Studio Saturday

Back to it, cold weather or not; I'm ready to dip the new pieces and get that little kiln going.

When I went in before xmas I was touched to see little surprises on my table -

 and did some measuring and thinking about how to fit the new series of tall pieces into the kiln, comparing them to the shelf spacers -

 Also they have the first part of their data sheets filled out, and photos ready for processing and printing out.

Trying to keep track of things - fresh start! -

 My walk home from the studio took a little diversion past Archway, up the hill to Highgate, where the Highgate Pantry happened to have a poppy seed cheesecake - irresistible - unfortunately it came only in enormous slices...

And back down the hill, home - for a total of over 13,000 steps for the day. Usually the walk to the studio yields about 3,000 steps each way.

This week I did make it in, and dipped some recent constructions. The group on the left is drying in the open; on the right, covered with plastic, to see if this has an effect on the development of cracks -

The "chimney pots" (some are 20cm tall; none have bottoms) are put together in various ways with sinamay, and many were bedevilled by the development of little holes as the clay pulled away from the threads as it started to dry -

Careful dabs of slip on the end of a pointed stick worked some of the time, but some of the time ran down in streaks. Perhaps the slip needs to be thicker, or perhaps the fabric could be doubled, or covered with a different fabric for a different texture? Things to try.

A test firing of the little kiln is scheduled for next week. It involves going in to the studio really early to turn it on, and returning at the end of the day to make sure everything is shut off properly - and not opening the kiln to see what happened. Ah, the suspense!

Studio Saturday

A stoneware firing -

 ... my little pots among the big impressive ones -

 No shards this time - though some of the 15 had small imperfections - small, but imperfections none the less -

After photographing each one, the next step is to record and analyse -

 A bit of fun with pots-among-the-limpets ...

 And gathering some groups -

Before an after - except that one hasn't been fired yet. This shows how much they shrink -

 More fun with the broken pots - combined with woodblock prints?

Wrapped in thread but pieces keep crumbling away - perhaps dip it into wax... see what happens ...

 I invested in some gilding supplies and found some paperclay potlets to practise on -

 Midweek, I felt that things were starting to sort themselves out -

But on Monday the electrician who is hooking up the new kiln will need access to the fuse box above my desk, so the fragile pots have been put out of harm's way, after yet more sorting and list-making and some vague thoughts about The Way Forward ... but Action can wait till after the Open Studio, 24 November, has been prepared for and experienced.

A few dipped pots have been waiting to be "fixed" for weeks now. The tall ones have holes in the base, unfortunately, but other than that they're almost ready to fire -

 Here's a "before and after" ... dull, dull, dull ...

This little one has lost it's data sheet - or never had one - or there's been a mismatch ... it can get very confusing!

I've not been entirely systematic, and indeed the main aim of "my system" has been to identify the pots in terms of how they were made from fabric and what materials were used, and to match the ephemeral fabric pot (Before) with the end product (After). Keeping a record encourages close looking and identification of the problems - and good points! - through which I'm starting to find out what I want and don't want to carry on with. Gradually you get into a sort of rhythm and feel calmer and bolder, striding out into the unknown, hopefully - rather than going around in tiny fussy circles.

One of my plans for next week is to do some gilding of broken pots; this will include a good rummage among Old Work and possibly some culling. Even thinking about it makes me uncomfortable ... smash my pots?? ... well, we'll see....

Studio Saturday

What with one thing and another this week, such as not being able to use the camera on my phone ("low on memory"), not only have I not been to the studio, apart from a short visit late on Friday, but the production at home hasn't been photographed.

Record keeping is in a mess - images are needed, and it's not easy to tell from the written description which ones they might be; hence the need for a quick trip to see what was on hand and which pots missed out on being documented.

The forms I use have been updated, now that I know what info is needed, in what order, and they are easier to use. But I'm wondering if my coding/identification system could be simpler (ie, less confusing).

I'm thinking about how to collate the photos of an individual pot to show it at various stages. And - how to get good photos of the fabric pot and the finished pot, so that they could be used in further projects.

Also I'm thinking about the idea of transformation or metamorphosis, in terms of having a conceptual basis for these objects.

In fact it's more relaxing (is that the right word? less pressurised) to be involved in the making - the sewing, the dipping, the etc - than to have all these thoughts rattling around all the time!

Making continues, and on Friday I was able to take a few photos...

Halfway there for the new fabric pots

All in a dither for keeping track of what was done with which

This one needs its "passport photo"

These four were dipped last week but have no record

Oh crikey, which was which, or was one something different altogether?

After a lifetime of working in admin in some way, or jobs that need a degree of organisation and paper-shuffling, I find myself daunted ... if this was a paid job, I'd surely be sent for re-training by now! Or "moved sideways"...

Studio Saturday

The Saturday afternoon prior to the drawing course was a chance to catch up with the record-keeping for the pots dipped in the previous week - this also involved general tidying-up, like cutting the strings off and scratching ID numbers into the bases -

The other important thing, in advance of a stoneware firing at the end of the week that I'd be away, was to set out the pots in "high priority" and "other" groupings - hoping that some of the "other"s might make it into the kiln -

(There is also a third category, "later"; a dozen or more are waiting in shoeboxes.)

The "priority" pots are those for which problems or questions have arisen - how serious are the cracks inside, if there aren't any (or many) on the outside; what happens if threads stick out around the base; etc, etc.

The colours in the photo are due to the fabrics used; often the slip was thin enough for the colours to show through, especially on the organza ... it'll be interesting to see if they survive firing.

Any trace of metal threads - ie, surface pattern, the black lines - is buried, to be revealed by oxidation during firing. What comes out of the kiln would be a surprise in so many ways!

When I got back to the studio after the drawing course, this was waiting.......

All 27 pots that I'd set out had been fired, finding spaces between larger items. Three were shattered, and several more weren't quite intact, but the success rate was quite good. There's room for improvement in terms of small cracks and areas of crumble, but on the whole I was very pleased to have Real Pots at last.

Small pots

Larger pots

Better luck next time... lessons to be learned

Everything needed photographing and the pix of individual pots were printed out, ready to add to the documentation -

The afternoon sun was shining onto my desk at an advantageous angle, so I took some group shots as well. Each seems like a little drama waiting to happen -

Photography for documentation -

 Each photo is glued onto "the record", the pot is re-measured and closely examined and thought about and all that is written down. General points are noted on a separate sheet, for action (or perhaps oblivion). Gradually, order will arise from chaos....

 On to the next lot, then!

Some final touches to a batch of crochet pots, in the comfort of the sofa studio -

 Group photos -

 In the studio, these were to be dipped -

 but first, needed strings to help them keep their shape -

 and templates for their bases -

 Only three got dipped yesterday ... ran out of time ...

The crochet pots are usually stiff enough to stand up on their own, if not too tall.

The pot on the right looks a mess - it slumped in the middle and the clay got disturbed. It will be interesting to see what happens to it during firing. The silk-satin, closely woven (=disaster already!) was punctured with an endless number of tiny holes (via awl). And the thin rim could be another tricky spot.