I feel that to do good pottery I need to be able to “feed my soul”!
How does one accomplish this?!
For me, it’s solitude- time to think.
I’m constantly feeding my brain with images from books, facebook, blogs …. But now I need time to digest all that imagery, so that I can push in a better direction.
So stir up a mango margarita (I have plenty of mangoes that have dropped from the trees- damn storm!!!) and sit back and look at that gorgeous blue sky. Feed my soul with inner contemplation!!!
I love this work! Gives me new inspiration for stamped hand-built pieces!
Work by Marie-Christine Denniel- France
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| Adrien Dalpayrat ©Jason Jacques Gallery Too bad this guy has been dead and gone since 1910! Because if he were still around, I’d like to have a good chat with him about how he achieved such beautiful glazes!! |
I’m constantly gobsmacked by the potters that historically developed such beautiful glazes, but we are still working to achieve similar glazes today. Too bad that we can’t pass along such valuable information. Oh well, if it were easy we would all be doing it, right?!
At any rate, here’s an image showing the genius of Adrien Dalpayrat, the French ceramicist, who has been virtually forgotten until the ’60s. Seems that financial woes have ended many a ceramicists’ brilliant careers.
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| Adrien Dalpayrat ©Jason Jacques Gallery |
According to Jason Jacques Inc.’s webpage, “He was so well known for his oxblood flambé pottery that the term “Dalpayrat red” was coined to designate his distinctive glaze.”
If you are interested in reading more about Adrien Dalpayrat, check out these links:
The Bohemian
Jason Jacques Inc
In the meantime, I will plod along trying to emulate these great artists!
It’s a conundrum! Adriana Christianson, potter extraordinaire and creator of Mud Colony (a community of pottery bloggers) mentioned the upcoming Pottery Expo in Warrandyte on February 23 and 24!!
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| Adriana Christianson |
I hadn’t heard about it and had definitely not considered going. But now….I WANT TO GO!
It looks like an amazing event with amazing potters.
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| Ric and Judy Pierce |
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| Juliet Widdows |
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| Arnaud Barraud |
I’ve just sent in my registration for Clay Push in Gulgong in April…so now I have another extraordinary opportunity to be amongst great Australian (and French!!) potters and need to decide if I can go!
I’ll have to weigh it all up and see if the monetary gods are smiling in my direction!!
Sometimes I think that I convince myself that I have a great (or good) idea; when, in fact, it’s a horrible idea or just busy work!
My current idea is a “filler” for the spots in the kiln that can accommodate a small little piece, but nothing significant. The idea is a “copy” off of my “IDEA BOARD” in my studio.
I saw these garden art totems in a gallery in Christchurch, New Zealand. I don’t know the artist and apologise for not giving credit, but I took this photo ages ago – before I thought I could ever get back to doing my pottery. I loved the look, interest, and creativity that oozed from these Objects d’art!
So I’ve taken the plunge and started creating! What fun!!! No pressure! Just sheer fun!
Glazing should be fun too! I plan to raku a few and cone 10 glaze some!
Final results are yet to be seen! But…if I put them all about, will I look white trashy or will I have created Yard Art!!
It is sort of like changing from cooking on a gas stove to an electric stove top, or vice versa – There’s a bit of a learning curve.
My new wheel has taken me some “getting used to” time. It’s different. But, oh so sweet!
It took me a bit to get used to the power, the torque, the quiet. I “listen” to my other wheels and have learned to gauge what the speed is by the hum of the motor. The Venco Direct Drive is really quiet, so I had to adjust to that. Other than that, it is great! And it fit very nicely into the throwing table that Ronnie built for me for the other wheel.
The clean-up is so easy that I find myself cleaning up after each throwing session! And for me, a really messy potter, that is something.
One of the reasons that it is so easy to clean is the larger hole for drips and slag. Those little holes on the older ones just get stuffed with clay, causing a huge backup problem. It’s one of those “DUH” ideas!!!
Also, there is no where for the clay to hide under the wheel head. That is all enclosed!!! Crazy idea, eh?!!! Brilliant!!!
As I said before, I’m a very lucky girl!!! Throwing, throwing, throwing!
