Crazy for Clay

cassius basaltic clay pinch bowl, 4 x 9 inches

Quite by accident, one of my glazes formed a unique surface on a very black clay, cassius basaltic. I called the surface moon craters. Ever since then I've been thinking of how I could use the moon craters to advantage. I just couldn't get the unique surface out of my mind and really wanted to attempt to replicate the moon craters.

sketch for cassius basaltic pinch bowl

I planned on making a tall coiled vase based on a couple of drawings in my sketch book, but the piece I ended up making was a wide pinch bowl. Since I'm in a motorhome with limited space I decided to use the pinch bowl. For my sketch above, imagine the background being the black clay and the stripes and dots being white.

moon craters unique glaze surface (interior)

My sketch book is filling up with drawings for the cassius basaltic clay with moon craters and I have plans to make some tiles and groups of tiles. Of course I had to get some white clay for the stripes and will have to use that up too.






Not sure where I will store the greenware while it is drying. We have our three cats in the motorhome, so everything drying must be put some place they can't get to it. I just couldn't stop myself from getting a couple of bags of clay and trying a few of my ideas. I also have a few ware boards, my tool box, and glazes.

Texas white pinch bowl, 3 x 7 inches

Here's another pinch bowl I made today with Texas white clay. I've never tried this clay before. After I made the bowl I thought it would look good with a handle across the top. I want to make the handle look like it's woven from reeds. I have a few more ideas about the handle.

sketch for handle on Texas white pinch bowl

We plan on leaving in about two more weeks, hopefully they'll be dry by then I can at least get them bisqued. Then perhaps I can find a place along the way to get them fired. What do you think, am I crazy for clay or what?

Mooney Grove Museum

Now that I'm no longer a farmer I had time to visit Mooney Grove Museum in Visalia. As I walked through the museum I was impressed with how self sufficient and creative early Native Americans were, making use of the natural elements available to them from the surrounding countryside.

Bird Man

The much anticipated Bird Man appeared briefly the other day. Luckily I was able to capture a quick photo just before he had to leave. His bird is a young African Grey Parrot. Parrots have been kept as pets for over 4000 years, being depicted in hieroglyphics in Egypt and also kept by the ancient Greeks and Romans. In the Pottery Mound of the ancient pueblo people a mural on the wall of a kiva shows a woman holding two parrots. The parrot is also illustrated on numerous other pieces of ancient pottery found throughout the world.

Bird Man's parrot is named Lola. I thought Lola was a rather sexy name for a parrot. Later I read Kama is the Hindu god of love and is very often depicted riding on the back of a parrot. I guess Lola is a good name for a parrot and Bird Man's parrot keeps him company while he is away from home.

Bird Man, aka Jose, is a lineman for the electric company. Apparently a lot of the people in this RV park work as linemen and travel around to various parts of the country keeping our electric service operating. Whenever I hear the word lineman, I always start humming the song by Glenn Campbell, so I'll leave you here to enjoy Wichita Lineman.

Nerikome

Nerikome Plate by Linda Starr
slab built, 6 x 6 inches, cone 10 reduction
A few months ago I experimented by inlaying thin strips of B Mix clay into Black Mountain clay. I wasn't sure if this would work and didn't know this is an ancient technique called Nerikome. According to research done by Robin Hopper neriage involves blending two different clays an then throwing the clay on the wheel. Faith Rahill shows the process of nerikome which is blending different clays in hand building ceramic pieces. I did know incorporating two different clays together can sometimes be disastrous because one clay may shrink at a different rate than the other and the two clays might separate or repel one another.


Nerikome Bowl by Linda Starr
slab built, .5 x 7 x 7 inches, cone 10 reduction
The three pieces made it through the bisque just fine. Then came the next experiment with glazing the pieces. Many times if a clear or transparent glaze is placed over a dark clay with high iron content, the glaze will react with the iron in the clay and thus the glaze will turn an opaque gray. A year ago I attempted to counteract that effect with a glaze experiment.


Nerikome Plate by Linda Starr
slab built, 6 x 6 inches, cone 10 reduction
I tried using a non iron celadon glaze over a high iron content clay. Much to my delight I discovered that non iron celadon glaze will be nearly transparent over high iron content clay. I wanted to achieve this effect so the natural color of the two different clay bodies would be visible under the glaze. I was able to repeat this again but was not as successful even though I used the same clay and glaze. The celadon glaze should have been a little thinner and the firing temperature should have been a bit higher. All in all, though, this is a successful experiment in my quest to use two clay bodies together contrasting their different colors in one piece.