Wood Fired Cups

I know it has been some time since I've posted anything...almost a year, so I thought I would try to keep up with what's going on in the studio on a regular basis.
I have been creating new sculptural work and have also taken some time to explore functional ware.
I have also been working on reorganizing/rearranging the studio to make it a little more efficient with what I am working on currently.

Below is a picture of a finished wood fired porcelain cup that I have been exploring surfaces with.  I designed the cup from hand and then created a three piece mold for the basic form of the cup.  The handle was created using another mold.  I had issues with the handle and slip casting it, so I had to use the two piece mold as a press mold and then created the handle using the two parts.  By doing this it helped to give more stability to the handle as well as a nice balance of the weight, in regards to the weight of the cup form.

I will be posting other glaze experiments over this form until I find a combination that I will explore in producing further down the road. Enjoy.

This is one of two cups:

This is cup #2:

America's ClayFest IV (April 14-May 21, 2016)

I found out recently that I will have a piece of work exhibited in the upcoming exhibition "America's ClayFest IV-Open Division".  The exhibit was juried by Sergei Isupov, ceramic artist, and Leslie Ferrin, of Ferrin Contemporary.  The exhibit will run from April 14-May 21, 2016, at Blue Line Arts Gallery in Roseville, California.

Pictured below is "Ingenuity", the piece that was chosen to be exhibited.  The piece was hand built using Terra Cotta (slabs, coil, and pinch pot method).  Glazes were applied and the piece was fired multiple times to achieve the desired surfaces.  Enjoy!

For more information: www.americasclayfest.org

New Wall Piece Underway-2016

I usually am working on multiple pieces at a time and thought I would post a picture of another piece that I am currently working on.  I have played with creating a press mold and a slip cast mold for the tile design, but thought I would use the press mold to use with hand building.  I am using terra cotta and have been piecing together the tiles onto a  1/2" inch slab.  The wet diameter of the design is 11 3/4".

I will go back and clean up and fill-in any joints and areas which will need attention and possibly make a slip cast mold from the finished prototype.  I'm still not sure about the gears as they are, and may change that portion of the design…I'm just not sure yet.  I am thinking of creating anywhere from nine to twelve, maybe more, to create a wall piece.

I haven't decided on the surface treatment just yet, and will be exploring glazes through tests that I will be doing shortly.  I know it is only one picture of the design in its early stages, but I thought it would give an idea to the time behind the process.  Enjoy.

New Work, "Ingenuity", 2015

My time is usually spent working on sculptural pieces, but for last four months it seems all I have been working on most of the time is wheel thrown work.  I finally took time away from the wheel to get back to my first love…sculpture!

This piece, "Ingenuity", is a sculpture that I had been working on for a short time.  It took me seventeen hours to create this piece, minus the multiple firings I put it through and the build up of multiple glazes. The piece is hand built with press mold additions, and is made from earthenware clay.  It is hollow and was built "life size".

With my exploration into the "object/artifact", I came upon an old 1921 gasoline welder, that my dad had found up in his attic above the garage.  I instantly fell in love with the piece and found it to be perfect to try and create with clay.  I used slabs, coil, and the pinch pot method to create this piece.

The piece was fired to cone 05 bisque and then I used glazes that I created in graduate school, at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.  I hadn't had an opportunity to use the glazes, beyond test tiles, and was happy to finally find a piece that I thought the glazes would compliment.

The glazes are low fire as well, cone 06, and really help to make the piece look like the real thing, only with more rust and decay.

Pictured below are pictures of the piece in different stages of the making process.  Enjoy.

Ceramic Cup off to California!

Tomorrow I will be sending off this cup for the upcoming invitational show out at Sacramento City College, in Sacramento, California.  The dates for the show are:  November 17- December 8, 2015, at the Kondos Gallery on the campus of Sacramento City College.  If you are in the area you should check it out.  Unfortunately due to the classes I am teaching this semester, I won't be able to attend the opening, but it should be a great exhibit.  The cup was fired to cone six, with multiple firings below the maximum temperature.  The cup is created with food safe glaze lined in the interior and around the rim.  The exterior of the cup below the rim is not food safe and are sculptural glazes.  

More Ceramic Cups?

I have been working on some ceramic cups for an upcoming exhibition, as well as for some gifts for the holidays.  The cups are all thrown on the wheel, using stoneware clay, and will be fired to cone 6, in an electric kiln.  I have been working on some new glazes, since the work I am creating needs to be functional, and have had some interesting results with some of the glazes.  I am still doing more tests and hopefully will have some results to post shortly of the finished work.  

Below are some images of the cups in progress.

Finished Wall Piece-"Mechanical Repetition, 2015"

I finished my new ceramic wall piece and titled it "Mechanical Repetition".  It is made of Terra Cotta and a cone 6 black bronze glaze.  This piece took awhile to make due to the number of pieces I had to make and fit together.  Pictured below is the piece hanging on the wall.

Raku Cup

In my Ceramics for Non-Majors Class, I fired the Raku Kiln three times last Saturday with student work and one piece of my own.  Pictured below is a Stoneware, wheel thrown cup that I glazed with a copper sand and white crackle Raku glazes.  The process of pulling out work when it is extremely hot, never gets boring and always has some sense of magic in the end results.  The class was really excited about the results and some not so nice results, but the experience was still amazing!  The really dark black areas were created by not applying any glaze to the clay body and using the reduction process in the combustion barrel to create the effect.

Cups in Progress

Those of you who know me, know that it is very rarely that I dedicate time to creating pottery.  Recently that seems all I have been working on.  I still have other work in progress at various stages, but thought I would share some images of the forms I have been exploring as well as the design and feel of handles on the work.  I will post more images of the finished work once it is finished.

Ceramic Tile (Wall Piece)

I have been revisiting ceramic tile and design with this new piece.  I forgot how fun it is…and time consuming to put a piece like this together, but I really enjoyed the time spent on this piece.  The work is of a new design and I used two different molds that I created to make this piece work.  I used Terra Cotta and hand pressed all the pieces.  I then used my black bronze glaze and fired the work to cone 6, after I did an initial bisque firing first.  The work was then applied to a piece of plywood.  I dry fitted together the pieces after the glaze firing, so I could trace out the exterior of the form and then cut the wood using a table saw and a hand held jigsaw to mimic the edges of the tiles to be placed.

The piece measures 30" x 38" x 1 1/2", and is held to the wall using french cleats, which I made as well.  All the wood was sanded by hand and then I painted the edges and the cleats, using a black satin latex paint.

The piece is currently on display, so I don't have a final picture to show the work, so I will try to get a final photo after the show comes down.

Enjoy!

Some New Wall Work

I've been working on some new work and have multiple pieces being constructed at the moment in different stages…it's finally summer!

Pictured are three new wall pieces I put together recently, revisiting my tile work and incorporating some slip cast work.  I played around with glazes and surfaces, but stayed true to the form and idea.

I'll be posting some work in progress tomorrow.  I'm glazing tiles for a new wall piece and have to get them into the kiln tonight before I go to bed.  Enjoy.

Hand Building with Molds

I have been busy with work, but in my studio I'm creating new molds for new work, along with creating new sculptures.  I had a bunch of stoneware clay, so I thought I would create some sculptures with it.  The images posted are of some things happening in my studio.  Enjoy.

I will update the progress of this work as it is created.  Pictured are five different pieces being worked on at the same time.