Playing With My Rooster and the FireFlies

I've been holding out more than usual this year on sharing what's happening.

It's been a busy year.

A very busy year.

 I've been learning to live a life outside the isolated world of my studio.

It's been a year of learning to cook, (I mean really getting into it.) Going out on dates. (Yep) Learning to laugh at funny things even if they aren't appropriate. Enjoying treasure hunting for nice cloths. Finding and listening to new music. Having great sex. (Very, very important.) And most importantly... Allowing myself to fall in love with the world around me.

 But I have to stand still and think about it to see how busy it's actually been. It's been a wonderful blurr. When the diary is kept up to date, the activity is up front and visible. When it's not kept up, so much disappears into the fog.

That's one of the reasons I was keeping this diary. There are times I need to see what's happened.

This post is starting mid-way to where it was meant to be going.

 The rooster project has been a "someday" project for a few years. The original intent was to explore using larger numbers of different paper stencils to build up a narrative. What I intended to illustrate was a "cock-fight", using it as a vehicle for a metaphor. (That one can be explained later.)

 Instead, a metaphor of a rooster chasing lightning bugs was what was developed. 

Admittedly, it's autobiographical.

Love is as elusive as a firefly. 

And to make it even more interesting... 

 

This fall, my firefly has been playing with me. 

It's a game. A collaboration game and we worked through two series together.

 Jess threw all the forms for this falls joint yunomi projects. Her hand cut foot rings just knock me out.

(Frigg'n gorgeous! Spoiled me absolutely rotten!). 

I drafted a new vocabulary of paper stencils and got busy learning how to make them work for the story I wanted to tell. 

 

Squeezed in a few canisters too once the layout of the design got worked out. 

 The first test went good. 

Pretty strait forward. An Aardvark cone 5 Texas White clay with a tile slip used with the stencils and a black 50/50 wash applied to the bisque. The new PB White Liner recipe was used for a glaze.

The result was "meh..."

  

The second test was to just let the slip and clay body do their thing unaided under the PB Liner glaze.. 

This I liked!

There was more testing done using different clay bodies and different slips. Some didn't work and some worked very well. 

(The results are separately posted.) 

But the reason that put this project in motion was getting work ready to head out to Scott Parady's new salt kiln in February.

Bare clay and salt... Mmmmmmmm!

So this thread ain't nearly done yet.

From Idea to Finished Form

Another missed opportunity to share what's going through the studio this summer. 

I wanted to apply to a Ceramics Monthly general call for submission titled "From Idea to Finished Form", but I failed to read the directions (once again) and couldn't check off all the boxes in time to congratulate my self.

None the less, it was a fun quick project to pounce on.
In the end it was just an afternoon daydream of sawn stencils, x-acto cut stencils, scissor cut stencils, slip, and spriggs.

 A short descriptive blurb...

"I'm a big believer of making use of sketchbooks (and scrap paper) to work out concepts quickly. Being bi-vocational, I have just a handful of hours every week to get work ready for the kilns so I prefer to invest those few hours into playing with and developing ideas for small series of functional ceramics. I mainly work with vocabularies of cut paper stencils and sprigs to creating vocabularies for swarming surfaces to build up compositions in slip. The result is a distinctive body of work that's anchored in tradition, but plays freely with the novelty of new ideas."

My rational is that deadlines seem to be for other artists.
On that note, other artists probably find success by underlining the fact that they can hit targets without making excuses.
(An equitable assumption...)

Luckily, I still prefer to play.

Paper Stencils Replay

Here's two quick blips the kids and I put together this spring showing how I create and use paper stencils. It's not a tutorial, but it gives a good idea of the processes that are involved in creating a piece.

Cutting New Steam Gear Stencil Designs

This is an idea that's been bouncing around inside my head for the past few weeks. It's a geared and steam motif design for a small experimental series of cups and canisters. This project uses the strategy of using cut paper stencils and slips to create compositions to be used as the base designs. After the pieces are glazed, they are then enhanced with a collage layer of home printed high iron decals that are then refired onto the finished surface.

To create enough stencils to play with, I make a stack of 32 sheets of newsprint sandwiched between 2 sheets of thin plastic posterboard. The edges are taped up and a pos/neg design is rubber cemented to the surface. The design is then pierced with a thin drill bit to allow a jewelers saw blade to be threaded though and cut away the design.

