End of the exhibition...

Last month was a frenetic one of sorting, packaging and shipping out work. I don't think I have ever had to send out so much work in 1 month, and most of it abroad. Nice though it was to exhibit in 3 big exhibitions at once, it was rather stress inducing!

All the work arrived safely, and I think, to fair appreciation. It's always nerve wracking sending out your most cherished work. Will it arrive in time - and all in one piece? Will anyone like it? I've become pretty philosophical about these things- and I guess I do create work which tends to divide opinion. At least I gave it my best shot and I can't do any more than that. I think that even if you don't sell terribly well, having work overseas does raise your profile and does no harm at all for your CV.

Having said that, I have had some nice feedback from the galleries and exhibition organisers involved. My Japan work although well received, is coming home. (See below) The work at Manchester City Art Gallery is still on show and my Pisces pot from has travelled across America where it is now owned by the renowned USA collector and organiser of Vasefinder- Charlie Blim jnr. I Know Charlie a little through the Vasefinder competion, and I'm very proud to have a work in his collection.

Pot featured at Manchester City Art Gallery

My pots on show at Gallery Jarfo in Kyoto.

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 out of th

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.

Some more Crater glaze test results

I've been blathering on about Crater and Lava Glaze recipes here and on Facebook too. I suddenly "got the bug" as well as a commission- (more on this later) so hence the rather manic activity testing out glazes and destroying kiln shelves in the process with runny, bubbling glazes. I tested 2 recipes- after first trying the usual recipes from the internet and in various books. As I suspected - few of them gave satisfactory results- either it was "pilot error" or the glaze authors just happen to neglect to tell you that vital missing ingredient, kiln temperature or soak time etc! (Know the type of thing?) Anyway I resorted to testing 2 standard glaze recipes which I've had for years. A turquoise matte and a Lucy Rie white stoneware. The jury is still out on the turquoise variant- but the white is rather nice. A little suggestion from Potter Jan Lewin Cadogan http://www.janlewin-cadogancontemporaryceramics.co.uk/ put me right by suggesting to mix the g

Shaun Hall's Raku Ceramics Blogspot

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