Ricks- Bricks - Pottery

2/5/10 - 2/16/10

The Process of Making Pottery

Part I - The Clay

Part II - The Glaze Part III - The Fire

A classic case of Thrower's Block:

I generally use a mirror, bat, sponge, credit card for a rib, pin to cut the top, stick to trim the bottom, and wire to cut the bottom

The clay: Standard Ceramics 259 - lots of iron

I'm thinking of switching to 153

Before a throwing phase, while I'm waxing glazing and firing
I recycle the dry (slaked) and wet (slop) leftovers.
I let the clay settle:

Then decant the supernatant (water) with a siphon:

Dump them both in the 20 year old dry plaster bat.
The stinky slop from the wheel bucket on the right actually makes the re-used stuff more plastic
Something about bacteria and a higher proportion of secondary clays (per Bill Schran)

Smooth it out and let it sit for a few days

When it begins to pull away from the sides it's time to lift it outta there

Half way out:

The above is about 40 lbs of clay trimmed or slopped from the original 150 lbs in this group.

I use plastic tools to avoid getting the plaster in the clay and getting this:

It's outta there

I tend to remove it wet - in case I have to have my gall bladder out or something
Also useful for softening up older stiffer clay.
It will wait for you - if you keep the wind off it

This is the real star of the show - Peter Pugger VPM-9 de-airing pug mill changes the whole operation.

I mix factory clay with re-cycled clay in the pugger

If I start with just factory stuff:
I'll cut it in thirds, then cut them in half to get 4 lb pieces,
then find a pound somewhere in the pieces to make a tea cup.
It's ready to throw straight out of the bag from Standard Ceramics, if fresh.

At some point in time one actually has to sit down and throw the pots

The next day

I don't hesitate to use a Giffin Grip: it's just another part of the machinery
Of course don't wait till it's bone dry like the photograph either
I end up using just one trimming tool and my cartouche.

Click on links below for a four part video and commentary on trimming pots:

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I II III IV

The same day: alter the clay with textures, carvings, epaulets, handles...

I use a wood paddle, surform thingy for facets, impression stamps, seashells, hole makers, line makers, a pin to cut up little pieces.
Also a meat tenderizer and wiggly wired cheese cutter for textures, slip to use stick things togerther
David Hendley uses a Danish modern table leg as a paddle !

These are some of the little alterations I often make

Below is 50 lbs of clay thrown in two sessions.
Waiting to be bisque fired to cone 06

Nevertheless, it's a good idea to put some cones on the other side of the peep hole, just in case the small cone doesn't bend for some reason
I don't go to work -I stick around the keep an eye on this step

Just wait now.
I ventilate the electric kiln with a fan (ductwork you see there) - for toxic fumes since it's in the basement
I make sure to turn the fan off when the cones bends so as not too cool too quickly

To me, art pottery is primarily about form - so I start "arranging" as soon as they come out of the kiln.

A great form can survive a mediocre glaze
But ain't no glaze gonna save a bad form.

It takes 150 lbs to fill my gas reduction kiln, so the above completes the throwing and bisquing steps

Below is 100 lbs thrown in four sessions (four bags), bisque fired
Three of those seven on the left (two vases one bowl) were sprayed with porcelain:
the old Alfred formula: 25% each ball, spar, kaolin, silica;
as a glaze undercoat two days after being thrown, one day after foot trim.

Waxing the bottom of the pots:

On the advice of Bill Schran, I add a teaspoon of alumina to the wax resist

There are many chapters on trimming the bottom of pots
I like nothing better than the naked swirl of the wire where the mug has been cut off the hump or bat

Waxing is a little like using ink - you just get one chance
If you spill it on the side - you'll have a glaze defect unless you burn it off with a torch or rebisque it

I generally try to cut an 45 degree angle where the foot hits the shelf/ table
The pot will then "show" a uniform band of clay around the bottom, below the glaze
And it's a straight line to wax to, and hopefully the glaze won't run onto the kiln shelf - which is the whole idea

Oh, the shape of the bottom of the pot should reflect the inside of the pot
Round if it's a bowl - flat if the pot has a flat inside bottom

Ever the salesman, Tom Coleman advises glazing the bottom of the pot, so that the philistines will not think there is "something wrong"

Then again, you have to admit that a nicely glazed bottom does reveal a degree of professionalism

Last I heard, Tom does not routinely apply wax - just dips the whole pot and wipes the bottom with a flat sponge

The tradition is to dip the teacup into the glaze by holding the foot
As you can see, Jack Troy stains his porcelain black then signs through it (as of "2000" ?)

Bottoms up

Part II - The Glaze Part III - The Fire

Click here for pots from November, 14. 2009

Click here for pots from August 2009

Click here for pots from May 2008

Click here for pots from February 2008

Click here for pots made in 2007