One thing I absolutely love to do is ceramics. I am still working on getting this part of my studio up and running so the following pieces are from a long time ago. I love everything about working with clay. There is something about getting your hands in the dirt that is just awesome!
I have a terrific kick wheel that is a lot of fun to do thrown pieces on. I need to log a million more hours on it to consider myself a potter, however.
My favorite tool is actually a piece of 1"x2" wood to whack the clay into shape and add texture while hand building.
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| Hand built pitchers |
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| hand built lidded containers |
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| detail of texture made with a wooden paddle |
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Hand built vase
My favorite type of firing process is Raku. |
Raku generally refers to a type of low-firing process that was inspired by traditional Japanese raku firing. Western-style raku usually involves removing pottery from the kiln while at bright red heat and placing it into containers with combustible materials. Once the materials ignite, the containers are closed. This produces an intense reduction atmosphere which effects the colors in glazes and clay bodies. The drastic thermal shock also produces cracking (known as crackling since it is deliberate).
I love Raku because it is sort of like playing with fire! It is a very dynamic process and the results are gorgeous. You can watch a video of this process
HERE. I would love to build an outdoor kiln to use for this process some day.
Here are some images of a raku bowl that I created.
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| metallics can be really gorgeous in Raku |
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| detail |
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| crakling |
