Example #1
Example #2
Example #3
..maybe coming soon
Journals - Pottery
For: Professor Bruce Allen
Entry 01
| Entry 02 | Entry
03 | Entry 04 | Entry
05 | Entry 06 | Entry
07
Entry 08 | Entry
09 | Entry 10 | Entry
11 | Entry 12 | Entry
13 | Entry 14
Entry 15
Pottery – Week 01
Wow, first week and there was a good bit to learn, but most of it soaked
in, so here are the basics that we, or at least I, wrote down and/or picked
up on. The first thing was kind of simple but I did not know it. What
is clay? Clay is made up of alumina, silica, and water. Then there were
some more basic terms:
Fire – heat up the clay, hardens, the water is driven out,
the molecules move closer together without the water in them, 1200 degrees
F
Bisque – the first time you fire a clay
Bone Dry – no water is in the clay anymore
Greenware – ready to go to the kiln
Bisqueware – still vitreous, water goes through it (which
is why we glaze it)
Glaze – much more silica in glaze
Flux – causes it to melt at a lower temp (1200-1500F)
Vitrify – so close together water cannot get through
So greenware is ready to go to the kiln to become bisque. The first time it is fired it is bisqueware; after the second time it is fired it becomes glazeware (it now had glaze).
Raku – This is when you take out the glazeware before the glaze has a chance to dry.
The second meeting, we learned about a number of pottery basics through this excellent video with this guy who looks like he would be named Froxolio, probably. He taught us, through the video, about the basic tools for manipulating the clay. After that we learned about how to make beads, which seemed quite simple, and about how to make our own stamps for our works.
We also saw how pinch pots were made, which we made the first day, and how coil pots were made. The coil pots were rather ugly, at least his was, so we will see about those. After that he went on to tell us the wonders about slab construction with clay, how you ca make tiles and hump molds and boxes and cylinders, and god only know what else you can do. He really loves slabs. He also looks really funny when he is making them, but good for him. I look forward to using slabs, if I can manage to do it well.
Either way, pottery goes on.