It all begins with a lump of clay and an idea, although sometimes I go into a studio session without much of a plan. Sometimes my goal is production. Sometimes it more about experimentation.  Sometimes the clay tells me what form it wants to be. Sometimes clay is my therapy.   The clay process involves many different steps and techniques. Here is a little bit about my process and what I do!

 

Each work is handmade with either red or white clay.  These clay bodies are practical, easy to use and versatile.  Each piece is carefully crafted and created by manipulating the clay into specific shapes or forms.  Some pieces incorporate the use of crocheted doilies, lace, cookie cutters, leaves, stamps, stencils, text, and various glaze colors and techniques.  I hand build all of my work, using mostly slabs and manipulated forms.

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Building

First, each work is created, refined and set out to air dry.  Allowing each piece to air dry can take anywhere from about a day all the way up to a week for thicker works, like tiles pulled from molds.  After each piece is mostly dry, they are refined with a sponge/water to smooth away any imperfections, clay shavings, lumps, bumps or sharp edges.  This is done carefully, as they are very fragile in this state. The pieces are then loaded into a clay kiln.  Currently, I use an L&L E23T to fire all of my pieces.  The kiln is like an oven that will heat the clay to a specific temperature (in the case of these clay bodies it is a little over 1800 degrees) and will permanently harden the clay.  The kiln fires for over 13 hours for a first fire (called bisque) and a little over 7 hours for a glaze fire (final fire).  After firing, the kiln must gradually cool down, which takes up to two days, depending on how full the kiln is and how many shelves are inside (I usually use 6 shelves per firing).

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Glazing

Next, the clay pieces which are now called bisqueware (which means fired one time), are ready for glazing.  Glazing clay serves three purposes: it strengthens the clay, adds color and makes certain clay pieces watertight and/or food safe.  Not all clay pieces are watertight and/or food safe.  Certain glazes contain elements that are not safe when they come in to direct contact with food or consumed beverages.

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Before glazing, I plan my colors.  Each piece receives three layers of glaze.  The layers are often similar colors that are semi translucent- so each color can shine through and create a sense of dimension and interest.  For pieces with text and stamp details I will often glaze the indented areas of a piece first, wipe back the glaze from raised areas and then apply wax to the stamp or text area to create a barrier.  I will then glaze over the remaining areas.  This wax resist technique allows me to accent the stamp and text details, making them more prominent in many of my pieces.

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Overglaze

I use these most often.  These glazes can change dramatically and react in more spontaneous ways in the kiln, and if layered in specific combinations can yield new, exciting color combinations.

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Underglaze

I use these when I want to control the colors in each piece.  These colors do not change in the kiln and work well when trying to glaze small, specific details without each glaze color running into other surrounding colors.  Underglazes have a matte finish unless an additional couple coats of a clear, lustrous glaze is used on top of the underglaze.

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Fused Glass

I use this technique in conjunction with overglaze or underglaze techniques.  Small, glass globs or frit are set in areas that are flat, indented or have a raised edge and have a thicker clay structure to support the weight and expansion of the glass.  In the kiln the glass permanently fuses to the clay and often cracks and fractures, creating an eye catching effect.

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Sgraffito

This technique means "to scratch" in Italian.  Here layers of underglaze (usually three) are applied to leather hard greenware (clay that has not been fired yet).  The layers of glaze must dry, but not the actual clay, and then a sharp tool is used to scratch off the glaze layer(s) to create contrasting images, patterns, and textures in the clay color underneath. 

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