The plastic on the exterior of the stack gives the stack a workable level of stiffness. With practice, imagination, and patience, you can get pretty noodley with your designs.

I like mixing and matching stencils to create my designs. I usually start off working to create a specific composition... just to see what it looks like. But after that though, the work turns to a pure freeform and organic style of composition.

This is where I get to fall into a nighttime groove... it's all about the Jazz... the surprises of a flow...it's where the racers happen...

Creating a Paper Stencil Part 2

Here is the second part of this weeks demo...

The first part is in the previous post. It shows the technique I use for cutting out 30 to 40 stencils at a time. I do this by cutting my design out of a billet of newsprint sandwiched between sheet plastic using a jewelers saw and bench pin. I can actually get 60 to 80 stencils out a a single billet if I plan my design around the cut, using both the positives and negitves in a design.

This clip shows how I apply the stencils to create a composition. It goes on to show the slip being applied and the paper being peeled away revealing the surface design.

Enjoy!

Wax working

Ok… It’s been nearly 2 weeks since I last had a good opportunity to share what’s been going on around the studio. It’s been busy, busy, busy for us here. The monkeys have all finally been cleared away from the wax bench and I’ve been working on new work and spruing up wax trees for a silver pour. I was hoping to squeeze a pour in before today, but the incessant rain this week hasn’t helped. It did give me a little extra time to mix up some new test glazes and design, cut, and test a new group of paper stencils for my local summer markets. Ferns, gears, and bones… ooooh the anticipation is killing me!

With spring officially here I’ve been spending more and more time in my client’s gardens getting ready for the new season. I love the chance to get out of the studio and get some really good exercise but it tends to create chaos with my schedule… Lots to do and never enough time!

Tempest

I knew this was going to be fun...

For this round, I'm playing along with using the plastic ends that are left over when I cut out billets of paper stencils.  

Recent events have me  thinking uncomfortably about crows... really uncomfortably...

So I'm excising a few thoughts...

Add a few spriggs tomorrow.

Vertical Testing of the Cone 6 Oribe Green

Vertical testing of a cone 6 translucent Oribe Green over a Willies Slip. The slip has been stenciled onto a blue Amco underglaze that was brushed on while leather hard and a black underglaze was used to outline the paper stencils before they were pulled off.

The interior is finished off using a standard white liner that plays well with the Oribe green, letting it waterfall at the lip.

I was surprised at how opaque the surface came out of the kiln and I'm wondering if it's due to the slip used or firing to cone 5 rather than 6.

More testing... always more testing.

I've hyperlinked to all the glaze recipes from my back posts.

Oooops.

Misting enough water to 12 pounds of clay while applying paper stencils over a hour and a half is a bad idea for work that can't structurally take it.

Damn...

I trimmed the shoulder too thin to take the rush of process. Guess I need to cycle work and drying cycles better or learn to work with even less water.

Live and learn.

Let's Give it a Try

 Bit of an explanation...

This design is built using layers.

Paper stencils and inlayed incised fireflies sunk under a Malcom Davis Shino.

The green that's peeking through is food coloring that I've been brushed onto mark where I need the fireflies halos (otherwise I'm just guessing, which admittably has a charm all it's own, but...) You can see the faint traces of the brushed on wax that will define the fired halo effect.

 

This has been a fun series to push through, but as always...

I'm kind of anxious to see how this works out.

Off the Shelf

Potters are habitual problem solvers... 

My experience leads me to think that we more often than not, choose too build upon our failures rather than our successes.

This is another piece that should have been smashed long ago. 

It's from 2008 as I was starting up my studio...

It was way too thick and out of balance, but it was my first attempt at using paper stencils and at stacking thrown rings.

I kept it next to the wheel, enthralled with the possibilities for over year and now I literally use it as a door stop.

I kept it because I loved the potential it represented. 

A path that has since explored shape, surface, technique, and texture...

It's a piece that's been more valuable to me as a failure than as a sellable success.

I love my job!

Bone 'a' Peel'n

These plastic "crusts" that are left over from cutting out billets of paper stencils are turning into something with a bunch of promise...

 

Press 'em in and peel 'em back... repeat...

 These are test trivets, going to see how the glaze and oxides pool in the recesses.

I gotta scale this up!

