Saxon Designs Metal Musings and Clay Chronicles

Spring Teen Ceramics Class Firing

2010-05-05T17:13:00.000-07:00

Though I fired the class kiln about 2 weeks ago, it took me awhile to find the time to write up the blog with all the other things going on (making my own work, shows, etc). Well, the kiln gods were smiling on us during the firing - it was a very smooth cone 10 stoneware firing with good reduction all around. To the left is the kiln stack after cracking the kiln. It's a little loosely stacked, but you can't always have the most dense packing as students don't think about kiln stacking while they are creating their work.

We had some gorgeous reds, midnight blues and even rutile blues that turned baby blue/purple! Everyone was really pleased with their work - and they should be - they are all so talented!. (See our website for some individual photos - one photo from each student representing their best work.)

By the end of the 6-week session everyone's throwing improved quit a bit and we even got some small jars, bowls and pitchers that are functional!. It was a lot of fun teaching this age group - they are willing to try things, capable of doing so much independently and really focus well.

A selection of work after it was unloaded from the kiln. The large 10" vases and the large planter took an entire 2-hour class period to build.

A great class and a lot of fun!

Teen Ceramics Weeks 2 & 3

2010-03-28T16:47:00.000-07:00

This week students finished their initial slab-building projects and continued to battle the clay on the wheel. Spinning fast and furious, everyone managed to gain a lot of confidence with the basic centering an coning techniques. Then on to opening up the clay and creating a basic cylinder or bowl.

Throwing is more difficult than it appears. There are many subtle movements of the hands that must be carefully synchronized together or the piece can quickly become unbalanced and turn into a twisted piece of abstract art. Beginners often require a great deal of focus to carefully pay attention in order to keep the hands working together at the correct wheel position. Forget one step - oops abstract art! Become distracted and look away from your work for a second - oops abstract art!

The students did persevere despite the complexity involved and only after two wheel sessions, some were able to turn out a small cup or a vase. Some of these pieces were covered with an iron-rich slip and then a pattern carved in on top.

By the end of session 3, work which was ready for glazing was glazed and placed in the 3/28/10 reduction kiln.

This piece on the left is glazed and ready for the reduciton kiln. The glaze is Blue-Black, and old Val Cushing classic glaze. This glaze may become a matte turquoise or a matte dark brown-black, depending upon the thickness of the glaze application and how much carbon-trapping occurs during the firing.

Teen Ceramics Mold Making Fun

2010-03-23T17:49:00.000-07:00

We have a class of 3 creative and lively teens working in the studio during our Tuesday Teen Ceramics class.
Our focus in this class is surface decoration, slab construction, and of course throwing! The kids just love to throw on the wheel - they would probably stay at the studio all night throwing if they could!

Our first class started out with some basic mold-making. The idea here is that the students create molds which reflect their personal interests. The kids made original clay stamps or tiles in a design of their choosing. We then built a clay wall around the stamps/tiles so that the tile is embedded in a clay box. We then pour a 2-part urethane mould into the clay box and let it sit for 24 hours. (Photo Above Left).

After the urethane compound solidifies, we then
remove the molds from the clay enclosure. Smaller molds can be used to stamp out border decorations. Tile-size molds can be used to make small planters, boxes, or just plain old tiles! The student molds on the right are a small border seagull moldh (6th grade student) and a medieval floral mold with reverse image (8th grade student).

Students roll out slabs of clay and built picture frames and planters using their molds. The mold below shows a large 12" mold and its clay imprint which was used to make a square planter.

Large Celtic Bird mold created by 8th grade student.
Clay imprint of the above mold.