Inspiring Path

Via Pinterest

Some lovely shapes in this path. 

This would be a good way to develop my garden path, 

adding to my ceramic "stepping stones".

On the look out for (more) interesting junk to bring home : ) 

Porcelain Bowl

I made this little porcelain bowl for my sister.  

 

I am really pleased with the colouring on the inside and just little sprigs of decoration on the outside.

No glazes, just coloured slips rubbed into the textured and carved surfaces.



Painting on Porcelain

Now that Christmas gifts have been exchanged and enjoyed I can show these mugs I decorated for my nieces.

Encouraged by Clive's enamelware I used Marabu porcelain paints.   

Combined with an enamel coffee pot stacked with chocolate and marshmallows - yum!

The paints are quite thick and the curved, shiny surface was a challenge, but I got the hang of it - after cleaning off and restarting a few times. I'm not confident about the claim that the colour will be dishwasher safe. I think they're best used for items that don't get a lot of wear and tear. 

A nice way to personalise a gift though.

Porcelain Tiles

For decoration only!

Watts Chapel

I was amazed when I first saw photographs of this place, in a magazine a few years ago. I was even more impressed when I read of how it had been hand built by locals,

 under the direction of Mary Watts.

I had opportunity to visit, en route to the south coast, last weekend. These are my photographs but with poor weather and light - there are many far better here and other places on the net.

The interior decoration has been created using gesso and an array of materials to form the relief,

 including felt, chicken wire and rope.

I love how the colours reflect light and glow through the darkness.

The whole place is full of symbolism.

I liked best of all the red brick exterior but here I have to rely on others' photographs.

 The chapel was built using clay dug from Mary Watts' garden.

 After the completion of the chapel, in the early nineteen hundreds, she held pottery and clay modelling classes for locals. Those students became professional, forming the Compton Potters' Art Guild and then Compton Pottery, which continued until 1956. 

 Each angel face is individual.

Exterior images from Peter Cook on flickr

Sue Roddis and Gothic Bohemian Stock.

 

Painting on Clay

 Two little slabs of clay for the garden!

 I'm trying a variety of decoration techniques for my ceramic garden tiles.

These are painted with coloured slips and oxides - no glaze

- and then high fired, so they should be tough and weather proof.

This is a nice, quick way of decorating.

In future I will be a little bolder with the colours and marks.

I could see them incorporated into a wall

 like these in Derbyshire. 



Hare in a Landscape

Linocut hare pressed into stoneware and coloured with slips and oxides.
Click on the photo for full image.

I enjoyed working directly into the soft clay and I like this soft matt finish.

He looks a bit cute, still too rabbity, but the speckles are great.

 Here he was as a print from the lino.

Blackbird and Berries

A winter blackbird porcelain tile.

 A gift for my friend.

Nice to have a splash of bright colour in my work for a change.

Brown Hare

He has been a long time coming but at last my first glazed hare!

This was a linocut pressed into stoneware clay and cut out.

I splattered and painted him with oxides before glazing with honey glaze.

 I'm very happy with the speckled texture and how the relief texture from my linocut comes through.

More hares to come in porcelain and in slips.



Kabuki Inspired Clay

Last year I was inspired by Japanese woodcuts of kabuki actors.

I love how the voluminous fabric of their costumes takes over.

  I drew them into clay. 

I liked their simplicity at bisque.

 They stayed like this for months but I final got around to completing their robes.

Although flat, they have supports enabling them to stand up.

Perhaps I'll get more of my flat pieces to stand in future.

Sgraffito

I thought some of my sketches might transfer well to this technique.

I have scratched through a thin layer of white slip to the terracotta clay beneath.

When fired the brown will be a lovely brick red and I think I'll use a honey glaze to make the white slip a soft yellow.

I'm trying out a number of techniques for decorating my tiles. The drying, firing and glazing all take time.

I need the patience of a potter.



Some Sketching

 I've started drawing animals in my search for ideas for my garden tiles.

In the process I found out quite a lot about the wild boar in the UK.

 David Slater has taken some fabulous photographs.

 

 

 They were all looking cute, but static.

So I searched for animals with movement. 

 I also tried to do quicker sketches concentrating on shape with a minimum of detail.

I found it very difficult to work in just outline and avoid building tone and too much detail.

 

 

Next I think I should work out some patterns for the backgrounds maybe?



Summer Love

 A thin tile of porcelain impressed with summer leaves and flowers.

I'm very pleased with the glaze colouring, especially the fading at the edges.

Looks almost photographic.



Lustre and Cracks

My only unbroken pot from the raku firing. It was the first pot I fired and hastily glazed - experimental. Lovely copper along the rim.

I really love the crazing in the glaze.

Artistic cracking.

I had high hopes for this little pot. I dipped it in glaze leaving some areas unglazed - they are blacken by the burning sawdust.

It does have some beautiful areas

but, sadly, weaken by the thermal shock it began to crumble.

The firing was exciting and great fun.

My enthusiasm for ceramics continues. My house and garden are filling up with pots and bits of ceramic.

I'm still not satisfied with my pot making skills, however, so I think I'll focus on surface decoration and make tiles and plaques for a while.