Making a jug for Chelmsford Museum- December updates

Chelmsford Museum- Making a Jug-Update

You may have been aware that I've had quite a task to make a special piece of Raku for Chelmsford Museum in Essex. They have a brand new Studio Ceramics Collection and have asked me to contribute a Jug.

The Jugs date back to some of my earliest pieces- but have evolved over the years into the "streamlined" form with circle or spot motiffs. (see opposite) They're much changed to the original pieces which I sold back in 1998/9 to Selfridges and Co in London.

The only problem (and the reason I don't make many these days!) is that they're notoriously difficult to "fume" with copper matte slips. The larger the piece you make- the more difficult it is to get the copper fuming to spread across the piece. Coupled with the thermal shock from the rapid cooling and reduction process- and you've got cracking to contend with. I think it's enough to turn a Potter's hair white!

Having said that- I now have at least 2- possibly 3 examples which I'm satisfied with. I have four more Jugs to fume. It's a great relief to have made them and got most of them fired. There's always a moment during the process where you think "can I actually do this?"

More on the final Jug contenders later this month!

View the making process on facebook-

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.301745003258779.54427.100002698447610&type=3

Comments

Making and firing Raku tiles

I have just had in one or two orders and enquiries concerning Raku tiles. Making them can drive you to despair- what with their tendancy to warp, crack and shrink! It's amazing how something so simple is in actual fact so hard to make. It's also very difficult to lift a flat object out of the kiln with tongs from a red hot kiln. Well, with some prior experience, I've developed a firing system for tiles now which is now working pretty well. Quite simply, I lay each tile on a flat bed of ceramic fibre. That way each tile is raised slightly off the kiln shelf- and it's then easy to grasp the tile with tongs and drop into your reduction chamber/smoking bin. I stack two or three kiln shelves and can pack in about 20 tiles in one batch - depending on size. I do let the kiln cool slightly before carefully removing each shelf of tiles. I back off the gas- get each shelf of tiles out- then power back up to temperature and repeat till they're all safely ...

Early days with volcanic and crater glaze part 2....

I glazed a couple of volcanic/crater glaze tapered bowls recently. They almost "half" work- but I'm still not convinced I've got it right- although it's promising. I layered combinations of glaze but I'm having a slight problem with the thick layers of silicon carbide glaze crawling. Sticky fingers maybe? Lots more to come over the next few months, probably with the next recipe- Pinnel Strontium Crater - with a variety of glaze stain additions . It's a pretty reliable recipe so fingers crossed.

Mo Jupp

My connection to Mo was as a student at Middlesex University in the dog days of the ceramics course during the 90's. He was my personal tutor for four years. Diminutive of stature and blinking in the funny way he did, we all came to love him as a tutor. Middlesex then, had a reputation for slip casting and mold making, and I was awful at both! Instead I had more of an interest in sculpture rather than functional tableware. Mo seemed to take an interest in my progress. He was very perceptive of individual students' abilities and offered guidance without ever dominating the discussion. He could be critical of course, but in such a way that was constructive and not "dead ended." At times he played down his reputation ,when we first year students twigged what a great artist he really was. He simply claimed that he was a big fish in a small pond unlike his heroes - Giacometti or Modigliani. Modestly he said his income nearly all came from teachi...

Shaun Hall's Raku Ceramics Blogspot

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