Blog - Page 6 of 36 - Marian Williams Pottery

Rabbit Trails: My Nemesis

To become truly expert in one area of ceramics, requires carefully repeating of forms, techniques, glazes, and firings. Repetitive development of these processes and forms, with refinements along the way, are what allow an artist to become truly proficient in that area and also to develop a body of distinguishable work.

Enter my ADD self….lets see, in the last few months, I probably have worked on:

1. Cone 10 Functional Ware

2. Work for Raku Firing

3. Work for Barrel Firing

4. New Collaborative Work

5. Handbuilt pieces

6. Spoons

7. Extruded Pieces

8. And probably some I’ve forgotten to mention! Oh yeah, Decals and Gold Lustre!

Herein lies the problem. I find myself chasing down rabbit trails and seldom have enough time to truly perfect any one area. I get bored easily – so I have tons of empathy for kids stuck in a classroom with no outlets for individual interests and creativity.

But I’ve been reading Big Magic (again!!) by Elizabeth Gilbert and she really speaks to me!! You MUST read it!! She believes – and so do I- that we all are gifted with “buried treasures” – planted deep inside us-but we must hunt to find and uncover those jewels. What an awesome task!

What’s the solution? Do what makes one happy!!! Life is short. Find your buried jewels and treasures and use them. We better pack it in- no regrets!

With love and messy hands,

Marian

Posted with Blogsy

tara dyson-holland, collaboration, flowers, tulipiere

The Exciting And Enthusiastic Effects Of Collaboration

Creation

I’ve admired the artistic talents of Tara Dyson Holland for several years now. She has a quirky, humorous take on the world and it shows in her art – lots of little characters, flowers, lines, circles, colour!

We mutually agreed to collaborate one day and we have FINALLY started!

The amazing thing about this collaboration is that we have already inspired each other to work outside our comfort zones. Initially, we have exchanged pots – with the caveat that the other person can do whatever they want with the pot!

Our theme is Food & Flowers – cause that’s what we are both all about!

We’ve only just begun, but it’s going to be fun!

collaborative ceramic work, — My bowls, Tara’s decorations.

The results have been so fun, enlightening and inspiring. I’ve gone in a direction that I had never even considered before and it is really making me make new, exciting work.

I’ve been making vessels that are particularly suited to displaying flowers. It has really pushed me out of my norm in making traditional functional pieces.

I highly recommend the collaboration effect. It makes one work and think differently.

Now go collaborate!

Marian

Barrel Fire Love – A Body Of Work

Barrel firing Events Exhibitions

I joined a group to exhibit at the Murwillumbah Art Trail this year, which turned out to be super awesome and successful!

Our theme was Multiverse – so I did a Google to find out what that was all about.

Definition: noun 1. (in physics and cosmology) a hypothetical collection of identical or diverse universes, including our own.”

So it involves, parallel universes, time travel, the cosmos – I wanted to create a “look” in ceramics that would portray that theme. I decided to create some lovely vessels that could be barrel-fired to achieve that etheral, cosmic look.

murwillumbah art trail, marian williams pottery, barrel fired pottery — Barrel Fired Vessels – It is so interesting that you can achieve such a variety of colours in the same firing.

I’m so, so in love with this process! I’ve written a previous blog post on this process: Click Here To Read It!

The show was lovely. We had 6 artists: Scott McDougall, painter; Trish Budd, mosaic artist; David Dempsey, photographer, Peter Smith, crystalline glaze ceramicist, and myself. We styled our area more like a living room or gallery and it looked smashing.

I had my barn mate, Morgan Lloyd, of Burnpile, make a bespoke, artistic table for my vessels. It looked fabulous!

marian williams pottery, barrel fired pottery, burnpile, morgan lloyd, rustic timber table

I’ve often heard the term, Body of Work, but until this set of vessels I have never actually created one! It has given me a new direction and goal…to create further “bodies of work” that when exhibited will speak a similar language and give a consistent image.

Next on my list is a body of raku vessels and a body of floral containers. Good luck with all that!

Keep potting and firing it up!

Marian

Wow! What A Successful Workshop! Malcolm Greenwood’s Workshop Extraordinaire!

