SALT AND PEPPER PROJECT

For this project I picked the hook and eye clasp. 

PAPER TO CLAY

exploring folds that i had seen in the paper

My object for this project was a garden glove.    I first made quck glove to get my head around it then I was going to do paper mache and I started building the glove but the piece looked interesting so I didn't go with the paper mache and thought I would translate the piece as best I would in clay.   This proved to be very difficult as the clay kept falling apart.   I then decided to use paper porcelain.   This was a very interesting process.  Really enjoyed using this.   While it took a good while to get it to work I eventually learnt how to manage the paper clay.   Learnt a lot about the whole process.   Firing proved to be difficult as well as the pieces did collapse.    I also tried to tanslate into clay my original paper glove and decorated this with ceramic pencil.   With the paper porcelain I didn't use any colour as the porcelain looked impressive in the white.

Historical object

Finished pieces.

Historical Object

Chinese urn from the British Museum

One of the forms that I now using ceramic pencils to decorate

Samples of my test glazes



After doing many test tiles I came up with some colours that appealed to me

A glaze that I got down in Thomastown

Historical object.

My historical object was a a very rare chinese urn dating back to the Tang Dynisty.  The piece had many aspect to it.   The top of the piece has a phoenix head which represented the female and in later years the Emporess. In the body of the jug was details inlay of the lotus flower.    After much consternation and exploring I found that I was drawn to the female aspect of the peice and would try and create a piece with with this in mind.   I started off by doing a lot of throwing on the wheel of different shapes.    What  I did then was assemble these pieces together to create both a functional piece (as the original piece would have been a funcation piece) and a form that would or could be preceiced as a female form.   Above you can see some of the original forms which I threw.  I subsequently glazed them and also used ceramic pencils to explore colour.

Josie Walter

Did presentation on Josie Walter today. Pictures to follow. Check out her webpage on techniques and
receipes for slips.