college journal - June 2021
week commencing 31st March
extracted work from the reduction firing and discussed the outcomes with Cath & Michaela - Michaela initially wondered if the kiln had been overfired, but Cath checked the Orton cones used and confirmed that this wasn’t the case, though the reduction induced looked to have been quite heavy.
turned small thrown bowls using the freestanding whirler. This whirler is a really nice height for me to work on while standing. Using my teardrop turning-tool and a metal scraper on leather-hard clay, I was able to remove excess clay while giving a tactile finish.
drew & took dimension measurements of some newly-bisqued handbuilt pieces, after Michaela pointed out these were a much better height and weight than earlier ones had been. These can be used as references when making future pieces.
reviewed my blog format and content with Michaela in a tutorial. She suggested some ways of altering presentation style to make the blog easier to read, and pointed out areas I need to write more about (especially contextualising work with studies/discussion of other artists, & explaining how progress links back to my central ideas).
added a portfolio page on here specifically for glazes so I can collect together the glaze recipes I have mixed, the results each produces, & my evaluation of them.
rough chart of kiln firings featuring the flame colour as temperatures increase - source here
week commencing 7th June
mixed 1kg of Britt’s cherry blossom shino, which was the most successful shino recipe so far, so I can do further tests including applying it in different ways e.g. pouring.
mixed testers of Tom Coleman’s crackle shino and Britt’s hagi glaze.
practiced handbuilding chawan to the scale of those identified last week - using coiling, pinching, and paddling techniques.
did some throwing using new clays - new MJO combined with my old KBJ stoneware; new toasted stoneware.
1kg Britt cherry blossom shino
thrown bowls in MJO + KBJ stoneware, and the new toasted stoneware.