Amazing Potters Events Workshops

(As a note, this post is probably best viewed on your computer, not your phone.)

Sometimes words just don’t do justice to what you are trying to describe. For the Malcolm Greenwood Workshop, that is definitely the case.

For as much planning, preparation, thought, worry – that goes into a workshop, the outcome is up for grabs. There are so many elements that must fall into place to make it all work – the people, the weather, the equipment, the venue, the presenter – and in this case, ALL of these things surpassed my expectations! It all just worked.

The two main things that make this workshop work were:

Number ONE!! Malcolm Greenwood!!!

His knowledge, humour, expertise, patience, generosity, skill (and on and on) were amazing.

Number TWO!! The Participants!!

Each person brought a beautiful attitude of keenness, compassion for one another, a deep sharing, and patience. As one person said after the workshop, “I felt like I might be the less skilled/experienced potter in the group on the first day during introductions, but I never felt that way again.” Malcolm had a way of leveling the playing field. We were ALL learning new techniques, making new tools, and hearing a new philosophy and way of creating.

THE PARTICIPANTS!

Tali – Cohen – Franz – Keramika Ceramics – Ocean Shores

Amanda Thompson – Raksha Ceramics – Currumbin

Caitlin Purcell – Caitlin Pottery – Mansfield, Victoria

On top of that, the studio is like none other and is suited perfectly to the type of workshop that Malcolm teaches. Making your own tools requires space, tools, wood, bamboo, woodworking equipment – we had it all. We managed to borrow/bring enough wheels that everyone had a wheel to work on. And this group! No fussing or fighting over who got what…amazing…such a nice group of people! Space for tables for handbuilding. Space for relaxing when Ronnie served up tapas, wine and beer after a hard day. Tables for lunch…etc, etc, etc.

I think that pictures will best convey what happened at this workshop…MAGIC!

The interesting thing about many of the pictures are the consultative and collaborative nature of the workshop. Malcolm helping participants. Participants helping participants. So good.

WATCHING MALCOLM

Malcolm did demonstration after demonstration – lucky us!

ARTIST TALK AND DINNER

Wednesday evening, a dinner for guests and participants, allowed the clay community to have a chance to hear Malcolm talk about his practice. It was so great!

WEDGING CLAY

Properly wedging clay was one of the key points that Malcolm wanted to get across.

LUNCHES WITH MALCOLM

These lunches gave everyone a chance to talk about various issues in creating a career with ceramics.

MAKING TOOLS

Everyone got right into the power tools!

SPRAYING GLAZES FOR THE RAW FIRING

Intro to spraying glazes
How to prepare your pots
Preparing raw pieces.
Getting ready to spray
Pieces to be sprayed.
Mixing the glazes.
The Malcolm Greenwood finger test for thickness.
Waiting your turn.
Masks on - watching spraying.
Malcolm demonstrating spraying.
More instructions from Malcolm.
Watching - all masked up.

FIRING RESULTS

For me, the raw firing of the pots was a first. I also had never fired both kilns at the same time. Thankfully, it all worked brilliantly!

Sorry for all the photos, but there are just so many good ones. A week of brilliance with a Master and a beautiful group of people allows one to see and photograph many wonderful things. I hope that you enjoy them.

So would we do it again? Too soon to say, but you can get on a waiting list by contacting me…just in case…you wouldn’t want to miss it.

Peace Out!

Marian

Murwillumbah, Stone & Wood Brewery Open Day, Market stall

Beer And Charity – Always Pulls A Crowd! Best Market Stall EVER!

Events How To's Selling

I’ve done lots of markets. They are tons of work, prep, frustration…and sometimes with low traffic, few sales, and little interest.

However! Last weekend, that was not the case! It was awesome!

Big special thanks to Lyndall Bensley, who did the stall with me! She’s a legend!! and her daughter, Sophie, and Ronnie, my husband, who helped immensely!

Thanks to Stone & Wood Brewery, the quick (4 days) decision to do the stall, the fact that they installed the marquee and didn’t charge us anything to have the stall – we did great! Lots of sales, little to no frustration, met tons of nice people, drank some good beer and overall scored it a 10!

