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Hi everyone, I just joined. I was very inspired by the congress way back a hundred years ago in November, it was great to chat with so many hand builders! I do weekly classes but we have had to move to zoom with this lockdown and it is hard to feel inspired via zoom. It’s fab to see the photos on here 😀
I’ve gone from making weird vases to crazy candlesticks to water fountains to currently lights, I like to make stuff which is technically functional. I’m really into terracotta and black clay at the moment, I think seeing Shirley Bhatnagar working with her lovely terracotta must have been the inspiration.
Here is one of my latest lights! I’m trying to make them taller, which is quite the task at home without so many things available to prop everything up…
Gill Wingate, Geoffrey Tjakra and 8 others-
Looks very interesting. What kind of clay do you use?
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This one is black clay, when it’s glaze fired it goes a very dark black. It’s hard to glaze though, you have to do lots of testing!
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Hope you sent a picture when it’s fired.
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will do! It’s been bisqued, just got to glaze the insides so they can reflect light, leaving the outside bits black
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You’re doing fine! I find that to go higher you need to allow the part that is finished to harden to just before leather hard and then add some more height. Keep the lower part of your piece wrapped in plastic, so you can control the overall drying rate. If you have no patience waiting, you may use a hairdryer to speed up the process somewhat. Though when the piece is finished I like to wrap loosely in plastic to even out the drying process slowly. This minimises the use of support materials for me. Also working on more than one piece at a time, helps to keep me occupied during the waiting time.
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thanks for your advice!
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It is beautiful Katy! I, too, like what I make to be functional and this has steered me towards making some lamps, although mine leave much to be desired as I am a novice 🙂
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thank you Ayse, you won’t be a novice if you keep practising! I had to recycle half my current lamp this morning, working at home without props at hand meant I made a terrible second section. It’s all a learning curve 🙂
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