Smashing fossils!

Working on my own it's a bit difficult to get some video or more informative photos done - but hopefully next week....
Taking advantage of the milder weather I've been outside getting various clays prepared for the next wood firing. It's certainly not as easy as opening a bag of readymix and slapping it on the wheel. Most of the clays I have collected are highly compressed, one is literally a rock and needs ball milling. Most need persistant repeated crushing and slaking, such as this one here.

This I collected from Devon and is essentially a secondary kaolin derived from the Dartmoor granite. The black marking in it is a fossilised plant that was trapped in the clay deposits about 30 million years ago in the Oligocene period of the Tertiary.
The clay is highly kaolinitic, with chunks of coal and quartz in it, with yellow strata of iron in it as you can see here. Interestingly for me it is highly refractory, unlike many of the Devon ball clays. Nothing is easy in ceramics though, and after all the crushing, slaking, pounding and making, it is extremely prone to firecracks. If it survives it is beautiful in the wood kiln though.

Ceramic Art London

It's a bit late this, but as soon as I got back from the show, sank my feet into my slippers and reached for my pipe I was viciously assaulted by a bout of flu and am just able to clamber out of my sweaty pit to turn on my computer....
It was a great show! Packed with people and I spent the three days (plus private view) talking almost incessantly about my new work to lots of (hopefully) interested people.

I put photos up on the back wall to illustrate some of the places I have been to to collect materials and included information and samples of the rocks I've used to make the pots. This was to invite questions and certainly worked.

It's always quite stressful presenting new work - never being sure how public an peers will react. Was all that time alone in my workshop focusing on a specific idea REALLY worthwhile and valid or......
Anyway, I am very happy with the response I got. sales were excellent and I got a couple of exhibitions and invitations to lecture about my new work, which is just what I need.
Overall I think the event was the best yet, with very good attendance and a fantastic variety and quality of work on display.

That old un-conformist Hutton

Edinburgh can be seen as the birthplace of the science of Geology, where Hutton first published his controversial theories, challenging the orthodoxy that the Earth was only a few thousand years old. He was inspired by numerous geological features, but one of them can be seen in Holyrood Park in Edinburgh, home to the extinct volcano Arthur's Seat.

Here a section of older sedimentary rock can be seen curling up into a massive vein of intruded basalt above it. It is called Hutton's Section, or Hutton's unconformity, after he persuaded the quarrymen at the time to work around it and leave it intact.
Behind this feature is Arthur's Seat - the basaltic plug from an ancient volcano. Using this rock as the base for the glaze and every other material, including the clay, I made this 'Edinburgh' pot.

Polar opposite

The 'polar' part of the title does actually refer to the siberian conditions of my workshop, where the glazes have solidified and my hands seem to have become a permanent shade of blue. I fired the big gas kiln on Friday and the gas bottles are STILL frozen. Not a very pleasant experience, despite the arctic beauty and excellent beer, but the firing was very good.

Along with various components for my display at CAL and further tests on some of my most stubbornly difficult materials, I had some samples for a Japanese restaurant that is being opened by a 3 michelin star chef in London. After months of grinding and crushing and coping with smallish amounts of unusual materials I went back to the porcelain to make functional pots again. these three are lidded containers for a particular starter. Apologies for the poor photo but I have to pack them now to go + haven't time to set up the photography equipment.
I have nearly everything for CAL (still can't quite believe it) and will post some images v. soon.

Into the white

Well, the firing I did in my gas kiln proved quite an ordeal - having to repeatedly swap gas bottles that were frozen to the ground as the temperature plummeted to minus 10C.....but, the next morning....aaaah isn't it beautiful.

This is a view along the canal, or 'lode', that gave the village its name. The white building is the mill. It was used to grind various things including coprolite that was exported as a fertilizer. it's one of the things I have been hunting for to use in a glaze, but so far without success.

Lovely as it is I hope it's all gone by my next firing on Friday!

THIS is where crawling around on my hands an knees got me....

With Ceramic Art London coming up in three weeks 2012 is proving just as busy as last year. Still making and preparing all the bits and pieces that I will need for my display. Pint in hand with good reason to celebrate, I have finally had some success with my local materials. Just a quick snap but here it is...

This little beauty is made entirely from materials collected near my home village of Lode. The 'clay' is very dark and high in iron, but incredibly stands up to glaze melt temperature. It is a glacial deposit rather than the fen clays, which all melt at stoneware temps. The glaze is developed along the lines of the early Chinese glazes, which later gave rise to the famous celadons. It is of relatively simple composition but still involves much crushing, grinding and sieving.
Also, the site at which I have collected samples of various fen clays, courtesy of the Cambridge University Archaeology Dept. has become a major discovery. Finds include Bronze Age swords and various boats. Images can be seen here.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Back in the workshop today after pre-christmas hideous flu, then the annual festive feeding frenzy and finally a splendid new year celebration. Lashings of Fullers ESB (obligatory new year and firing toasting) and today I can survive without panadol. Today I am preparing for a cone 6 reduction firing + have been busy at the mortar + pestle preparing various semi-calcined clays (so am typing with my left hand).

This is the invitation image for an Exhibition I have at The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh. I have 14 pieces there - all woodfired. It starts on the 11th January and runs till the 3rd of March. If you are lucky enough to be living near or visiting Edinburgh do go along.
Have a great 2012!