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 …

Erosion

I put the black clay assemblage in for a low temperature bisque fire at 780 so I could put it in the river on site where I collected samples to see if it will erode. I’ll leave it for 3 days while I am staying in the village at Loch Lomond.

Site collection methods; further thoughts

I've been thinking about how all the theory, threads, methodology, materials can all fit together. I'm not sure how clear my thoughts are, but after a bout of insomnia I've developed a few ideas. I've been thinking of something Conor said about the vernacular descriptors for landscape in MacFarlane's book Landmarks, he asked rather than …

Processing the samples

I soaked and sieved the soil samples from the river bank and the burn. I would say that there’s not really a clay content to them. I kept the sieving of the burn as it was mostly slate grit. The samples were more sandy and sediments than something you could make a pinch pot out …

Collecting clay

I pulled on my wellies yesterday and went out digging around for clay samples near Luss Loch Lomond. Its a significant area as it marks the Highland Boundary fault line - a geological structure which marks the boundary between highland and lowlands of Scotland. The lowland side, which is where the village of Luss lies …