New paintings and regular art updates.
I tried my hand as (bad) sculpting yesterday. I think because I bodged this together there might be trapped air and I am a bit worried this might explode or the tail or front legs fall off in the kiln. I did hollow it out to make that mess likely, and using that extra bit of clay I made a pinch pot in the shape of a flower. I expect both pieces to shrink when they are biscuit fired and then I might glaze them. Anyway it’s a bit different to painting. X
One of the things to do at the British Ceramic biennial was to have fun making clay tiles that will grow in a wildflower meadow next spring. We made unfired tiles made to look a bit like Minton floor tiles. The clays were chosen to be different acidities so that they suited wild flower seeds. The clay was mixed with hay and pushed into moulds, then we had to make holes and push the seeds into them. Finally we pressed a shape into the top of the tile and fill the resultant spaces with different coloured slips.
Glasses and chalices,
Like mushrooms
Growing in the cupboard
I like the curves
Transparent and opaque
Grouped together
In the right place.
Come out at Christmas
Easter too
To have a drink
Of some old home brew!
The tall chimney tapers
High up in the air
Birds soar around its slender height.
Blustery and white
Clouds scud across the blue
A memorial to ancient potters
Who wheezed in its smoky shadow.
Coughed clay into spittoons
Made and created beauty
Paid little
Working hard
In their race to death.
I made him at Etruria artists a couple of years ago. I textured the surface and it is bisque fired. I didn’t get it glazed so I used a pale metallic blue acrylic paint to colour it. It used to sit on the shelf with my orchids but hubby bought me a new orchid plant so it’s now on the kitchen windowledge.
A bad, fuzzy close up
Of a painting I did
A willow pattern plate
That Spode pottery made
Based on patterns
That came from the east
So many variations
That you find all around.
Blue and white pottery
Glazed and painted
By skilled, creative artists
Paid by piecework,
(the number they did) .
Stoke on Trent city
A fading of clay,
But once so many people
Gave their art to the day.
One thing I did do yesterday was make a couple of pieces clay that might be used as part of a tiled piece at the BCB (British Ceramic Biennial in September at Spode in Stoke, Stoke-on-Trent. They will be fired up and someone else may end up glazing them.
I made lots of marks using old buttons and metal rings. I tried to give them a three dimensional look. I hope they won’t explode on the kiln.
It’s good finding different things to do when you are having a day out.
Decorated terracotta pot from outside. Our money plant got too big so it’s in this enormous, heavy pot now.
I’m glad in a way. I love the flower decorations that are on the outside. If the pot was outside in the cold and frost they might crack and split if ice got into it.
I need to see patterns, if I don’t, if everything is plain, I get bored! I don’t know why. Some people like clean lines, simple colours, bare walls.. I don’t.
The back stamp on the bottom of pottery can identify where it was made, it’s country of origin, and sometimes indicate what it’s worth, although sometimes people fake the marks to try and con people thinking a cheap teacup or vase is worth more, sometimes a lot more, than it actually is.
This happens in pottery manufacture across the globe. A Ming dynasty vase might have been made last week, a Delpht plate might have been made somewhere in Britain..
The thing is an inanimate lump of clay can be transformed into something delicately shaped and beautifully glazed or enamelled. People want to know it they are looking at a Clarice Cliff or a Susie Cooper. That’s part of the reason they look. But also if you live in a pottery manufacturing town you want to tell the difference between them. And the turn over can be enlightening!
Bone China tea set my friend is getting rid of. I’m going to try and find someone who wants it. I think another friend will have it.
Bone China was manufactured by potters who wanted to find a substitute for porcelain that came from China. It took several years to find a formula that produced thin, strong, translucent pots. It contained clay from the China clay quarries in Cornwall, calcined bone and flint (heated and ground to break them down into a fine powder). The bone gives off phosphorus which adds to the strength of the bone china. You end up with a material half way between pottery and glass. This fine white china was then beautifully decorated with hand painted flowers, fruit and landscapes.
I’m sure there is far more to say on this subject. But that’s enough for now.
Mallaband-Brown