand it in to a Jacksons branch to get it made.  We looked briefly at Diazo photo sensitive emulsion type options which would take a whole term of classes to teach well - and is sometimes taught at TAFE.  We mentioned that there are screen prep services who'll take your silkscreen, expose your artwork onto the screen resulting in a very durable screen - permanent until you need a new design put on it.  

image from NEHOC website

Then there's the superb StencilPro - a pink photosensitive pre treated mesh from the US you can expose in sunlight in a short time now available from Nehoc in Sydney, NSW.   We have lots of sunlight in Western Australia (surplus in fact, my dear snowed in Canadian friends).  

For 'ink' options - we ran with mixing powdered underglaze and low melting fritt with a suitable print medium.  For the medium I prefer, Derivan Print Gel, you can buy it in art shops or use honey or corn syrup or even condensed milk - as long as it can soak up and carry the pigment powder and screen it through the mesh.  A Curtin Uni print student contributed the condensed milk suggestion.  I am steering away from oil based media for now as the mess and cleanup might be off-putting.  I'll post on that another time.

Ratios of pigment to medium depend on the composition of the powdered underglaze - and some are 'thirstier' than others.  You want to create a densely pigmented syrupy 'ink'.

Ditto with the ratio of underglaze powder to fritt - some underglaze compositions melt more easily than others - so I unapologetically tell the class - there are no easy answers, you have to test test test!  I am awaiting some premixed black ceramic ink to test right now from Northcote Pottery Supplies in Melbourne but that will be another post.

As for colour options, there are some superb premixed liquid underglazes available from Walkers, Cesco, Northcote, Duncan and Amaco to name a few brands.  They come in a plethora of colours, but their viscosity is too low for use in screening.   In fact these products can be used by rendering them thicker/more viscous through evaporation and that elusive ingredient - patience, of which I have heaps.  Essentially most print on clay techniques are very similar to printing on paper or textiles, it is just the 'ink' that differs in composition as it has to survive being applied to clay - flat or otherwise, bonding to the surface and being fired.  The best prints are 'just' screened and applied while the ink is still wet to some moist leatherhard clay.  On Weds night we were only practicing on recently made slabs but the night was warm so they were stiffening up fast despite covering them with moist Chux/J-cloths prior to use.  Transferring a recently made print on tissue paper onto a complex curve means trimming the tissue around the print area carefully for ease of application.  In theory it is easy but in reality it takes an understanding of the process and some dexterity.  Fortunately ceramic artists seem to thrive on developing these things.  

I am preparing a short slideshow for my class next week, not something I'd usually do for an evening class but I want to inform and excite my students and 'set them on fire'.  

Let's see what all the other potters are doing at http://mudcolony.blogspot.com.au

PLEASE NOTE: All text in this blog posting is copyright of Elaine Bradley, Ceramic Artist, Western Australia unless quoting from another source.  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.  Your response or feedback is welcome.

You learn something new every (Tuesday)

I am up to my third Maiolica lesson at La Maiolica in Fremantle with Cate Cosi and Amanda and it gives me two hours of the simple pleasure of trying something new and feeling free enough to think of it as 'play' and not as a challenge.  Click on the links above to get the history of Maiolica, you won't be sorry.  Like most new skills, it is not as easy as it looks.  Here is my bowl ...  Gigi threw it in Italian terracotta, Amanda and Cate are the decorating experts.  Mine is on the top left in each of these two photos, my husband has already 'bagsed' it for his brekky bowl because he likes cheerful things. 

For those who don't know, Maiolica (aka Majolica - I just stuck a 'j' in there but the Majorcan's did it first) is tin-glazed terracotta earthenware, usually with painted coloured brushwork.  Cate and her husband Gigi run the very successful “La Majolica” pottery in Fremantle, specialising in traditional Italian designs based on how it is done on the Amalfi coast, where Gigi was born. Cate has been decorating Majolica ware for many years with Amanda's assistance and Gigi does the throwing on a wheel that'd strike most as very odd.  See above where Amanda's left hand is on a plastic covered pot (ignore the plate in front of her), well that is where the wheel head is, offset by most people's standards and you'd think, a chiropractor's nightmare. I am told it is really comfortable and that you can rest against the wall while you throw.  

I've long, long been interested in Maiolica, the late, great Matthias Ostermann taught a workshop here in Perth in about 2004, he was amazing!  I have his book and also the great DVD by Linda Arbuckle on the subject.  I mention these in case you aren't as fortunate as I am with La Maiolica nearby.  

When you see something demonstrated by someone truly skilled the whole exercise seems to flow easily, the easy handling of the item, the flowing brushstrokes, the seemingly absentminded stirring and dipping into the colour all belie hundreds of hours of practice and lessons learnt.  This is why learning from such practitioners is a joy.  I've been wanting to do this for at least 20 years.  

Amanda and Cate decorate on adjustable banding wheels set on the floor. They explained about working with the right height, your comfort while you work and supporting your hands, types of brushes, care of brushes, and about mixing and applying the colour ...  how to flip over the ware without chipping off the powdery unfired glaze.  

Cate showing us how to practice 'banding' with water onto plain terracotta pots to get the feel of applying the colour to the glazed but unfired tin-glazed bowls.  The addition of 5-10% tin oxide to a clear earthenware glaze forms a lovely white opaque glaze onto which the colours, stains + fritt can be painted. Sounds easy, right?  La Maiolica import their materials for consistency and wow what colours can be achieved.  

We painted tiles in week one to illustrate the impact of one, two, then three brushstrokes over each other.  They colours are known by their Italian names as they, the clay and glaze are imported from Italy.  Here is mine below, before and after firing.

For week two we painted bowls based on this pattern but were free to use our own palettes and embellish 

Notice the wooden batt covered in bubblewrap (bubbles inside) to give a cushioned surface to protect the glazed work - which is still unfired remember...

 and here Cate is marking outlines for the painted bands with a solid graphite pencil, 
then banding with pigment and brush

Cate had the bands (stripes) painted on in the blink of an eye and the ends met - unlike mine :>D

then she marks out the areas for applying and building up the pattern.  

She places a wooden batt over the bowl, sandwiching it and flipping it over to decorate the interior.

Week three - a floral pattern, at this point we students are getting a bit cocky and 'gung-ho', ready to take on anything because it is a very enjoyable skill to learn.  Amanda told me how although she'd been to art school, her training at La Maiolica took place over years by gradually building up one skill after another.  Given what they produce at La Maiolica, I am not surprised at all.  The work there is full of colour, life and joy and beautifully executed.  

above and below, creating the flowers and baroque swirly fronds which divide the space but unify the design too

then the bowl is inverted to complete the banding on the rim and a central motif 

We got talking about this book, which I will order on The Book Depository asap, unless you, my dear readers, have a better source.  It sounds like my kind of reading and I believe there was a TV programme on Colour too which tied in so I might ask at our local Jumbo Video to see if they have the TV programme on DVD.  Happy Days to you all!

OK, that took a lot of uploading time, it was practically a magazine article.  Let's see what all the other potters are doing at http://mudcolony.blogspot.com.au

PLEASE NOTE:All text in this blog posting is copyright of Elaine Bradley, Ceramic Artist, Western Australia unless quoting from another source.  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.  Your response or feedback is welcome.