The brewery is located in the new industrial estate at Murwillumbah – not the easiest place to find – so the fact that literally thousands of people showed up blew everyone’s mind!

So enjoy the pics and have a Stone & Wood beer and be grateful to all those nice people out there…they DO EXIST!!

Marian’s blue bowl – lots of colour – surprise, surprise!

Now, go make some art!

Love to you all!

Marian

Frustrating 16 Hour Firing! But…Great Results!

Firing Gas Kiln Glazes Results

Firing a gas kiln in reduction successfully requires learning your kiln’s moods, character, quirks, and happy spots.

I thought I knew Thelma, my older fiber gas kiln, pretty well. But then I did the unthinkable! I MOVED a shelf!

So the bottom shelf was cracked and when Malcolm Greenwood saw where it was positioned recently, he suggested that I raise it up a bit…so I did. When it was raised up, it left a gap that I thought might allow the flames to escape through – and right up the flue. So I added a small piece of kiln shelf to cover this gap.

The firing seemed to be going fine until about 1100 degrees celsius…then things went wonky. The firing took 16 hours and I never got cone 10 to fall – I finally just gave up after trying everything!

I dreaded opening the kiln and actually waited two days before opening it… an all time record for me!

But….to my amazement, the firing was great – one of my recent bests! I guess the heat and time did the work!

I also saw what the problem was! The little bag wall/gap filler had fallen over the burner ports covering them by half! So, no wonder I couldn’t get to temp!

I did learn some good lessons:

Even though the kiln was in oxidation at the end of the firing, all of my copper reds looked great!
Cone 9 might be a happier place for some of my glazes!

The moral to this little story is: You NEVER quit learning! And Just when you think you know your kiln, you don’t!

Good firing to you all!

Marian

Refires…Do They Work, Look Better?

Firing Glazes

Refiring work is risky…it can warp, bloat, run, look worse…OR it can look so much better!

I tend to gamble on the second part and I do refire pieces that I think “deserve” a second chance.

So what do I mean by “deserve”? Well, the piece that is technically, structurally sound; the piece that just missed a spot or two of glaze; the piece that needs more “oomph” to the glaze; or the piece that looks/is underfired, in my opinion, deserves a second chance.

When I reglaze a piece for a refire, I, firstly, make sure that it is dust free.

Then I spray a glaze completely over the inside of the piece, adding accent glaze here and there – it’s a gamble, but it’s fun to try to improve on the ugly! You’ve already gone to the trouble of making it, bisquing it and firing it once…why not go the next step and try to make it worthy of your efforts!

Here are a bunch of refires and I’ll let you judge for yourself:

refired pottery — The mug LOOKED better…but ran and stuck to the little piece of clay that I put under it to save the shelf – thankfully!

refires, refiring pottery — Here is an example of what CAN happen! Only one of the six refired bowls did this…unfortunately, it then stuck to the bowl sitting next to it!

Generally, the refire was worth it. On several glazes that were clear, adding another layer of clear and refiring just made it smooth out and look great! Give it a go….you never know!

Fire on!

Marian

Barrel firing, alternative firing, pottery

How To Barrel Fire Your Pottery

Alternative Firing Barrel firing Firing How To's

I love alternative firing of pottery. It’s so alive, visceral, earthy and unpredictable. It’s also such a quick, instant gratification process as compared to a Cone 10 Gas Reduction firing (which I love!), so it’s a nice deversion.

I’ve done a pit fire. I’ve raku’d. And now I’ve barrel-fired – and am totally hooked!

Barrel firing is a bit of a combo of pit and raku in that it is an “alternative firing” method where you are firing to get carbon, natural markings, and using alternative fuels – but no glazing.

I prepared an old fifty-gallon drum by having Ronnie (my fab husband) cut holes in the bottom and sides of the fifty gallon barrel to allow good air flow.

We then set the barrel up on bricks so that there would be air flow from the bottom of the barrel.

I prepared my pots for the barrel fire by adding terra sigillata that was highly burnished before bisquing.

I packed the barrel with long pieces of wood around the edges of the barrel before packing the center with the pots, seaweed, cow manure, copper carbonate and a few other chemicals and combustibles that I had collected.