I’m always on the prowl for someone who creates glaze colours that I lust after! And Kimi’s work is oh so wonderful!
Kimi Masui is a third generation Japanese-American living in California. She states that, “All of my pieces are hand-thrown and/or hand-built porcelain and glazed with formulas that I have developed over my three-decade plus career. Most of my professional life has been devoted to making sophisticated functional ware, and recently I have focused on covered vessels.”
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| Kimi Masui |
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| Kimi Masui |
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| Kimi Masui |
So where has she been all my life? These glazes are super WOW!! and so is KIMI MASUI!!
EVERYONE has been chasing copper red glazes for a really long time!!
First, it was the Chinese, then the French, then the English….then all the rest of us!!!
The Chinese are always ahead of us. They may have even discovered (if you can use that word, see article here) America a century before Columbus!! Such an amazing bunch of people! If you have visited there, you know what I mean. The people of China are multitudinous. They throng, thrive, and bustle. They have a culture that is far more ancient than anything in the USA or Australia – the two countries in which I have lived. AND they had this pottery stuff nailed centuries ago!
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| Sang de boeuf Ming Vases |
EVERYONE recognises the difficulty in achieving this glaze. “It’s sophisticated and refined, and it’s difficult to achieve,” says Tina McEown, an antiques dealer and collector in the Valley. “It’s fired with no oxygen, which can cause the color to change, and it’s fired many times. It’s not simple.” The above paragraphs are from this article.
In Europe, Theodore Deck, the “father” of French ceramics and one-time director of manufacture for the country’s famous Sèvres porcelain factory, was well-known for his sang de boeuf.
William Howson Taylor, co-founder of Ruskin Pottery, is said to have fiercely guarded the production of such pieces and destroyed all of his glaze recipes (can you believe it!!!) before his death.
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| Work of Willliam Howson Taylor |
Ernest Chaplet, a French ceramicist, devoted his later life to producing sang de boeuf.
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| Ernest Chaplet, French Ceramicist ©Jason Jacques Gallery |
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| Ernest Chaplet’s work ©Jason Jacques Gallery |
 Ernest Chaplet’s Work ©Jason Jacques Gallery |
| In the early part of the 20th century, Bernard Moore, an English potter, experimented with Chinese glazes and tried to recreate the sang de boeuf glazes.. He produced some successful flambé and sang-de-boeuf glazes on a stoneware body at his small factory in Stoke-upon-Trent. He worked in association with William Burton of Pilkington pottery in Manchester, which made experimental decorative ware of all kinds. |
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 Bernard Moore, Master Potter, A book on Bernard Moore chronicles his life and his pottery. |
I’ve tried using my new stamp on the bottom of my pots, but am thinking now of adding it on the side of the pot. I really like these two pots and their use of their stamps. Ponder, ponder!
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| Pottery by Chen Ching, as seen on Marian Marcatili’s Facebook |
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| As seen on Fine Mess Pottery Blog, pottery by Nick DeVries |
I recently re-read Lana Wilson’s article in Clay Times, titled “Developing Your Own Style” in an effort to redirect myself for my next body of work. Her advice throughout the article is well-put and rings true as to how to best “figure out what we want our clay work to become.”
However, even with this excellent advice, (the best of which is probably “Go to your studio…and make…), I found myself still adrift in a sea of information, choices, interests, and desires!!
What do I want my clay work to become?
Where do I see myself in 5 years time?
In the article, Lana challenges us to write a brilliant, short description in third person describing our work in five to ten years time….
Difficult….
But when you think hard enough, it will become apparent. It is actually what you have dreamed of all along.
Mine would be to create for myself (and others, if the Clay Gods are generous to me!!) large, interestingly-crafted platters, bowls, serving pieces that are gloriously colourful in rich, amazing glazes that can be used to pile with glorious, delicious food to serve to a group of friends and family on a regular basis. That is my whole desire.
So when you break that down, my goals should then be to:
Create large, interestingly-crafted pieces, and to
Develop rich, colourful, amazing glazes
The rest…food and family are in a different basket.
That really helps! It narrows my efforts and keeps me from wandering aimlessly from project to project, looking for the right thing.
I would love to be known for my glazes and that search will never end …. probably!
