Elemental

After a jet lagged sleepless night I was thinking about the site - peat bog - how it was starting to unfold into earth fire and water. Could I mould/cast 3 different materials:- Earth - raw clay with elements from the site leaves moss grasses Water - cast glass Fire - ash glazed saggar fired …

Lenzie Moss: Peat bog

Case study 2 proposal (submitted at the end of Ceramics 1) Lenzie Moss is a nature reserve in East Dunbartonshire, comprised of low land raised bog which at one time was extensively exploited for peat production. It has vague evidence of peat cutting in the characteristics of the landscape and ruins of peat sheds and …

Final firing results

The work came out of the kiln today. The bisqued pieces didn't vitrify, the screen printed flask with the clear glaze made the ink less sharp. I would love to try them in the university's raku kiln. The decals melted into the glaze but look shaky, rather than sharp. Low temperature decals next time. The …

Elemental: embodying the powers of nature

The assemblage spent 3 days in the river, as I was photographing it it fell apart, back into it's separate parts. I decided to glaze the separate parts and assemble after the firing. The drystane dykes are expressions of the genius loci - built using traditional knowledge and materials and are shaped by the weather, …

Black clay: some updates added to the bottom of the post by date order

I ordered Scarva Earthstone Professional PF660 Black Chunky Sculpture Clay and started having a go on the assemblage/vernacular structure/sense of place/essence/ non-realistic representation. Although I tried not to make a boulder, I think it made itself. I wired the end off the clay, and using the harp cut some small slabs to begin working with it. The …

Assemblage thought

A quick note from something Conor said in today's tutorial that's interesting. I hadn't imagined assembling the different 'boxes' or elements, whatever they end up being, until after firing but Conor thought I meant before firing. This is really exciting, I'd like to begin as Conor suggested at a small scale, and I could test …

Drystane dyke tutorial

A quick note to put down what Keith and I talked about for feedback regarding proposing the series of boxes - wall. I emailed:- I've translated the vernacular structures, such as the dry stone wall, in essence to signify - strength, balance, shelter, boundary, layering, protection. I want to create vessels that explore this - …