The brief for this project was to design and create articles of a complex nature that fit into the standards of the current local and global art, design and craft culture. I also had to complete decorative elements for the design and develop a glaze that will enhance the shape as well as clay body of the design.
I started by drawing inspiration from various artists as well as architects including Kayoko Hoshino, a Japanese ceramicist who uses grey-brown or black clay which are embellished with subtle linear decorations. The exteriors of the objects are reminiscent of delicate Japanese paper or finely pleated textiles. The other great influence were the American minimalist sculptor Richard Serra. Serra is well known for working with large scale assemblies of sheet metal. I like the way you can walk into and around these sculptures. I like the lines of the forms and the way he cuts into a solid form.
After a lot of drawings and tests, I decided to use a rougher than usual clay body which are a cream color and claze it with a very smooth brown-black glaze with texture on parts like the handles. I started by mixing different clay bodies and ended up using JB1 combined with Kagero and only Kagero for the detail.
I really liked the way the shapes I made could be put into one another. I would also cut into the outside shape, which allows you to peek through and see the shape that is inside. The glaze I used inside has a satin feel to it and I used black stain to color it.
The ingredients of the recipe is:
Soda Feldspar: 286.1
Lithium: 12
Whiting: 193
Zinc: 53
Kaolin: 109
Silica:
Talc: 25
Ebony/black stain: 50
It was fired in an oxidation firing to cone 9 and it is a really stable glaze. I enjoyed the whole process of making this series and it inspires me to make a new line. The only thing I would change is to use a smoother clay body, especially on the mugs.