Dry Run

I'm 3 weeks into throwing a load of wear using a years worth of my studio clinker clay. This year its not just about clearing the bins... this year it's a dry run to see how long it takes to blast through a 17 cubic load of work; the entire load is paper stenciled to get some sort of metrics on the stencil process.

So far I've found out that it's a lot of wedging,
cutting a lot stencils, and
a whole lot of time spent sitting at the studio window blocking in cut paper designs.

It took me a whole week to push through 20 pieces, and most of these were 4 pounds and under. I was hoping that smaller meant faster, but it didn't work-out that way. My hope was that when I scaled down the surface designs that I had been using on last weeks larger jars, the designs would go on quicker, but... the approach was still elaborate enough to joyously eat-up time like PEZ.

I like PEZ...

Managed to sneak a skull in too.

A weeks worth of 40 stenciled yunomi and chawans are supposed to finish off this test load, but I'm taking a pass on using the house clinker clay for cups... it's always the mystery what-nots that have been wedged into the clay body that can turn a beauty into a louse.

So with that in mind, it looks like it takes 4 weeks to fill a 17 cuft kiln using 250 pounds of clay.

Hmmmmmmmm...

Weekend Bisque

It's finally the weekend and the last load of greenware thrown earlier in the week is dry enough to throw into the bisque kiln. It's a sprint the the finish. It's a spot less than 2 weeks till Witchapalooza and I'm looking at running 3 glaze loads through the kiln. I really hope Old Bessy doesn't decide to kick out on me now...

Here's a look at some of the ware waiting to get cook'n

A few small 2 pound, carved and stenciled canisters.I'm hoping that they come out of the kiln looking similar to their big brother that went through last month.

Another load of paper stenciled Bone Orchard yumoni and chawans just in time for fall. Unfortunately, this will probably be the be the last load of spooky ware for the year... Bumm'n.

A pleasant surprise... I found a few of the "Time Flies" stencils left over from last year. They were well hidden in a pile of paper that was headed twords the recycle bin. I guess cleaning the studio has it's rewards after all.

Now the fun of mixing and sifting glazes! Yea!

Plan #9

This looks pretty sloppy, but it’s actually perfect for this experiment.

I’ve got 12 bowls that have been slip stenciled with a stiff basic slip made out of my standard Cone 6 clay body (Laguna B-Mix). The stencils in this case are cut from a plastic contact paper sheet. Unlike the newsprint that I usually use, these won’t lay flush against the clay and the slip seeps underneath when and where it can…  

What these plastic stencils do have is a bit of weight to them, so over most of the design, the thickness of the plastic gives a very distinct sharp transition between slip and the thrown clay body.

Perfect…

Now when the bowls are given their final coat of studio Crackle Glaze, the crazing that grows in the surface will incorporate the transitions into shear lines and reveal the design. After firing, the design should be a ghost in the crazing of the glaze… well that’s the jib…, that’s the plan anyway, but we’ll see … 

Starling

Spring Starlings

   

Spring Starlings

 

Been experimenting more and more with shifting to micro editions of stencils. Cutting billets of 8 to 12 sheets of paper at a time instead of 27 to 32. It still makes for small swarms of 7 or so separate cut-stencils used for each design, but the design run is limited to just a handful before I run out. The big up-side is that it's easier to move on to the next design rather than linger. With time being in such short supply, the time on hand is better spent exploring. I can always return to a design later if I like what comes out of the kiln, (or if the kiln eats all the work that goes in).

 

Freshly hand cut foot

 

 

I've been putting to good use the hand cut feet that Jessica Fong taught me how to cut last summer. I don't really know what others think of them, but I absolutely LOVE the character that it brings to the ware. 

 

 

A shelf of freshly stenciled and cobalt slipped greenware waiting for the bisque kiln.

 

 

Cobalt slipped greenware waiting for the bisque kiln... The birds are singing songs of spring. 

Jess calls them "Spring Starlings"... It fits nicely.

 

Slip-up 2

I was secretly happy that it rained off and on today... I got to spend a few hours this morning putting the finishing touches on the greenware from this weekend and I got to watch a bit of the streaming videos of demonstrations from the pre-conference at Montgomery Community College while the rain fell here in Northern California. What a treat!

After it was over, I felt empowered to get back to work pursuing my own vision... In the spirit of sharing, here is a demo that shares peeling away paper the stencils on today's canister.