New Work/Raku

Raku Sculptured Pot

This is my newest Raku piece. Last Wednesday we fired up the raku kiln. It is much more pleasant now the weather is cooler. There is nothing much hotter than doing raku in Florida in the summer! If you think collage, a piece of clay here, a stamped section there, and then shaped as if a sculpture that is how I approach my pottery. The glazes used are a sagent green which bring out coppers and gold tones and a white crackle for contrast. The areas left unglazed turn black in the oxygen reduction process of the firing. This is not a huge piece as it may look in the photo, it is a small piece, but oh so sweet.

I love making areas that are like emblems or patches, then adding them on to the surface of the pot. I like texture working against texture, and marked contrast. I am not a potter as such, I am an mixed media artist learning about pottery and glass fusion. I am learning how to bring these experiences back to my mixed media world. I am also allowing myself to just relax and try something totally different...not worrying about anything, but enjoying the media and seeing what it will do if I approach it without rules or expectations. I just want to experiment and play and break the rules...fresh eyes, new approach, discoveries along the way.

I make my own stamps out of clay. I try to keep making them and have a number waiting for my use at any one time. There are many versions of stamps. The can be small single stamps, they can be cylinders that roll, or curved rectangles that rock back and forth. Texture mats are very helpful as well. The wave portion on the section above is done by a texture mat.

Creating Your Own Push Molds

As you know I am mainly a fine artist and the mere mention of molds makes me think of patterns, stencils, and other things not created by oneself. But when our teacher Kathy mentioned using found objects to push into clay to make your own molds, she had my attention. If I can make it or design it myself then I am fine. These were projects one group was making using push molds made with a variety of texture mats and objects. As long as an object has a very high relief, and is fairly firm you can use it for a push mold. Just push it down into a piece of clay, bisque fire the piece and next time you are ready to make a mold of you own design. I have one art piece that I made my own molds for using real cowboy boots. Instead of clay I pushed them into plaster of Paris I had poured into a wooden box frame. Then I made a reverse mold. I put the boots in a raku firing and mounted them on an old rusted ironing board. The piece was called line dancing, it came out very well.