3/365 March 26, 2015 cropped
I had every intention of taking a part of what I liked about sketch 2/365 and exploring it more in depth yesterday. Instead, it turned into its own thing – the colors and stamp choices being used on the fly. I am keeping track of what I’m using to create these quick mixed media collages, but not the order of operations.
3/365 – 15 min.
To get the most out of my sketchbook, each page is being used on both sides. I had a moment yesterday where I asked myself whether I should do one page per sketch just in case I ever wanted to display one or more. What if I like both the front and the back? I had to remind myself that these are quick studies and are not precious.
Bisque fired pots
I have already begun the process of testing out some of these stamped/painted designs on clay with mixed results when fired to cone 10 in reduction. The mishima decorated ones turned out great, but the stamped ones are muddy. While I normally fire to ^6, I had the opportunity to fire some work at the Colorado Potters Guild at ^10 reduction. Why not? It’s a good way to test out how the designs hold up at different temperatures.
A few weeks ago, I listened to Tales of the Red Clay Rambler, episode 94 and Charlie Cummings briefly described the benefits of working at cone 1 to Ben Carter. I perked up. At cone 1 the clay is more vitrified and less fragile than traditional earthenware, yet the colors are brighter and the clay warps less than at higher temps. Later when I returned home from my studio, I googled cone 1 glazes and there’s just not a ton of info out there. I did find a post dated from 2006 on potters.org where Charlie shared some of his base clay and glaze recipes. I think it’s a good starting point to do some testing.
3/365 sketch ingredients
Ingredients:
- Sketchbook with heavy stock paper for water media
- Printed newspaper torn (I selected an article that talked about the redevelopment of an area close to my house)
- Liquitex satin varnish
- Paint brush
- Water
- Black pen – Pilot 0.5 V-Ball (one of my favorites)
- Ink pads (not waterproof) (turquoise, black, sepia and white)
- Hand carved rubber stamps
- Toilet paper roll
~C
Linda Starr
March 27, 2015 at 12:08 pminteresting about cone 1 being more vitrified I have been making clay bells and am half thinking of making them unglazed so a more vitrified clay would be good for that use I think. toilet paper rolls come in handy for lots of things, you mentioned cone 10, have you tried Windsor Porcelain by laguna, it’s a dream to work with at hand building.
Cindy
March 28, 2015 at 8:57 amI have never tried Windsor Porcelain Linda – I think one of my clay suppliers carries Laguna, I’ll have to look for it. I don’t fire cone 10 often…mostly just group firings at the Colorado Potters Guild. Another impetus for firing lower is that it uses less energy and it’s less expensive.