March 17, 2010
Scratching the Surface: The Terra Sigillata Clay Tile Paintings of Jenny Mendes
Not even Jenny Mendes herself can explain the mystery of how her imagery makes it
out of her subconscious and onto her clay tile paintings. But she can
explain the technical details of scratching her drawings into moist
clay and layering various colors of terra sigillata to create her rich
illustrations. That's exactly what she does in today's post. Enjoy!
Read Comments (16)
March 15, 2010
How to Transform Your Clay Body into a Casting Slip
Combine cast and handbuilt parts without the fear of different shrinkage rates. Paul Wandless demonstrates how to make a casting slip from your everyday clay body.
Read Comments (14)
March 12, 2010
Handbuilding Video: How to Make a Mosaic-Patterned Bowl Using Loaves of Colored Clay
In today's video, an excerpt from
Pottery Decoration: Traditional Techniques,
potter Tom Shafer demonstrates a version of the nerikomi technique.
Nerikomi (often referred to as “neriage”) is a decorative process
established in Japan that involves stacking colored clays and then
slicing through the cross section to reveal a pattern, which can then
be used as an applied decoration, or in this case, to build a form on a
plaster mold.
Watch the video!
Read Comments (20)
March 10, 2010
The Sasukenei Smokeless Kiln: A Wood Kiln that Produces Little Smoke and Great Results
What if you could get the results of firing in a traditional anagama
kiln in a quick-firing, compact kiln that produces very little smoke? In today's post, an excerpt from Japanese Wood-Fired Ceramics,
Masakazu Kusakabe and Mark Lancet explain the concept behind the
Sasukenei Smokeless Kiln. Plus, we've thrown in a couple diagrams in case you'd like to build your own.
Read Comments (61)
March 8, 2010
Kick Your Work Up a Notch: Announcing the Ceramics Monthly Master Class!
Today's post is a sample from our new section Ceramics Monthly Master Class. Simon Levin explains the importance of critiquing your ceramic work, a skill that is often stressed at the college level, but is good to learn and practice at any stage of the game. Simon explains his "Suck Factor" method of gauging a piece's success and gives some sample critiques on his own work.
Read Comments (16)
March 5, 2010
Wheel Throwing Video: How to Throw Teabowls Off the Hump on the Pottery Wheel
Throwing off-the-hump is a very helpful technique if you are making a series of a form. You only have to center once so you can really get into a rhythm, which makes it easier to repeat the same size and shape. But as Jerry points out in today's video, it is also a fun exercise for experimenting with variations on a form.
Watch the video!
Read Comments (14)
March 3, 2010
The Perfect Cure for Cabin Fever: A Potter Shares a Cool Technique for Making Texture Stamps with Natural Objects
Woodstock, New York, ceramic artist Meg Oliver make simple plaster texture stamps out of found objects. To make the stamps she uses to create texture on her pottery, Meg usually takes a nice walk in the woods and picks up objects that will make interesting marks in clay . Then, she uses pinch pots and plaster to transform them into fun, free-form stamps. I thought this would be a great project for spring!
Read Comments (12)
March 1, 2010
Contemporary Functional Pottery: A Discussion of Handmade Pottery by 11 Working Potters Available for Download
If you enjoy hearing the perspectives of other potters, you'll really enjoy our latest free gift Contemporary Functional Pottery: A Discussion of Handmade Pottery by 11 Working Potters. Today, we are presenting an excerpt from it in which Tina Gebhart discusses what it means to make functional, utilitarian pottery in the contemporary world.
Read Comments (10)
February 26, 2010
Porcelain Workshop Video: Meira Mathison, and Tom and Elaine Coleman Share Helpful Pottery Tool Tips
In this clip, Meira Mathison, and Tom and Elaine Coleman talk about some of their
favorite tools, such as the "can't live without blanket." Intrigued?
Check out the video here!
Read Comments (22)
February 24, 2010
The Month in Clay - March 2010
In today's, Month in Clay post I am highlighting a couple of the events that are taking place in conjunction with the he National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts conference, plus, a few other interesting clay events from elsewhere around the globe.
Read Comments (0)
;){kind=link}