I’ve burned a lot of trash in my lifetime, so I knew how to get it going and to keep it going. As soon as it caught, I covered it with a piece of tin to drive the fire down into the barrel. But then it seemed that the fire was not burning well enough and needed more oxygen, so I took the tin off and left it off for the duration of the firing.

The fire was started by 10 am and by 6:30pm, it was finished, cooled, and I removed the pots.

The next day I cleaned them up and burnished them again with wax.

I was so lucky…only one pot cracked and I got amazing color. I’m anxious to do another firing!

I’m thinking of doing this as a class, so let me know if you are interested.

Fire it up! and Keep it burning!

Marian

wooden handle on pottery spoon, wabi sabi pottery

Am I Crazy? Copper Red Glazes Versus Simple Oxidation Glazes

Copper Reds

I find it so interesting what the buying public likes!

instagram, marianwilliamspottery, wooden handle on ceramic spoon, recycled clay — This instagram post got more hits in the first day than I usually get. So is it the instagram crowd that drives the market?

I have tried really hard to master high-fire cone 10 reduction glazes, especially copper reds, chuns, and the old Oriental glazes.

Cone 10 Glaze Firing, Copper Reds — 3 Copper Red Glazes + One Blue Glaze.

I’ve also worked really hard to develop a throwing style that is as perfect as I can make.

altered bowl, slip additions, textured stamping,cone 10 reduction glazes — Three cone 10 reduction glazes, slip trailing, altered, carved, stamped bowl.

Here comes the interesting part!

I recently decided to throw a big quantity of reclaimed clay into simple, imperfect functional ware, glazes with a simple white glaze and a clear glaze with some Mason Stains colorants.

This is something that I can do with my eyes shut…no stress, no big design decisions, no crazy glazes combinations that are difficult to control and the firing is faster as I’m not worried about keeping the kiln in reduction.

So when people raved, loved and bought this more simple version of my pottery, I found it both interesting and frustrating!

It’s the market, what’s in style.

But for me, I find the more difficult, harder to achieve pieces more exciting and fun to make! But they don’t sell as well! (sad face).

Copper red and chun glazes — Copper Red and Chun Glazes, Cone 10 Reduction

So, what’s the solution? I don’t know, but I guess I’ll just do both! I can’t have recycled clay unless I make the good stuff! So the cycle of pottery goes.

Let me know what you think!

Keep crazy. Keep potting.

Marian

How To Make A Living From Your Ceramics: Malcolm Greenwood Workshop

Amazing Potters Workshops

Malcolm Greenwood discussing clays and which he prefers - Keane's Master Blend! — Malcolm Greenwood at Gold Coast Potter’s Association

A couple of years ago, I attended a workshop at the Gold Coast Potter’s Association given by Malcolm Greenwood. See that post HERE. It was life-changing…so many great tricks of the trade, ideas, techniques, production pottery procedures….amazing.

After the workshop, Malcolm came out to my studio and was amazed at the size of my workshop and at that moment, we started planning a week-long workshop that would be participatory and targeted at upskilling potters.

Unfortunately, it has taken us a couple of years to actually get it in place, but we have a date!!!

May 1-5, 10-4!!

Mark your calendars!

We are looking forward to seeing you at the workshop!

latest posts

How To Make An Amorphous Form

Instagram

How to Trim Pots and Catch All Those Trimmings!

How to Make Sculptural Flower Bird Feeders

How To Make Raku’d Balloon Bowls!

Pit Firing: Step-by-step Instructions

How To Make A Fantastic Totem!

How To Barrel Fire Your Pottery

How To Make A Pottery Apron

Rabbit Trails: My Nemesis

The Exciting And Enthusiastic Effects Of Collaboration

Barrel Fire Love – A Body Of Work

Wow! What A Successful Workshop! Malcolm Greenwood’s Workshop Extraordinaire!

Beer And Charity – Always Pulls A Crowd! Best Market Stall EVER!

Frustrating 16 Hour Firing! But…Great Results!

Refires…Do They Work, Look Better?

How To Barrel Fire Your Pottery

Am I Crazy? Copper Red Glazes Versus Simple Oxidation Glazes

How To Make A Living From Your Ceramics: Malcolm Greenwood Workshop