The procession of ceramic pieces continues...
One of several areas of inspiration in my studio work comes from product mascots. One of the finest is Cap'n Crunch. Cap'n Horatio Magellan Crunch, - if we're gonna be specific. Here are some studio shots of the two Cap'ns I made over the past few months.
A bisque-fired Cap'n, and greenware Cap'n, and a glaze-fired sculpture.
Hiding out in the kiln room.
Some day I'll post shots of the finished pieces. Today is not that day.
Earthship Mast in all of its glory.
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Let's start with a detail shot of Transmitter Number 2.
Now for the full view.
The sad life of Aegean Palace... Here it is in its greenware (unfired) state earlier this year.
So Aegean Palace was made with a different clay body than my normal cone 6 clay, and could therefore handle much higher temperatures for a much longer period of time. I included it in a wood firing I did last Spring.
Here is Aegean Palace peeking out from its spot in the back of the kiln.
Now let's get on with the firing.
We bring the pieces/kiln up to around 2400 degrees Fahrenheit and keep them there as long as we can. The temperature is actually hot enough to liquefy the ash and turn it into a glaze. This takes hours of feeding wood into the kiln. But you can't just jam a bunch of wood in there and call it a firing. You need to do it incrementally so you allow enough oxygen flow to interact with the wood. Too much wood, or too much oxygen and the temperature won't climb steadily.
Fortunately Matt is more of a fire bug than I am, so we are in good hands.
The rest of the crew.
Jenna soaking up some sun.
The piece survived the firing. You can see the ash deposits on the top of the piece.
The piece survived the firing and enjoyed a sunny place outside in the backyard. On one particular day, the sun was super conducive to finally getting a few good images of the piece, so I set it up on a tree stump and took some pictures.
See? It looked pretty cool, right?
Anyway, I left it on the stump for a few hours and when I got back, a squirrel had toppled it over and it had broken in several places. I guess it was a good thing I moved it from safety so I could document it?
Next time we'll look at some less traumatic work.
The broken girder - which runs along the top of the piece and cascades downward off of the back side of the piece, reminds me of an ancient Greek helmet. So after testing driving a couple of working titles, I settled on Myrmidon for this piece.
The Myrmidons were the warriors who accompanied Achilles in the Trojan War. The name Myrmidon has also come to assume the connotation of "a hired ruffian" or "...a follower or subordinate of a powerful person, typically one who is unscrupulous, who carries out orders unquestioningly".
Honestly, the more interpretations available, usually the better.
Until next time...!
Another one recently pulled from the glaze kiln. Kyklopes Composition (cyclops) brings together contrasting colors (warm vs. cold,), textures, and shapes. Due to time constraints, this was shot on the wedging table. Better images forthcoming...
More to come!
A twofer!
Relay Station Number 8 juxtaposes pair and trio elements, and surface treatments against each other to create a sense of dynamism throughout the piece.
It actually took a couple different glazing sessions over the course of a couple of days to complete the glazing on Relay Station Number 8.
By comparison, Eternal Watcher1, has a much shinier/runnier glaze treatment than the predominately mat finishes Relay Station Number 8 does.
Jumping back in time a few days, here's a shot of several pieces early in the glazing process (I've just applied the first wash of Gun Metal Black. and wiped it off so it basically just stains the cracks/crevices). The second one from the left is Eternal Watcher1.
After several more layers/washes of glaze, here is Eternal Watcher1.
Only a few more pieces to go!
